New Musical Express
New Musical Express, or NME, is a British weekly music journalism publication, published since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 90s, changing from newsprint in 1998. An online edition, nme.com, was launched in 1996. In 2000 it absorbed its principal competitor, Melody Maker.
6,941 articles
List of articles in the library
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, The Shadows: Tony Meehan: Why I Left The Shadows
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 13 October 1961
I AM A FIRM believer in following the policy which maintains that, since life is so short, it is most important that one should do ...
Sandy Nelson: Life-lines of Sandy Nelson
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 26 January 1962
Real name: Sander L. Nelson. ...
Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt: Alan Smith Welcomes — Ella and Eartha
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 February 1962
WELCOME BACK, Ella! Yes, the world's "First Lady of Jazz," Ella Fitzgerald, will also be in this country at the weekend, commencing her tour with ...
Rolf Harris: Rolf-Of-Every-Trade
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 21 February 1962
ROLF HARRIS, the man who currently makes with 'Sun Arise' one of the most interesting noises in the hit parade, was tired. He had been ...
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 23 February 1962
C'MON EVERYBODY, let's do the twist! Did I hear someone say they don't know how to do it? That's ridiculous. Anyone can do it, I ...
Shirley Bassey: Can Shirley Bassey Make It Three Show Hits In A Row?
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 February 1962
NO DOUBT about it, show tunes seem to have hit written all over them for Shirley Bassey! Her latest is 'Tonight', now in its second ...
George Martin: The A&R Manager Behind The Comedy Successes Forecasts...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 March 1962
...Cribbins, Drake, Sellers, Milligan, Bentine Have Bright Disc Futures ...
Pat Boone: Why I Became A Beatnik
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 March 1962
PAT BOONE fans who saw last week's NME pictures of him at the Royal Film show won't see him looking so clean-cut in his latest ...
Doris Day: Doris Looks Younger Every Day
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 March 1962
REMEMBER THOSE not so far off days when the charts were aglow with Doris Day numbers like 'Sentimental Journey', 'Que Sera' and 'Secret Love'? They ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 March 1962
PLENTY OF TALENT IN THIS SHOW ...
Nina & Frederik: Gaumont, Watford
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 April 1962
New programme from Nina and Frederik ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 April 1962
PUZZLING, isn't it, that no one has thought of an award for the wives of hit parade stars — to be presented when they inspire ...
Ketty Lester: New to the Charts: Ketty Lester Sang 'As Herself' To Notch Hit
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 April 1962
A SUDDEN decision to sing "in my own style" has brought instant success for chart newcomer Ketty Lester, whose 'Love Letters' stands at No. 27. ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 April 1962
At the NME's sensational Poll Winners' concert — CLIFF, SHADOWS, HELEN, BILLY, ADAM GIVE THRILL OF LIFETIME ...
Rick Nelson: Ricky Nelson: Now Ricky's Name Change Is Official!
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 April 1962
'YOUNG WORLD' is probably the last disc by Ricky Nelson you'll see in the NME Charts but don't panic. At 21 Ricky has no ...
Lonnie Donegan: Palace Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 4 May 1962
RIP-ROARING DONEGAN! ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 11 May 1962
NEW SHADOW MAKES LONDON DEBUT ...
Winifred Atwell: Win Gets In Trim For Hit!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 May 1962
WINIFRED ATWELL is determined to bounce right back into the hit parade with her first disc for Pye, 'Game Of Chance'. ...
Anthony Newley: I'm Worried About My Discs: I Still Need Hits admits Tony Newley
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 July 1962
ANTHONY NEWLEY smoothed out a crease in the trousers of his tuxedo suit, sipped from a large mug of Shepperton film studio tea and looked ...
John Leyton Phones Alan Smith From Munich To Say: Filming In Germany Is Dangerous
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 July 1962
(But It Could Make Me A Star In America) ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 August 1962
THE NEWS that Cliff Richard is being sought for American TV's world-famous Ed Sullivan Show this autumn couldn't be more appropriate than it is right ...
Connie Francis: Connie Will Rock For Britain!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 August 1962
THERE'LL BE no more weepie-weepie songs from Connie Francis once her current hit 'Vacation' leaves the charts... for Connie is to record special future releases ...
Frank Ifield: It Was All The Better For That Ifield Smile!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 August 1962
Recording manager NORRIE PARAMOR reveals a secret behind the No. 1 hit ...
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 August 1962
Acker's Happy With His Vocal Success ...
Ray Charles: Mother Taught Ray Charles To Cope With Blindness
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 31 August 1962
THOUGH HE has been blind since the age of six, one of Ray Charles' biggest hates is to be treated as a blind person. It ...
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 14 September 1962
ANTHONY NEWLEY had every reason to look a little worried as he boarded a Philadelphia-bound airliner at London Airport on Sunday morning. And no wonder. ...
Bobby Vinton Replies To Ronnie Carroll
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 September 1962
...and reveals a secret to ALAN SMITH ...
Lonnie Donegan: Lonnie takes 'Dustman' to U.S.
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 September 1962
I MANAGED to catch Lonnie Donegan — but only just! — before he left this country for his third visit to America on Sunday. ...
The Springfields Think U.S. 'Stunning'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 September 1962
SAID TOM Springfield (of the Springfields): "You've no idea how stunned we were when 'Silver Threads And Golden Needles' got into the U.S. Hot 100. ...
Nat King Cole, George Shearing: George Shearing is very happy about Nat Cole's hit
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 5 October 1962
WHEN 'Ramblin' Rose' leapt high into the NME Charts last week, nobody was happier than George Shearing, in London for the start of his tour. ...
Sam Cooke: Sam Ploughed Money Into Act
Profile by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 5 October 1962
SAM COOKE is currently one of America's hottest disc properties. Since he scored his first hit with 'You Send Me', Sam has had a pretty ...
Elvis Presley: Dates With Elvis
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 October 1962
Presley's Follow That Dream co-star ANNE HELM talks to Alan Smith ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 October 1962
He talks to Alan Smith about having two albums in the charts ...
Pat Boone: Royal Welcome Awaits Boone
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 October 1962
ONE top American star you can't accuse of neglecting his British fans is Pat Boone, who'll be flying into London next week for his third ...
B. Bumble & The Stingers: Cavern Club, Liverpool
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 October 1962
Thumper Bumble ...
The Beatles: Newcomers To The Charts: Liverpool's Beatles Wrote Their Own Hit
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 October 1962
MAKING THEIR NME Chart debut with 'Love Me Do' this week are the Beatles, a vocal-instrumental group who hail from Liverpool, the birthplace of such ...
Acker Bilk Picks 'Desert Island Discs' — And Talks About Others He Wanted
Report and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962
MR. ACKER BILK found himself on a desert island this week — recording his part as a castaway on the BBC's long-running Desert Island Discs ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962
ROCK INSTRUMENTS INVADE TRAD ...
Adam Faith: Alan Smith Learns About Adam Faith's Far East Joy And Agony
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962
TIRED BUT tanned, Adam Faith flew into Britain on Sunday after his first tour of Australia and New Zealand — and then went straight back ...
The Everly Brothers, Phil Everly: Phil Everly says Thanks
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962
PALE AND drawn after his four week tour of Britain without brother Don, Phil Everly slumped into a deep armchair in his dressing room at ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962
WE WERE sitting in Frank Ifield's dressing room at Liverpool Empire on Sunday — the last night of his triumphant tour with the Phil Everly ...
Dave Brubeck, Ronnie Scott: Near-in Brubeck
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 30 November 1962
IT WAS a new Dave Brubeck on tour in Britain this time. ...
Patsy Cline Overcame Grave Car Crash Injuries
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 7 December 1962
PERSONAL tragedy is nothing to Patsy Cline, who sings of 'Heartaches' on her first big hit disc in Britain. Her fast-rising career was interrupted last ...
Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline: Grand Ole Opry Show: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 December 1962
C-and-W invades the New York concert world ...
The Crystals, Phil Spector: The Crystals: New to the Charts — Six Girls With Two Names!
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 December 1962
SO VAST is the American disc scene that quite often an artist or group can get high into the charts without anybody here knowing much ...
Mel Tormé: Now Mel Gets With The Beat!
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 4 January 1963
HALF-WAY through 1961 Melvin Howard Tormé was moaning that "there were no songs being written that were worth singing. ...
Duke Ellington, Odetta: Ian Dove Gives a Big NME Welcome to Ellington and Odetta
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 11 January 1963
COME SLUMP or boom, war or peace, fad or fashion, Duke Ellington has gone on leading a big band. For 37 years, to be precise! ...
Johnny and The Hurricanes: Gaumont State Ballroom, Kilburn, London
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 18 January 1963
HURRICANES IMPRESS ...
The Limeliters: Alan Smith invites you to meet The Limeliters
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 January 1963
INTO THE Limelight this week come... the Limeliters. This lively American folk trio arrive today (Friday) for their first-ever visit to Britain. ...
The Four Seasons: Old Movie Has Inspired Four Seasons' Latest Hit
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 25 January 1963
'BIG GIRLS don't cry' — current hit for vocal group the Four Seasons — owes it all to film stars John Wayne and Joan Crawford! ...
Brian Hyland: Welcome Brian Hyland
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 January 1963
THE BLOND, blue-eyed singer who emerged as Bobby Vee's biggest rival in 1962, Brian Hyland will come slap-bang into a controversy when he arrives for ...
The Rooftop Singers: *New to the Charts* — Rooftop Singers Start Moving Here
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963
'WALK RIGHT IN', by the Rooftop " Singers — the disc that starts off like a folky guitar instrumental and then turns into a vocal ...
Little Eva: Alan Smith Says 'Welcome, Little Eva'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963
THE GIRL who put a new twist into the twist – Little Eva – arrives in London today (Friday) for her first tour of Britain. ...
Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk: Bilk Courts 'Twins': Ball Sticks to Band
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963
Ian Dove talks to two trad giants and finds different outlooks ...
The Bachelors: Astor Club, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963
Debut At Astor ...
The Beatles: You've Pleased-Pleased Us Say The Beatles
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 February 1963
THINGS ARE beginning to move for the Beatles, the r-and-b styled British group which crashed back into the NME Chart this week at No. 17. ...
Tommy Steele, The Tornados: Alan Smith On Film Sets With The Tornados and Tommy Steele
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 February 1963
A HAUNTING theme-tune echoed across the stage of a dingy London theatre on Tuesday morning, as film cameras turned on that "Globetrotting" hit group, the ...
Mike Berry Takes Things Smoothly
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 February 1963
ALAN SMITH talks to a new Top Ten singer ...
Erik Darling, The Rooftop Singers: 'Walk Right In': The Man
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 15 February 1963
ERIK DARLING, musical director and organiser of the Rooftop Singers — "We're a folk music group," he insists — has a hit on his hands ...
Billy Fury, The Tornados: NMExclusive: Billy Fury by the Tornados
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 22 February 1963
IT IS NOW almost fifteen months to the day that our group — itself only about six months old — played an audition to Billy ...
Ella Fitzgerald: Finsbury Park Astoria, London
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 March 1963
Ella Throws 'Loop De Loop' Away ...
Judy Garland: Judy Cried At Herself
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 March 1963
"BRITAIN IS A home from home to me," said Judy Garland recently. "I remember my career was at a low ebb back in 1950 and ...
The Beatles: Beatles Almost Threw 'Please Please Me' Away
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 March 1963
THE BEATLES opened a copy of the NME and gazed proudly at the Charts when 'Please Please Me' hit the top recently. It was a ...
Patsy Cline Killed In Air Crash
Report by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 8 March 1963
A TRAGIC air accident again struck a cruel blow at the pop music world this week. Four years after Buddy Holly's death, country-and-western star Patsy ...
The Bachelors: The Bachelor Boys Are Happy!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 March 1963
THE HAPPY Bachelors, celebrate their ninth week in the NME Chart today (Friday), standing at lucky No. 13 with their hit disc 'Charmaine'. ...
Gerry & The Pacemakers: New to the Charts: Gerry, Pacemakers from Beatle-land!
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 March 1963
CRASHING into the NME Chart this week comes another beat name from Beatle-land, Liverpool's Gerry and the Pacemakers. Gerry is featured vocalist on 'How Do ...
Gerry & The Pacemakers: Gerry And The Pacemakers Reveal Their Success Secret: 'We Let Go!'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 5 April 1963
"UND JETZT," said Gerry (of the Pacemakers), "ein wünsche für..." The rest of his announcement was drowned by a burst of good-natured jeering from the ...
Hank Locklin on Newcomers' TV Show!
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963
ONE OF America's biggest country-and-western stars, Hank Locklin, is arriving in London today (Friday) for his first visit to this country. Regrettably, most of his ...
Roy Orbison: Janet Martin Describes to Ian Dove Roy Orbison's Home-Life
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963
ROY ORBISON may live just outside Nashville, Tennessee — in Hendersonville, to be exact — and he may record his hit discs in the celebrated ...
Kenny Ball, The Kingston Trio: Kenny Ball talks about the Kingston Trio
Profile and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963
JAZZMAN KENNY Ball is happy about appearing with America's top folk group, the Kingston Trio... a group he saw on his recent American tour. ...
Ruby & the Romantics: New to the Charts: Ruby, Romantics Make It At Last!
Profile by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963
'OUR DAY Will Come' couldn't be a more appropriate disc title for Ruby and the Romantics, who enter the NME Chart this week. Their record ...
The Chiffons: New to the Charts: Tokens aid Chiffons
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 19 April 1963
'HE'S SO FINE', the disc by the Chiffons — a coloured, all-girl group with a Shirelles-type sound — looks set to confirm the prophecy of ...
The Beatles: Throat Sweets Keep Us Going Say Beatles!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 April 1963
A NEVER-ENDING supply of throat sweets is one of the secrets behind the continued success of the Beatles, who come crashing into the NME Chart ...
Skeeter Davis: Alan Smith Conducts a Transatlantic Question-Time with Skeeter Davis
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 April 1963
A MODEST, charming person who's far from being as sad as she sounds on her first British hit, 'The End Of The World'! — that's ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 April 1963
MIKE BERRY burst into the second half to the throbbing beat of 'La Bamba'. Close on its heels came his current release 'My Little Baby' ...
Gerry Mulligan: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 26 April 1963
Melodic Mulligan ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Beaty Welcome for Jerry Lee Lewis
Report by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 3 May 1963
JERRY LEE LEWIS looks like getting a wild welcome when he arrives to start his British tour at Birmingham Town Hall on May 6. At ...
The Beatles, Billy J. Kramer: Billy J. Kramer Adds To Liverpool Chart Invasion!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 May 1963
FIRST THE BEATLES, then Gerry and the Pacemakers. Now a new Liverpool name, Billy J. Kramer, looks set to take the NME Chart by storm ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 3 May 1963
LEYTON PACKAGE FEATURES NEW MIKE SARNE ...
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 3 May 1963
IAN DOVE quizzes SHADOWS, TORNADOS, BEATLES, JET & TONY, and GERRY & PACEMAKERS ...
Andy Williams Explains Why He Didn't Do A Palladium TV
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 May 1963
ANDY WILLIAMS settled back into a deep armchair at London's Dorchester Hotel. "I couldn't appear on Sunday Night At The Palladium," he said, "because of ...
Eddie Cochran: Fans Prove Label Wrong About Cochran
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 May 1963
EDDIE COCHRAN'S chart entry 'My Way' is only one of several previously unissued discs the U.S. star left behind after his death in April, 1960. ...
Heinz, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent: Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Heinz: Town Hall, Birmingham
Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 10 May 1963
Two 'houses' shouted 'We want Jerry'! ...
The Beatles: From You To Us Inspired 'From Me To You'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 May 1963
according to THE BEATLES who told Alan Smith ...
Ray Charles: Welcome to Ray Charles
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 10 May 1963
THE GENIUS... Messiah... Prophet... High Priest. Big words, and strange words to apply to a singer! But all have been used with religious fervour describing ...
Billy J. Kramer: Singing Was Forced On To Me!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 May 1963
BILLY J. KRAMER sat back in his manager's London office and looked thoughtful as the bubbles settled on top of his cup of hot tea. ...
Ray Charles: Finsbury Park Astoria, London
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 17 May 1963
Too hard a job for Ray Charles? ...
Ray Charles: "I Don't Know What Is The Real Me," Admits Ray Charles
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 24 May 1963
"CARY GRANT, the film star. You know, he's a friend of mine and he used to tell me to come to England. He told me ...
Bobby Rydell's British Recording Hits The Bull's Eye!
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 24 May 1963
BOBBY RYDELL came from America in March to appear on Sunday Night At The London Palladium. While here he said: "Just lately I haven't been ...
Paul & Paula: Paul and Paula Make a Frank Statement About Marriage
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 24 May 1963
PAUL AND PAULA, the "Young Lovers" who sing simple songs of love and tenderness to each and project the same kind of image, received poor ...
Freddie & The Dreamers: The Hilarious Account Of How Freddie 'Floated' From Milk To Hit
Profile and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 7 June 1963
MR. FREDERICK GARRATTY has it all worked out exactly when he became just plain Freddie, a full-time professional entertainer with a backing group called the ...
Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly: Buddy Holly Scores Fourth 'Bo' Hit!
Report by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 14 June 1963
ONCE AGAIN, 'Bo Diddley' is a hit — the fourth time it has been in the pop music charts, this time steered there by the ...
Lesley Gore: Parties Are Lucky For Lesley
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 14 June 1963
MAKING HER chart bow this week with 'It's My Party', attractive Lesley Gore actually owes her disc success to the occasion she sang a song ...
Kenny Ball, Heinz: Kenny Ball and Heinz on the Film Set
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 June 1963
ONE HOUR'S worth of story, 20 minutes of music (including Kenny Ball's new hit 'Rondo') is the way they've planned Britain's latest pop film, Live ...
Jim Reeves: Long-lasting Jim Reeves Takes Things Very Calmly
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 21 June 1963
JIM REEVES comes from Texas, has that celebrated lazy Texan drawl and a relaxed attitude towards singing and his audience. Everything appears to be taken ...
The Everly Brothers: Phil And Don Everly Put Up A Fight
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 June 1963
NOBODY could say the fortunes of the Everly Brothers have been at their highest just lately, but the boys are determined to put up a ...
The Isley Brothers: Beatles Make Isleys' Hit
Report by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 28 June 1963
THREE brothers, O'Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald — the surname is Isley — have to be very thankful to Liverpool's Beatles. For if the Beatles weren't ...
Connie Francis Returns to Sing for our Queen
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 June 1963
CONNIE FRANCIS must hold some kind of record for the number of times she's visited Britain in the past few years! She'll be adding another ...
Lesley Gore: The Singing Rebel
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 June 1963
IT'S THE BEATLES' favourite disc of the moment and it's sung by a 17-year-old American girl who had a genteel upbringing in the sedate neighbourhood ...
Sophie Tucker: The Talk Of The Town, London
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 28 June 1963
Same Old Sophie ...
The Swinging Blue Jeans: Blue Jeans Swing into Chart
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 5 July 1963
THE SWINGING Blue Jeans have been swinging for a long time. Back in 1957, when they were first formed, the line-up was typical of those ...
Gerry & The Pacemakers: Just Say 'Didn'I' To Get The Pacemakers Laughing
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 5 July 1963
GERRY AND the Pacemakers staggered into their dressing-room, glistening with perspiration as each fell into a chair and sipped an ice-cold drink. "Like it?" grinned ...
The Tremeloes: New to the Charts: Brian Poole & Tremeloes
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 5 July 1963
IT'S FIFTH time lucky for Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, who make their chart bow this week with 'Twist And Shout'. ...
Nat King Cole: Welcome Back to Nat 'King' Cole
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 5 July 1963
INCREDIBLE — but in December, 1940, in a Hollywood recording studio, Nat "King" Cole made the first of many hit discs, 'Sweet Lorraine'. It is ...
Billy Fury: My Top Ten by Billy Fury
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 12 July 1963
'DESTINY' by Johnnie Ray. — Before the days of rock 'n' roll, I was a great Johnnie Ray fan, following his career and records closely. ...
The Searchers: Searchers Paid £40 To Make LP
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 July 1963
THE SEARCHERS might not be in the NME Top Ten this week – making an amazing jump from No. 24 to No. 5! – if ...
Bobby Rydell: Experiment Worked After Two Years Says Bobby Rydell
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 July 1963
BOBBY RYDELL is head over heels at the success of his British-made disc 'Forget Him' — his first record to hit the NME Chart since 'Sway' almost ...
Mickie Most: Newcomer to the Charts: Mickie Most Goes Right Back...
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 19 July 1963
MICKIE MOST may be a newcomer to the NME Top 30 with 'Mr. Porter', but he's had one of the longest careers in beat music ...
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 July 1963
THERE'S A long and fascinating story behind the big come-back success of 'Twist And Shout' (now with three versions in the best-sellers) — and it's ...
The Dakotas, Billy J. Kramer: Billy J. Kramer Talks About the Dakotas
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 9 August 1963
BILLY J. KRAMER stood in the wings at Southend Odeon at the weekend, clicking his fingers to the rhythm of the Dakotas. A spotlight penetrated ...
The Beatles, Paul McCartney: Close-Up on Paul McCartney, a Beatle
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 August 1963
I WENT roof-climbing with the Beatles – up a rickety wooden ladder, over drainpipes, and past the huge chimney-pots of London's plush Washington Hotel. The ...
The Caravelles: Two Smart Girls
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 9 August 1963
THE CARAVELLES sound "like so many Peggy Lees all singing at once," said one entranced listener when he heard their debut disc 'You Don't Have ...
Gene Pitney, The Supremes: Gene Pitney's 72 Days With The Supremes
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 2 October 1964
GENE PITNEY recently took a bus journey with the Supremes. They shared front seat views — FOR 72 DAYS AND OVER 30,000 MILES. Gene, who ...
Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers: Newcomers to the Charts: Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers
Profile and Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 2 October 1964
FOR CLIFF Bennett it's seventh record lucky! Cliff has finally made it with 'One Way Love' at No. 29 in the NME Chart. ...
The Hollies: Through? Not The Hollies!
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 2 October 1964
LOTS OF PEOPLE said that the Hollies were through because they were taking too long issuing another record. So the Manchester group agreed "We're Through" ...
The Beatles: What We Bought At Harrods
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 December 1964
CHRISTMAS COMES but once a year... and when it comes it brings special problems for the Beatles. Those four famous faces can't just nip into ...
Françoise Hardy: ★ Newcomers To The Charts ★ Enter Mlle. Hardy
Profile by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 1 January 1965
FRANÇOISE HARDY is one of those French singers whose records were always good sellers in the specialist shops — she is a female equivalent of ...
Cilla Black: Cilla Is Knocked Out By New Disc!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 January 1965
KEITH ALTHAM meets a sun-tanned singing star and discovers... ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 15 January 1965
Olé, it's Chuck 'Crazylegs' now! Ian Dove covers latest Berry tour ...
The Moody Blues: Moody Blues Are Really Quite Happy!
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 15 January 1965
I DONT KNOW why they are called the Moody Blues. They aren't moody or blue. ...
The Animals: Animals In America
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 February 1965
ERIC BURDON v. Cassius Clay might sound like an unlikely title bout but Eric informs me that it was almost reality when the Animals were ...
The Seekers: Seekers Are Goon Fans
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 February 1965
"HELLO Folks!" That Spike Milligan salutation would seem highly appropriate to open an article about Australian folk singers, The Seekers, who attribute a great deal ...
The Hollies: Hollies Get Into No 1 Hit Mood
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 February 1965
"IT'S GREAT to be Number One you can't get much lower than that!" shouted Graham Nash, as the Hollies invaded the NME offices on ...
Ray Charles: Ballad in Blue (Dir. Paul Henreid; 20th Century Fox)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 19 February 1965
Good-value Ray Charles ...
Nat King Cole: Nat "King" Cole, Loss To World
Obituary by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 19 February 1965
WHEN NAT "King" Cole died of lung cancer on Monday, aged 45, the world lost a great artist. Those who saw his stage shows knew ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 26 February 1965
TONIGHT, TUESDAY, February 23, 1965, saw the death of Old Man Rock 'n' Roll and the triumphant birth of Kinky Blues at the Olympia Theatre, ...
Gene Pitney: Flashback for Gene Pitney to The Most Ridiculous Session Ever
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 5 March 1965
WORD WENT around very quickly about the "most ridiculous recording session ever." Accountants blanched as they put the cost in their account books. Heads of ...
The Rolling Stones: Startling Stones Discovery!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 March 1965
I DISCOVERED the secret of the Stones act last weekend at the Edmonton Regal. It is — THEY DON'T HAVE ONE! ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 March 1965
FOUR NEW TUNES IN THE ACT ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 March 1965
STRAIGHT from his long run up the North Pier, Worthing, Tom Jones arrived bleary-eyed and bewhiskered in his dressing room at Ready, Steady, Go! to ...
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 19 March 1965
BRITAIN'S Mr. Tamla-Motown — he's Dave Godin, organiser of the Tamla-Motown Appreciation Society — was walking around warning the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, the ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 19 March 1965
MARIANNE FAITHTULL frightens me to death. She is cool, confident, clever and highly successful. The kind of beauty you meet at a party, regulate yourself ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 19 March 1965
BACK from a hectic five-day promotional tour of France I found Sandie Shaw and composer Chris ('Long Live Love') Andrews seated at a piano in ...
Adam Faith, Sandie Shaw: Sandie Shaw and Adam Faith
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 April 1965
ADAM GOT the Rolls out and with Sandie Shaw and I in the back we drove along Tooting Bec Broadway searching for a fish and ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 April 1965
THERE IS a touch of the "Paul McCartneys" about Peter Quaife of the Kinks. Like Paul he plays bass, and like Paul he is the ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 April 1965
MY NEW disc will be issued in mid-April! I'm being backed by Buster Meikle, Humble Garwood, Pigmy Halliday, Lem Lubin, Count Moules and Sweat Moeller. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Marianne Never Does What A Pop Star Should
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 April 1965
SHE HAS a pert, child-like face which darts out at you from a cascade of fine, fair hair. The face seems to be concentrated into ...
Dave Berry: Surfing, What's That?
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 April 1965
"SURFER" DAVE BERRY, as his publicist Andy "Wipeout" Wickham is now pleased to title him, phoned me from his home in Manchester. Needless to say, ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 April 1965
IT WAS THE GREATEST POP SHOW ON EARTH ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 April 1965
RAY DAVIES is the King Kink. He composed all their hits and although there is no official leader in the group, Ray is the driving ...
The Supremes: LISTEN! in the name of Supremes
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 April 1965
FLOP. THAT'S the only way to describe the much-vaunted, ill-fated Tamla-Motown road show. When it ended its first British tour last week it left behind ...
Donovan: I'll Quit After Two More Years
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 April 1965
GIPSY DAVE sat in Donovan's dressing room playing a strange instrument a leg off a Queen Anne chair strung with one guitar string. ...
The Animals: Eric Burdon, Animal Trainer
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 April 1965
CLAD in a black track suit, zippered to the neck, and still wearing his carpet slippers, the chunky figure of Eric Burdon lay writhing on ...
Françoise Hardy: One Girl Music Organisation!
Profile by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 April 1965
AT TWENTY-ONE, Francoise Hardy is undoubtedly the most attractive musical organisation in the world. She is her own accompanist, agent, manager and composer. For that ...
Peter and Gordon: Peter & Gordon Are Poles Apart
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 April 1965
BEFORE THEIR trip to Japan and the Far East I lunched with Peter Asher and his sparring partner Gordon Waller, and a more unlikely combination ...
The Ivy League: Ivy League battle against themselves
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 May 1965
THE IVY League have decided to cut down on their session work, as they have arrived at the ludicrous position where they are competing with ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 May 1965
MANFRED MANN (not to be confused with the group) is often cynical, outspoken and sometimes frank to the point of being rude. He is also ...
Marianne Faithfull: Marianne Meets Dylan And Baez
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 May 1965
THE COLOURFUL combination of Bob Dylan, Marianne Faithfull, Joan Baez, John Mayall and "a nice fat man called Albert" (Dylan's manager) met to dispose of ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 May 1965
I CAN'T say that it came as a surprise to find that – after three cancelled appointments with Them – they were not at the ...
Peter and Gordon: Peter & Gordon Push Elvis, Everlys
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 June 1965
SQUATTING in my waste-paper basket, crunching a wafer biscuit and gulping a carton of cow juice, last Friday evening, sat the finest unpaid publicity man ...
The Yardbirds: Yardbirds Don't Like Own Hits
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 June 1965
IN THE middle of a field in Windsor sat Yardbirds' vocalist Keith Relf dressed as an Elizabethan page with plumed hat and a huge silk ...
Françoise Hardy: Françoise Sweeps In
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 June 1965
FRANCOISE HARDY swept into London's Savoy Hotel in a red jacket, boots and bell-bottom trousers. It had been quite a day for the French star ...
The Kinks: Kinks Back To Abnormal
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 June 1965
FOLLOWING Dave Davies' recent cymbolic headache and the Kinks withdrawal from their tour, there's been wild speculation about their future. I met them last Friday ...
The Walker Brothers: American Walkers Love Wild Wild Fans
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 June 1965
THERE are fifteen mirrors in one bedroom; a cavalry sword on the wall; a marble bust of nobody in particular on the mantelpiece; an enormous ...
Elvis Presley: More Old Songs: Tickle Me
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 June 1965
Tickle Me isn't the GREATEST film Elvis has ever made, but it isn't the worst, either. ...
Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones: Stones and Manfreds: Jones Boys Talk About Chart-Making EPs
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 June 1965
FOR THE first time two EPs have crashed into the NME Chart simultaneously. They are the Rolling Stones' 'Got Live If You Want It' and the Manfreds' ...
The Who Use Force To Get The Sound They Want!!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 June 1965
HE SAT TENSED against a hard-backed chair, dressed in a Carnaby Street blue jacket and with a blond, Mod hairstyle that showed dark at the ...
Donovan Gambles On Anti-war Song About Vietnam
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 2 July 1965
DONOVAN doesn't wear his faded denim cap any more. But this isn't the only change in the life of the young curly-headed folk singer whose ...
The Hollies: Hollies Get Into No. 1
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 July 1965
...and tell Keith Altham about it ...
The Everly Brothers, The Rolling Stones: When Everlys joined Stones
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 2 July 1965
I SUPPOSE you could have called the act the Rolling Everlys — or the Stones Brother! But whatever the name, there's no mistaking the terrific ...
Bob Dylan, Dana Gillespie: Bob Dylan's Not A Singer At All — Says His Friend Dana
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965
"HE'S NOT really a singer at all. He just writes poems and sings them because he thinks a narrative would bore people. Donovan's voice is ...
The Everly Brothers: Everlys Thrilled Over British Tour
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965
"WE'RE looking so much forward to going back to Britain," exclaimed Don Everly on the phone from Decorah, Iowa, to my office in California. "We're ...
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965
HOW MANY people thought that Joan Baez would be seen back in the NME Chart again, once 'We Shall Overcome' had faded into the distance? Not many, ...
The Yardbirds: Yardbirds Question Time
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965
THE YARDBIRDS were in no mood for pulling punches when I called on them in their dressing room at the Ready, Steady, Go studios in ...
Adam Faith, Jackie Trent, Sandie Shaw, Val Doonican: Eve Taylor: Queen Bee Of Show Business
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965
EVELYN TAYLOR – affectionately, respectfully, jealously and irreverently known as the "Queen Bee of Show Business" – has a loud voice, grey hair and the ...
Donovan: Hollywood Not So Hot — say Donovan and Baez!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965
"I WASN'T exactly knocked out with it, man," said Donovan, having "done" Hollywood and in the process of "doing" a large plateful of ravioli in ...
P.J. Proby: I'm Still The Greatest
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965
LOOKING rather like a refugee from a Biblical nightmare, P.J. Proby with beard and shoulder-length hair loped down the corridor from Top Of ...
The Pretty Things: Scotland's Really Wild Report Pretty Things
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965
APART FROM being banned from swimming pools, finding their dressing-room in the middle of the girls' cloakroom, and being pulled off stage with alarming regularity, ...
Dusty Springfield: Tired Dusty Raves Over Next Single
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 July 1965
IT WAS 2.30 in the afternoon and Dusty Springfield was still sound asleep when I rang her at her London home. There was a slight ...
The Ivy League: Ivy League Are Inspired By Life
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 July 1965
"MIDNIGHT... neon signs bursting into life and winking out... theatres with names in fire... Sammy Davis in Golden Boy... your first time walking down Broadway... the ...
Manfred Mann: Manfred plays the "Baiting" Game
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 July 1965
...AND VENTS HIS SARCASM ON REPORTER KEITH ALTHAM ...
The Dave Clark Five: Dave Clark is Plane Unlucky
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965
DAVE CLARK arrived back in Britain on Tuesday from America six hours late. His original plane had to return to Kennedy Airport with a damaged ...
The Animals: John Steel — The Forgotten Animal
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965
JOHN STEEL is a very rare Animal. Seldom seen with the pack (Messrs. Rowberry, Chandler, Burdon and Valentine) and seldom heard. He remains the background ...
Jonathan King: New to the Charts: Jonathan King No. 19
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965
THE TWENTY-one-year-old verbal machine-gun, by name Jonathan King, who entered the NME Chart at No. 19 with 'Everyone's Gone To The Moon' sat down in ...
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs: Sam The Sham Has Sung In Opera!
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965
Special from Tracy Thomas in Hollywood ...
Joan Baez, Dana Gillespie, Paul Simon: Two Views on Baez, by Paul Simon and Dana Gillespie
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965
A SMALL, dark, intense man from Greenwich Village (home of his folkship, Bob Dylan) came to my office last week and talked about Joan Baez. ...
The Yardbirds: Yardbirds Lash Out
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 July 1965
THE YARDBIRDS are bristling with hurt anger this week — at Thank Your Lucky Stars Summer Spin; at their manager, and at a pop promoter who ...
Tom Jones: From Tom Jones In New York: New release is STUPID!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 August 1965
JONES THE Pop sounded dull and unhappy when I rang him at the Gorham Hotel in New York this week. He thinks it's "damn stupid" ...
Georgie Fame : Will I be Flop of the Year?
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 August 1965
THE BLUE Flames had gone home, and Georgie Fame stood in the middle of a recording studio, reaching up to the mike and belting out ...
Marianne Faithfull: Baby Halts Marianne's Plans
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 August 1965
"BABIES are taking over," Marianne Faithfull informed me. "My little 'third party' is going to prevent me going to the U.S. or Mexico as I ...
The Beatles: John Lennon Slams The Critics
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 August 1965
JOHN LENNON shouted for food, then turned to me in the vast, near-deserted auditorium of Blackpool's ABC theatre. In two hours he and the rest ...
The Fortunes: Fortunes Have Got Their Own Troubles
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 August 1965
'YOU'VE GOT YOUR TROUBLES' and the Fortunes have certainly got their own as I found out when I spoke to them recently. "Our greatest problem ...
The Rolling Stones: The Stones Hit Back
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 August 1965
I WENT to see the big, bad Rolling Stones during their first-ever performance at the London Palladium last Sunday. ...
Joan Baez, Donovan: It's School-Marm Joan Baez Now!
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965
JOAN BAEZ has turned school-marm. In a Californian town she has started an unusual "School For Non-Violence", where children turn up to sit in silence. ...
Sonny & Cher: Sonny Became Singer Giving Cher Courage
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965
"I NEVER intended to be a singer," confessed Sonny, when I found him squatting on the stairs in the corridors of a BBC Theatre in ...
The Animals: Eric Burdon Turns Author
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965
STAND by for Eric Burdon, author. I've just been going over some of the roughs that Eric is preparing for his first book (publisher wanted). ...
The Animals, The Beatles, Steampacket: Wild Richmond Festival — and Meeting Two Unexpected Guests
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 August 1965
FROM A STEEL tower out in the middle of Richmond Athletic Ground the anxious voice of an American cameraman crackled through a walkie-talkie set held ...
The Kinks: Kinks' Room Had Iron Gates!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 August 1965
BACK FROM a weekend trip to Germany at London Airport on Monday, I met four hungry Kinks — three pale (Dave, Ray and Pete) and ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 August 1965
Byrds' Weak Stage Act ...
The Righteous Brothers: Brothers Riding High!
Report and Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 20 August 1965
"BILL and Bob are thrilled about their New York stay," Karen Medley, wife of Righteous Brother Bill Medley, revealed to me in a telephone conversation. ...
The McCoys: New to the Charts: The McCoys on New Label
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 August 1965
IT'S IMMEDIATE success for the Andrew Oldham-Tony Calder "Immediate" disc label — and a first NME Chart entry for the American group the McCoys! The label's debut ...
Sonny & Cher Take Over Three Chart Spots! Including the Top!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 August 1965
Keith Altham spent four days with them to write this revealing article ...
The Walker Brothers: Walkers Make It Sound Easy — But It's Not!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 August 1965
TORN, TATTERED, but triumphant — the Walker Brothers have got the big hit they needed with their second record, 'Make It Easy On Yourself'. Hysterical ...
Brenda Lee: Brenda Really Means Those Sad Love Songs
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 September 1965
MARRIAGE CAN be a dodgy business when you're a pop star — as I found when a sad-voiced Brenda Lee phoned me from Nashville, Tennessee. ...
Horst Jankowski: Janie Marden Talks About Her Friend Horst Jankowski
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 September 1965
LOOK AT his picture and if you didn't know he was in the charts right now you might visualise Horst Jankowski as a bank clerk ...
The Rolling Stones: Now They're World-Wide Stones
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 September 1965
THE NEWS OF the big Stones shake-up broke in the Ready, Steady, Go! canteen last Friday evening as Bill Wyman and I sat chatting about ...
The Dave Clark Five: Question time with DAVE CLARK
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 September 1965
Conducted by ALAN SMITH ...
Billy Fury: Billy's New Outlook
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 September 1965
HE WORE a small-brimmed leather trilby and a dark grey jacket, and in the palm of his hand he flicked a king-sized cigarette lighter. Like ...
The Beatles, Ken Dodd: Ken Dodd Champions The Beat Groups
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 September 1965
"YES!" CACKLED Ken Dodd as he stood there in his dressing room at the London Palladium, wearing big boots, baggy trousers, a yellow daisy and ...
The Animals, Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones: Stones Take Over!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 September 1965
ON THE TV monitor was Andrew Oldham, clad in bobcat waistcoat, miming to Cher's voice singing "I don't care if your hair's too long" and ...
Sonny & Cher: NMExclusive: Transatlantic phone call reveals... Sonny's Collapsed!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 September 1965
BUT THEY'VE BROKEN RECORDS ACROSS U.S. ...
Cher: All I Really Wanna Do (Liberty)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 September 1965
CHER'S LP — Track-by-track ...
Manfred Mann: Paul Jones says — No Smut In Latest Hit
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 September 1965
"SUGGESTlVE," "Blatant" and "Embarrassingly obvious" are just some of the harsh words being levelled at Manfred Mann's new hit 'If You Gotta Go, Go Now'. ...
The McCoys: McCoys Are America's Wildest Group
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 September 1965
...says ALAN SMITH ...
Billy Fury: Long Wait For Billy's Next Disc
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965
IT WILL BE only a week or so to Christmas before Billy Fury records the follow-up to his current hit, 'Run To My Lovin' Arms' ...
Dusty Springfield: Dusty: New Sound, New Look
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965
LOOK CLOSELY at this picture of Dusty Springfield. To me it is one of the liveliest and brightest shots of her I have ever seen. ...
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965
SING A SONG of protest — and you, too, could find yourself there in the charts. Suddenly a whole flood of these let's-put-the-world-right numbers has ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 September 1965
IN THE SPACE of four weeks 100,000 people will sit, and stand, and scream. More than 90,000 ice-creams and hysteria-cooling drinks will be sold. Hot, ...
Barry McGuire... Protests About Protests
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 1 October 1965
"I LEFT to be myself. I felt there were better things to be said. If I can't have fun then I'm not real, and if ...
James Brown: 95 Per Cent of Credit
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 1 October 1965
IT COULD have been James Brown, professional boxer or baseball player. Instead he chose to enter the world of entertainment and became a giant, playing ...
Wilson Pickett — Stones, Tom Jones Fan!
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 1 October 1965
"I WAS SITTING on the front porch picking at my guitar and singing. This neighbour boy came up and asked me to play some more. ...
Dusty Springfield: Sunday Paper Scared off Dusty's Man
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 October 1965
THE DELECTABLE Miss Dusty Springfield was in candid mood when I spoke to her this week — about wigs, her nose . . . and ...
Andy Williams: Delighted Andy Williams Says Proudly Now I'm a British Pop Star!
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 22 October 1965
NMExclusive interview in Hollywood byTRACY THOMAS ...
The Yardbirds: Our Emotional Experiences in Sound! — by the Yardbirds
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 October 1965
IT COULD be the flop of the year — or it could be the biggest thing in package shows since the invention of the electric ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 October 1965
SONNY struck back last week! When I phoned him at his home in Los Angeles recently, I got him out of bed at five o'clock ...
The Walker Brothers: The Scott Walker Interview
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 October 1965
HIS MOTHER CALLS him "the madman." His manager, agent and publicist call him all kind of things when he disappears for days without telling anyone ...
The Fortunes: Fortunes Admit It: They Use Session Boys!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 29 October 1965
THE FORTUNES go on record as the first group I have met who have had the honesty to admit they use session musicians on their ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Hit Back
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 29 October 1965
TEATIME with the Rolling Stones in the Ready, Steady, Go! canteen proved most entertaining. David Jacobs was the conversational target to start with. Keith Richard ...
Peter and Gordon: Peter & Gordon Kill Split Rumours
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 November 1965
IF PETER and Gordon look just a little untidy when they appear on your TV screens in the Lennon-McCartney Spectacular at Christmas, you can put ...
The Animals: Animals Want to Wax a 'New Tracks' EP
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 November 1965
I PICKED up Eric Burdon at the BBC Maida Vale studios at 11 last Friday morning. ...
The Who: Smashing Time Costs WHO Fortune!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 November 1965
ANYONE WHO has ever seen a demolition gang smashing down a building will know what it's like when the Who get up steam. Their music ...
Len Barry, The Dovells, Bobby Vee: NMExclusive Interview with Len Barry
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 19 November 1965
...who talks about the disc nobody thought would make it! ...
The Toys: 'Toy June Is So Cute You'll Bite Her' says Toys' Manager!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 November 1965
LONDON-NEW YORK INTERVIEW by ALAN SMITH ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 December 1965
"CHUTCHY-FACE." That would have been comedian Bernie Winters' name for Cliff Richard only a few months ago, when Cliff was a chubby-cheeked character who could ...
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 December 1965
PROBABLY the oddest chart story of the year lies behind 'I Left My Heart In San Francisco' — the silky, sophisticated Tony Bennett disc which ...
The Beatles: ALAN SMITH goes on tour with THE BEATLES!
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 December 1965
LIKE SOMETHING from the world of James Bond and international intrigue, a sleek Austin Princess with black tinted windows headed out of London in the ...
Spencer Davis Group: New to the Charts: Spencer Davis Group Makes Stones Happy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 December 1965
THE GROUP that every other group — from the Stones to the Animals — wanted to have a hit, that's the Spencer Davis Group, and ...
Sandie Shaw: Sandie's Set To Act!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 December 1965
"'ELLO, IS THAT you? This is me. I've been trying to get through to you for over 20 minutes. What are you — a god ...
The Beatles, The Moody Blues: Odeon, Glasgow
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 December 1965
Beatles terrific... and rest of bill ...
The Who: Who Admit They're Feuding
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 December 1965
WHAT'S WRONG with the Who? Rumours that all is not well with the group have been circulating in show business circles for some weeks. ...
George Harrison, The Hollies: Hollies' Graham Nash Blasts back at George
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 December 1965
GEORGE HARRISON is probably the friendliest and most easy-going member of the Beatles. But something he said in the NME last week has brought him ...
Fontella Bass: Life-Lines of Fontella Bass
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 17 December 1965
Real name: Fontella Bass. ...
The Beatles: London Turns On The Beatlemania
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 December 1965
Another tour special by ALAN SMITH ...
The Walker Brothers: Thrown Out!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 December 1965
WALKER BROTHERS GET FLAT SMELLING 'FUNKY' THEN THEY'RE THROWN OUT! ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 December 1965
WHEN I SAW Kink Ray Davies last week he was wearing a blue suit, white ankle socks and a weak smile. He was playing a ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 December 1965
Reports KEITH ALTHAM who previews the show ...
The Beatles: What They Bought At Harrods
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 December 1965
CHRISTMAS comes but once a year... and when it comes it brings special problems for the Beatles. Those four famous faces can't just nip into ...
Cilla Black: Little Red Riding Hood, Wimbledon Theatre, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 31 December 1965
Cilla a most vital 'Red Riding Hood' ...
Spencer Davis Group: 'Keep Running' was Originally the Flip Reveals Spencer Davis
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 31 December 1965
APPARENTLY BATH was flooded on Monday morning and, following this momentous news, Spencer Davis decided he had time at last to come to the NME offices for ...
The Four Seasons: Seasons Hate Miming
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 31 December 1965
ANN MOSES talks with BOB GAUDIO ...
Otis Redding: Tracy Thomas discovers Stones Knock Otis Out!
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 31 December 1965
THEY call James Brown, "Mr. Dynamite," Roy Head is known as "Mr. Rubber Legs." But the title "Mr. Soul" belongs exclusively to Otis Redding, one ...
The Walker Brothers: We're Sure Glad We Came Here, Say Walker Brothers
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1966
THEY ARRIVED in Britain in February, 1965, because they felt that to achieve success in Britain was more important than doing so in the States. ...
Roger Miller: Coppers on Bikes Got Roger Miller Swinging!
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 7 January 1966
"England swings like a pendulum do. Bobbies on bicycles, two by two. Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Big Ben; The rosy-red cheeks of the little children." (Part ...
Gary Walker (Leeds), The Walker Brothers: Gary Walker
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 January 1966
"EVERYONE IN the Business will hate it," Gary declared. "And especially the good singers. It should sell about two million copies — at which point ...
The Kinks: Kinks Go For Spider Sound
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 January 1966
THE MYSTERIOUS Spider Korner who plays "seven" string guitar and "roams the world", is the musical influence behind the Kinks' next single, Dave Davies revealed ...
Fontella Bass: British Trip Caused Heartaches For Fontella
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 January 1966
AS A RESULT of her recent British visit I found that sensitive "soul" Fontella Bass suffering from a big back-ache and a little heartache just ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: Wedding Belles: George Pities Paul
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 January 1966
"I PITY Paul," said George Harrison, with a wry grin, "'cos now he's the only Beatle left, you lot will hound him all over the ...
Spencer Davis Group: Spencer Davis: He's Deep, Very Deep
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 February 1966
SPENCER David Nelson (his father was a paratrooper!) Davis soared in my estimation last Friday when he sent the Rolling Stones' chauffeur-driven Austin Princess to ...
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 11 February 1966
HER BOOTS may have been made for walkin'! But Nancy Sinatra's 'Boots' also jumped, ran and scrambled up the pop charts in both America and ...
The Rolling Stones : Neurotic Bird Song
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 February 1966
AN INTERVIEW with the Rolling Stones is something to go to with mixed feelings. The prospect of being confined in a small office off Baker ...
Spencer Davis Group: The Spencer Davis Group: Steve Winwood — Modest Wonder Boy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 February 1966
SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Steve Winwood "the boy wonder" in the Spencer Davis group (lead vocals, guitar, piano, vibes and drums) is a modest but "colourful" character! ...
The Walker Brothers: Walkers' Great Bodyguard!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 February 1966
IN STRODE the most enormous pair of grey jeans in the World and stood next to Scott Walker (a mere six foot) making him look ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boys' Fame Just Grew and Grew!
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 18 February 1966
THE FIVE Californian Beach Boys – Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine – began their music career with little intention of ...
Spencer Davis Group: Muff Winwood: Shy Guy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 February 1966
BASS guitarist Muff (in memory of "Muffin The Mule") Winwood is the Spencer who hides in the toilet when the photographers are about! ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Big Problems!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
STEVE MARRIOTT said: "Me muvver and farver kept on at me to get a decent job." ...
Sonny & Cher: Sonny, Cher back in the NME Chart
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
"TOO MANY records, too soon and too often." That was the verdict of the critics when Sonny and Cher slipped from the charts last October ...
Spencer Davis Group: Spotlight on the Spencers: Useful Pete
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
PETE YORK, 23-year- old drummer with Spencer Davis, is the one who quit and came back. ...
The Animals: Animals Took Liberty With Prison Song
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
"WE TOOK A terrible liberty with 'Inside Looking Out'," admits Eric Burdon. "It's the first number we've recorded without a tune. It originates from a ...
Jonathan King, The Mindbenders, Sandie Shaw: The Mindbenders: Danger From Clippy!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
AS I APPROACHED the Mindbenders' dressing room down in the vaults of the BBC-TV Centre, a young lady hurtled out of an adjacent ladies' room ...
The Mindbenders: Danger from Clippy!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
AS I APPROACHED the Mindbenders' dressing room down in the vaults of the BBC-TV Centre, a young lady hurtled out of an adjacent ladies' room ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 February 1966
THE MINDBENDERS have come a long way since the days when they were backing group to Wayne Fontana — and Wayne, believe it or not, ...
James Brown: Two Sides of James Brown
Report and Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 4 March 1966
JAMES BROWN. Such a plain name – they call him Mr. Dynamite. They are one person. But there are two faces to the entertainer. Thousands ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boy Brian Solo — Has Stand-In With Group!
Report and Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 11 March 1966
IMAGINE THE Stones planning their next British tour, knowing that Mick was going to stay in London and write songs! Or what if Spencer Davis ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 March 1966
AN INTENSE person, who is over sensitive to criticism of his work, I found Scott Engel (Walker) more than a little irked by Eric Burdon's ...
The Yardbirds: Yardbirds Split!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 March 1966
THE YARDBIRDS ARE to split – but only on disc! In the group's dressing room at Ready, Steady Go last Friday I spoke with manager ...
The Kinks: Kinks Don't Mind 'Formby Quartet' Tag
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 March 1966
IN A LARGE WHITE house in East Finchley with an orange door (which he says is "red"), in a room with orange walls and an ...
The Who: Who Are Going Around In 'Circles'
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 March 1966
FOLLOW this closely this is the saga of the group that is running around in "Circles" who else but the Who? ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 March 1966
LAST WEEK NME revealed that Bernard Webb, writer of Peter and Gordon's latest hit, 'Woman', was no less than Paul McCartney. The reason for the ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones Have Reached Peak At Home
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 March 1966
BRIAN JONES returned last week from his Australian-American exploits with innumerable albums by Ravi Shankar (an Indian citarist) and wearing his full-length Kangaroo coat. He ...
The Walker Brothers: Great To Be Alone At No. 1
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 March 1966
"IT'S GOOD to have it all to ourselves at the No. 1 spot this week," said Scott Engel when I spoke to him on Tuesday. ...
The Yardbirds: Yardbirds slam "live sound" critics
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 March 1966
NME READER Robin Segulem really lashed out in our "From You To Us" columns last week... and it was the Yardbirds who felt the sting. ...
The Rolling Stones: In Paris with the Rolling Stones
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 April 1966
Keith Altham finds there's never a dull moment! ...
The Rolling Stones: Olympia, Paris
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 April 1966
IN PARIS Keith Altham (flying as Keith Richard!) reports BILL STOPS BOMB EXPLOSION! ...
Simon & Garfunkel: New to the Charts: Enter the intellectual S & G!
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 8 April 1966
"LIFE IS like a game. Everyone keeps trying to find out how to win. If you stopped trying to discover this, life would be nothing." ...
The Rolling Stones: Aftermath (Decca)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 April 1966
NMExclusive track by track review of STONES NEW LP ...
The Who, The Yardbirds: With Who And 'Birds At Paris Allez-Oop!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 April 1966
READY, Steady, Allez-oops, from the Locomotive in Paris last Friday, was largely held together by the efforts of the Who and the Yardbirds, who were ...
Spencer Davis Group: 'Somebody' Makes No. 1 — But Too Quickly For Spence!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 April 1966
THAT WELL-known chart topper and expectant father ("If it's a bloke I'm going to call him Gregory") and man about Potters Bar Spencer Davis, ...
The Walker Brothers: Walker Hostility On The Wane
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 April 1966
BEING misunderstood is a full-time occupation for Scott Engel. As the Walker Brothers' reputation soars, so Scott manages to over-exercise his incredible talent for putting ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Now They All Want Paul Simon Songs!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 April 1966
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT influence in popular music today, since the emergence of that well-known Lennon-McCartney firm, seems to be the mini-sized music-maker Paul Simon, who ...
The Lovin' Spoonful: Nice, Abnormal Spoonful!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 April 1966
JOHN SEBASTIAN, twenty-one-year-old composer and singer of the Lovin' Spoonful's latest hit 'Daydream', which is currently No. 4 in America, arrived at the group's Pye ...
Manfred Mann: NME Chart Proves Manfreds Wrong
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 29 April 1966
DOWN AMONG the devil worshippers at the BBC Top Of The Pops studio last Thursday afternoon was Paul Jones, that disturbing combination of schoolboy charm ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 May 1966
THOUSANDS upon thousands of fans converging on the massive Wembley Empire Pool for the biggest pop show in the world on Sunday... the staggering, the ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich: Dave Dee Laughs, Too — All Way To The Bank!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 May 1966
DAVE DEE, DOZY, Beaky, Mick and Tich are a gift to mediocre comedians who fall about making "unpunny" remarks like: "Oh, yes, 'Wavy Lee, Drunken, ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan's Press Reception
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 May 1966
HAIR BRISTLING about like a Fijian suffering from a severe electrical shock, wearing a blue suede jacket and white striped trousers, Bob Dylan meandered into ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich: Focus on BEAKY and DOZY
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1966
BEAKY (real name John Dymond) is the gaunt-faced rhythm guitarist with the group whose sinister looks contradict his "matey" nature. He has a fund of ...
Percy Sledge: Blues Singer's Gamble Paid Off
Profile by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1966
TIME WAS when the biggest stars of show business had names like "Rock Stone" or "Lex Treason" — strong, rugged names that helped to give ...
The Small Faces: Steve Marriott: I'm A Raver, Not A Singer
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1966
THE SMALL ("ah! – aren't they cute?") Faces are doing BIG things on the pop scene. Their third big hit, self-penned and called 'Hey Girl', ...
The Animals: Animalisms (Decca) ****
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1966
ERIC RAVES ON "ANIMALS" NEW LP ...
The Beach Boys: Complex and Intricate
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1966
"THE BEACH Boys' ambassador in tennis shoes," as their publicist Derek Taylor so aptly describes new group member Bruce Johnston, surfed into the Waldorf Hotel ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Focus on MICK…and TICH
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1966
MICK began his musical career banging about on biscuit tins, inspired by Bill Haley records like 'See You Later Alligator'. "I just listened to the ...
Roy C: NMExclusive: ALAN SMITH has a Transatlantic Interview With ROY C
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 May 1966
'Shotgun' ended dire poverty ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1966
Mick Will Be Ernie In New Film ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 June 1966
THE TROGGS, who have a monster hit with 'Wild Thing', are still new and enthusiastic enough to be excited by the glamour and attention injected ...
The Animals: Could 'Don't Bring Me Down' Be Last Animals' Disc?
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 June 1966
Out of chaos came their 'best technical' recording, but Keith Altham gets a feeling quite unofficial that it might be, but hopes it ...
The Beatles, George Martin: The Beatles: Ringo Played Cards As Others Sang 'Paperback'!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 June 1966
...reveals GEORGE MARTIN, the Beatles' recording manager, in an interview with Alan Smith. ...
The Kinks: Kinks Keep To Humour On Discs
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 June 1966
WHAT with the new tattooed Kink; Ray Davies sniffing aesthetically into a brown paper bag; Bongo drums, metronomes, flute pumps and golf balls being bandied ...
The Beatles: My Broken Tooth — by Paul McCartney
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 June 1966
I HAVE interviewed Paul McCartney travelling in a car at speed. Battling up a crowded flight of stairs. In a smoky billiards room. On the ...
The Mamas and The Papas: The Mama and the Papas: The Morning after the Beatles' Night Before
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 June 1966
THE FIRST THING you discover about the Mamas and Papas is that they are not – although Papa John is married to Mama Michelle. The ...
Jonathan King, The Walker Brothers: Scott Walker: Scott Walker Hits Out Again
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 July 1966
FRANK SINATRA is back in the pop pillory, but the big surprise is that chucking the rotten eggs is not Mick "Paint Him Black" Jagger, ...
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 1 July 1966
SOUND MARS SPECTACULAR ...
The Troggs: From Nowhere The Troggs (Fontana)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 July 1966
Troggs' first LP — Track-by-track review by Keith Altham ...
Elvis Presley: Paradise Hawaiian Style
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 July 1966
Presley's usual (Hawaiian) style ...
Percy Sledge: EXHAUSTED! — That's The Price Percy Sledge Is Paying
Profile and Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 8 July 1966
Special from Tracy Thomas in Hollywood ...
The Kinks: Kinks Calm Over No. 1 News
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 July 1966
RAY DAVIES lifted the plastic lid covering his salad and viewed the mayonnaise disgustedly. "Oh, no – I hate ketchup!" he sighed and probed disdainfully ...
Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds: The Yardbirds: Why I Left and Why I Joined
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 July 1966
"I'M A BIT TOO old at twenty-three for all those screaming kids leaping about. I don't really think I'll be missed in the group – ...
Elvis Presley: Paradise Hawaiian Style – NME Readers Reply
Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 15 July 1966
B. UYDER, Sheffield: Why should Alan Smith (NME last week) have to apologise to Elvis fans for saying what he thinks of his new film ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Too Many Releases 'Kill' Simon And Garfunkel 'Rock' Single
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 July 1966
IN AUGUST, 1965, an album titled The Paul Simon Song Book was released by CBS featuring the composition 'I Am A Rock'. In September a ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Tina Turner Peels Potatoes as She Raves Over 'River Deep'
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 15 July 1966
"I WAS knocked out by 'River Deep' the first time I heard it," exclaimed Tina Turner, peeling potatoes over the sink of her Los Angeles ...
The Troggs: Troggs Have A Lot To Go Wild About
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 July 1966
REG PRESLEY and his band "barn" into the NME Chart this week with the highest entry — 'A Girl Like You' (No. 19) composed by ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis, Usually Surrounded By Girls, Is Now Encircled By Controversy
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
SOME Of Elvis' staunchest British fans want to boil me in oil again. Another suggests I lower myself into a spin-dryer and turn it on. ...
James Brown Shined Shoes Here!
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
"SHINE, MISTER?" a tiny shoeshine boy called after a passing businessman, who dismissed him with a shake of his head. The young Negro sighed and ...
Report and Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
THERE WAS excitement both inside and outside of the Los Angeles Sports Arena on Sunday, when the James Brown Show played to an audience of ...
The Beatles: John Lennon: 'A Subconscious Urge To Get Above People'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
Beatle Dreams by Alan Smith ...
The Rolling Stones: Jagger Phones From America
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
LAST FRIDAY Mick Jagger, the suppressed Stone, rang me at home from Missouri, where the group is in the middle of their U.S. tour. ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Tracy Thomas, in Hollywood, visits the Exciting Turner Family
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
THE TINY stage is packed; ten musicians in sleek, blue suits; the three young, pretty Ikettes in pop-art dresses; Ike Turner in more casual, but ...
The Beatles: Paul McCartney: 'I Get Caught Out In Street In Underwear!'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 29 July 1966
Beatle Dreams by Alan Smith ...
The Troggs: Troggs Went Wild Over Fan Slur
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 29 July 1966
THE TROGGS are "wild things" this week and the man responsible for raising the wrath of the West Country group is singer-journalist-composer-student and good all-round ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: ? Time with Beach Boy Brian Wilson
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 5 August 1966
THE Beach Boys — in demand for appearances all over the world — used to be one of the most difficult groups to track down. ...
Alan Price: 'Lili' Is A Fun Tune
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 August 1966
HAVING proved that it takes a worried man to sing a worried song with 'I Put A Spell On You', Alan Price has accomplished a ...
Andrew Loog Oldham, The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stone Oldham: Talented, Insulting, Outrageous
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 August 1966
ROLLING STONES manager Andrew Loog Oldham is on the move and as usual with this ubiquitous personality ("The Beach Boys' new single is not dedicated ...
The Rolling Stones: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 5 August 1966
Stones a hit at Bowl ...
Cream, Georgie Fame, The Who: The Who, Cream et al: National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor
Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 5 August 1966
Who 'wreck' festival ...
Paul and Barry Ryan: Ryans Feel Established
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 August 1966
I ARRIVED nearly an hour late at Harold Davison's Regent Street office for my interview with Paul and Barry Ryan due to freak monsoon weather ...
The Troggs: Double-Top Troggs In America And Britain!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 August 1966
LAST WEEK the Troggs were in the enviable position of being No. 1 in England with 'With A Girl Like You' and No. 1 in ...
The Beatles, George Martin: George Martin: Make Them Top Here!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 August 1966
NMExclusive: 'Submarine' recording hilarious recalls A&R manager GEORGE MARTIN to Alan Smith ...
Manfred Mann: New Mann d'Abo Hungry For Success
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 19 August 1966
IN SPITE OF certain visual evidence to the contrary — the differences between the new "Mann," Michael d'Abo (Cambridge University "sent down") and the old ...
The Temptations: The Trip, Los Angeles, CA
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 19 August 1966
Temptations go well at Los Angeles' Trip club ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 26 August 1966
CLIFF BENNETT, that well-known Cockney about Uxbridge, has made a welcome return to the NME Chart, courtesy of Lennon and McCartney's 'Got To Get You ...
The Lovin' Spoonful: Flashback For Lovin' Spoonful — To Days When They Were Just Kids
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 26 August 1966
Special from ANN MOSES in Hollywood ...
The Four Tops: Four Tops Kept Trying and Won!
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 August 1966
"IF AT FIRST you don't succeed, try, try again." A tired old saying, but it gets new life this week as the Four Tops climb ...
The Beatles: Shea Stadium, Queens, New York NY
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 26 August 1966
THE BEATLES THRILL 45,000 AT SHEA'S ...
The Walker Brothers: Portrait (Philips)
Review and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 26 August 1966
The Brothers produce a super Portrait album ...
The Beatles: Beatle Bravery Worth More Than Money
Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, 2 September 1966
A FEW days after the tornado, we're still recovering from the Beatles visit! The concert is over, and so is the tour. The amount the ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 September 1966
Communication means everything for Sonny & Cher ...
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 2 September 1966
Meanwhile, back in California... ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker Makes Fans Sit Up
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 September 1966
IT DIDN'T mean a thing in Britain ...but a record called 'Shotgun' was the one that blasted Junior Walker and the All-Stars to hit parade ...
Sonny & Cher: They're Pop's Most Lovable Couple
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 September 1966
IT'S THAT 'Little Man' again and bouncing back into the NME Chart this week at No. 18 comes popdom's most lovable couple, Mr. and Mrs. ...
The Small Faces: Steve Marriott: Everyone's 'Luv' And 'Mate'
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 September 1966
SHOULD Steve Marriott ever chance to meet royalty it would be safe to assume that within five minutes he would be calling them "luv" and ...
The Troggs: The Astonishing Troggs Do It Again!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 September 1966
THOSE astonishing Troggs have done it again! At the little Olympic studios, concealed in a small mews off Baker Street, during an incredible session Larry ...
Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers: Cliff Bennett
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 September 1966
AS CLIFF Bennett and the Rebel Rousers rocket their way up the NME Charts courtesy of Lennon and McCartney we questioned the leader about his ...
Lee Dorsey: Panel-Beating Gave Him Rhythm
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 September 1966
LEE DORSEY is a small, flyweight ex-boxer who always looks as if he doesn't know where his next dime is coming from. ...
The Small Faces: Small Face Kenny Keeps Quiet
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 September 1966
KENNY JONES is the lost Face. Like a great many group drummers he has been placed in the background and prefers to remain there. ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Mystery Man 'Plonk' Lane
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 September 1966
RONNIE PLONK LANE, bass guitarist and grand old man of the Small Faces at the age of 20, is the group's "Mysteryman." "Mystery" is Plonk's ...
Jim Reeves: Jim's First Number One
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 September 1966
From Tennessee Mrs. Mary Reeves says thanks for Jim's first number one ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Reveal Secrets
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 September 1966
LAST THURSDAY I went to see "Molly Richard" and "Sarah Jagger" – names Keith and Mick have been called since their famous photograph advertising the ...
The Small Faces: Mac's Flu Is Permanent!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 September 1966
"MAC"-FACE (Ian McLagan) says he was born in "Houns-low-on-mud" on May 12, 1946. of an Irish mother and a Scottish father, and he and his ...
The Walker Brothers: A Clever Singer Never Loses His Voice
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1966
THE WALKER-Troggs-Dave Dee popathalon (33 dates must make it a marathon tour) starts running at East Ham Granada tomorrow (Saturday), so last Monday I taxied ...
The Who: Drummer Moon On Zither, Double-Track Tuba, On Who LP
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 October 1966
IN AN Italian restaurant off London's Soho last Thursday, which boasts on the menu, "hilarious waiters and spaghetti alla vongole on Sunday" there was baby ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 October 1966
ACTION stations for Sonny and Cher. In a transatlantic phone call from his home in Encino, Sonny told me that their first film, Good Times, ...
The Rolling Stones: New Pop Generation's Revolution Is At Hand
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 October 1966
IN FLANAGAN'S bar off Kensington High Street, Keith Richard, Brian Jones and I were being watched by two bartenders in Edwardian dress and grey ...
The Four Tops: NME Chart News Woke Up The Four Tops In Record Time!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 October 1966
THE PHONE rang eleven times in Room 3055 at New York's Hilton Hotel before Lawrence Payton roused himself from his slumbers and dragged it towards ...
The Rolling Stones: Come Into Brian Jones' New Hideaway!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 October 1966
A ROLLING STONE in his own environment is a revelation. Brian's new home incorporates his liking for the dramatic with his taste for the antique. ...
The Troggs: Troggs: Trogg-Men Ridicule Song Ban
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 October 1966
FOLLOWING AUNTIE BBC's policy of giving The Troggs' new single, 'I Can't Control Myself' the cold shoulder with only restricted airplay, that land "down under" ...
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1966
"THE First is last and the last is first but the first, the second and the last are the Cream," so reads the perplexing handout ...
Graham Nash, The Hollies: Hollie Graham Nash Finds His Face!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1966
THE HOLLY WHO has found his face is Graham Nash. For too long the Hollies have been written about as "the faceless wonders of pop" ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1966
Eric Burdon Beats The Hecklers! Geno An Earthquake ! ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1966
THE TROGGS' lead guitarist, Chris Britton looks at women because he likes them — smiles at strangers as though he had known them all his ...
Chris Farlowe, Mick Jagger: Chris Farlowe: The Art Of Chris Farlowe
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 November 1966
TRACK BY TRACK OF THE ALBUM ...
Cliff Richard: Empire Theatre, Liverpool
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 4 November 1966
ON HIS LATEST TOUR CLIFF CHANGES DYLAN'S WORDS ...
Chris Farlowe, Mick Jagger: Jagger Talks About Farlowe LP
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 November 1966
MICK JAGGER'S latest line in telephone impersonations misfired last week when he rang to talk to me about the Chris Farlowe LP he has just ...
The Animals: Burdon's New Animals Not Set Yet
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 November 1966
SPEAKING this week to Eric Burdon, that well-known "Freak-about-town" (since "Freak-out" music is having a considerable influence on our Animal), he revealed to me that ...
The Troggs: Soft-hearted Reg Presley
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 November 1966
REGINALD MAURICE BALL is a soft-hearted ex-bricklayer born in Andover on June 12, 1943, who reads the Daily Mirror, is particularly sensitive to anything which ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boys Sensational Visit
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 November 1966
MY FIRST MISTAKE was trying to escape from London airport on Sunday morning, through approximately a thousand fans, with drummer Dennis Wilson, whom I later ...
Spencer Davis Group: Feuding Spencer Davis Group
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 November 1966
LAST Thursday at Shepherd's Bush Top Of The Pops studio there was the strange case of the group who did not appear to be talking ...
The Beach Boys, Lulu: Finsbury Park Astoria, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 November 1966
SCREAMERS SILENCED! ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boys' Crazy Last Night!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 November 1966
AMONG those getting in each others' way in the Beach Boys' dressing room at Hammersmith Odeon on Monday night were publicist Derek Taylor (minus moustache), ...
The Beach Boys: Meanwhile... What's BRIAN Doing Back at Base?
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 18 November 1966
WHILE THE Beach Boys are rocking Europe, BB-mastermind Brian Wilson, has not been resting on his and their laurels! ...
The Troggs: He's Got A Grip On Their Money
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 November 1966
THERE IS the air of a surprised cocker spaniel about Trogg drummer Ronnie Bond who uses his hands to communicate what his conversation lacks. He ...
The Hollies: For Certain Because (Parlophone)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 26 November 1966
HOLLIES MIX MOODS ON LP ...
The Easybeats: Easybeats Didn't Copy The Beatles
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 December 1966
THE EASYBEATS are new and young — all teenagers — and so are vital in a slightly sagging pop scene that was given a shot ...
The Animals: Eric Burdon Meets New Lennon And Harrison
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 December 1966
EVERYONE is talking about the new Animals. But few have spared a thought for the new Eric Burdon with "bluesynite," the wonder ingredient which enables ...
The Kinks: Kinks Have Problems
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 December 1966
CONSIDER, if you will, the disturbing fact that Ray Davies wants to be Walt Disney; Dave Davies is turning into a saxophonist; Pete Quaife is ...
The Troggs: Troggs Caged In Berlin Zoo!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 December 1966
ERIC BURDON, who is so devoted to the birds in London's St. James's Park, would love it here on the twelfth floor of the Berlin ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 December 1966
JIMMY RUFFIN is a tall, sad-looking figure, who looks as if he's speaking from experience when he asks: 'What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted?'. He doesn't ...
Spencer Davis Group: The Spencer Davis Group: Spencer Davis Played On Church Steps!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 December 1966
HERR SPENCER DAVIS is a top pop person in Germany, firstly because the young people like the group's earthy, exciting sound, and secondly they like ...
The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson: The Beach Boys: Danger Spice Of Dennis' Life
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 24 December 1966
A Beach Boy a Day by Tracy Thomas ...
The Who: Who's For A Merry Xmas!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 December 1966
WHO'S FOR a merry Christmas, then if we are to judge by their seasonal bounce up into the NME Top Twenty this week with ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 31 December 1966
Dusty wakes 'em ...
The Kinks: Future Of The Kinks
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 31 December 1966
BUSY DOING "nothing much" just prior to Christmas was Kink Mick Avory (an occupational hazard with this group at present) at his home in West ...
Donovan: All Things Bright and Beautiful
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 January 1967
At new Wimbledon home DONOVAN talks about shape of things to come ...
Jimi Hendrix: New To The Charts: Wild Jimi Hendrix
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 January 1967
THE MAN for whom the words "Wild One" were invented has hit us! Jimi Hendrix, 22, from Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., courtesy of ex-Animal Chas Chandler ...
The Rolling Stones: Between The Buttons (Decca)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 January 1967
The STONES' LATEST ALBUM, reviewed track-by-track by Keith Altham with special comments by Mick Jagger ...
Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers: Scott Walker: Chaos For Scott
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 January 1967
SCOTT ENGEL, the man likely to be more miserable than most in 1967, was in the highest spirits when I found him at his apartment ...
The Troggs: Trogg-Maker Reveals Secrets
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 January 1967
LARRY "Lawrence" to his friends Page is the one-man organisation behind the phenomenal success of the Troggs. Lawrence is the group's business manager; ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Beach Boy a Day: Brian — Loved or Loathed Genius
Profile by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 28 January 1967
IF YOU should ever meet Brian Wilson, you would either take to him or despise him immediately. His continual drive for a new "kick" would ...
The Rolling Stones: Jagger Scorns Critics
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 January 1967
THOSE naughty Rolling Stones the ones who write wicked things like 'Let's Spend The Night Together' wouldn't go on the nice man's roundabout ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 February 1967
THIS IS THE Cream interview which got loose in London ran wild over their publicists' office finally plunging from the depths of Mao ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 4 February 1967
FOUR TOPS HAD US ALL ON OUR FEET reports Alan Smith ...
The Rolling Stones: Our Fans Have Moved On With Us
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 February 1967
LET US consider that unique phenomenon the Rolling Stones' public image! ...
Kim Weston, Marvin Gaye: Marvin and Kim: Swingin' Twosome!
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 11 February 1967
SIX FEET high, aged 27, songwriter, athlete, ballad singer and rock 'n' roller — this is Marvin Gaye. Attractive, intelligent, married to a producer and ...
The Troggs: Trogglodynamite (Page One)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 February 1967
Keith Altham tracks down an undiluted pop album ...
Elvis Presley: A Word Picture Of Elvis
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 18 February 1967
His girl friend lives with his granny in here ► says next-door neighbour ...
The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: I Was Hungry, Ugly, Skinny, Poor! By MIKE NESMITH
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 18 February 1967
IT'S VERY hard for me to write about my life, since I can't remember farther back than two years! I don't think there's much of ...
Elvis Presley, Johnny Rivers: Johnny Rivers Knows the Sporty Elvis
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 February 1967
THE MAN called "the best handled myth in the world" is once more back in the NME Top Twenty with 'Indescribably Blue' — Elvis Aaron ...
Jim Reeves: Mary Reeves Tells Alan Smith About Jim's Greatest Tribute
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 February 1967
"THE MOST loyal people in the whole world" — those were the warm words with which Mary, widow of the late Jim Reeves, described British ...
Gene Pitney, Sounds Incorporated, The Troggs: Gene Pitney, The Troggs: Finsbury Park Astoria, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1967
Gene Captures Audience Despite Sitdown! Says Keith Altham ...
The Hollies: Elvis Inspired Hollies Hit
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1967
INFLUENCES behind the latest Hollies hit, 'On A Carousel' include Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and "Doddy". At least these were some of the inspirations which ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 February 1967
DAVY JONES the little Monkee with a big heart arrived via Nassau last week wearing a battered black top hat, purchased from a ...
The Animals, The New Vaudeville Band: Burdon Animals Toast of the Town
Report and Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, 26 February 1967
THIS WEEK was chat time with the new Animals, following their absolutely sensational, shattering opening night at Hunter College, New York City. It was also ...
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 26 February 1967
Down in the dumps ...
Tom Jones: One Hit A Year Will Suit Me says Tom Jones
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 February 1967
"'ANG ON a minute," cried Tom Jones briskly, "telephone call." He and his skintight houndstooth trousers fought a valiant battle for survival as he bounded ...
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 4 March 1967
P, P & M protest ...
The Monkees: Monkee Davy Talks About The Beatles
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 March 1967
"GEORGEP AULJOHNRINGO," our very own pop monster, has now grown to that exalted position where it is a kind of sacred cow whom none may ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 March 1967
WHENEVER returning from interviewing Donovan these days I feel that I've been the subject of a Sunday School treat. He surrounds himself with such nice ...
The Everly Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Herman's Hermits, Kim Weston: Marvin Gaye Is The Nicest Tamguy
Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 11 March 1967
MARVIN GAYE has got to be one of the nicest performers to come out of Motown headquarters in Detroit, which is famous for sending out ...
Petula Clark, Julie Felix, the Fortunes, Helen Shapiro: Palladium, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 11 March 1967
PET SMASH HIT ...
The Animals, Roy Orbison, The Who: Roy Orbison's Tour May Be Last
Report and Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, 11 March 1967
June Harris in New York ...
The Troggs: Trogg Reg Reveals Success Secret
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 March 1967
THERE WAS a touch of the "Ready Steady Ooops" about the Troggs' new single, 'Give It To Me', after it leapt high into the NME ...
John's Children: First Of The Anti-Lust Groups
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 March 1967
JOHN'S CHILDREN, who make their chart debut this week with their own composition 'Just What You Want' (Columbia) are described by their manager Simon Napier ...
The Hollies: We're As Psychedelic as a Pint o' Beer wi' t' Lads!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 March 1967
I HAVE NEWS for Hollies fans who think the whole group has suddenly become all psychedelic and way out of sight, baby! It hasn't. The ...
The Four Tops, The Temptations: Tamla Keeps Hits Rolling
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 March 1967
Wives taught us to dance — FOUR TOPS ...
The Royal Guardsmen: School-Going Guardsmen Still Sparetime Hitsters
Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, 25 March 1967
SNOOPY HAS turned out to be worth a cool three million discs for the Royal Guardsmen, but as far as the group's concerned, they're now ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 April 1967
WE WERE WELL and truly blitzed with "mini-happenings" on the Walker Brothers tour opening night, at Finsbury Park Astoria last Friday, when Jimi Hendrix literally ...
Otis Redding: A Talk With Otis Redding
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 April 1967
BIG OTIS REDDING tugged a comb through his wiry hair, wiped a trickling bead of perspiration from his glistening face, and sat edgily on a ...
Jimi Hendrix: Hendrix IS Out Of This World
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 April 1967
EVEN HIS EX-ANIMAL MANAGER NEEDS A SPLIT PERSONALITY! ...
Eddie Floyd: When's 'Wood' Gonna Lay Down and Die?
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 April 1967
ROLY-POLY Eddie Floyd beamed a big banana-sized grin. "Man," he said, "When am I gonna get a chance to get another record in the charts? ...
The Four Tops: Four Top A Week: Laurence Payton, The Quiet One
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 May 1967
LAURENCE the Top has a homely round face, honest, open eyes, and a liking for big shirts with big collars. He sits with his dark ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis' Wedding Secrets
Report by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
IT WAS 9.40 am on the morning of May 1 that Elvis Presley, the highest salaried male movie star in the world married Priscilla Ann ...
The Four Tops: Four Top A Week: How I Got Out Of The Ghetto by Renaldo Benson
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
TOP RENALDO is the most instantly likeable man I ever met. Happiness was made for Renaldo. It sparkles out of his honest eyes. It gleams ...
Helen Shapiro: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
HELEN SHAPIRO ON BEACH BILL ...
P.P. Arnold, The Nice: New to the Charts: Top Team Gives P.P. Her Debut
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
P.P. ARNOLD, from Los Angeles, makes her NME Chart debut this week with 'The First Cut Is The Deepest' (Immediate), aided and abetted by a talented team ...
Jimi Hendrix: Question Time with Jimi Hendrix
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
THE REAL JIMI HENDRIX is now beginning to emerge from behind that skilfully placed publicity screen of early days when success was too fragile to ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
POLL SHOW THRILLS ALL THE WAY ...
Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers: The Walker Brothers: Why The Walker Brothers Split Up
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 May 1967
"I WANT to make it clear that it was not solely my decision to break up the Walker Brothers, but for the first time in ...
The Four Tops: Four Top A Week: Easy-Going Abdul Fakir
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 May 1967
TOP ABDUL is the one the others call Duke — why, he doesn't quite know. Maybe it's his air of royal dignity. ...
Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced (Track)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1967
Track-by-Track on Jimi Hendrix debut album ...
The Who: 'Lily' Isn't Pornographic, Say Who
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1967
THE LUGUBRIOUS looking Pete Townshend with the mincer-like mind ground up an interesting selection of subjects for attention over a lemon tea in London's Act ...
Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra: Nancy Sinatra: Nancy Sets The Record Straight About Frank
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 May 1967
"I had to drag dad bodily into the studios to record 'Stupid'." ...
The Monkees: Colour Monkees Are Terrific
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
DAVY JONES is sitting in a chair facing the camera. His face has a rich brown tan, and his brown eyes and brown hair stand ...
The Four Tops: Four Top A Week: Levi The Leader
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
MUSTACHIOED LEVI Stubbs is the undoubted leader of the Four Tops — the man in front, the quiet man of influence, and a singer with ...
Jeff Beck Not Nearly So Wicked As He Thinks He Is!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
JEFF BECK gets a somewhat perverse satisfaction from having a "wicked" reputation in the pop business. At his best, he is a talented, guitar-perfectionist with ...
Procol Harum: Procol Crash In At No. 11!
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
WATCH OUT for Procol Harum. This British group with that beautiful, beautiful record called 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' is going to be one of ...
The Monkees: Monkees' Headquarters
Review by June Harris, Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
MONKEES' NEW LP TRACK-BY-TRACKFrom June Harris & Tracy Thomas in America ...
The Beach Boys: Two Things Make Beach Boys Sad
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
ONE OF the Beach Boys seemed very pleased about their new single when I visited their dressing room before a concert and their eventual departure ...
Mel Tormé: Talk of the Town, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 June 1967
CRISP, CRACKLING, sharp, superb, swinging, casual, brilliant, completely at ease, masterly, humorous, likeable — I could run out of superlatives for Mel Tormé, who opened ...
Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back (dir. D.A. Pennebaker)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 17 June 1967
BOB DYLAN'S first and only movie (so far) called Don't Look Back is currently being screened at an "underground" theatre in San Francisco, where it ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: No Beards for Dave Dee & Co!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 June 1967
ROLLING Stone Brian Jones once described himself as "a straight Ernie." And the same might be said of Dave Dee. An "Ernie," I was assured ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 June 1967
TONY HICKS is the young Hollie (21) who has just move into a neat new little mews house of Knightsbridge. ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 June 1967
WE DROVE to London Airport in Animal manager Mike Jeffery's Rolls-Royce while he dictated a few last minute instructions to assistant Tony Garland — "Ring ...
The Monkees, Ike & Tina Turner: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 24 June 1967
WELCOME MONKEES! And here is a preview of what you may see at Wembley... ...
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 1 July 1967
Who, Jimi win high praise ...
Procol Harum: I Knew Procol Would Be A Success
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 July 1967
says KEITH REID the man who created the group – to ALAN SMITH ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 July 1967
"SOMEONE has just shot our gardener – I can't speak to you just now. Come up tomorrow," invited a harassed John Phillips, of the Mamas ...
Scott Walker: Scott Keeps One Step Ahead
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 July 1967
AND SO THE moving singer, having moved — moves on. Scott Walker is still one jump ahead of the fans in his pursuit of privacy. ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boys 'Heroes' leaps in at No. 16 and Bruce's trip pays off!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, August 1967
WELL, THAT was Bruce Johnston, that was! The Beach Boys' all-purpose, all-weather, swing-winged auxiliary and unpaid publicist promoting 'Heroes And Villains' in England last week. ...
Scott McKenzie: I'm No Professional Flower Child
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 August 1967
"I AM NOT A professional flower child," stressed Scott McKenzie over the transatlantic phone wire. "I'd rather carry a flower than a gun. But I ...
The Monkees: Bob Rafelson: Man Behind The Monkees
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 August 1967
Why I picked THESE four ...
Dave Davies: Kink Dave Embarrassed by 'Clown' Hit
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 August 1967
WITH THE solo success of 'Death Of A Clown' times are a changing for Dave Davies. He is both delighted and nervous over the success ...
Gladys Knight & The Pips: Glad Loses Pip!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 August 1967
IT WAS ENOUGH to give Gladys Knight the pip, the tough struggle this attractive Tamla singer had in getting a hit in Britain. For a ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Interviews with Mick Jagger and Bill Wyman
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 August 1967
THE NEW MUSICAL Express versus Michael Philip Jagger Friday, August 4,1967 in his managers' chambers of high appeal New Oxford Street, London, ...
The Rolling Stones: 'We Love You'
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 August 1967
MICK JAGGER gave me the preview of the new Stones single, 'We Love You'/'Dandelion' last Friday in manager Andrew Oldham's office and looked enquiringly across ...
John Lennon: How I Won The War (Dir. Richard Lester, United Artists)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 August 1967
HOW DID JOHN LENNON WIN STAR BILLING? asks ALAN SMITH ...
Alan Price: 'Jack' a Now or Never Hit
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 19 August 1967
"IT WAS really a question of now or never," was how Alan Price referred to his composition 'The House That Jack Built', over lunch in ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 August 1967
"ELVIS," SAID Nancy Sinatra, as she drew back the curtains and looked out at the sun shining down on Los Angeles, "is at once a ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Youth has saved Faces
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 26 August 1967
IT HAS been an Immediate success story for the Small Faces this year — at No. 15 in the NME Chart with 'Itchycoo Park' — ...
The Doors, Jefferson Airplane: Jeffersons, Doors are Tops
Profile by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 2 September 1967
LET ME TELL you about the two groups which are currently the most popular in America: the Doors and Jefferson Airplane. Both have been playing ...
Jimi Hendrix: Hendrix Admits Lamp Is A Bit Smoky
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 September 1967
TIME TO TUCK the tiny tots up and put them safely abed with a nice Monkees' record! Why? Because "the electric bogeyman" is back in ...
Traffic: Uncontrollable Traffic
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 September 1967
KEITH ALTHAM pins down a highly elusive group... ...
Marianne Faithfull, The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones Starting To Mellow
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 September 1967
THE TIMES THEY have a-changed, as Bob Dylan predicted and with them the Rolling Stones. There was a time when one approached a ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces Fun World
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 September 1967
A FUNNY THING happened to me on the way through Chiswick Park recently to meet the Small Faces. For "starters" there were printed placards pinned ...
The Righteous Brothers: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 23 September 1967
AS YET ANOTHER of the many examples of how extensive is rock 'n' roll's acceptance by the adult world, the Righteous Brothers are currently packing ...
Herman's Hermits, The Who: The Who, Herman's Hermits: Anaheim Convention, Anaheim CA
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 23 September 1967
Who steal the show from Hermans Hermits ...
Frankie Vaughan: I'll Never Change Now Says Frankie
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967
It's top hat and cane for ever ...
The Monkees: It's Monkeeteers Now! — all forone and one for all
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967
Says MONKEE friend, SAMANTHA JUSTE to ALAN SMITH ...
Scott Walker Hides Away In A Gloom-World
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967
BIG LOUIE is the first person you meet when calling at the secluded terrace house, off London's Regent's Park — the latest home of Scott ...
The Animals: Question Time With....Eric Burdon
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967
IT SHOULD, OF course, be Eric Burdon and the "anything but the Animals," because this new group has about as much connection with the original ...
Traffic's British Stage Debut Was Well Worth Waiting For
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967
TRAFFIC HAVE been a long time getting it all together but last Sunday's debut at the London Saville proved that it has been well worth ...
Traffic's Dave Mason — Pop Face Of 1967
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 October 1967
REMEMBER the teenage idol all liquid eyes, milk teeth, Cupid's bow and simply oozing with the wonder ingredient, sex appeal? Eyes right and you ...
The Move Don't Care About Top Billing
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 October 1967
THANK goodness for Carl Wayne of the Move! It is a long time since I have found anyone new to the scene so pleasant, co-operative ...
The Small Faces: Travel is A Nightmare
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 October 1967
THE SMALL FACES most often through no fault of their own find great difficulty in getting from place to place, i.e. interviews, photographic ...
The Mamas and The Papas: The Big Mamas And Papas Mystery
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 October 1967
NOW YOU see them now you don't! The Mamas and Papas have cancelled their projected concert at the Royal Albert Hall on October 30. ...
The Herd Take Over As Screamers' New Idols
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1967
MY CONTENDER as the man "most likely to get ripped to pieces by hysterical females" in 1967 is Peter Frampton, the seventeen-year-old vocal-guitarist with the ...
The Who: Who Ready To Hit You With New Ideas
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 28 October 1967
AFTER six weeks with "the last Schmaltz" it is good to find the Who back in the charts with a new single, 'I Can See ...
The Kinks, Ray Davies: Ray Davies
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 November 1967
THERE is something of the smoking volcano about Ray Davies. Six foot of suppressed quietly spoken, quietly smiling and quietly watching! It is what some ...
Sandie Shaw: Her Anatomical Assets
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 November 1967
PROVING quite conclusively that she has legs right up to her shoulders, Sandie Shaw wearing her self-designed string mini dress (or was it a vest?) ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Cream: Taking the Saville By Storm: Cream
Review by Nick Logan, New Musical Express, 4 November 1967
THE soaring, singing guitar, the elegant artistry of Eric Clapton... a tortured Jack Bruce jerking out the blues like a puppet stitched by machine ...
Aretha Franklin: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 11 November 1967
ARETHA IS great — Aretha is sensational! Aretha is the finest girl blues singer in this country, bar one, and she proved it beyond any ...
The Herd, Traffic, The Who: Traffic, The Who, The Herd: Danger: Who At Work!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 November 1967
THE WHO-TRAFFIC-Herd-Tremeloe tour, while proving to be a sell-out attraction, has caused a certain amount of anxiety among those people whose job it is to ...
The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes: The Supremes: Psychedelic Tamla!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 November 1967
Brian Holland, one of Motown's famous composing team, speaks to Alan Smith, and tells about PSYCHEDELIC TAMLA! ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 November 1967
HERE COMES the pop phoenix again! Arising from what so many cynics thought were their own ashes, the Troggs now have their sixth smash hit ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 November 1967
I WENT several rounds with Eve Taylor and Sandie Shaw over dinner last Friday, where among other things we discussed her performance at last week's ...
Jimi Hendrix: The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Axis: Bold As Love (Track)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 November 1967
UFO COULD BE JIMI! ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 December 1967
KINDLY RAISE YOUR hands in the air. Empty your mind on to the desk and your brains into the ash-tray. Now let us see what ...
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 December 1967
TRAFFIC IN the City may have come to a stand-still due to the recent rail dispute, but Traffic in the charts is still moving full ...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 December 1967
THE BIRTH of the Traffic was this year after months of planning and searching and getting themselves together. ...
The Beach Boys: 1968 Will See Better Things From The Beach Boys
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 December 1967
DESPITE THE fact that the Beach Boys new single, 'Wild Honey' is having a sticky time in the charts, the group is still able to ...
The Beach Boys: Wild Honey (Capitol)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 December 1967
THE BEACH Boys new album, Wild Honey (Capitol), to be released in late January, is the antidote for all those who were confused and a ...
The Rolling Stones: The Banned Stones Cover
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1968
It is We against Them-and They time again in the Rolling Stones life, as they run head-on into another fracas with the oldies. This time ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces star Steve Marriott Declares 'Tin Soldier' The Real Us
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 January 1968
ONCE MORE unto Andrew Oldham's inner sanctum off Oxford Street to interview his group — the Small Faces — and discuss the fate of 'Tin ...
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 6 January 1968
Butterfield come-back ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 January 1968
TRAFFIC is now on the move again but as a trio. So it was that I scaled the eight flights to drummer Jim Capaldi's Earl's ...
Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia)
Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 20 January 1968
DYLAN'S NEW LP IS GIGANTIC WINNER ...
Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia)
Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 20 January 1968
DYLAN'S NEW LP IS GIGANTIC WINNER ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 January 1968
A ROLLING STONE, having rolled, has come to rest in a magnificent, centuries old manor house, just outside Lewes in Sussex, which was reputedly used ...
Plastic Penny: Put Scratch On Record
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 January 1968
A PLASTIC penny for your thoughts then, or to be more precise, tuppence-worth in the shape of vocalist Brian Keith and organist Paul Raymond who ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces Shatter Old Image
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 January 1968
THAT'S my body you're laughing at!" said Ronnie Lane indignantly, having removed his shirt to reveal a torso which could have given Charles Atlas a ...
The Supremes: Supremes Live It Up In London
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 January 1968
THE SUPREMES didn't sleep for two days at the weekend, then they flew from the warmth of Cannes to the chill of London, after which ...
The Supremes: Talk of the Town, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 January 1968
A WHO'S WHO of British show business made up most of the audience (note I didn't say sat in the audience; half of 'em were ...
The Moody Blues: Moody Blues Deserve Much Greater Success
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 February 1968
AT A TIME when the charts do not testify to any great composing originality — except for Lennon-McCartney — there is one disc staggering about ...
The Supremes: Supremes Heart Chat!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 February 1968
YOU COULD see it: the Supremes were overwhelmed. They sat there in the room and hit back with answers as best they could. Reporters and ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 February 1968
THERE ARE few people in pop who deserve as much respect as that truculent Geordie with the big baby face, who speaks through his nose ...
The Foundations: Alan Smith Finds Foundations An Unusual 'Bunch'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 February 1968
THE BEATLES had it. So did Gerry "Engelbert Humperdinck" Dorsey, the Four Tops and Tom Jones. I'm talking about faith — an artist's faith in ...
Mike D'Abo, Manfred Mann: Manfred Mann's Mike d'Abo
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 February 1968
MICHAEL D'ABO is anxiously searching for Michael d'Abo. At his London home he and I looked everywhere for him with the assistance of a beautiful ...
The Bee Gees: Anaheim Convention Centre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 10 February 1968
BEE GEES TRIUMPH ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces Sink Australia
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 February 1968
THE ABOVE head-line was sarcastically suggested by Ronnie Lane, who declared after the group's recent trip down under "they would even have accused us of ...
The Scaffold: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 February 1968
THANK U SCAFFOLD ...
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 24 February 1968
Peter Tork gives party guests healthfood ...
Tom Jones: Copacabana, New York NY
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 24 February 1968
Tom Jones took my advice! ...
Profile by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 2 March 1968
IMITATORS and/or carbon copies of top groups seldom make it big in the business of pop. But a probable exception may be Blue Cheer, who ...
Cream: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 2 March 1968
THE CREAM met great success here. when they played before 300 people a night at the Whisky-a-Go-Go last year. This trip they got equal acclaim ...
Otis Redding: Otis New Hit His Greatest Tribute
Comment by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 2 March 1968
DURING HIS all-too-brief lifetime, Otis Redding was respected by the world of music — and virtually ignored in his own home town of Macon, Georgia. ...
The Foundations: Foundation Clem Reveals Popland's 'Black Spots'
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 9 March 1968
MENTION SCOTLAND to Clem Curtis and he grimaces. Mention Ireland and you get an "Oh man" reply, with an anguished expression. But mention Amsterdam and ...
Jeff Beck: What Do The Fans Want From Me? Pleads Jeff Beck
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 9 March 1968
TO THOSE who remember the raving old days at the Richmond Crawdaddy with "geezers" hanging from the rafters in ecstasy whenever Eric "Slowhand" Clapton did ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Are On The Rampage Once More
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 March 1968
NME's Keith Altham finds to his cost! ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boys Meet Elvis
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 March 1968
THE BEACH Boys meet Elvis! Beach Boys tour with London Philharmonic Orchestra? Bruce Johnston sings Lennon and McCartney! Beach Boys to do rock 'n' roll ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Dave Dee: Dave Dee Whips Up Fans
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 March 1968
ALL this "Marquis de Sade" and "Kiss of the Whip" bit is somewhat wasted on Dave Dee! He's about as kinky as a pint of ...
1910 Fruitgum Company: Simon's not our bag, says Fruitgum Co.
Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, April 1968
I HAD A wonderful chat with two members of the 1910 Fruitgum Company this week about the success of 'Simon Says' in the U.K. and ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 April 1968
Concert review by Keith Altham ...
Esther and Abi Ofarim: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 April 1968
MEMORABLE NIGHT FROM ESTHER & ABI ...
The Beach Boys, The Beatles: Maharishi links Beatles and Beach Boys
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 April 1968
NME helps find World Peace venue ...
Arthur Conley, Otis Redding: Conley Cuts Tribute to Otis
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 April 1968
A RECORD tracing the deep bond of friendship and artistic respect between Otis Redding and himself has been waxed by Otis' "Soul Protégé" Arthur Conley. ...
Reparata & the Delrons: Sets of Three
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 13 April 1968
'Captain' hit big surprise for Reparata ...
The Small Faces: At Home With Face Steve...What An Experience!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 April 1968
TO VISIT the Thameside abode of Small Face Steve Marriott is something of an experience — to put it mildly! Come with me and you'll ...
Bobby Goldsboro: Before 'Honey' I Had Almost Given Up Hope, Says Bobby Goldsboro
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 4 May 1968
HIT AFTER HIT has been written by Bobby Goldsboro, but for other people as far as Britain is concerned. His own songs have taken him ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces Thought ‘Sunday’ Too Much Of A Joke
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 4 May 1968
ONCE more unto the magic cave better described as Andrew Oldhams emporium from whence all things Immediate happen and the office where I ...
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 4 May 1968
Mike Nesmith wanted me to expose how rude he is reveals Ann Moses in this NMExclusive from Hollywood. ...
Otis Redding: A Sad Reminder Of The Great Otis: Otis Redding: Dock Of The Bay
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 11 May 1968
ALMOST EVERY TRACK of Otis Redding's new Dock Of The Bay album is a constant and sad reminder of the sheer soul — there is, ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 May 1968
ONE-HIT-WONDER groups have been coming and going ever since pop music began but one group likely to stay the pace are the four Londoners called ...
The Hollies, Graham Nash: Graham May Split The Hollies
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 May 1968
He talks about this... his ego... the future... his faith in God... and the Hollies, Scaffold, Paul Jones tour ...
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap: Californian Union Gap Spurn The Psychedelic
Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, 25 May 1968
Want second hit before trip here ...
The Small Faces: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 May 1968
THE SMALL Faces new album Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (Immediate), apart from being encased in the first circular sleeve I have ever seen, is a ...
The Animals, Zoot Money: Eric Burdon & The Animals with Zoot Money: The Revolution, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 June 1968
POWERFUL ERIC ...
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 1 June 1968
NANCY SINATRA is a flag, waver and you know it the minute you walk into her brand new Boots Enterprises office above the Sunset Strip. ...
The Rolling Stones: The Stones In-Session
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 June 1968
OUTSIDE THE recording studio there were two little teeny-boppers from a by-gone age, sheltering from the rain in a shop doorway in the hope of ...
Aretha Franklin: Houseproud Aretha Loves To Get Home
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 June 1968
"SIDDOWN," said the Queen of Soul. So I saddown — on a plush settee in a room at the Dorchester — and Lady Aretha excused ...
The Equals: Rehearsal track gives the Equals hit
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 June 1968
I HAVE NEWS for groups and singers who consider it's always necessary to do about 50 "takes" before they get their records to the right ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Set Studio On Fire!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 June 1968
First film gets off to a blazing start ...
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap: Union Gap Play Only Own Songs On Stage
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 22 June 1968
THE SUPREMES, the Animals and Union Cap have one thing in common — they all now feature the name of their lead singer before that ...
The Equals: Equals Stunned By No. 3 Hit
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 29 June 1968
EVEN THE Equals can't believe an old half-forgotten track like 'Baby Come Back' could have boosted them from nowhere right up into the big money-earning ...
The Herd, Scott Walker: Scott Walker, The Herd: The Dome, Brighton
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 29 June 1968
GREAT SCOTT! That's my immediate reaction after seeing and hearing Scott Walker break through the scream barrier last Friday evening at the Brighton Dome. The ...
Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart: Standing Ovation For Jeff Beck
Report by June Harris, New Musical Express, 29 June 1968
THE GREATEST thing happened in New York last Friday. On his first performance in this country, Jeff Beck became a star. Even in his Yardbird ...
Dusty Springfield: Dusty Says 'I Want To Hit Back'
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 July 1968
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD would, I was informed, like to "hit back!" Now this did not sound like the fun-loving lass I knew of old. A skilfully ...
Gene Pitney: Variety Club, Batley
Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 6 July 1968
VERSATILE PITNEY ...
Pentangle: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 6 July 1968
Pentangle's big debut ...
The Monkees: Question Time With Monkee Davy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 July 1968
BEFORE Davy Jones completed his famous disappearing trick and returned to America, I joined the hordes of reporters and photographers waiting to see "Mighty-Monkee" at ...
Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris: Richard Harris Talks About Jim Webb
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 July 1968
On transatlantic phone to NME's Keith Altham ...
Tiny Tim: Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 13 July 1968
TINY TIM IS BIG ENJOYMENT says ANN MOSES from Hollywood ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Nine Hits In A Row
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 July 1968
WHEN I arrived at the Lime Grove TV studios it was to find that Tich, Mick, Beaky, Dozy and Dave Dee (how about that for ...
Elvis Presley: In TV-Film Show With Elvis!
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 20 July 1968
On steps five feet from him ...
Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris: Richard Harris: A Tramp Shining (Dunhill)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 July 1968
RICHARD HARRIS-JIM WEBB LP MUST BE BEST SELLER ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: We're Getting Better Ideas
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 July 1968
HAVING nipped smartly into the No. 1 best selling album slot with Ogdens Nut Gone Flake, the Small Faces are now deservedly considered big wheels ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Clubs Give Sly And Family First Hit
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 July 1968
ANOTHER example of discotheques and clubs turning a little-known group into a hit outfit comes in the shape of Sly and the Family Stone who ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis Takes Off Tiny Tim And Richard Harris
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 27 July 1968
The continuing story of ELVIS and ANN MOSES (Editor of Tiger Beat) ...
Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Brings Manager's New Club Roof Down!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 July 1968
JIMI HENDRIX literally brought the roof down on the opening night at his manager's club, Sergeant Peppers in Majorca by the simple expedient of ramming ...
The Equals: Thwarted Fans Threaten Equals With Bomb!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 July 1968
TAKE THREE distinct styles of music — out-and-out Soul, happy-to-be-in-de-sunshine Calypso, and straight commercial Pop — and the chances are you'll find three distinct sets ...
Tommy James & The Shondells: The Chart Toppers Phone NME From New York
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 July 1968
TOMMY JAMES and the Shondells are going into the studios this week to record some new Beatle songs and one of them may be their ...
Dusty Springfield: Dusty Feels Like Two People
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 August 1968
ALAN SMITH discovers during a late-night QUESTION TIME ...
Herb Alpert: My 'Guy' Called For No Great Vocal Pipes!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 August 1968
Says Herb Alpert to Alan Smith ...
O.C. Smith: Tired But Amiable O.C
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 3 August 1968
THE COLOUR problem in America is, of course, far worse than it is here. Pop music, however, has alleviated some of the tension, according to ...
Richard Green Takes You Out To An In-Party! At The Revolution In London
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 3 August 1968
GO DOWN TO the Revolution, we thought. Take a photographer and get some pictures of the star names. And what a night we picked! It ...
Don Partridge: Don Partridge (Columbia)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 August 1968
'DOCK OF THE BAY' is a beautifully balanced version of the Otis Redding hit with addition of flute and organ but the surprising feature for ...
The Small Faces: Faces Shatter Country Calm
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 August 1968
...in their Bucks hideaway invaded by Keith Altham ...
Roy Orbison: Talk Of The Town, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 August 1968
Orbison needs do no more than sing ...
The Beatles: "Beatles' Loose Habit Of Recording"
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 August 1968
Paul McCartney in a no-punches pulled interview with NME's Alan Smith ...
Live Review by Keith Altham, Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 August 1968
STARS, SUNSHINE and a SHAMBLES ...
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 17 August 1968
NEWPORT FESTIVAL FAILURE ...
Sly & The Family Stone: Sly Buries Underground And Has Fun!
Profile and Interview by June Harris, New Musical Express, 24 August 1968
YOU'LL JUST love Sly and the Family Stone when you see them next month. They're what I call a fun group, who get a kick ...
The Kinks: The One-up Kink: Raymond Douglas Davies
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 31 August 1968
RAYMOND DOUGLAS DAVIES, as he now insists on being referred to, is one who excels in the unexpected and the slightly bizarre. He is probably ...
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 31 August 1968
RASCALS ARE FINEST! ...
The Doors, Jefferson Airplane: The Doors/Jefferson Airplane: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Derek Grant, New Musical Express, September 1968
THE RUMOURS were flying. Doors drummer John Densmore was missing. The groups were arguing as to who would go on first. There was some speculation ...
Aretha Franklin: Alan Smith Discovers That Aretha (26) Feels She's A Lot Older
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968
...because she's lived such a hard life ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boys still meditate despite losing fortune touring with Maharishi!
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968
...reports BRUCE JOHNSTON to NME'S KEITH ALTHAM ...
Johnny Nash: Rock-Steady is Coming
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968
JOHNNY NASH arrived in London on Tuesday for six days to promote his hit single, 'Hold Me Tight', with the message that Rock-Steady is on ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Topless Dancers Drove Me Out says Sly of the Family Stone
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968
TOPLESS DANCERS and the resultant craze in San Francisco became so too much for a young musician that he left his job, became a record ...
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968
Observe four old young men known just as Traffic/Suffer their tedious setting the stage/Then hark to their magical music and live it/And when the fuzz ...
Amen Corner: Amen Andy Is New Teen Idol
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
JUST as everyone was beginning to think that the day of the teenage idol was over, another young 'god' has come quietly and modestly upon ...
Canned Heat: Revolution, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
"IT'S A LOW-down... dirty shame," sang big Bob Hite, lead singer with Canned Heat, when the American blues group in the NME Chart with 'On ...
Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Mayall Helps Mac Break Into Singles
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
ACE BLUESMAN John Mayall went to a concert given by super ace bluesman B.B. King in America, took a tape recording of it and later ...
The Rolling Stones: The Banned Stones' LP Cover...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
Mick Jagger protests against 'Dylan offensive' charge ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 September 1968
GREAT TRAFFIC LP ...
Canned Heat Have Sunflower, Bear & Tree Man!
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 September 1968
THIS IS the story of Canned Heat, a young lady, myself and the Incredible Sliding Bed (in fact, two Incredible Sliding Beds). You are invited ...
The Rolling Stones: Our Live Shows More Subversive Than 'Street Fightin' Man'! admits Keith Richard
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 September 1968
Part two of the Jagger-fights-on story. ...
The Nice: Richard Green goes afloat with Nice
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 September 1968
And nearly goes down with them! ...
The Kinks: The Village Green Preservation Society (Pye)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 September 1968
KINKS REMINISCING ON THE VILLAGE GREEN ...
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 5 October 1968
IT IS VERY unlikely that the Editor will send me to Biafra to cover the war for the NME or that I shall be asked ...
The Herd: After Big Split Herd Out Of Exile
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 October 1968
YOU MAY NOT have seen much of the Herd recently since their self-imposed retreat following a dispute with managers Howard and Blaikley, but I have ...
Aretha Franklin: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 12 October 1968
ARETHA FRANKLIN, the first lady of soul, appeared at Philharmonic Hall last weekend and was the guest of honour at a huge dinner party thrown ...
Joe Cocker: John And Paul Send Their Thanks To Joe
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 October 1968
"WITH A Little Help From Our Friends" Lennon and McCartney, 23-year-old Sheffield born, Joe Cocker makes a welcome appearance in our charts this week with ...
Jose Feliciano: Jose Makes Old Very Avantgarde
Profile and Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 12 October 1968
IF, AS THE cynics say, there is nothing new in the world, then the mark of the truly creative performer is one who can make ...
Joe Cocker: I'm Not A Pop Pin-Up... I'm Gruesome
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 26 October 1968
NME's Keith Altham quizzes a happy JOE COCKER who this week leaps to No 6. ...
Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: I Miss Mick's Bath Scene
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 November 1968
...moans KEITH ALTHAM but catches up with Jagger later ...
The Beatles: The Beatles (Apple)
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 November 1968
BEATLES DOUBLE-LP IN FULL The Brilliant, the Bad and the Ugly — Track-by-Track review of 30 songs ...
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 November 1968
TINY'S BIG HIT ...
Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (Dir. Don Pennebaker)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 November 1968
Evil genius? Volatile? Merciless? Hydra headed Monster? Film shows other side of Bob Dylan ...
The Rolling Stones: One Plus One (Dir. Jean Luc Godard)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 November 1968
COMING NOT-too-shortly, I hope (the official London premiere is at the National Film Theatre on November 25) — the Rolling Stones in One Plus One ...
Aphrodite's Child: Greek Chartsters
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 November 1968
'RAIN AND TEARS' is one of those songs with a prickle at the nape of the neck moving to a shiver down the spine, and ...
The Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet (Decca)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 November 1968
I KEEP changing my mind about Beggars Banquet which is the Rolling Stones new album in the sleeve which has now been passed fit for ...
Jeannie C. Riley: A Wild Jeannie
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 November 1968
PARAGON PUBLICITY use a Rolls and a chauffeur to get me to Jeannie C. Riley ("it belonged to the Beatles," says the man proudly, "but ...
Joe Cocker: Hit Single Was Just A Fluke
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 November 1968
New LP is much more important he tells RICHARD GREEN ...
The Beatles: The Beatles (The White Album)
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 November 1968
BEATLES CHART HISTORY BY GETTING DOUBLE LP IN. ...
The Beatles: Paul Recalls Inspirations Of LP
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 November 1968
PAUL McCARTNEY has been talking about The Beatles' new double-album and he is understandably and humanly chuffed at the cover versions of his songs. He ...
Love Sculpture: Amen's Andy Tipped Love Sculpture
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 December 1968
AMEN CORNER'S Andy Fairweather-Low has recently been bending my ear about a Welsh trio called Love Sculpture who, he felt sure, were going to be ...
The Beach Boys, Barry Ryan: Palladium, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 December 1968
Beach Boys' magic ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby Stills & Nash: Splitting Holly Graham Forms Group That Isn't
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 14 December 1968
TO THE MOSCOW Road, London W.2., where Mr. Graham Nash had news and views and also the company of Mr. David Crosby and Mr. Stephen ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis (NBC Television Special)
Film/DVD/TV Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 14 December 1968
Elvis television triumph ...
Eric Clapton, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, The Who: Rolling Stones: The Greatest Show On Earth
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 December 1968
THE ROLLING STONES put in some overtime last Wednesday when they spent 17 hours working on their telethon production of The Rock and Roll Circus ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Film Graduation For Simon, Garfunkel
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1969
"THE Graduate, the film which features Mrs. Robinson, has given Simon and Garfunkel the kind of status in America that the Beatles have now," their ...
Scott Walker: Scott His Own Worst Enemy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1969
SCOTT WALKER is a super talent who will probably never become a Super-Star because he will defeat himself or maybe more simply he will deliberately ...
Booker T & The MGs: Booker T. puts hits before tours
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 January 1969
SOUL is a much maligned word which tends to bring a sneer to the lips of the musical cynics, probably because there has been so ...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 January 1969
LULU IS finding that twenty four hours are not enough to cope with her string of commitments which includes a television series, the Eurovision Song ...
Hair: Not a Show for the Sqeamish — for Audience or the Cast!
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 February 1969
WHATEVER the Lord Chamberlain may have thought about Hair, its message and content, the cast agree on one thing — it is not a shocking ...
Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield: Jerry Wexler: 'Team Work Is Secret Of Atlantic's Soul Success'
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 February 1969
Label chief JERRY WEXLER talking to Alan Smith ...
Canned Heat Fight Blues Prejudice
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 February 1969
LIBERTY RECORDS took their time releasing Canned Heat's 'Going Up Country', follow-up to 'On The Road Again', and frankly I had thought that the heat ...
Stevie Wonder: Two Sides of the Great Stevie Wonder
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 February 1969
Stevie champions the under dogs; Musically he's only at the beginning ...
Wilson Pickett: "I'm tired — I ain't doing no TV"— but he does!
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 February 1969
Alan Smith welcomes to England an unhappy WILSON PICKETT ...
Sam & Dave: Sam and Dave — soul brothers on stage — but not off
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 March 1969
SOUL BROTHERS on stage... but not so brotherly in real life. That seemed to be the implication by Sam Moore, of Sam and Dave, when ...
Marv Johnson: Marv still works as Tamla clerk
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 March 1969
And he gave label its first ever hit! ...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 March 1969
NME's Richard Green talks to their producer, Bob Johnston ...
Joe South: I'm Proud To Be Schizophrenic!
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 12 April 1969
JOE SOUTH is a songwriter, singer, guitarist and record producer and self-confessed schizophrenic. But first he is a poet. His publicist told me this in ...
Review by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 19 April 1969
DYLAN HAS CHANGED again. His latest album, Nashville Skyline, the 14-month-later follow-up to John Wesley Harding, presents the folk-rock star in a completely new guise. ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker: A Hit For Junior — Because He Couldn't Sit Still
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 19 April 1969
AROUND THE Tamla Motown offices, Junior Walker became something of an oddity. Instead of sitting around, biding his time like the rest of the artists, ...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 April 1969
Island Records boss CHRIS BLACKWELL talks to Richard Green ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 April 1969
WHEN BOB and Earl fly into Britain next week I'll be fascinated to find out if they now call themselves Bobby Garrett, Bobby Day or ...
Desmond Dekker: Dekker Dekkos* London
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 April 1969
IT WAS going to be one of those "day-in-the-life " adventures, with photographer Stuart Richman and I showing excited tourist Desmond Dekker the sights of ...
The Beatles, John Lennon: Beatles Music Straightforward On Next Album: An Interview with John Lennon
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 May 1969
"IF I COULD ONLY get the time to myself right now, instead of all this Monopoly and financial business with Northern Songs, I think I ...
The Pretty Things: Tamla invest in Pretty Things
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 May 1969
ONE OF the most astounding pieces of news recently has been the signing by Tamla Motown of the Pretty Things, a group famed for its ...
Clouds, Ten Years After: Ten Years After, Clouds: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 May 1969
ALBERT HALL FANS STAND FOR TEN YEARS AFTER ...
The Who: Tommy (Track stereo 613 013/4; 76s 1d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 May 1969
WHO'S SICK OPERA ...
Otis Redding: Bound To Be A Big Hit: Otis Redding: The Dock Of The Bay (Atco)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 June 1969
IT'S ALMOST a waste of time to review an Otis Redding album: everybody already knows how great he was. ...
The Beatles, John Lennon: John Lennon: Ringo's Right, We Can't Tour Again
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 7 June 1969
JOHN LENNON, over here in Canada with his wife Yoko, revealed for the first time that there had been considerable disagreement between him and Paul ...
The Lovin' Spoonful: Revelation: Revolution '69 (Kama Sutra)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 June 1969
MY, HOW THE Spoonful have changed since the days of John Sebastian and the lunatical Zalman Yanovsky. ...
The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger Talks To NME About The New Stone, The Ex Stone, And Two Albums
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 June 1969
"WE'D KNOWN for a few months that Brian wasn't keen; he wasn't enjoying himself and it got to the stage where we had to sit ...
Sam & Dave: Sam and Dave: Double Trouble (Atlantic)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 June 1969
ANYONE who's ever seen Sam and Dave on stage will appreciate just how hard the dynamic duo work. ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 June 1969
ZEPPELIN FLY HIGH ...
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Question-Time with Smokey of the Miracles
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 21 June 1969
KNOWING THAT Smokey Robinson is one of the five vice-presidents of the fabulously successful Tamla Motown label, I expected him to be a bustling businessman, ...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 28 June 1969
NOBODY REALLY expects anything connected with the Who to be quite normal, but with Thunderclap Newman, Pete Townshend has come up with a gem. Apart ...
The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson: Love, Respect Binds The Beach Boys
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 28 June 1969
By RICHARD GREEN — the sixth Beach Boy ...
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 5 July 1969
NOW THAT the Newport '69 Pop Festival (called that to borrow a little of the fame from the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals, but actually ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 5 July 1969
RICHARD GREEN says ROCKING NICE HIT ...
Billy Preston: Billy's a Natural
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 12 July 1969
IF EVER there was a "natural" for the charts, Billy Preston's 'That's The Way God Planned It' — which enters this week at No. 19 ...
Desmond Dekker: Sister's Fall Inspired Des' 'It Mek'
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 19 July 1969
AS A CHANGE from Which came first, the chicken or the egg? — which came first, the 'Israelites' or the 'It Mek'? ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boy Mike Would Love To Convert You
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 July 1969
Richard Green Tries A Spot Of Meditation ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence Perkins Fans
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 26 July 1969
CREEDENCE Clearwater Revival are at the top of America's pop group list. They are No. 12 this week in the NME charts with 'Proud Mary', ...
Desmond Dekker: Sweetened Ska Beat Could Sweep The Country Claims Desmond Dekker's Producer
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 July 1969
ARE DESMOND Dekker's 'Israelites' No. 1 and his latest release 'It Mek' only flashes in the proverbial pan, man... or could a hybrid mix of ...
Johnny Cash: At San Quentin (CBS mono and stereo 63629; 37s. 6d )
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, August 1969
CASH RECORDS SMASH IN JAIL ...
The Isley Brothers, John Peel: Isleys and Peel 'Do Their Thing'
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 2 August 1969
THERE IS no obvious connection between John Peel and the Isley Brothers. Both are in a different "bag," yet both have one thing in common ...
Elvis Presley, the Sweet Inspirations: International Hotel, Las Vegas NV
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 9 August 1969
SENSATIONAL LIVE SHOW COMEBACK! ...
Conway Twitty: Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie (MCA mono and stereo MUP 386; 37s 6d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 August 1969
COUNTRY TWITTY ...
Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg: Jane Sighs Her Way To Charts!
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 August 1969
IT'S ALL VERY well for people to scream and shout that the BBC won't play their records enough, thus giving them no chance of becoming ...
Muddy Waters: After The Rain (Chess mono and stereo CRL 4553; 37s 5d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 August 1969
NEW ALBUM FROM MUDDY ...
The Nice: Nice (Immediate mono and stereo IMSP 026; 38s. 6d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 August 1969
NICE WORK AND YOU CAN GET IT ...
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 30 August 1969
CLAPTON ADORATION ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 September 1969
200,000 roar approval including John, George, Ringo and wives! But Dylan didn't quite sink Isle of Wight, reports Richard Green ...
Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Deep Breathing: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg (Fontana)
Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 6 September 1969
THE DEEP-BREATHING GIRL, Jane Birkin, gets the boys breathless with her panting contributions to the lovely tune and deep-voiced singing of Serge Gainsbourg in 'Je ...
Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson Wrote Music For Next Tull Album On U.S. Tour
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 September 1969
MOST GROUP members, when they visit America, spend all their spare time looning about clubs and generally having a rare old time. Not so Ian ...
The Temptations: Can You Put A Name To The Temptations?
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 13 September 1969
I'VE ALWAYS had the feeling that although the Temptations have enjoyed good record sales in this country, they've never quite made it as people with ...
Cher: 3614 Jackson Highway (Atco mono and stereo 228 026; 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 13 September 1969
WITH THREE Bob Dylan songs, one by Steve Stills and another by Otis Redding and Steve Cropper, Cher has a pretty good mixture — and ...
Elvis Presley: International Hotel, Las Vegas NV
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 13 September 1969
SECOND LOOK AT ELVIS ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 September 1969
Hard life of the legendary folk star ...
The Beatles: Abbey Road Album Track-By-Track
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 September 1969
A YOUNG lady wrote to Radio One's Scene and Heard at the weekend, her heart full of hate, her pen dipped in vitriol, and her ...
Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: At Home with Sounds of Love star Jane
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
IT'S ALL VERY well to have a public image of a fun-loving, "anything goes" girl about town, but in private life things can be very ...
Chicken Shack Full Of Clucking Sounds
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
STAN WEBB was grinning evilly as he strode into a pub, but no maniacal deeds were going through his mind, he was just dead chuffed ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash Fantastically Together
Report by June Harris, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
CROSBY, Stills, Nash and Young arrived in New York last week for performances at the Fillmore East. Needless to say, all four shows resulted in ...
The Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder: Motowners have Racial Problems
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
SINCE SO many Motown artists are currently in the British charts, I thought I might pass on some things about them that have been circulating ...
The Nice: Nice: Good Music & Showmanship Is Their Formula For Success
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
MUSICAL COMPETENCE and showmanship rarely go hand-in-hand. At least, if they do, one often takes precedence over the other and the overall effect is one ...
Ten Years After: Ssssh (Deram mono and stereo DML 1052, 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 September 1969
TEN YEARS AFTER VERY ADVANCED ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Fillmore East, New York NY
Live Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 4 October 1969
THE START of this week's column should be called the continuing story of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I know that from the English point ...
The Temptations: Making Hits Is As Easy As Pie says Temps Dennis
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 4 October 1969
"MAKING HIT records," claims Dennis Edwards, lusty lead singer of the Temptations, "is like making cakes. You just need the right basic ingredients and you're ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Sings The Country Music Hall Of Fame Hits Vol. 1 and 2 (Mercury)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 11 October 1969
Jerry Lee's good examples ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 11 October 1969
KINKS WITH POP OPERA ...
Radha Krishna Temple, London: Are You Getting Krishna's Message?
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 October 1969
...wonders ALAN SMITH ...
The Four Tops, Diana Ross, The Supremes: Four Tops Hoping For British Tour, Diana Splits Next Year
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 October 1969
ALAN SMITH reports the latest views from DETROIT, A CITY PACKED WITH NATURAL MOTOWN TALENT. ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson — The Complete Opposite of a Pop Star
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 October 1969
NICE GUY Nilsson remains — as ever — a nice guy... And in a pop world which occasionally tends to suffer a little too much ...
The Nice: A Nice A Week: 1 — Keith Emerson Wants Classical Music To Survive
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 November 1969
ONE OF the highspots of Keith Emerson's career occurred only a fortnight ago, when the Nice played with the London Symphony Orchestra at Croydon's Fairfield ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: Beatle Single — By George!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 November 1969
1969 WILL END up being George Harrison's year. He's waited a long time for real recognition, has George, but his composition 'Something' is released as ...
John Mayall: Turning Point (Polydor mono and stereo 583 571; 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 November 1969
MAYALL MINUS DRUMS ...
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 November 1969
JUST HOW firm a hold reggae is taking on the charts is demonstrated this week by the arrival in the NME Top Thirty of three ...
Holland, Dozier, Holland: This Song Team Wrote 7 Million-Sellers On The Trot!
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 15 November 1969
No. 2 IN THE LP CHART THIS WEEK IS MOTOWN CHART BUSTERS, VOL 3. THREE HITS ON THIS ALBUM WERE BY HOLLAND DOZIER HOLLAND ...
Joe Cocker, Leon Russell: Leon's 'Lady' lucky for Joe Cocker
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 15 November 1969
Transatlantic interview by RICHARD GREEN ...
Stevie Wonder: Stevie Sees Very Clearly
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 November 1969
IN A WORLD of darkness, sound has obviously become almost Stevie Wonder's chief guide and consolation... so I was hardly surprised to hear this week ...
The Rolling Stones: Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 22 November 1969
Stones terrific ...
Gene Vincent, The Wild Angels: Gene Vincent, Wild Angels, the Nashville Teens: Palladium, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 November 1969
BACK 12 YEARS WITH ROCKER GENE VINCENT ...
Joe Cocker: Joe Cocker! (Regal Zonophone stereo SLRZ 1011, 37s. 5d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 November 1969
CREDIT TO ALL FOR JOE COCKER'S U.S. LP ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 November 1969
THE PERSONABLE Mr. Gaye is in top form on this album, which teams him up with Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. Marvin has ...
Mighty Baby: Mighty Baby (Head stereo playable mono. HDLS 6002. 39s. lid.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 November 1969
MIGHTY BABY comprises five young men who have been playing in various groups for a number of years and who have now combined to produce ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 November 1969
THIS ALBUM is obviously a collection or the group's newest recordings, as the sound has changed out of recognition. Gone has the rock and roll ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 November 1969
GREAT STONES ALBUM! Declares RICHARD GREEN ...
Elvis Presley: From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis (RCA)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 December 1969
PRESLEY FANS WANT TO SPEED UP ISSUE OF THIS ...
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 6 December 1969
THE NEWS that the Rolling Stones have resumed personal appearances must have gladdened the hearts of pop fans everywhere. The Stones always were the most ...
Jimmy Cliff: Jimmy Cliff (Trojan stereo TRLS 16; 37s. 5d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 13 December 1969
JIMMY CLIFF has done well out of reggae after a couple of years without much activity and he's following up his hit, 'Wonderful World, Beautiful ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 December 1969
Friendship and a mutual love of music brought George Harrison and Eric Clapton together for the recent Delaney and Bonnie tour. At a stopover In ...
The Beatles, John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John Lennon: Bore, Fool or Saint?
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 December 1969
THEY SAY John Lennon is insane, a fool, and a bore. They call him an embarrassment, a joke, and a man too interested in his ...
Plastic Ono Band: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 December 1969
Oh, no to Ono, 1984 ...
The Beatles, Delaney & Bonnie, George Harrison: Question Time With George Harrison
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 December 1969
Roy Carr concludes his exclusive Question-time with George Harrison, taped in the lounge of a Liverpool hotel during a break in the recent Delaney and ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, Fall 1969
THE MOVE are a sometimes thing. In the past three years the group have given us precisely one album and seven singles which can hardly ...
Tony Joe White: Tony Joe, Elvis, and Polk Salad Annie
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1970
TONY JOE WHITE was one of the first of the new school of Southern singer/songwriters along with Jerry Reed, Joe South, Leon Russell, Dough ...
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 3 January 1970
Special QUESTION-TIME conducted by ANN MOSES IN HOLLYWOOD ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 January 1970
SUPER CONCERT! ...
Taste: On The Boards (Polydor stereo 583 083. 37s 6d).
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 January 1970
IF MY memory serves me correctly, Taste is an Irish group I first saw playing in Harrods Way In boutique a few months back. The ...
David Ackles: Subway To The Country (Elektra stereo EKS 74060; 39s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 January 1970
DAVID ACKLES seems to have a preoccupation with gloom, doom and disaster when writing songs, but it usually turns out that numbers written in that ...
Badfinger: New to the Charts: Badfinger Make Apple Feel Rosy
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 January 1970
IT'S BIG smiles and happy heads at Apple this week, where the once much-maligned label now has a further chart name — BADFINGER — to ...
The Supremes, The Temptations: Super Star Diana Right To Quit Supremes Say Temptations
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 January 1970
ONLY THE absence of 'flu-bound Eddie Kendricks took the edge off the Temptations' arrival in Britain at the weekend, but the rest of them were ...
The Bar-Kays: Soul Finger (Atco stereo 228 030; 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 January 1970
THE INFLUENCE that Booker T. and the MG's have had on this five-piece outfit is obvious, but the Bar-Kays haven't quite got it together in ...
Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsys: Fillmore East, New York NY
Live Review by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 31 January 1970
Hendrix joins the friends bandwagon ...
The Nice: RICHARD GREEN spends a hectic weekend with NICE In Paris
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 31 January 1970
WHAT DO you have to do to have 'Granada' sung in your left ear by three Spaniards at 5.30 on a Sunday morning and a ...
Top Of The Pops: Are These The Two Most Frighteningly Powerful Men In Pop?
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 February 1970
PROBABLY ONLY one in a thousand teenagers have the vaguest ideas who Mel Cornish and Stanley Dorfmann are, but in the pop record business they ...
Elvis Presley: International Showroom, Las Vegas
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 7 February 1970
KING ELVIS RULES VEGAS AGAIN. New songs and old in his act after his first night including 'Proud Mary', 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes', ...
The Temptations: Temps Aren't Puppets of Motown
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 7 February 1970
ARE SOME of Tamla Motown's artists "Monkees of Soul"... professional acts who seem so puppet-like and programmed that they hardly come across as real people? ...
Byron Lee & The Dragonaires: Byron Lee is Jamaican Idol
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 February 1970
RELATIVELY unknown in this country, except to West Indians, Byron Lee is one of Jamaica's biggest attractions. In fact, he is to the Jamaicans what ...
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 February 1970
IT'S ALL very well to go round saying pigs can't fly, but who can honestly say that they expected to see Lee Marvin in the ...
The 5th Dimension: Love Keeps Us 5th Dimensions Together says Marilyn
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 14 February 1970
AT A PERIOD when groups come and go and musical moods change quickly, the lasting power and dependable good vibration sounds of the 5th Dimensions ...
The Band: Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 14 February 1970
MAGNIFICENT BAND ...
The Nice: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 February 1970
NICE VERSATILITY IS LIMITLESS ...
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash — The Man, His World, His Music (Dir. Robert Elfstrom, Verité Production)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 February 1970
DON'T MISS THIS JOHNNY CASH FILM advises RICHARD GREEN ...
Rod Stewart: An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (Vertigo stereo VO4; 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 February 1970
ROD IN TOP FORM ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 February 1970
Rockin' Ronnie ...
Ronnie Hawkins: Mid-Rock Man Hawkins Found John & Yoko Silent Guests
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 28 February 1970
JOHN LENNON spent several days as a guest at Ronnie Hawkins' secluded country house in Canada prior to, during and following the peace concert. Yoko ...
Frank Zappa: Hot Rats (Reprise stereo RSLP 6356; 40s 8d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 March 1970
WIDE RANGE FROM ZAPPA ...
Chicago: Chicago (CBS stereo 66233; 49s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
TOO MUCH SOUNDS SAMEY ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Willy And The Poor Boys (Liberty stereo LBS 83338; 38s 7d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
CREEDENCE REALLY IS A ROCK BAND ...
Hank Williams Jr.: Hank Williams, Jr.: Live At Cobo Hall (MGM stereo MGM-CS- 8116; 37s. 5d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
IT WOULD be silly to try and compare Hank Junior with his late father, so a review must be done with a completely open mind. ...
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
WHAT HAVE Spooky Tooth, Traffic, King Crimson, Free, Renaissance, Blodwyn Pig, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake and Fotheringay in common? They all are, or ...
The Nice: Nice and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
NICE UNITE CLASSIC AND POP FANS ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
Guitar ace with Booker T, Stax producer and formerly with Otis Redding's show ...
Syd Barrett: Syd Speaks Out — At Last!
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
IT WOULDN'T BE as far-fetched as it sounds to say that what Bo Diddley was to the rock and roll scene, Pink Floyd were to ...
Bob and Marcia: 'Why Marry? Our Way's Okay' says Bob Smiling While Marcia Frowns
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 21 March 1970
Reggae stars in London ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: An 80 Buck Bummer Made Us Start Learning
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 21 March 1970
ANN MOSES INTERVIEWS JOHN FOGERTYlead singer of Creedence Clearwater Revival ...
Fairport Convention, the Humblebums: Lyceum Ballroom, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 March 1970
ANY DOUBTS about the future of the new-look Fairport Convention since Sandy Denny's departure were immediately shattered after their opening number at the Lyceum on ...
Pickettywitch Take Up Dancing!
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 March 1970
ONE GROUP which really seem to have a most positive and realistic approach to their future in the highly competitive record game are NME chart ...
Renaissance: They Want You To Listen
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 March 1970
FOR PURELY personal reasons I think the nicest thing about Renaissance is Jane Relf, but as as a music journalist I must own up and ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: John Fogerty (continued): I Gave Up Note-making a Year Ago
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 28 March 1970
The second part of Ann Moses' long rap with John Fogerty, lead singing star of Creedence Clearwater Revival, takes the form of a frank Ask-In ...
Taste: Trio Gives Taste More Challenge
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 28 March 1970
TASTE ARE just starting to become a very hot property in England and on the Continent, already having conquered the Irish fans. All the trappings ...
Yes: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 28 March 1970
LAST SATURDAY saw the solo debut by what must surely be one of the next major concert attractions in this country... Yes. Before a capacity ...
Arthur Brown: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
ARTHUR BROWN MAD AS EVER! ...
Led Zeppelin: ASK-IN with a LED ZEPPELIN a week: Bassist JOHN PAUL JONES
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
Part one of an exciting New Series by RITCHIE YORKE ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Back To School For Jr. Walker!
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
DROP INTO any discotheque you care to mention in any city or holiday resort in Europe and you can bet safely that at least three ...
Black Sabbath Have Nothing To Do With Spooks! says Lead Guitar Tony
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
A NUMBER of pop groups seem to have decided that it's the in-thing these days to meddle in black magic and present their version of ...
Bob and Marcia Take Plenty Preparation Time
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
DON'T BELIEVE all that stuff about black artists just jumping up on a stage and doing their thing without a moment of preparation. It happens... ...
Grateful Dead: Live/Dead (Warner Bros., WS1830. 72s. 5d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
FOR YEARS now all my friends have raved to me about the Grateful Dead. When it came to playing their albums I must admit that ...
Jimmy Ruffin Forecasts Motown Sound Chances
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
"WITHOUT A doubt there is going to be a big change in the Motown sound as we know it. And many of today's 'happening' names ...
Woodstock (Dir. Michael Wadleigh, Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 11 April 1970
WOODSTOCK FILM IS WORTHWHILE ...
Led Zeppelin: ASK-IN with a LED ZEPPELIN a week: Robert Plant
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 11 April 1970
LAST WEEK, I reported the sayings of bass player John Paul Jones. Continuing NME's four-part series on Led Zeppelin, I turned to lead singer Robert ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence's "Band" Tribute To Rock Stars
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 April 1970
"IN THE States, they tell us Creedence Clearwater Revival are the stop-gap between the Beatles and the 'next Beatles — whoever the next Beatles may ...
Led Zeppelin: ASK-IN with a LED ZEPPELIN a week: JOHN BONHAM drummer extraordinary known as BONZO
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 18 April 1970
THE THIRD member of Led Zeppelin to be interviewed in-depth in our four-part Ask-In profile of the group is drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham, surely the ...
Dionne Warwick: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 April 1970
DIONNE DAZZLES ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: In Europe With Creedence
Report by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 18 April 1970
SCARY GERMAN FUZZ-FAN SCENE! ...
Norman Greenbaum: 'Sky' Star Hits At Showbiz Phonies
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 April 1970
I'm not religious but I live a pure life says Norman Greenbaum ...
Paul McCartney: McCartney (Apple)
Review and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 April 1970
McCartney is a warm pleasure PAUL TALKS ABOUT LP TRACK BY TRACK ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 April 1970
ROCKERS TAKE OVER FOR A NIGHT ...
Pentangle: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 25 April 1970
ENCHANTING PENTANGLE ...
Blodwyn Pig: Blodwyn's Mixed Audiences Means They Sometimes Get Mobbed
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 2 May 1970
AND THEY LIKE IT, ADMITS JACK LANCASTER ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 2 May 1970
ALAN SMITH talks to Tamla's most consistent solo hitmaker ...
Joe Cocker, Leon Russell: Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 2 May 1970
COCKER SURVIVES AND TRIUMPHS ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Simon and Garfunkel's Amazing Reaction to London Concert
Comment by Miranda Ward, New Musical Express, 2 May 1970
AUDIENCE HYSTERIA DISMAYED THEM ...
The Beatles: Let It Be (Apple)
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 May 1970
NEW LP SHOWS THEY COULDN'T CARE LESSHave Beatles sold out? asks NME's Alan Smith ...
The Who: Live At Leeds (Track stereo 2406 001; 42s 6d).
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 May 1970
BRILLIANT WHO ...
The Beatles: Let It Be (Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, United Artists)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 May 1970
Unusual, fascinating Beatles documentary ...
Woodstock (Dir. Michael Wadleigh, Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 May 1970
WOODSTOCK — BEST FILM EVER MADE ABOUT POP ...
Buck Owens And His Buckaroos: Tall Dark Stranger (Capitol stereo E-ST 212; 39s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
BUCK OWENS is regarded very highly by country-and –western people, performers and customers alike, and his albums sell consistently well. Unfortunately, he has never had ...
Amen Corner, Fair Weather: Fair Weather: Andy Pleads, Don't Scream At Me Any More
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
WHEN DOZENS of emotional young girls screamed and hysterically rushed the stage in a vague attempt to grab hold of Andy Fairweather Low, the singer ...
Christine Perfect/McVie: For Christine, Hard Work Hasn't Made Perfect
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
HARD WORK is not always rewarded, as Christine Perfect is unfortunately finding out. Since leaving Chicken Shack to spend more time with her husband, Fleetwood ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
PEACEFUL FESTIVAL OF GOOD MUSIC ...
The Nice: Five Bridges (Charisma, stereo CAS 1014; 39s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
End of Nice ...
Various Artists: Woodstock (Atlantic, stereo 2663001; 150s)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
Monster albums from Woodstock ...
Glen Campbell – Former Beach Boy and Elvis Guitarist!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 June 1970
IT MAY NOT be generally known that Glen Campbell is a former member of the Beach Boys... that he was once a brilliant session guitarist ...
Taste, Toe Fat: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 June 1970
London likes raving Taste ...
Audience, Van Der Graaf Generator: Van Der Graaf Generator, Audience: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 June 1970
CONCERT SUCCESS OF TWO GROUPS ...
Black Sabbath: Black Magic Is Not Our Scene Say Black Sabbath
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970
We're fed up with the confusion, they tell ROY CARR ...
The Beatles, Booker T & The MGs: Booker T-MGs Invade Beatle Land
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970
THINK YOU recognise the album cover on the right? Well, just look again! It's the sleeve to Booker T & the MG's new album McLemore ...
Profile by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970
THEY MAY be new to the charts, crashing in at No. 18 with 'Alright Now', but Free are by no means newcomers on the scene. ...
The Who: Who Rehearsed Live Album During American Tour
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970
KEITH MOON, a little more serious these days, talks to RICHARD GREEN ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 June 1970
Clapton leads — and sings his heart out ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence John's Convictions Landed Him In Prison
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970
For 20 years I was in a 'dungeon' ...
Free: Fans make it a Free for all
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970
TO MANY wide-eyed, starstruck groups, a hit record is the culmination of their career; they can see no further. It is, for them the be-all ...
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970
JOHN BONHAM is an incredibly happy person. But if there is one thing that's apt to annoy Led Zeppelin's powerhouse drummer and arch-raver, it's the ...
Jimi Hendrix: Band Of Gypsys (Track stereo Super. 2406.002; 42s. 6d.)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970
JIMI HENDRIX is one of the very few true originals in music. He is a power unto himself and perhaps the only person to whom ...
Roger Miller: Roger Miller 1970 (Mercury stereo 6338 001; 30s. 11d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970
BECAUSE ROGER Miller is such a good songwriter it's odd that only one of the tracks here is his own composition. It would be much ...
Steppenwolf: Steppenwolf Live (Stateside stereo SSL 5029; 39s 11d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970
HERE COMES THE WOLF ...
Diana Ross Doesn't Miss Supremes
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
DIANA ROSS is a supremely confident person. She has progressed from being a member of just another Tamla Motown group called the Supremes, to making ...
John Entwistle, The Who: John Entwistle: I Nearly Quit Top Of The Pops
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
A bass player who objects to being ignored by TV cameras: That's John Entwistle of the Who. He told his troubles to NME's Richard Green ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
THE PROGRAMME for last weekend's Bath Festival of Blues & Progressive Music stated... "All times subject to possible change." And they weren't joking either. ...
Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant: Sexy? It's all a bit of a giggle says Zeppelin's Robert Plant
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
THERE IS no denying that Robert Plant is bestowed with the contemporary handsomeness and poise of which pop heroes are made. Subsequently, and without any ...
Ten Years After a Week: Alvin Lee
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
WOODSTOCK FILM BIG BOOST FOR ALVIN ...
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
WHO HEAT UP SUMMER ...
Deep Purple: Lyceum Ballroom, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 July 1970
Deep Purple at riotous best ...
Free: Fire and Water (Island stereo, ILPS.9120. 37s. 5d.)
Review and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 July 1970
FREE'S FASTEST-SELLER Roy Carr's track-by-track with vocalist Paul Rodgers ...
Colosseum, Steppenwolf: Steppenwolf, Colosseum: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 July 1970
Roy Carr at Wolf's concert ...
Humble Pie: NME Crashes in on Stevie...
Review and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 18 July 1970
...to do a track-by track on Humble Pie latest album ...
Black Sabbath, Yes: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 July 1970
WITH CHAMPAGNE in hand, Herr Klook re-emerged before a capacity crowd to present his new series of Friday night scenes at the Lyceum. ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 July 1970
I THOUGHT I'd just wander down to Hyde Park, lay under a tree and quietly listen to the music. However, it seems that Blackhill organisers ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 July 1970
NOT ONLY were there some incredible scenes going on inside the Marquee on Tuesday when the Taste completely shattered the all-time box office record held ...
Free's chart success makes it tough on the fans
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 August 1970
'But its the only thing that bothers us' says SIMON KIRKE ...
Tony Joe White: Tony Joe Declares — Ah'm Aginst Unhealthy Things!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 August 1970
LISTENING TO Tony Joe White speak is like taking an excursion deep into the man's boots via the steamy swamps of his native Louisiana, where ...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 August 1970
WHATEVER analytical terms are used by people in attempting to define Traffic's music, however many superlatives are attached to the group and among the hundreds ...
Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Island stereo ILPS 9116; 39s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 August 1970
THE FIRST Traffic album for far too long consists of a mere six tracks. This is not a bad thing though because each one is ...
Jeff Beck: Strange Scene at Tamla
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 August 1970
...reports Mickie Most ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 August 1970
NICKY THOMAS came to town the other day, all happy and rarin' to reggae. He smiled a lot and laughed a lot and sat in ...
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Smokey and Miracles Used To Record Two Songs in Three Hours
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 August 1970
BOB DYLAN once referred to Smokey Robinson as "America's greatest living poet," a statement which is not quite so bizarre as it might at first ...
Hotlegs' hit more atmosphere than songs says Lol Creme
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
"I SUPPOSE you could say that 'Neanderthal Man' is really a freak record... Well, it's hardly a song, is it?" ...
Jimmy Cliff, Cat Stevens: Jimmy Cliff Has No Plans To Do Another Stevens Song
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
WHEN I ARRIVED at Island Records' outpost, which is just a stallholder's cry off the colourful Portobello Road street-market in West London's Notting Hill Gate, ...
Nancy Sinatra, The Osmonds: Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas NV
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
FRANK SINATRA played host to 500 members of the Press to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Caesar's Palace and his daughter Nancy's opening. ...
Elvis Presley: One More Time with Feeling! Elvis Presley: Showroom Internationale, Las Vegas
Live Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
ANN MOSES GOES TO THE LATEST PRESLEY FIRST NIGHT, THIS TIME FILMED FOR THE WORLD TO SEE, AND REPORTS ...
Deep Purple: Rock Album Solved Deep Purple Rift
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
RECORDING AN album of rock did Deep Purple a lot more good than most people realize. It solved a lot of personal problems that arose ...
Blodwyn Pig: Why Mick Decided He Had To Jilt Blodwyn
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
THE VARIOUS antics of Mick Abrahams ceased to amaze me months ago. The lad is a natural comedian with a wide range of goonish voices ...
Yes: Time And A Word (Atlantic stereo, 2400.006; 42s. 6d.)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
YES, IT'S SUPERB! ...
Bread Aim to be One of the World's Top Five Groups
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 August 1970
DAVID GATES FLIES IN AND CHATS TO RICHARD GREEN ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 August 1970
YES FOLLOW NICE PATH ...
Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs and Englishmen (stereo A&M SP 6002; 59s. 11d.)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 5 September 1970
Fantastic, fiery Cocker ...
Canned Heat: Alan Kept Balance
Obituary by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 September 1970
THE DEATH of Alan Wilson at the weekend left more than a musical gap in the line-up of Canned Heat. Up against the earthiness and ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Slips The Questions
Interview by Roy Carr, Richard Green, New Musical Express, 12 September 1970
Put to him by Richard Green and Roy Carr ...
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Smokey Can Do All The Tamla Jobs —
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 12 September 1970
but still finds time for his golf! ...
The Mothers of Invention: Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 12 September 1970
IF YOU'RE A Frank Zappa fan eagerly awaiting the album with the new line-up, don't be fooled into thinking that Weasels Ripped My Flesh is ...
Dusty Springfield: Dusty, Singer At Crossroads
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 September 1970
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD is the latest recruit to the British pop business's newest in-thing, conveyor belt interviews, and I therefore joined a queue of fellow-journalists the ...
Eric Burdon, War: Eric Burdon & War: Hyde Park, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 19 September 1970
BURDON AND WAR: BEST LIVE BAND WE'VE EVER SEEN ...
Black Sabbath Win Struggle Against Black Magic Tag
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
BY RICHARD GREEN WHO ALSO REVIEWS PARANOID LP ...
Desmond Dekker Is To Reveal His Two Sides On Double LP
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
THE WHOLE economical structure of pop music is to seek out an acceptable format and then market it for mass appeal and consumption. So what ...
Obituary by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
A tribute by Richard Green, who once worked with him ...
Deep Purple: Single Success Puzzles Deep Purple
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
3 months to make chart, but now, by leaping 15 places it's the week's fastest climber ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
Sly and Family Stone send Lyceum ravers berserk ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 2 October 1970
Blues pioneer thinks Union out of date ...
Charles Aznavour: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 3 October 1970
BROODING AZNAVOUR ...
The Carpenters: Right Song Saved The Carpenters
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 3 October 1970
TODAY THE Carpenters are soaring from requests to make in-person concerts and television appearances, and record fans are buying their discs like crazy! ...
Clarence Carter: Hard Work Overcame Blindness Handicap
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 October 1970
CLARENCE CARTER was struck by tragedy early on in his life — he lost his sight! He found a compensation of sorts, however, through his ...
Hot Chocolate, Music Chocolate!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 October 1970
Just the job for a cold night indoors ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 October 1970
AS WITH the legendary knights of old, reputations or a fair damsel's heart were either won in the lists or on the field of honour. ...
The James Gang, The Who: The James Gang: They lift audience to 'pow' level
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 October 1970
WE BORROW THE JAMES GANG FOR TOUR WITH WHO ...
Humble Pie: We May Lose Humble Pie: "We're not having to do the walking on the water bit"
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 October 1970
STEVE MARRIOTT PHONES FROM PHILADELPHIA ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 October 1970
DYLAN'S NEW LP NOT UP TO EXPECTATIONS — but it's still good! ...
Clarence Carter, Dada: Revolution Club, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 October 1970
THOUGH EVERYONE came specially to hear 'Patches' man Clarence Carter make his only live British appearance at the Revolution Club on Tuesday it was the ...
James Brown — Outrageous Extrovert
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 October 1970
PERHAPS ONLY the outrageous James Brown could get away with a single like 'Get Up I Feel Like Being A Sex Machine', which stands at ...
Black Sabbath: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 31 October 1970
PAGANINI WOULD turn in his grave if he even thought that a group like Black Sabbath were playing at the Royal Festival Hall, and if ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 31 October 1970
IT MUST have been around 10.30 p.m. on Monday night at the Royal Festival Hall, when Keith Emerson proved beyond all fear of contradiction that ...
The Jackson 5: Jackson 5 Still Do Chores At Home
Profile and Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 7 November 1970
OUTSIDE THEIR back window, the lights from the steel mill flashed as the molten metal poured into the waiting moulds, while the incinerators belched out ...
Derek & The Dominos: Derek and the Dominos: Clapton misses concert
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 21 November 1970
Ann Moses, editor of Tiger Beat in Hollywood ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 November 1970
ANYONE WHO still thinks that Emerson Lake and Palmer are a cheap imitation of the Nice should give this album a spin and be proven ...
Johnny Winter And: Johnny Winter And (CBS stereo, 64117, 39s 11d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 November 1970
I THINK IT'S about time that certain people stopped getting themselves hung-up on what they figure to be Johnny Winter's somewhat bizarre appearance and got ...
Merry Clayton: Gimme Shelter (A&M Ode 70 series, stereo, AMLS 995, 39s 11d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 November 1970
OVER THE last year or so Merry Clayton has graduated in status to the almost royal ranks of the fashionable clique of international sessioneers. Her ...
George Harrison: All Things Must Pass (Apple)
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 5 December 1970
Loads of talent, and yet... ...
Free: Highway (Island, ILPS 9138, 39s 11d)
Review and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 December 1970
Free have never felt so close before Paul and Andy talk to Roy Carr about the new album ...
MC5: Back In The USA (Atlantic stereo SUPER 2400 016. 42s 6d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 December 1970
STUDIO DRIVE ...
The Move: Looking On (Fly, FLY 1; 39s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 19 December 1970
MOVE PACK IN SEVEN ROCKERS FOR FLY DEBUT ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 16 January 1971
WHEN IT comes to the subject of owning-up-time, I suppose we've all got to admit to having a dusty, decaying skeleton hanging up in our ...
Black Sabbath, Curved Air: Guild Hall, Southampton
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 16 January 1971
BLACK SABBATH are about as subtle as an enraged mule kicking down a stable door, yet it is this controlled use of sheer physical brute ...
McGuinness Flint — We're Not Out To Prove Anything
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 January 1971
THE FURTHEST thing from the minds of members of McGuinness Flint when they first started recording was to release a single, they felt that their ...
Soft Machine: Robert Wyatt — an out of work singer currently on drums with Soft Machine
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 16 January 1971
WHEN SOFT Machine aren't packing concert halls across America and Europe, their extremely good humoured drummer Robert Wyatt, and part-time Centipede luminary, can often be ...
Eric Burdon, War: Burdon Led The Wildest War Party In Paris
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
FOR ONCE, the fashion writers have got it right — women's shorts are catching on, in Paris at least. And while the birds are gettin' ...
Chicago: Chicago III (CBS stereo. 66267. 59s 10d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
Disappointing Chicago ...
Delaney & Bonnie: To Bonnie From Delaney (Atco, stereo, Super, 2400, 029, 42s 6d)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
DELANEY & BONNIE — AN ESSENTIAL BUY ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
AMERICA'S Grand Funk Railroad were virtually unknown in Britain until a few weeks ago and let's hope they revert to this former state. It was ...
Johnny Johnson & the Bandwagon: Johnny Johnson Likes To Feel Lively And Gay When He's On Stage
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
THE ULTIMATE experience for Johnny Johnson right now would be to appear in cabaret at the Talk of the Town. He's an unashamed seeker of ...
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
Bros across the ocean ...
Yes move into the gap left by Nice
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 January 1971
SOME CHEERFUL dullard in his misguided wisdom recently asked Yes, (quote) ..."When are you chaps going to happen?" To which he was promptly and most ...
Santana: Elusive Santana phone from California
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 30 January 1971
WE DON'T WANT TO BECOME A BAND OF GRINNING STARS ...
Eric Burdon, War: Eric Burdon & War: The Black-Man's Burdon (Liberty stereo LDS 84003/4. 69s)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 January 1971
Burdon whips up a storm ...
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 30 January 1971
THE MAGIC Motown formula, an amalgam of glamour, professionalism and good, driving music brought excitement to dark and dreary Finsbury Park last week when the ...
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 13 February 1971
A HUNDRED or so enegetic dancers had surrounded the stage by the end of Free's concert at Croydon's Fairfield Hall on Saturday but I don't ...
Stevie Wonder: Stevie: British Audiences Prevented Me From Giving Up Singing
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 13 February 1971
"IN THE PAST I've occasionally thought about giving up singing," said Stevie Wonder. "But what happened at Hammersmith last week was something I'll never forget. ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 13 February 1971
OVER THREE hundred fans queued for their money back at Brighton's mammoth Big Apple on Saturday night when promoter Brian Mason announced that War would ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
SIXTY-FIVE year old blues-man Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, whose songs 'That's Alright Mama' and 'My Baby Left Me' were hits for Elvis Presley back in ...
The Equals: 'Black Skins' Could Be Equals' Biggest In The States
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
LEADER-SONGWRITER Eddie Grant lives and breathes the Equals, whose fat, pumping 'Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys' single is at No. 19 in this week's NME ...
Buddy Miles: We Got To Live Together (Mercury, stereo, 6338028; £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
YOU CAN'T be non-committal about that big black boogalooin' buddah of rock... Buddy Miles; you either dig him or you don't. It's as simple as ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Live (Capitol, stereo, E-STDW.1/2, £3.10)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
NEVER TAKE sweets from a stranger and never accept albums from a grinning assistant editor. For, with almost Machiavellian delight, our beloved John Wells, walked ...
Janis Joplin & the Full Tilt Boogie Band: Pearl (CBS 64188; £2.25)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
JANIS, THE ROCK TRAGEDIENNE An in-depth review of her last album by ROY CARR ...
Twink: Think Pink (Polydor Standard stereo 2343 032; £1.49)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 February 1971
A MOST ODD offering from the boisterous Twink who is known to almost all and sundry as one of the Pink Fairies' two drummers. For ...
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 6 March 1971
Why Beatles ended in a sordid mudbath.It isn't coincidence that these solo singles have just been released, says Alan Smith ...
James Brown the Cassius Clay of Music
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...
James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
"I WANNA know... do I you feel alllllrrriiiigggght?" "Yeaaaaahhhh," roared the audience in reply. "Did yaa bring your sex machine with you?" The affirmative cry ...
James Brown: The Cassius Clay of Music
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...
Lynn Anderson: Pssst! Don't tell the British that Lynn sings Country!
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
SUCH IS THE stigma attached to country music by a large number of people in Britain that before Lynn Anderson left America she was warned ...
Ray Stevens: 'Bridget The Midget' Man Says Religious Lyrics Will Be Next Big Thing
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
People are getting sick to death of the 'put-the-world-to-rights songs' ...
Mott The Hoople: America's druggies scared Mott to death
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
"IF PEOPLE want revolution then they should join an organised party en block instead of sitting on their backsides bemoaning their fate. It's absolutely no ...
Deep Purple, Ian Gillan: Deep Purple: commercial without compromise
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
FOR DEEP Purple fans the end of an era is approaching. After late April or May, familiar numbers like 'Speed King', 'Child In Time' and ...
Jimi Hendrix: The Cry Of Love (Track stereo 2408 101 £2.40)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
Not the best Hendrix ...
Osibisa: Meet the Band: Osibisa
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
AS AUDIENCES get cooler — almost listening to music has now become a kind of intellectual exercise — it is good to see a group ...
Melanie: Given Up All Hope Of Making It Here
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
Within minutes I felt I was talking to an old friend ...
Olivia Newton-John, Toomorrow: Olivia Newton John: Olivia Emerges from Shambles of Toomorrow
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
"EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! James Bond man launches new supergroup! Toomorrow tipped for the top!" Remember all that carry-on a few months ago ...
The Groundhogs: After Stones, Back To The Grind
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
AFTER THE excitement and ballyhoo of the Rolling Stones tour the Groundhogs, the supporting group, now have to go back to playing the draughty halls ...
Yes: From groups' group to people's band
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
"THEY OUGHT to play Frank Zappa's 'Peaches En Regalia' on Two-Way Family Favourites instead of constantly churning out 'Land Of Hope And Glory', because it ...
David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name (Atlantic stereo deluxe 2401005; £2.40)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 April 1971
DAVID CROSBY SOLO: WITH MANY FRIENDS! ...
Hot Chocolate's Errol Brown owns up... The Lady Is A Nympho!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 April 1971
"NO MESSIN' about," chuckled Errol Brown, that shiny-domed Hot Chocolateer who co-wrote 'You Could've Been A Lady' — "it's a song all about a nymphomaniac." ...
Eggs Over Easy: Meet the Band: Eggs Over Easy
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 April 1971
WHEN AN invitation to a cultural evening at the American Embassy dropped on my desk my first thought was that someone was playing a merry ...
Mott The Hoople: Wildlife (Island, ILPS 9144; £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 April 1971
WILDLIFE CAN WIN MOTT WIDER FAME ...
Deep Purple: A compromise in five parts
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 April 1971
RICHIE BLACKMORE talks to RICHARD GREEN ...
Yes Mustn't Sit On Their Backsides
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 April 1971
REAL PROS, the ones who last, take a little longer than "overnight" before they find mass appeal. In the case of Yes it was three ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 May 1971
NME's Alan Smith endeavours to interview this week's chart toppers ...
The Byrds: ? — Time with the Byrds
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 8 May 1971
conducted by Richard Green ...
Deep Purple: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 8 May 1971
THIS COULD easily be a review consisting entirely of superlatives, but it wouldn't be so easy to understand unless you were actually at the Roundhouse ...
Family, Sam Apple Pie: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 8 May 1971
ON A GOOD night at the Roundhouse there is always a nice, free and easy atmosphere in the air. It was like that on Saturday ...
Black Sabbath: Following Recent Sensational London Concert Black Sabbath Admit...
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 8 May 1971
...U.S. tour got us together we're into some nice things now ...
Rita Coolidge: Scene Needs Male Groupies
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 8 May 1971
YOU'VE SEEN her with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, you've seen her with Eric Clapton. You probably think you saw her with Joe Cocker, too, ...
Chicago: 3000 To Be Turned Away But Chicago Defend London Concert Cancellation
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 May 1971
"UNDERGROUND IS now Overground," said Chicago's Terry Kath... "and Overground is commercial." We were on a transatlantic phone line at the weekend and he was ...
Paul McCartney: Paul And Linda McCartney: Ram (Apple)
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 May 1971
Alan Smith assesses the McCartney Ram album and sums up with... PAUL, WHAT A MESS YOU'VE MADE OF IT! ...
The Jackson 5: Jackson 5: Jacksons Give Teenyblacks Hope
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 29 May 1971
FROM THIS SIDE of the Atlantic it may seem somewhat difficult to appreciate the Jackson-mania — and there is no other word for it — ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Emerson, Lake And Palmer: Tarkus (Island I LPS 9155; £2.15)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 12 June 1971
'ELP OUR EARDRUMS ...
Fleetwood Mac, Tea & Symphony: Fleetwood Mac, Tea and Symphony: Kinetic Circus, Birmingham
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 June 1971
LESSER BANDS might have given up the struggle to survive after going through so many setbacks, so close to each other, but not Fleetwood Mac. ...
Free: Live (Island ILPS 9160. £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 June 1971
Free's last album — their finest ever? ...
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 June 1971
In true Mickey Spillane style, Roy Carr investigates the case of the six-year-old hit. ...
Labelle, Laura Nyro: And Laura Nyro Captivates, Too!
Report by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
says Nancy Lewis from New York ...
Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Lindisfarne: Bob Johnston: The most envied man in pop
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
Roy Carr talks to the man who records Dylan, Cash and Cohen ...
Carole King: Look Out For Carole
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
YOU'LL BE hearing the name Carole King a lot very soon, so be prepared. Quietly her album Tapestry was released on Ode Records in the ...
Deep Purple, Rupert Hine: Deep Purple Celebrate Year In LP Chart
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
"I'M VERY proud of In Rock. We knew it was going to sell because we'd done six months of concerts and we knew it would ...
John Kongos: Point Blank Refusal To Cash-In On Hit
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
YOU'RE NOT going to find John Kongos suddenly rushing around the country on a quickly arranged, nationwide tour just because his single 'He's Gonna Step ...
B.B. King: Question & Answer with B.B. King, legendary guitarist
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
IT'S NOT every day of the week that one gets the rare opportunity of meeting a legend, let alone a childhood idol. For that is ...
Traffic: Stevie Winwood Talks About The Future Of Traffic
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
SLUMPED IN a chair, Steve Winwood looked tired. ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
And ROY (Humphrey) CARR is very glad about it! ...
Deep Purple: Iceland Gives Deep Purple (and our Richard Green) a Hot Reception!
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 26 June 1971
There may be snow on peaks but there's fire down below! ...
The Beatles, Hurricane Smith: Beatles Were Awful... They Talked Their Way Into A Recording Contract
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 10 July 1971
...says their former soundman NORMAN 'HURRICANE' SMITH to ALAN SMITH Former Beatles' sound engineer Norman "Hurricane" Smith talking about the world-dominating group with whom he worked ...
Bread: Manna (Elektra EKX 74086; £2.15).
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 July 1971
BREAD AN OPEN QUESTION ...
The Edgar Broughton Band: Edgar Broughton Band: Edgar Broughton Band (Harvest SHVL 791; £2.40)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 10 July 1971
Lighter Broughton ...
Report by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
IT'S ALL OVER now. The Fillmore East closed its doors at approximately 5.0 a.m. recently — after a strenuous and occasionally sentimental night of action. ...
Grand Funk Railroad, Humble Pie: Shea Stadium, Queens NY
Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
Beatles Still Hold Record ...
Jo Mama, Carole King, James Taylor: James Taylor, Carole King, Jo Mama: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
FROM THE outset you just can't but help having a warm affinity for James Taylor. Seemingly all arms, legs and baggy trousers, Taylor shyly lopes ...
The Doors, Jim Morrison: Jim Morrison, Dec. 1943-July 1971
Obituary by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
AMERICA DIDN'T have a Jagger. It did have Jim Morrison... the first major American male sex symbol since James Dean. ...
Mott the Hoople: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
WHEN MOTT the Hoople took the dear old Albert Hall by storm on Thursday evening it was like a return to the halcyon days of ...
Slade: Bovver Boys Who Grew Their Hair And Got A Hit
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
SLADE, BRITAIN'S first skinhead band — were launched just over a year ago in the true tradition of eye-catching pop publicity. But the implications of ...
The Four Tops, The Supremes: Supremes and Tops aren't Puppets of Motown
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
NME's Alan Smith on the phone to Supreme Jean Terrell in Los Angeles. ...
Humble Pie: America Makes a Cookin' Pie, Britain the Humble Crumble
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
STEVE MARRIOTT in U.S. talks to RICHARD GREEN ...
The James Gang: James Gang Ride On Their Own
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
IT WAS through the auspices of Pete Townshend that the James Gang toured Britain with the Who last year. They made some impact, but suffered ...
Jonathan King: My Ego? Its Still Huge Says Jonathan King
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
Each week Roy Carr puts an In-The-News name in the NME Hot Seat ...
The Doors: L.A. Woman (Elektra EKS.75011; £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
CONTROVERSIAL DOORS ...
The Moody Blues: Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (Threshold THS5; £2.19)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
FROM STAR TREK TO THE POWER OF LOVE ...
Medicine Head: The Warmth And Magic That Make The Medicine Go Down
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
"WE ARE NOT," said Medicine Head's John Fiddler, caught betwixt a meal of rich dark chunks of bread and butter and mellow yellow hunks of ...
The Doors, Jim Morrison: Why Manager Kept Silent About Jim Morrison's Sudden Death
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
Ann Moses in Hollywood ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Doing The Rounds For Publicity
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 31 July 1971
He knows it, I know it – the next Lennon album is the greatest says Alan Smith ...
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (Dir: Albert and David Maysles, Cinema V)
Film/DVD/TV Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 31 July 1971
STONES' FILM TERROR ...
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Plastic Ono Band: At Home With The Lennons, Part 2
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 7 August 1971
In which John burns down the Beatles 'cause he loves 'em ...
Eric Burdon, War: Eric Burdon: War Was Too Soft For Me!
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 7 August 1971
ERIC BURDON ANSWERS QUESTIONS FOR ANN MOSES IN HOLLYWOOD ...
Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 7 August 1971
GEORGE CREATES GREATEST ROCK SPECTACLE OF DECADE ...
Medicine Head, Status Quo: Lyceum, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 7 August 1971
THE RIGHT MEDICINE ...
Black Sabbath: Master Of Reality (Vertigo 6360 050; £2.30)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 August 1971
BLACK SABBATH were rightly pleased when, at their Royal Albert Hall concert a few months ago, they were presented with a gold disc for sales ...
David Bowie: The Space Oddity Comes Down To Earth
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 14 August 1971
AT ONE TIME singer/songwriter David Bowie used to write songs because, "I truly believed we songwriters were going to change the face of the world." ...
The Jackson 5: In New York It's Jackson Power: Jackson 5: Madison Square Garden, New York
Live Review by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 14 August 1971
THE Jackson Five, school exams behind them, are now on tour in America, storming their way round and playing to packed audiences. ...
Heads Hands and Feet: Heads, Hands & Feet: Heads, Hands & Feet (Island ILPS 9149; £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 21 August 1971
THIS DEBUT album has been a long time in coming, but it has been well worth the wait. With foresight the group have held off ...
The Mothers Of Invention: Mothers Of Invention: Fillmore East — June, 1971 (Reprise, K44150; £2.05)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 August 1971
Outrageous Mothers at their best ...
Rory Gallagher: The Influences Behind His Unique Guitar Playing
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 August 1971
HARDLY a day goes by without someone or other phoning the NME and saying: "I've got the next Hendrix" or "My band's gonna blow your ...
Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 21 August 1971
THE WHO, in America after a year's absence, are creating a bigger sensation than ever. Statistics don't lie. They completely sold out two New York ...
Mick Farren: Rock Rebel with a Cause
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 28 August 1971
TWENTY-SIX-year-old Mick Farren, ex-singer with the Deviants, writer, political activist and spokesman for the underground, has been called many things. However, he prefers to define ...
King Crimson, T. Rex: BP Fallon: He can't do our press, he doesn't wear socks
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
IT WOULD have been so easy and so obvious to give the third degree treatment to one of these hard-sell publicists who daily hog the ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
ANY DOUBTS as to the impact of the new streamlined Creedence Clearwater Revival were completely erased from people's minds by the time they had roared ...
Deep Purple: Too Much Work — But It's Not For The Money
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
RICHARD GREEN talks to DEEP PURPLE'S RITCHIE BLACKMORE ...
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
IT WAS a shame to find London's Queen Elizabeth Hall not completely full for East of Eden's concert on Monday. The band really do deserve ...
Jack Bruce, Roy Harper, King Crimson: Hyde Park, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
AFTER THE confusion that reigned at Weeley, it has become quite apparent that you don't need every band that lives, breathes and plugs in to ...
Jefferson Airplane: Bark (Grunt Records. FTR 1001. £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
Airplane: One of year's best LPs ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: John Fogerty: I've always wanted to be a rock 'n' roll star
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
IF THERE has been one solitary factor which has completely dominated John Fogerty's lifestyle, it has been his insatiable desire to be a successful rock ...
Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
JOHN SINGS LONG TRACK ABOUT PAUL ...
Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson (CBS 70089; £2.19)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
FOR WELL over two decades of music, trumpeter Miles Davis has remained as one of the few unchallenged innovators and to this day he still ...
Mott The Hoople: This Group Means T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
...or that's what some promoters think as Mott The Hoople face the same hang-ups that the Rolling Stones once experienced It's unfair, as any fan knows, ...
Traffic: Welcome To The Canteen (Island 12TS 9165; £2.15)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
TRAFFIC MUSICAL HISTORY ...
Deep Purple: Guildhall, Portsmouth
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
LITTLE DID the capacity crowd at Portsmouth Guildhall on Monday night know just how new Deep Purple's opening number 'Highway Star' really was. On the ...
Lee Hazlewood, Nancy Sinatra: Lee Hazlewood: We Only Record For The Fun Of It
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
THREE YEARS ago, Lee Hazlewood tired of writing and producing Nancy Sinatra – split to Stockholme to carry on his interest in film work – ...
Sandy Denny: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
PERHAPS I was expecting too much from Sandy Denny, or maybe I wanted too much, but I'm afraid her concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall ...
Shirley Bassey: State Of The World Means 'Kids' Can Now Relate To Me Says Shirley Bassey
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
UNEXPECTED, but marvellous – and Shirley Bassey puts down her latest recording success, 'For All We Know' down to a change of style, which she ...
Terry Reid: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
OH, WHAT a good 'un Terry Reid has become. I hadn't seen him for something over a year until his Queen Elizabeth Hall concert last ...
The Groundhogs: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
OUT Of the many gigs I've seen Groundhogs play, their concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday was easily one of the best. Perhaps ...
Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
Sun Records have Cash, Presley, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins tapes locked in vault ...
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
THE LEGEND that has grown up around Johnny Cash got its first in-person airing in Britain for three years at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on ...
The Bay City Rollers: New to the Charts: Bay City Rollers from Scotland
Profile by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
NEXT IN the line of Scottish groups to make it South of the Border, called the Bay City Rollers, this week enter the NME charts at No. ...
Traffic: The Gaumont, Worcester
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
TRAFFIC: THEY NEVER PLAY THE SAME TWICETour review by TONY STEWART ...
Led Zeppelin: Zeppelin: More Solid Than Ever
Report and Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971
Ritchie Yorke, in Canada, attends a Led Zeppelin concert and, with Jimmy Page, previews the group's next album ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
LOOKING UNUSUALLY relaxed, perhaps with more confidence than he has previously had, Cat Stevens took the stage at the Coliseum on Sunday, with the house ...
CCS, Alexis Korner: CCS: Alexis Kornered
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
CCS: with 21 people it needs to be commercial ...
Peter Frampton, Humble Pie: Not So Umble Pie
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
Frampton Always Been The Odd Man Out ...
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
Part two of RITCHIE YORK'S interview in Canada ...
The Carpenters, Labi Siffre: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
MUSICALLY THE Carpenters are a very pleasing group and the selection of numbers they played at their Royal Albert Hall concert on Friday were well ...
Curved Air: Second Album (Warner Bros. K46092 £2.15)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 October 1971
Curved Air: No need for gimmicks ...
Stoneground: Good Time Stoneground
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 October 1971
AS PART OF the travelling Great Medicine Ball Caravan, Stoneground hit this country last year, and now they are back, but on their own, and ...
Sandy Denny: The North Star Grassman And The Ravens (ILPS 9165 £2.15)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 October 1971
SANDY'S VOICE CARRIES IT ...
Al Green, The Bill Black Combo: Al Green: Now Green Smashes The Big Memphis Monopoly
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 16 October 1971
MEMPHIS HAS long been accepted as capital city of rock 'n' soul, but to the casual fan this means just Elvis on the rock side ...
Stone The Crows: Teenage Licks (Polydor Super 2425 071 E2.15)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 16 October 1971
FROM THE first track on this third album from Stone The Crows it is obvious where their roots lie, in good time rock and R&B; ...
John Sebastian, The Who: The Who: Surrey University, Guildford
Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 October 1971
OO'S GOT THE most exciting stage act in the world, then? The 'Oo, that's 'oo. And 'ow do I know? 'Cause I know all about ...
Carole King: How Carole King Became Queen...
Profile by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 October 1971
IN MANY ways, and for many reasons, it took Carole King a long time to record her first album, Writer, in 1970. As a writer ...
Pentangle: The Five Sides of Pentangle
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 October 1971
PENTANGLE'S RISE in popularity has been unobtrusive but definite. They play a unique and compelling blend of styles spanning the world of jazz, blues, country, ...
Judy Collins: "Music Reminds Us That We're Human Beings"
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 30 October 1971
LIKE A CHILD Judy Collins posed for photographers at a special reception held for her this week to welcome her back to Britain for the ...
The Velvet Underground: Velvet Underground: Lowdown on the Underground
Profile and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 30 October 1971
Tony Stewart reports on the 'mysterious' Velvet Underground – a super-hip cult based on four reluctant 'intellectuals' ...
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 November 1971
DESCRIBING Larry Williams as a "great unknown" might raise a few eyebrows for he had a hit with 'Bony Moronie', a rock 'n' roll classic, ...
James Brown: Hot Pants (Polydor 2425086 £2.15p)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 6 November 1971
IF YOUR big turn on is leapin' n' boogalooin' about in stuffy, sweatin' coalbunker discotheques while having your ears and mind blown by a thundering ...
Richie Havens: A State Of Mind (Verve)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 November 1971
DON'T CONFUSE this with the soon-to-be-released Havens album, The Great Blind Degree. ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 6 November 1971
COULD THE BEACH BOYS actually be doing a Moody Blues? The whole theme of this is: the world might be in a pretty dismal state ...
Allman Brothers Band: At Fillmore East (Atlantic T659005, £3.45)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 November 1971
WITH THE current output of albums at saturation point, it is extremely hard for a reviewer to devote more than just one brief hearing to ...
Ann Peebles: Will Princess Ann Be Queen
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 13 November 1971
ON THE distaff side, soul music has produced a long run of superb girl singers and these soul sisters have found it far easier to ...
B.B. King: 'I Owe My Popularity To The Beatles. They Started The People Towards Really Listening...'
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 13 November 1971
GUITARIST-SINGER B. B. King, at 45 the toast of many young musicians, arrives at London Airport next Friday (19) to appear in London and Bristol ...
Slade: How Slade's image caused them bovver
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 13 November 1971
THE SKINHEAD era worked two ways on Slade — who had become the first group of the skinhead kind. It brought them to the attention ...
Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic Deluxe, 240.1012 £2.35)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 November 1971
A GUARANTEED million seller well before it's release, perhaps in theory even before it was recorded, this, the long-awaited fourth album from Led Zeppelin is ...
Mountain, Wishbone Ash: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 November 1971
WISHBONE ASH are without a doubt one of our finest new bands — they make good albums, and their ever-increasing following is loyal. However, at ...
Quintessence: Peace... Love... And Success Without Sell-Out
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 November 1971
FOR QUINTESSENCE, 1971 must go down as one of the most successful years in their history they have been going through a period of ...
Wings: Wild Life (Parlophone PCS 7142; £2.15)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 November 1971
TWO SIDES OF McCARTNEYS ...
Isaac Hayes: Good Hayes music, but a flat film!
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
"JUST ONE moment please. Mr Hayes will be right with you," said the voice at the other end of the transatlantic phone. Fifty minutes later ...
Jimi Hendrix: Rainbow Bridge (Reprise. K44159, £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
THIS IS the second album of hitherto unreleased Hendrix material put out by different companies in as many weeks, three if you count the duplications ...
Led Zeppelin, Stone the Crows: Empire Pool, Wembley
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
Zeppelin circus roars into town ...
Marc Benno: Minnows (A&M, AMLS 64303; £2.30)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
DURING 1968/69 Marc Benno was part of the Asylum Choir with Leon Russell, then he came over here with Rita Coolidge and was picked up ...
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
THE REASON I have for linking these two albums together is to try to demonstrate the right way and the wrong way to do it. ...
Mott The Hoople: Brain Capers (Island ILPS 9178, £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 December 1971
MOTT: NEAR PERFECTION ...
New Riders Of The Purple Sage: New Riders Of The Purple Sage (CBS 64657, £2.08p)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 December 1971
"Unknown" Riders will please you ...
Steve Miller Band: Rock Love (Capitol E-SW 748; £2.15)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 December 1971
TOTALLY DIFFERENT from the Sailor album, which remains to date the best offering from the Steve Miller Band. This is more of the loose rock ...
Status Quo: Bubblegum Has Stuck To Status Quo, And It's A Stain They Need Ridding Of
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
IMAGES FOR bands are acquired, changed, but seldom forgotten and such is the case with Status Quo. Underrated yet very talented, over a period ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Pictures At An Exhibition (Island, HELP. 1; £1.50).
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
"HANS, IS das cheering on zee stereo gramafunken for zee Furhrer at zee 1937 Nuremburg Rally?" ...
Family: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
IT WAS A Family affair on Friday evening, when the Fearless Five doubled the size of their personnel to perform a diverse selection of their ...
Grateful Dead: Grateful Dead (Warner Bros. K66009. 2-album set, £3.75).
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
IT'S A SAD but true fact. There are not many people in this country who have had the enviable pleasure of actually seeing THE Great ...
Humble Pie: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
THE STARK black and white posters for Sunday's Humble Pie London concert boldly proclaimed, "Humble Pie Performance, Rockin' The Roundhouse," and that's exactly what the ...
Melanie: Gather Me (Buddah 2322 002 £2.35)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
IT WOULD appear that everyone I Know is in love with Melanie. And once you've seen her you realise that she is the enigmatic image ...
Mott The Hoople: Mott, Working Class Heroes
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
IF IAN HUNTER'S vision becomes a reality, then we are about to witness the first generation gap within the new rock culture. For Hunter states ...
The Faces: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
FANTASTIC FACES DRIVE NEW YORK WILD! ...
Traffic: The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (Island ILPS 9180, £2.15)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
FRANKLY I am more than a little disappointed with the new Traffic album, mainly because I had put so much faith in the new line-up ...
Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey (Warner Bros. K.46114; £2 15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1971
THERE ARE those albums which one enjoys so much that one doesn't want to review them, but just play continuously. This, Van Morrison's latest epistle, ...
Al Green: You're Never Alone With Al
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 11 December 1971
THERE WAS no chance of Al Green getting tired of being alone when Decca Records welcomed him to Britain with a turkey and Christmas pud ...
B.B. King, Freddie King: B.B. King and Freddie King: Kings Of The Blues
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 11 December 1971
Two bluesmen who have become living legends talk about their careers and the state of the blues today. And B.B. King and Freddie King both ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 11 December 1971
IF ANY one man personifies the solid beat of Memphis soul then surely it's Willie Mitchell. Not only has he turned out 14 hit albums ...
Al Green: Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 18 December 1971
DESPITE the counter-attraction of the Buddy Rich big-band downstairs there was a packed house for Al Green "Upstairs" at London's Ronnie Scott's including many big ...
Grand Funk Railroad: E Pluribus Funk (Capitol EA-SW 853; £2.40)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 18 December 1971
NOT ENOUGH FUNK! ...
Stray: Digbeth Civic Hall, Birmingham
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 December 1971
ANY LONDON gig for Stray is a gas, I was informed. So just to see how good the band are in other venues, I visited ...
Yoko Ono: Fly (Apple SAPTU 101/102 £4.30)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 December 1971
ELECTRIC YOKO MISSES OUT ON MUSIC ...
Little Richard: King Of Rock 'n' Roll/Various Artists: This Is How It All Began
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 25 December 1971
PERHAPS IT'S just that I'm a bit too fussy, but basically I don't like going to see live gigs of the artists I admire. Too ...
Big Mama Thornton: The Hound Dog Howler Who Inspired Janis
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 1 January 1972
IN THE DEEPEST depths of Transatlantic's Marylebone High Street (London) headquarters there's a wire cage which looks like Death Row in your favourite neighbourhood prison. ...
Rufus Thomas: Rufus and The Funky Penguin
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 1 January 1972
RUFUS THOMAS was half-way through a busy tour the last time we met. This time round I caught up with him just two days before ...
Bloodstone: The Bloodstone Sound Spectrum
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 January 1972
THERE'S BEEN a growing flood of black American artists to these shores over the past few years, and more and more of them have decided ...
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 January 1972
WITH AIRFORCE, Ginger Baker succeeded in providing the rudiments of the Afro-beat. Consciously he wanted to go back to the roots of highly percussive music, ...
Sandy Denny Breaks Her Silence
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 January 1972
After playing a Greta Garbo role for three months, the leading lady of British folk comes out of her shell to talk to Tony Stewart ...
Traffic: The Grech Traffic Report
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 January 1972
A RECENT trip to America proved to be a traumatic period for Traffic. ...
America: If We'd Spent Years Playing Clubs, Our Music Could Hardly Be Fresh
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
AMERICA talk to James Johnson ...
Stevie Wonder: Audiences Will Accept New Things From Me, Says Stevie Wonder
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
MUSICAL BARRIERS are tumbling down that's the reckoning of Stevie Wonder, currently on another 20-date European tour. "Audiences used to have a pre-conception of ...
Dave Mason Gives New Meaning To That Old Cliché 'Doing My Own Thing'
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
DAVE MASON arrived at Heathrow Airport last Wednesday about a quarter of an hour earlier than planned, and even if the TWA chick hadn't tipped ...
Jefferson Airplane, Papa John Creach: Papa John Creach: Papa John Makes It With Rock
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
THE ONE-TIME phenomenon of young white rock musicians playing on records by old black blues musicians has become a commonplace thing. ...
Stevie Wonder: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
STEVIE WONDER is the first artist to make Motown work for him rather than vice-versa. He has full control over his music and has acquired ...
T. Rex: Gliderdrome, Boston, Lincs.
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 22 January 1972
REXMANIA At the Boston Gliderdrome on Saturday, T. Rex turned the musical dock back to the early sixties. In scenes of hysteria and confusion unparalleled since ...
Bloodstone, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield, Bloodstone: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 29 January 1972
WITH THE Curtis Mayfield/Bloodstone show, the Rainbow Theatre proved conclusively that the Albert Hall has lost its place as the capital city of bad acoustics. ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 29 January 1972
ON THE DAY I was to meet David Bowie at his home in Beckenham, Kent, I really didn't know what to expect. I had heard ...
David Bowie: Hunky Dory (RCA Victor)
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 29 January 1972
Bowie at his brilliant best ...
Donnie Elbert: The Mystery Of The Vanishing Chart Star
Report by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 29 January 1972
Wanted: DONNIE ELBERT to contact numerous, and despairing record company executives ...
Pink Floyd: Electric Chaos, But Just Great
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 January 1972
Tony Stewart at the debut of Pink Floyd's new masterpiece. ...
America: "Stale" America Need A New Act — And They May Extend Their Line-Up
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
IMPERIAL COLLEGE, London, was America's last gig before their current tour of the States. Backstage it was more than a little chaotic, with the dressing ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
OF ALL the heavy German bands Can are perhaps the most interesting and could prove the most influential. Next month they tour Britain and, judging ...
Captain Beefheart: The Spotlight Kid (Reprise)
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
THE CAPTAIN is back with this latest album of Space Blues and poetry in motion. ...
Edwin Starr: Involved (Tamla Motown)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
THIS ALBUM'S title is Edwin Starr — Involved, but somehow it comes across as being a token gesture. Black white soul at its most blatant ...
Frank Zappa: Zappa On Rock, Porn And Blues
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
HE LOOKS a bit like an identi-kit picture of our own most infamous anarchist Guy Fawkes, this much-vaunted, often-maligned rock guitarist who more than anyone ...
Isaac Hayes: Black Moses (Stax)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
HAYES SPREADS IT THIN ...
Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia: A Rare Interview
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
Roy Carr in New York: the problems of making the Dead NOT happen ...
Lonnie Mack: The Hills Of Indiana (Elektra)
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
ONLY RECENTLY did Lonnie Mack turn to the word of God and leave pop for an indefinite period. It's such a shame because this LP ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
LOU ADLER is a music giant behind the scenes. He started his career writing songs with Herb Alpert, but the partnership split up because Alpert ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
Outspoken Danny Holloway series ...
The Chi-Lites: Roy Carr in Harlem sees the Chi-Lites
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
IT HAS TAKEN the Chi-Lites ten years to become an overnight success. A decade of dues playing on the Chitlin' circuit which helped justify their ...
Hawkwind: The Truth About Hawkwind
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
LIKE THEM or not, you must admit that Hawkwind are honest. Guitarist Dave Brock is not loath to admit that most of the band's musicians ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
ONE OF THE MOST ADVENTUROUS BILLS EVER ...
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
RON WOOD would have swept the floor of Pye's No. 2 studio as he boogied round during the Chuck Berry super-session during Saturday. He saw ...
The Archies, Carole King, The Monkees: Don Kirshner: I Discovered Carole King
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
THEY MOST often call Don Kirshner the King of Bubble-gum. But he's not worrying. Sitting high in his suite at the Dorchester he has the ...
Frank Zappa on Death, Rock Writers, Money
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
ZAPPA IS NOT renowned for his appreciation of rock writers and their work, and he makes his point quite forcibly on the subject. ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: Marc Bolan: A Weird Kid With No Friends
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
Outspoken Danny Holloway series ...
Pink Floyd (part 1): 'Things Just Somehow Happen To Us — We Don't Plan'
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
SIX YEARS ago an evening with Pink Floyd resembled a riot, with bottles, glasses and verbal abuse being hurled in their direction. ...
Stevie Wonder, Bags Of Chips And Clapton
Report and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 17 February 1972
NME calls in at all-night recording session ...
Free: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 19 February 1972
THE AUDIENCE WENT mad from the moment Free were introduced on Thursday at the Albert Hall. Nearly every number was greeted warmly with hoops and ...
Pink Floyd (part 2): Simple But Not Banal
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 February 1972
LAST WEEK, NICK Mason talked at length about the evolution of Pink Floyd up to the Atom Heart Mother stage. The policy of the band ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 19 February 1972
OF ALL THE groups who have dabbled in politics over the last few years, the MC5 seem to have gained the reputation as one of ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 26 February 1972
"IT'S ALL BULL. Having offices and secretaries and all the moodies and the phones. It's just crap. It's nothing to do with making records. Making ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey: NME Free Night, Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
I WONDER just how many of those present at last Wednesday's NME free gig at the Marquee Club were aware that the evening's attraction, Alex ...
Joe Cocker, Leon Russell: Cordell, the Coaxer Behind Cocker
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
DENNY CORDELL roamed around the music business in London during the early sixties before discovering the Moody Blues and consequently becoming their producer. He assisted ...
Deep Purple: Orchid Ballroom, Purley
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
FORGET ABOUT chart placing and record sales for just one moment. The true testing point of any big group is its drawing capacity at the ...
Mountain’s Pappalardi: Hell-Bent On Becoming A Rock Legend
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
"And the cold winds blow,He was brave but he's laid lowBy her body in the island mist,I saw him give her one last coldkiss...one last ...
Chicory Tip: Progressive and Pop Narrow the Gap — Chicory Tip
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
Chart's No.1 pop band ...
Steve Miller Band: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
Miller's night to remember ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 March 1972
TOMMY HUNT is a name you'll be hearing a lot of if the best laid plans of the entertainment business don't go astray. More than ...
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 11 March 1972
I HAVE KNOWN Marc Bolan for several years now and have never thought of him as being, well, completely normal. By that I don't mean ...
Jeff Beck, Heaven: London College of Printing, Elephant and Castle, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 11 March 1972
IN SPITE of heavy criticisms of audiences recently the one at London College of Printing, Elephant and Castle, on Friday night to see Jeff Beck, ...
Randy Newman: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 11 March 1972
ANYONE WHO considers sarcasm the lowest form of wit has not heard the heights to which Randy Newman has raised the art during a live ...
Isaac Hayes: The Aloof Mystique of Isaac Hayes
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 11 March 1972
...but he's part of the people in his gold-plated Rolls Royce ...
The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson: Schmaltz or Genius?
Comment by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 18 March 1972
In his day perhaps they thought Mozart was a hype ...
America, Judee Sill: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
America — simply so successful ...
Aretha Franklin: Young, Gifted & Black (Atlantic)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
THIS NEW album once again illustrates Aretha as one of the finest interpretive artists of this era and the diverse material — beautifully arranged by ...
Harry Nilsson: Come Out, Harry, The Time Is Right
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
NILSSON filled Trident studios with old people to help record 'I'd Rather Be Dead' for his album. The song is a "lively, up-tempo number about ...
Joe Cocker: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Lenny Kaye, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
Cocker On Stage A Big Let-Down. A Disillusioned Lenny Kaye Reports New York Opening ...
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
SLADE: BRASH, RAW, FLASHY — AND GREAT ...
Wilson Pickett: Don't Knock My Love (Atlantic)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
SINCE THE mid '60s when Pickett came up with such goodies as 'Midnight Hour' and 'Mustang Sally' his voice has changed very little. And now ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
BANGLA FILM RELEASED ...
Brinsley Schwarz: Silver Pistol (United Artists)
Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
THIS CAPTURES much of the easy-going feel that makes this band such an entertaining outfit on stage. Recorded at their home in Northwood, London, the ...
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
AS A PRELUDE to the good captain, a ballerina dressed in white, with a crown to match, did her stuff, followed by a belly dancer ...
Captain Beefheart: A Trip Into The Mind Of The Spotlight Kid
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
RECENTLY MOVED FROM his desert domain in Lancaster to the remote forests of oceanside Eureka in Northern California, The Captain, at a comfortable 31, is ...
Colin Blunstone: For Sale: A Singer
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
Despite his talent, there was a suspicion of hype in the air, writes Keith Altham ...
Deep Purple: Machine Head (Purple)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
Purple: what we've got is a lot ...
Sandy Denny: Sandy and Band, Coping Cheerfully
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 5 April 1972
FROM THE outside the Denny residence in Fulham looks a place of tranquility. Inside, though, a different story prevails. As Watson the huge Airedale lumbers ...
Deep Purple: Victims Of Their Own Fame
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 April 1972
DEEP PURPLE'S new album Machine Head comes to you courtesy of the Rolling Stones' redoubtable studio manager Ian Stewart who saved their famous mobile recording ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 8 April 1972
ACCORDING to Judee Sill: "Out of the mud grows a lotus". In other words something beautiful comes from something unpleasant. The phrase applies well to ...
Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead: The Dead
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 8 April 1972
GARCIA stabs at the record business — 'We want to get out' ...
Al Green: Let's Stay Together (London)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
WHILE SUPER Spade and Mighty Whitey have been down in the alley battling it out to see who has the most soul n' funk, Al ...
Linda Lewis, Jimmy Webb: Jimmy Webb, Linda Lewis: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
THERE MAY BE something extremely valid in a composer performing his own highly successful material in concert, and though Jimmy Webb accomplished this to a ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Dead Come Alive
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
IT'S TAKEN a long time for the Dead to get themselves back over here. They probably made it more by good luck than good judgment. ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
SINGIN' AND BOPPIN' WITH THE DEAD ...
Carla Thomas, The Temptations: The Temptations, Carla Thomas: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
IF ELVIS himself had stepped onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon on Friday he could hardly have created more excitement than the Temptations stirred up with ...
Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything? (Bearsville Records)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
ENTER, ONE lanky fair-haired youth called Todd Rundgren weighed down with an armful of instruments, a clear head filled with sun-blessed songs 'n' sounds, a ...
T. Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Took Talks! about T.REX
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
SINCE HE LEFT T. Rex, Steve Took says he's spoken to Marc Bolan just twice. The last time was about three months ago at Boston ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
TALKING TO the Allman Brothers at their overnight camp in a palatial hotel in Hollywood, it soon became obvious that everyone still thinks and talks ...
Fairport Convention: With no original members remaining Fairport back to square one, says Dave Pegg
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
DAVE PEGG looked puzzled. Adjusting the rim of his giant hat, he mused the question over. He wasn't too sure whether Fairport should continue to ...
Hot Tuna: Burgers (Grunt Records)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
DESPITE THE fact that Hot Tuna are a direct off-shoot from the Jefferson Airplane hanger, they have managed with discretion to avoid any obvious hype, ...
James Brown: Revolution Of The Mind (Polydor Double-Album).
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
SOMETIMES IT'S hard to separate James Brown the entertainer from James Brown the social voice of the down-trodden American negro, but in Brown's case he ...
Jim Capaldi: Oh How We Danced (Island)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
Capaldi hits a new creative peak ...
Valerie Simpson: Exposed (Tamla Motown)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
THIS DEBUT album is one of those rare and very beautiful moments when an artiste is completely successful. ...
Dr. John From Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
DR. JOHN'S contributions to pop music have been highly original and creative. Even if he claims that all the credit is due to the music ...
The Rolling Stones: Eight Stone Exiles
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
IT COULD TAKE the Rolling Stones' new double-album Exile On Main Street, says NME's ROY CARR, to awaken those members of the rock nation so ...
Led Zeppelin: Gassin' With Zeppelin
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
HOW ROBERT PLANT STAYS FRESH ...
The Band, Todd Rundgren: Raving Over The Runt, Alias Todd Rundgren: Rock Whiz-Kid
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
THE NAME Todd Rundgren may sound more like a catarrhal growl than the monicker of an aspiring 23-year-old young musical whiz-kid. ...
The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
And here, a track by track of the upcoming Exile On Main Street set three weeks before release ...
America: Following a Remarkable Year, America Take Stock
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 6 May 1972
THE LAST THREE weeks have been something of a resting point for America. After returning from the States each of them split for a holiday, ...
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 6 May 1972
THE MUSIC MAN sits there sipping tea and talking music. Although he has always been a bit of a loner, he is certainly not an ...
Stone The Crows: Les Harvey — A Rock Tragedy
Obituary by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 13 May 1972
LIFE AS a rock star isn't all glamour. It's a hard, gruelling existence which too often can end in tragedy. ...
Wilson Pickett On African Soul
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 13 May 1972
WILSON PICKETT is back — as big and brash as ever, and if his press reception this past week at WEA Records (nee Kinney) is ...
Jackson Browne: Vanishing Minstrel
Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 20 May 1972
JACKSON BROWNE is no new name to pop. He's been here all the time. He's one of those guys who used to just appear at ...
The Faces: Kenny Jones: The Face in the Shadows
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 20 May 1972
THE FACES phenomenon started eight months ago when they supported T. Rex at the Weeley Festival. They followed that appearance with another crowd pleaser at ...
Joe Cocker: The Joe Cocker Ritual Sacrifice
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 May 1972
WE APOLOGISE for the slight reduction in Cocker-power but it now looks as though normal service has been resumed following the one year strike (respite) ...
The Temptations: Behind The Slick Veneer
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 20 May 1972
TALKING TO the Temptations can at times smack of talking to a tape-recording. So many of the answers are stock phrases, learned in Tamla Motown's ...
Dr. John: Dr John: The Mind And Music Of A Delta Voodoo Rocker
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
ACCORDING to Dr. John almost everything started in New Orleans, from rock and rail to rhythm and blues to himself. ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
Free fall through being too complacent ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
PERHAPS MORE than anything else the recent appearances of the Grateful Dead in this country at Wembley and Bickershaw and more currently the Lyceum, have ...
Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: Jagger: Solo Without Splitting
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
JUST LIKE the thrill-seekers who attend a bullfight in the hope of seeing the handsome matador gored or the daring young man on the flying ...
Pink Floyd: Obscured By Clouds (Harvest)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
FLOYD JOY FOR ALL ...
Ry Cooder: The stars' star steps out
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
RY COODER is a familiar name to groups like the Rolling Stones and Crosby, Stills and Nash who regularly utilised — I sometimes wonder whether ...
The Osmonds: They're Enough To Make You Scream…
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 May 1972
LAST FRIDAY at High Noon it was 'teen time' at London's Churchill Hotel, where those Beetle-haired Monkee-faced and indecently wholesome Osmond Brothers (You have probably ...
Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, June 1972
THE BEST NEWS of last week was that Johnny Winter, after a year in medical exile, was once again alive and functioning, and due to ...
Badfinger: beating a bad image
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
IN AMERICA, Badfinger are respected musicians. In Britain they are nothing more than another singles-producing tin of baked beans. It's weird how wide the Atlantic ...
Electric Flag, Jimi Hendrix, Wilson Pickett, Santana: Buddy Miles: Big black hunk of funk
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
BUDDY MILES ON SANTANA, HENDRIX ...
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
A survey of New Orleans, by Dr John ...
Peter Frampton, The Herd, Humble Pie: Frampton: the Musician Who Beat a Pretty Face
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
PETE FRAMPTON has seen a lot of changes in his 22 years. There was a time when the pretty Face of '68 was showered with ...
Arthur Conley, Inez Foxx: From The Soul: Inez Foxx and Arthur Conley
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
INEZ FOXX is currently engaged on her 18th British tour — the fifth of sixth since she split from brother Charlie. ...
The Rolling Stones: Going into Exile — Producer Jimmy Miller talks about the Stones' new album
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
The degree of enjoyment is the only yardstick to use ...
Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
I SAW the first night of the Dead's four concerts at the London Lyceum last Thursday. where they were ever so good for ever so ...
Steve Miller Band: Recall The Beginning... A Journey From Eden (Capitol)
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
MILLER HAS improved by leaps and bounds over Rock Love, his last offering. This is much more cohesive, and the songs reach back to the same ...
The Beach Boys: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
I AM, it should be emphasised, a Beach Boys freak from way back, to 'Wendy' and 'Surfin' U.S.A.', through Pet Sounds to Surfs Up, and ...
Yes: Confessions Of a Musical Idiot
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 3 June 1972
JON ANDERSON OF YES TALKS TO TONY NORMAN ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
Soakin' At The Palace: TONY STEWART reviews the Garden Party that should have been a lot better ...
Byzantium, Buddy Miles, Nazareth: Buddy Miles Express, Byzantium, Nazareth: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
I MAKE NO apologies for the fact that I was fast asleep during the first number of Buddy Miles' set at the Lyceum's Midnight Court. ...
David Bowie: The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (RCA)
Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
Bowie at his best ...
Diana Ross: Gems Amid The Schmaltz
Report by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
IF ANY one soul artist has totally transcended the limitations of the term and become a star of ultimate "show business" status then it must ...
Electric Light Orchestra, The Move: Move Over For The ELO
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
THE FIRST love in Roy Wood's life is obviously his new 10-piece mini-orchestra, the ELO, but meanwhile the Move are apparently still alive and very ...
Dr. Ross, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, Dr. Isiah Ross: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
IF AUTHENTIC blues music really is dying on its feet, perhaps someone should inform the thousand enthusiasts who packed the 100 Club to see Muddy ...
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
In this final part of his interview with Ritchie Yorke, Miller talks about the many artists he has recorded, and in particular about tracks which ...
The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, The Stylistics: Stylistics sock it out sweetly
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
THOUGH THE music of Detroit, Memphis and Muscle Shoals receives more publicity over here, the East Coast city of Philadelphia, just over 100 miles south ...
The Beach Boys: With Love And Good Vibes part 1
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
THE BEACH BOYS are the most successful and oldest working rock and roll band on the road today and this is a crucial year in ...
The Rolling Stones: Andrew Loog Oldham: Behind the Shades — The Stones, and Other Stories...
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
ANDREW OLDHAM, THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED THE STONES ...
David Bowie & the Spiders From Mars: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
THE LAST time I saw David Bowie was six months ago when he was playing a purely acoustic set. And although I'd heard his new ...
Frederick Knight: Freak Hit for Knight
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
PROVIDED HE isn't burdened down with a surfeit of bills and tax demands, the arrival of the postman is one of the brighter moments in ...
Lou Reed: A Voice From The Underground
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
ONCE HE wore black, tinselled clothes and was a human screen for movies. He sang and wrote about evil characters; sometimes happier ones. But always ...
The Beach Boys: With Love And Good Vibes part 2
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
THE FINAL part of Keith Altham's interview with Beach Boy Mike Love. Last week Love talked about the group's involvement with transcendental meditation. Now he ...
The Rolling Stones: The Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
WEEKS PRIOR to their Los Angeles date, the entire population in L.A. was struck by Stones fever. Tickets went quick and 350,000 people had to ...
The Staple Singers: Soft Sounds That Burn Deep
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 17 June 1972
JAMAICAN SINGERS have yet to follow up their undoubted success in Britain with a similar impact in the States but neverthelless reggae is making a ...
Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson: Richard Thompson: The Session Great That Nobody Knows
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 22 June 1972
THE TERM "GUITAR hero" is used with increasing regularity. Pete Townshend's splintering aggressive antics have won him the tag; Alvin "up and down the fretboard ...
American Spring: Mrs Brian Wilson
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
MARILYN WILSON and her sister Diana Rovell, are American Spring, and their first album is very much a family affair, because her famous husband Brian ...
The Rolling Stones: Andrew Oldham: Last Part of the Tony Norman Series
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
LAST WEEK, Andrew Oldham talked about his life with the Rolling Stones. Like Brian Epstein, Oldham seemed to be more than just an ordinary manager. ...
Cliff Richard: The Peter Pan of Pop
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
POOR OLD Cliff is still a bit too good to be true for most people – the Peter Pan of pop, and a Christian to ...
Fleetwood Mac: Bare Trees (Reprise)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
The Fleetwood formula ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: From the Soul: Gladys Knight
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
EXACTLY a week after leaving the employ of Music For Pleasure Records, and on the eve of departing for a much needed holiday, I received ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
IN TOWN TO RECORD HURRICANE'S HIT, AND KNOCKED AND ROBBED IN A LONDON STORE, MAMA CASS TALKS TO FRED DELLAR ...
Roberta Flack: First Take (Atlantic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
AFTER BEING around for three years, this suddenly shot to number one in the American charts in the wake of the single cut 'The First ...
The Chi-Lites: The Windy City Sound
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 24 June 1972
IF ANY outfit holds serious aspirations to usurping the Temptation's crown as the world's leading soul group then it must surely be Chicago's Chi-Lites who ...
Jeff Beck: Jeff Beck Group (Epic)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 July 1972
Beck doesn't make it ...
The Flamin' Groovies, Man: Man, The Flamin' Grooves: Lyceum, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 1 July 1972
IT'S EASY TO sympathise with the aims of the Flamin' Groovies. All they want to do is play rock and roll and get people dancing. ...
Joe Cocker: Cocker: When The Strain Begins To Show
Report by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 8 July 1972
JAMES JOHNSON reports on the EUROPEAN TOUR ...
Deep Purple: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 8 July 1972
THE RAINBOW came back to life on Friday night with a snarl, a cheer and a smile. The near-capacity crowd had come to see Deep ...
Led Zeppelin: The Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 8 July 1972
LED ZEPPELIN appeared in concert at the Los Angeles Forum on Sunday night without a support act. It was definitely for the better as far ...
Smith, Perkins & Smith, The Sutherland Brothers: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 8 July 1972
ONE HELL OF a band called Smith, Perkins and Smith, played the Marquee last week. Now, they're not your ordinary run of the mill band. ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 July 1972
WHEN THE J. Geils Band team up with Brinsley Schwarz and Brewer's Droop for a night's rockanroll, you can be sure that you're going to ...
Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Ravi Shankar: The Concert for Bangla Desh (Apple/Twentieth Century-Fox)
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
A SPECIAL PREVIEW BY JOHN PIDGEON ...
Alexis Korner: Kornering The Market
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
ALEXIS KORNER has been for so long at the heart of rhythm and blues in Britain, and touched off so many groups who have gone ...
Love Unlimited, Barry White: Love Unlimited Bring Deep Soul to Britain
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
SOUL ENTHUSIASTS used to call it "deep-soul", the kind of sound which usually didn't even get released over here, and when it did, sold in ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
SMOKEY ROBINSON is a hell of a lot more than just a giant of soul or Motown. For more than a decade, his original and ...
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
BY WORD-of-mouth reputation alone, this debut album by the Eagles — born out of Poco and the Burritos — has suddenly become one of the ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
FOR MORE than a decade, the Impressions have been a legendary soul name, besides having produced two fine solo performers — Jerry Butler and Curtis ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
Will they burn out, or blast through the time barrier? ...
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come (dir. Perry Henzell)
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
"The oppressors are trying to keep me downMakin' me feel like a clown" ...
David Bowie: David at the Dorchester: Bowie on Ziggy and other matters
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
THREE CHANGES of dress and a kiss from Lou Reed. The waiters were horrified. ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
THIS WAS one of the few gigs I can remember where all the acts deserved a full-length review to themselves. The teaming of Reed, Gnidrolog ...
Rod Stewart, T. Rex: Rod Stewart: Never A Dull Moment/T. Rex: The Slider
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
TEENAGE TEARDROPS... Or, would you buy a used riff from these men? ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
Will CSN&Y ever re-unite and find true happiness? ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: An Initiation Into Iggy Pop
Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 July 1972
For those who think Bowie a trifle lame... ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Not Only Sly, But Sometimes Just Plain Damn Evasive
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 July 1972
ROY CARR talks to Sly Stone — why he missed Bardney and other tales ...
Stone the Crows: Mayfair Ballroom, Newcastle
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 July 1972
MAGGIE'S MIRACLE — THE SURVIVAL OF STONE THE CROWS ...
Todd Rundgren: Todd the Whizz Kid
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 29 July 1972
EVEN THOUGH his name may not mean much to the general public, Todd Rundgren is undoubtedly a success. ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: On Life and Love
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 5 August 1972
IT WAS easy to see that the sands of time had shaken this poor boy pretty hard. Twenty-seven-year-old Arthur Lee strolled into A&M's Hollywood offices ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer, Free: ELP Plus Tull in Dirty Raincoats, and How Free May Drop the Name
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 August 1972
WATCHING EMERSON, LAKE and Palmer play a concert with Free in the middle of a raging typhoon in Tokyo with Carl Palmer performing an incredible ...
Roberta Flack: Young Gifted and Black
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 5 August 1972
James Johnson talks to the reluctant Queen of Soul ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
WITHIN a year of its composer Bill Withers taking it high up the American chart, 'Ain't No Sunshine' has become firmly established as a soul ...
Jackie DeShannon: Jackie (Atlantic).
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
ONE OF THE few white singers ever to get convincingly into soul-music and be accepted even by purist fans. ...
Little Richard: What Richard Said
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
"UH, HOWdo you do. Mr. Penniman, it's a great..." "HALLELUJAH BROTHER it's great to be here in your wunnerful country. I want y'all to know ...
Randy Newman: Sail Away (Reprise)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
RANDY NEWMAN AND ACID OBSERVATIONS ...
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
A menace to society ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 19 August 1972
Aretha at her greatest ...
T. Rex: Marc Bolan: On Love, Hate and the Press
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 19 August 1972
MARC BOLAN may not be one step ahead of the shoe-shine, but he has certainly been slandered, libelled, heard words you've never heard in the ...
Sam Cooke: Who Remembers Him Now?
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 19 August 1972
"NOT 'ALF Sam Cooke's been an influence on me," Rod Stewart was saying in his NME interview last week, adding that the inclusion of 'Twistin' ...
Van Morrison: Where Is The Restless Lion Now?
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 19 August 1972
I'M AFRAID that the Van Morrison you know, may not be quite the same person as the one I envisage. ...
Rev. James Cleveland, Aretha Franklin: Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace (Atlantic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 26 August 1972
THOUGH IT HAS received wide critical accalim Aretha Franklin's latest album, the double set Amazing Grace, is far and away the least commercially orientated she ...
David Bowie, Roxy Music: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 August 1972
GOING TO THE Rainbow these days is definitely an outing, an excursion, something of a treat. Unfamiliarity breeds respect, and though the cheerful hippies who ...
Bo Diddley: Hey! Bo Diddley: The Man Whose Sexuality Was Too Much For America
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 August 1972
Diddley Freak Charles Shaar Murray, in the presence of the main man... ...
Cecil Womack, Mary Wells: Mary Wells And Her Guy Still Making Hits
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 August 1972
IT WAS PAST five in the afternoon but Mary Wells was still fast asleep, recovering from the rigours of her whistle stop British tour and ...
Bill Withers: Morale Music For The People In The Ghetto
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
A TELEPHONE CABLE that runs off the edge of Britain, down under the Atlantic, and up again into the heart of North America to St. ...
Frank Zappa: Fearless Frank Tells What He'll Lay On You At The Oval Concert
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
IT'S THE Frank Zappa show ... starring Larry The Dwarf with his guests Suzy Creamcheese, Ruben Sano, and Willie The Pimp. ...
James Brown: There It Is (Polydor)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
WHERE JAMES BROWN IS AT ...
Johnny Otis, Shuggie Otis: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
DO YOU FEEL all right? I mean, are you ready to put yo' hands together one time and say yeah? Louder, I wanna hear you ...
Lindisfarne: Suffering from a Surfeit of Kindness
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
IF IT WERE ever possible to kill a group with kindness then Lindisfarne might be the first victims of their own success. Their new album ...
Jackie Edwards, Harry J All Stars: Various Artists: Tighten Up Volume 6 (Trojan)
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
THIS CONSISTS mainly of the pop side of reggae. Tunes like Isaac Hayes's 'Do Your Thing', Dandy Livingstone's 'Suzanne, Beware Of The Devil' and the ...
Yes: Close To The Edge (Atlantic)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
Meaningless magnificence from Yes? ...
Leo Sayer: Who's like Dylan, Cocker, Rodgers And Rod? Leo Sayer
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 September 1972
LEO SAYER is Patches — Patches is Leo Sayer — described by his mentor as "the Huckleberry Finn of Rock", but fortunately he is good ...
Roxy Music: The kind of example we wish to set our parents?
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 23 September 1972
THE CHAMPAGNE was flowing freely when I interviewed Phil Manzanera, guitaring personality of Roxy Music, in freefall at twenty thousand feet over the English Channel ...
Report and Interview by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
KEEP ON ROCKIN' is in town, and so is the rock film revolutionary who created this celluloid spectacle of Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck ...
Beck, Bogert and Appice, Steeleye Span: Great Caledonian Express Festival, Grangemouth, Scotland
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
Mr. Beck we salute you ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
FIRST THE facts: Greasy Truckers are basically two people who wish to be known as Melvin and Fanny Hotrock (We all have our problems, I ...
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
HAWKWIND ARE ONE of the very few "Underground" bands to make the big time almost entirely on their own terms, without any real concessions to ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
THE SIGNS were there once again at what was in effect just another one-day festival that a bummer was to be had by one and ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
PUTTING MARC Bolan into perspective is no easy matter because he refuses to fit into any recognisable category. On the surface it could seem that ...
Matching Mole: Cosmic Music and a Weird Fripp Trip...
Report by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
INSIDE THE control-room of CBS Number One, Whitfield Street, producer Robert Fripp leans forward in his swivel chair and addresses the studio in general: "This is ...
Steeleye Span: Below The Salt (Chrysalis)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
THERE'S A very select coterie of bands who give off an aura of total peace. Listening to their performance gives you a sense of security ...
Allen Toussaint, Jerry Butler: Jerry Butler and Allen Toussaint: The Spice Of Life
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972
IT'S NOT so long since soul albums were merely collections of singles, plus a few make-weight tracks. ...
Johnny Cash: Hard Cash To Cleanse Your Soul
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972
IT'S 7.30 P.M. at the backstage entrance of the Albert Hall and strange things are happening. It's Wednesday, the second of Johnny Cash's performances at ...
Phillip Goodhand-Tait, Lou Reed: Lou Reed: Edmonton Sundown, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972
EDMONTON IS NOT exactly the rock capital of the world, and when Phillip Goodhand-Tait took the stage, the auditorium was somewhat underpopulated. This was somewhat ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972
JUST WHEN IT seemed that all the excitement, glamour and sparkle were going out of rock – along with the anger, vulgarity and vitality which ...
Procol Harum with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972
IF THERE'S ONE band with the class and elegance to successfully combine on equal terms with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra then it has to be ...
Roxy Music: Ferry Interesting Roxy
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 October 1972
BRYAN FERRY, stunning in gold trimmed black pyjamas and matching shades, greeted me from where he reclined, half-submerged beneath a heap of scented fanmail, on ...
Manassas: Edmonton Sundown, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 October 1972
I DON'T THINK I've ever heard so much good music and so much bad from the same group at the same time as when I ...
Lou Reed: The Stones, Bowie, Roxy and Mott. And What They Owe To The Inspiration of This One Man
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 October 1972
NICK KENT analyses the growing influence of America's LOU REED ...
10cc, Hotlegs: 10cc: a Hot Property from Old Hotlegs
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 21 October 1972
BY NOW YOU probably know that 10 c.c. are more or less a reincarnation of Hotlegs, who scored a hit around two years ago with ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 October 1972
JUST BEFORE THEY left for their current U.S. tour, NME took the three founder members of Family on a nostalgia-tinged trip back to their Leicester ...
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 October 1972
I'M STILL TRYING to unscrew my head after listening to Santana's new album, Caravanserai (CBS). One side features sheer technical brilliance. The other side, wow... ...
Black Sabbath: Satan, The Bomb And Geezer's Dreams
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY looking for flames ...
Chairmen of the Board: Long Wait for a seat on the Board
Report by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
AFTER WAM-bam-slamming onto the soul scene with a run of hit singles of which 'Give Me Just A Little More Time' was the real biggie ...
Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 1)
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
Page and Zeppelin, Stewart, the old band and the new... ...
Melanie: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
CLEARLY, A Melanie concert is no place to be for a boozed up, doped out degenerate to sit chain-smoking and picking his nose. The vast ...
Pink Floyd: Empire Pool, Wembley
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
Quadraphonic Smokebombs ...
The Kinks: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 28 October 1972
THE KINKS returned to their native stomping ground, North London, on their Rainbow gig last Saturday night. At first without the brass, they plunged awkwardly ...
Jeff Beck: Beck Looks Back (part 2)
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 November 1972
Beck, Page and bad vibes ...
The Stylistics: Stylistics: Who Has The Talent?
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 November 1972
IN THIS technological age it's sometimes said producers and arrangers are more important than artists. ...
Hawkwind: Cosmic Calypso And Sonic Surprise
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1972
UNLESS YOU'RE DEAF, dumb and blind, or alternatively haven't been keeping up with the music press, you will know that Hawkwind embark this week upon ...
Liberace: Magic Moments In Showbiz Schmaltzville
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1972
Mean teen NICK KENT (along with Abe and Ruby from Wisconsin and Tom and Ethel from Phoenix) meets LIBERACE ...
Alice Cooper: Green's Playhouse, Glasgow
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
BROKEN RIBS AND FAKE BLOOD — SPECIAL REVIEW OF THE ALICE COOPER CONCERT BY NICK KENT ...
Curtis Mayfield: Curtis the Crusader
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
FIGHTING A DRUG MENACE IN AMERICAN GHETTOES ...
Hawkwind: Queensway Hall, Dunstable
Live Review by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
THE SECOND gig of Hawkwind's Space Ritual tour was at the Queensway Hall, Dunstable, last Thursday. The previous night at King's Lynn — the opener ...
Joe Cocker: They Put Me In The Same Cell As A Bank Robber And A Murder Suspect
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
IT SEEMS that life is still intent on batting Joe Cocker about the head with all the subtlety of a navvy driving a tin-tack into ...
Little Richard: A Bizarre Interview With The Amazing, Self-Styled King Of Rock 'N' Roll
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
HE CALLS HIMSELF the Georgia Peach, the Bronze Liberace and the King of Rock and Roll. Little Richard calls himself a lot of things. Some ...
Roxy Music: All This and Eno Too… How Can They Fail?
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
T.S. ELIOT, MUSING upon a takeaway Chinese meal once asked "Is true art dead?", while over at the pinball machine Little Richard picked his nose ...
Roxy Music: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
IT'S DEFINITELY a chic wasteland at the Newcastle City Hall. There wasn't even a platform boot in sight when I went down there to see ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 November 1972
DRIVING OUT of London in his sparkling red Citroen, bound for Manor Studios, Oxfordshire, John McCoy talked about his girl Claire Hamill in a manner ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 25 November 1972
IT SEEMS THAT, despite a few "huns in the sun", that good old heavier-than-air machine Led Zeppelin is still flying high. And with their first ...
Amon Düül, Tasavallan Presidentti: Amon Düül II, Tasavallan Presidentti: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
A CULTURAL ANECDOTE: It's early 1967 and The Soft Machine are having a little trouble getting it together — particularly Mike Ratledge. Finally, Daevid Allen ...
Carly Simon: No Secrets (Elektra)
Review by Robin Katz, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
CARLY SIMON possesses a great cross between charisma and class. She looks just like Mick Jagger; but never photographs the same way twice. She changes ...
Amon Düül, Can, Faust, Kraftwerk, Nektar: Krautrock: Germany Calling
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
TIME WAS WHEN a sudden loud crash around West Germany was probably just an other F-One-Eleven. These days it's more likely to be the local ...
Millie Jackson: Millie's Mojo Soul
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
AMONG THE better girl artists to emerge from America's R&B charts of late is Millie Jackson, who's been creating no small action over here in ...
Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder, Randy Newman: Ry Cooder
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
On himself, BEEFHEART and RANDY NEWMAN — and backing JAGGER by remote control. ...
Allman Brothers Band, Otis Redding: The Allman Brothers: A Rock Tragedy
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
WHEN BERRY Oakley died two hours after crashing his motorcycle on November 11, another chapter was added to the succession of tragedy which seems to ...
The Jackson 5: The Jackson Five: Five Pranksters Puppets
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
TAUNTS THAT the Jackson Five are nothing more than carefully manipulated puppets just aren't borne out by the facts. Five minutes in the company of ...
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 16 December 1972
BOMB BLASTS AND THE BEAT: PART TWO OF IAN MACDONALD'S DEFINITIVE SURVEY OF GERMAN ROCK ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 December 1972
LOU REED WITH COLOURED GIRL DAVID BOWIE... ...
The Pink Fairies: Pink Fairies: Pink Finks
Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 December 1972
NICK KENT charts the rise and astonishing survival of the Pink Fairies. ...
Amon Düül, Faust, Popol Vuh: Krautrock: Germany Calling #3
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 23 December 1972
From Amon Düül to Faust's new sound-world ...
Led Zeppelin (part 1): A Whole Lotta Rock 'N Roll
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 December 1972
IT'S WAY past the midnight hour and the room at the Angel Hotel, Cardiff, is starting to look a trifle the worse for wear since ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones In The Sun (part 1)
Report and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 23 December 1972
All-night rock; drug rumours; new album. Danny Holloway reports. ...
Led Zeppelin (part 2): Hail Hail Rock 'N Roll
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 December 1972
Nick Kent on the Zeppelin on-stage spectacular ...
Merry Clayton: The Triumphant Acid Queen
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 30 December 1972
MERRY CLAYTON is the girl who stopped the show at the London Rainbow performance of Pete Townshend's rock opera Tommy earlier this month. Even the ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones In The Sun (part 2)
Report and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 30 December 1972
JAMAICA IS a country of convenience which means nobody's going to put themselves out for you, unless it's convenient for them. ...
Kevin Coyne: New London Theatre, Drury Lane
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 1973
Without doubt one of the most powerful presentations Ive ever attended. When it was over Kevin was drained, his band was drained, the audience was ...
King Crimson: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 1973
IT'S A ROCK concert evening and the stalls are filling to the accompaniment of music played over the public address system. A review-functionary takes his ...
David Bowie & The Spiders from Mars: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 January 1973
ZIGGY PULLS THE SQUEALERS ...
J. Geils Band: Live — Full House (Atlantic)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 January 1973
THERE COMES a time in each man's life when he needs to have his brain tissues reduced to absolute smouldering wreckage. ...
Joni Mitchell: A Tender Dignity
Guide by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 January 1973
ONE DAY, many years ago, Al Kooper went home with a blonde Canadian chick who used to hang out with the Blues Project. In the ...
Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood, Traffic: Steve Winwood: Winwood (U.A. Import).
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 January 1973
WHAT A strange world it is. A couple of years ago this same double set was released in America, and swiftly withdrawn following objections ...
Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend: Eric Clapton & Pete Townshend: Go Get 'Em Eric
Interview by Bill Phillips, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
BILL PHILLIPS previews the CLAPTON comeback concert and talks to PETE TOWNSHEND ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
ALTHOUGH OUR entry into the European Economic Community is being saluted with umpteen art forms and rock concerts in the capital, perhaps the greatest ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Album III (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
YOU'LL PROBABLY never meet anyone less like a star than Loudon Wainwright III. G.I.-short hair with the stubble of his next beard, scruffy clothes that ...
Marvin Gaye: Trouble Man (Tamla Motown)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
THE GAYE JAMES BOND ...
Michael Nesmith: The Hits Just Keep On Comin' (RCA)
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
IT'S LITTLE known information, but Stephen Stills auditioned for the Monkees. So it follows illogically that CSN&Y was just Steve's ambition to be a Monkee ...
Poco: A Good Feelin' To Know (Epic).
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
I KNOW a lot of city-boy cynic rock writers like to put down this band, pointing out how lightweight they are and how they come ...
Stevie Wonder: Talking Book (Tamla)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
LAST YEAR, Wonder achieved overdue recognition for his first solo album, Music Of My Mind — which was, simply, the most overrated album of '72. ...
Traffic: Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (Island)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973
COME ON NOW, put away the hammer and nails and the coffin; save them for a much lesser band than Traffic. Agreed, over the last ...
Archie Bell and the Drells: Archie Bell & the Drells: Here I Go Again (Atlantic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
BELL HAS been not a little embarrassed by the rather belated success here of 'Here I Go Again'. Not that he isn't extremely pleased with ...
Blue Mink: Out of Preaching Bag
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
UNTIL THE advent of Blue Mink and hits like the current 'Stay With Me' and 'Melting Pot' — which established them a couple of years ...
Chuck Berry: Green's Playhouse, Glasgow
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
TONY STEWART REPORTS FROM GLASGOW OH THE FIRST BERRY CONCERT ...
Nina Simone: Emergency Ward (SF 8304)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
LOGGING A BIG pop hit sometimes does more harm than good to artists who previously had a rather specialist appeal. ...
Prince Buster: Reggae Part 1: Jamaica
Report by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
WHENEVER I've gone home to America in the past couple of years, the question I'm always asked is "What's happening in England?" And okay, I ...
The Faces, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: The Scarecrow Harlequin
Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
STRANGE AS it may seem, there was a time when Rod Stewart used to hide behind Jeff Beck's amplifiers and only come out front if ...
Roxy Music: The Man Who Put Sequins into Middle Eights
Interview by Nick Kent, Ian MacDonald, Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
The BRYAN FERRY interview, in which the Roxy mastermind meets IAN MacDONALD, CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY and NICK KENT ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
IF YOU TAKE a certain measure of pride in staying fully in touch with the Music Press (where trends bend and fashions flourish), the question ...
Suzi Quatro: Tipped For Success This Year
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
[NOTE: This uncredited piece was included in a Radio Luxembourg promotional special inset entitled the 208 Times.] ...
J. Geils Band: The J. Geils Band: Hard Drivin' Sweet Soundin' Rock and Roll
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
TAKE A LOOK at the cover of the first J. Geils Band album on Atlantic. The sleeve itself simply contains two plain, no-nonsense black-and-white photographs ...
Valerie Simpson: Valerie Simpson (Tamla-Motown)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
SOME FACTS about Valerie Simpson: yes, she is a good songwriter and has been responsible for such fine numbers as 'And If You See Him', ...
Yoko Ono: Approximately Infinite Universe (Apple)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 20 January 1973
IN AS MUCH AS the Lennons have spent four years trying to turn self-dramatisation into an art-form, the criticism of indulgence so often aimed at ...
Billy Paul: Nostalgic Chart Topper For Paul
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
Keep a check on Billy Paul. Before long, he's going to top the British chart, repeating his two million selling number-one in America with the ...
Deep Purple: Sometimes I Feel There's a Conspiracy Against Us...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
IAN PAICE talking to JAMES JOHNSON ...
Elton John: Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player (DJM)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
WELL, WHADAYA know another fine Elton John album. Despite sneers, calumny and general foulness, the former Reg just keeps on writin', playin', singin' and ...
Discography by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
ONE OF THE best of a large number of good British bands to emerge in 1967, Family were for about 18 months the most exciting ...
David Bowie: Goodbye Ziggy And a big hello to Aladdin Sane
Review and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
Two days in the life of David Bowie - A rare interview and a preview of his new album... ...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
SO WHAT'S this? Joe Cocker talking to the Press? Can it be Sheffield's own recluse-superstar, the man who returned from the Godforsaken land of Rock'n'Roll ...
Johnny Paycheck: Somebody Loves Me (Epic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
FOR QUITE A few years, black American singers have milked Nashville for meaningful ballad songs. Joe Simon, Esther Phillips, Joe Tex and O.C. Smith are ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
LYNSEY DE PAUL is a Gemini, which she thinks explains a lot. ...
Greyhound: Reggae Part 2: Reggae in Britain
Report by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
WHEN LABOUR IN England was becoming hard to come by during the 1950s, enticing proclamations were urgently sent to the West Indies. "Your Mother Country ...
The Rowan Brothers: Rowan Brothers: Rowan Brothers (CBS)
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
THESE TWO caballeros made their first appearance of note with the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West: two downy-cheeked youths on acoustic guitars with Uncle ...
Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley: Scotty Moore: The Man Who Launched A Thousand Licks
Interview by Norman Jopling, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
PEOPLE AROUND at the time Elvis first made it claim that guitarist Scotty Moore was the musician most responsible for "The Elvis Presley Sound". Moore ...
The Beach Boys: Holland (Warner)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
DESPITE MY better judgment, I temporarily dropped my rock n' roll-cynic persona, used when confronting 90 per cent of what is going down in music ...
Bill Bruford, King Crimson: Under the Influence — This Week: Bill Bruford of King Crimson
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
JOHN McLAUGHLIN: 'Pete The Poet'. From Extrapolation. Fantastic — well, that whole album is. Very fast, tight bop playing and some great drums from Tony ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
ONE ONLY HAS to mention the name Traffic these days and somebody'll grunt, groan and lower their eyes, dismissing the subject. Undeniably, the group have ...
Walter/Wendy Carlos: Walter Carlos: Sonic Seasonings (CBS Quadraphonic)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
HERE'S ONE for Tangerine Dream freaks. ...
Brian Eno, Roxy Music: A Flight of Fantasy: Eno
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
ENO'S PLAYBOY bachelor flat in mystical Maida Vale possesses a decor that is God's own gift to a journalist caught for a good opening paragraph. ...
Elton John: They Laughed When He Played The Piano
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
FOR MANY MOONS it has been ever-so-chic to take pokes at Elton John. To admit to a considerable admiration for the man and his work ...
Isaac Hayes: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
ISAAC HAYES, they tell me, is the leading light of the new black life-style. Black Moses, yet. ...
Louisiana Red, Taj Mahal: Louisiana Red: It's All Blues
Report and Interview by Peter Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
"I AM LOUISIANA Red and I come from behind the sun" — those words, belting out of a cheap mono record-player, introduced me to the ...
Roberta Flack: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
MAJESTIC, CERTAINLY, with a voice as clear as crystal but I'm afraid to say that Miss Roberta Flack, in concert, is something of a ...
Roy Harper: The Original Hippie
Report by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
"I'LL COME back and see you, but I'm not getting smashed. I'm 24 and feeling it.""That's all right Robert, neither am I. We'll stand in ...
The Kinks: Drama On The Village Green
Report and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
IN A SMALL tearoom in BBC's Shepherd's Bush Theatre, Ray Davies sits resting between rehearsals for an In Concert TV show which will eventually hit ...
Beck, Bogert and Appice: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
WERE LOTS TO be drawn for the identity of the world's most crazed rock guitarist, you better believe the result would contain the name of ...
Beck, Bogert and Appice: Rock 'n' Roll Vandals
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
"HEY," SAID Jeff Beck a trifle slyly, tilling his head to one side and allowing a patently nasty leer to edge its way across his ...
Derek & The Dominos: In Concert (RSO)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
QUESTION NUMBER One: how do you follow up a masterpiece? ...
Doug Sahm: Doug Sahm and Band (Atlantic)
Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
DESPITE WHAT some people may say to the contrary, the most significant thing about it is NOT the fact that Bob Dylan crops up for ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
FOR THOSE who have ears as well as eyes, the current British tour by Genesis, which opened at London's Rainbow theatre on Sunday, should prove ...
Isaac Hayes: The Man They Call Moses
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
IMAGES DON'T come much heavier than that surrounding Isaac Hayes. But take away the dark shades, the heavy chains, the robes, the immense mink coats, ...
Sweet: The Sweet Soft Underbelly of Rock
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
FUNNY how moods change there we all were...the Sweet and myself...in the bar, having a few drinks, sharing a joke or two y'know, getting ...
Uriah Heep: The Heep Bombard Frankfurt
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 February 1973
SATURDAY IN FRANKFURT, Western Germany, and Hans and Monika have pooled their Deutsche Marks to go and see Uriah Heep in concert. It's been a ...
Bette Midler: Just A Working Class Girl Living Out Her Fantasies
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
BETTE MIDLER, the Divine Miss Bette Midler, is a star. Ahmet Ertegun, man of wealth and taste, and head of Atlantic Records, believes it; Aaron ...
Bobby Charles: Bobby Charles (Bearsville, EMI import)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
IT'S BECOMING increasingly fashionable for session musicians to produce albums which highlight their own talents, and to employ on them the people who in turn ...
Report and Interview by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
CHUCK BERRY. To a fan, the name sparks off a warm smile. After that depending on how old he or she is, the first song ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show: Sloppy Seconds (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
NOW DON'T get me wrong. I ain't no weenybop, but I have to admit that I really dig this Dr. Hook album here. Hell, I ...
Judy Collins: True Stories And Other Dreams (Elektra).
Review by Robin Katz, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
Springtime with Collins ...
David Bowie: Lookin' Back, David Bowie: Sinister Odyssey Through a Treacherous Landscape
Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
RIGHT NOW David Bowie's albums are the subject of more close and obsessive study than anybody else's since the days when hippies all over the ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds Of Fire (CBS)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
THE INNER Mounting Flame was a very extreme record: extremely fast, extremely dazzling, extremely lyrical, extremely passionate. If you go along with Robert Fripp's "Head ...
Miles Davis: On The Corner (CBS)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
I WAS LYING around listening to Miles Smiles the other day, thinking about how it's a great record. And then I remembered the 30-odd other ...
Stevie Wonder: The New Wonder Ingredient
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
BLACK AND PROUD, MUSIC FROM THE SOUL ...
The Faces: Natty Mac, Incidentally
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
IAN McLAGAN talks to JAMES JOHNSON ...
Elton John: The Fightin' Side of Elton John
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
ELTON JOHN SITS cornered on his sumptuous settee, talking about the comic strip character he portrays. And as if to emphasise the image, he's wearing ...
Alice Cooper: Billion Dollar Babies (Warner)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
YOU'VE GOT to hand it to Alice Cooper and the boys they know just when to pump out another album for the kids to ...
Back Door: Just Who Do Back Door Think They Are?
Profile and Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
ONE OF the peripheral pleasures of a thriving music scene is being able to tell your friends about this great unknown group you've just discovered. ...
Beck, Bogert and Appice: Beck, Bogert & Appice: Edmonton Sundown, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
EVER BEEN totally numbered by the hero of your adolescence? Viz: "What did you think of the gig?" asked Jeff Beck. "Tremendous," I gushed. "Really great. You really ...
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
THE STAGE WAS filled with manic, shadowy figures: three guitarists, two drummers, two singers, and a saxophonist. Through the barrage of noise, one could distinguish ...
Chuck Berry part 2: How Many Comebacks?
Interview by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
AS WE TALKED, Berry looked over a copy of Golden Decade Vol. 2 and ran his eye down the sleeve discography, commenting on some of ...
David Bowie: Gay Guerillas & Private Movies
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
ALRIGHT, SO you're a rock singer out of Beckenham, Kent called David Bowie and you're hotter than a stolen atom bomb packed with pictures of ...
Focus, Jan Akkerman: Jan Akkerman: A Poor Relation Comes Good
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
IN A SMALL OFFICE at the Manchester Hardrock, reeking of stale beer and dirty ashtrays, Jan Akkerman is struggling to light a cigarette. Outside, where ...
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
THE MARQUEE MAY be an ace gig as far as groups are concerned but, for audiences, it can be most uncomfortable particularly when the ...
Led Zeppelin: The Zeppelin Road Test
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
"ROBERT PLANT QUITS showbusiness and joins National Dairies. There's a good headline for you. Print that as a news item in your paper, O.K.?" ...
David Bowie: Lookin' Back Part 2, in which Murray looks at Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust
Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
AFTER MAN Who Sold The World came Hunky Dory (RCASF 8244), with its Garbo cover-pose and its extraordinary range of mood and sound. The hard ...
Eric Clapton, The Who: Pete Townshend part1: The True Saga Of Clapton's Rainbow Gig
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
IF YOU TURN up at the famous Track office in Soho's historic Old Compton Street, you're sure of a big surprise there's a glitzy ...
Rita Coolidge: The Lady's Not For Sale (A&M)
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
ONE OF the bright young kids in the NME office played 10 seconds of each cut on side one, heard not a sound, and chucked ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
HE COMES ON stage with Slade like an over-decorated, perambulating Christmas tree smothered in silver-stars, gold and glitter from head to toe but ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
WHEN THE O'JAYS fly in for an extensive British tour next month it'll be the fulfillment of a longstanding ambition. It will not be their ...
Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 24 February 1973
WHEN FOUR people have given rock one of its biggest facelifts, it's natural they should never be far apart. So in the same way that ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
IT'S EASY TO detect a strong jazz influence in Billy Paul's vocal on 'Me And Mrs. Jones'. The reason is simple enough. Paul, now 35, ...
Faust: The Sound of the Eighties
Comment by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
A LOW buzzing sound, at first almost subliminal, emanates from a position somewhere between the twin stereo speakers. It wavers, hesitantly, from side to side ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
IT'S BEEN nearly 18 months since we heard anything new from Paul Butterfield. In 1971 he released Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin' which was, ...
The Who: Pete Townshend part 2: If The Who Split We'd Really Have To Own Up
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
PETER TOWNSHEND is an amiable sort of dude. He sits in Track Records' office, with booze and dog to hand, and talks about anything that ...
The Birds, The Faces, Jeff Beck, Ronnie Wood: The Complete Works of Ronnie Wood
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
REMEMBER A BAND called the Birds? Nope friend, I do not mean the Byrds, Bobby Dylan's old honchos from Los Angeles, nor am I alluding ...
Timmy Thomas: The Timmy Thomas One-Man Show...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
'WHY CAN'T We Live Together?' asks Timmy Thomas on his sensationally different million-selling American hit. But, ironically, it turns out that the record itself is ...
Curtis Mayfield: Things Go Better With Coke: Curtis Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
Charles Shaar Murray previews SUPERFLY ...
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
THE FIRST ENCORE at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, started with Jim Capaldi up front, his face pressed hard against a microphone to ring out ...
Clyde McPhatter: Atlantic Masters (Atlantic)
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
WELL, IS SINGING coming back or not? The signs are, maybe yes. Billy Paul, for instance, and the Chi-Lites, Stylistics, and Detroit Emeralds. ...
Cornell Dupree: The Boss Guitar of Cornell Dupree
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
CORNELL DUPREE's name will mean nothing to the general public, but those who scan LP sleeve credits will recognise him as one of America's busiest ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Help Me Make It Through The Night (Tamla Motown)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
THOUGH IT'S packaged to make you think it's that way, this isn't an all-new album, the title track being the only recent cut. The rest ...
James Brown: He Ain't Slowing Down
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
SOUL BROTHER Number One leaned back in his chair, adjusted his robe, and expounded: "Back in 1969 King Records didn't want to know. They said ...
James Brown: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
SOUL BROTHER Number One's in town, and the James Brown Revue's gettin' down and gittin' it on at the Rainbow. Bop through to the stalls ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: London Sessions (Mercury).
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
IN SOME ways, it hardly matters what this record sounds like. It's the idea that counts. If everything works out more or less to plan, ...
King Crimson: Larks' Tongues In Aspic (Island).
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
A NICE RECORD of pleasant, middle-of-the-road music which should prove a great favourite with everybody's mum and dad this Easter. Bill Bruford's whistling has improved ...
Hawkwind: Stacia, Happy Amazon of the Cosmic Trailways
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
"SO THERE I was on the planet Saturn dancing naked with my body painted, and this weird craft loaded with strange degenerates landed near me ...
Steeleye Span Versus The Time Warp
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
SOUND TECHNIQUES studios in Chelsea is not exactly the most luxurious of settings for musical activity. Boards, speakers and tape reels are scattered fairly haphazardly ...
Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
IN A COMFORTABLE Chelsea flat, Texan Glenn Frey is looking a bit depressed as he sits surrounded by a pile of the latest rock albums ...
The Incredible String Band #1: Eight Years On
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
THE INCREDIBLE String Band, in various forms, have been playing for eight years and have recorded 13 albums, including two doubles and solo sets by ...
The Osmonds: Ever Thought Of Stringing Jimmy Up On Stage?
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
HAVE YOU heard? Donny Osmond's in town along with big brother Alan and the secret weeny bopper jungle telegraph knows where he's going ...
Thin Lizzy: And Now A Drop Of The Real Hard Stuff
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
THIN LIZZY would like it known that while they're delighted with ther hit single 'Whisky In The Jar' it shouldn't be confused with the 100 ...
Brian Eno, Roxy Music: Under the Influence: Eno of Roxy
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973
Velvets & Beethoven ...
David Bowie: The Revolution Is Here
Essay by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
IN THE NINE months since he broke through to mass recognition, David Bowie has had more written about him than most rock artists will in ...
Deep Purple: Who Do Purple Think They Are?
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
IN CONTEXT, WE'RE AS VALID AS ANYTHING BY BEETHOVEN. ...
Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon (Harvest).
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
SINCE THEIR performance of this work at the Brighton Dome last year, when, due to technical hitches, the piece fell apart half way through, the ...
The Coasters: Atlantic Masters (Atlantic).
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
HOW CRUEL fate is. At the very moment that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are proving themselves to be perfectly tuned in to 1973, with ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: The Funny Side of Dr Hook
Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
DR. HOOK were unexpectedly thrust to popularity via their international hit 'Sylvia's Mother' last summer. The strange thing is, people were buying the song and ...
The Incredible String Band #2: Scientology and the Incredibles
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973
MacDONALD: Was there any consistent philosophical or spiritual attitude behind the group's work during the Elektra period, or were you just tossing in anything you ...
Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen: Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Truckers Favorites (Paramount)
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973
IT WAS like driving through an infinite oven, the sun dancing in cool water-mirages across the four-lane asphalt. Wayne wiped the sweat from his brow. ...
Dr. John: Dr John: In The Right Place
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973
Out of the swamp, into the chart? ...
Claire Hamill, King Crimson: King Crimson/Claire Hammill: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973
ON SUNDAY night, at that big weird place in Finsbury Park, Messrs. Derek Moss, Bart Brassert, Don Wilton and Rodney Frock most certainly did not ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973
THERE ARE A large number of people in the music business who would be delighted to hear that Roxy Music had blown it. Their sudden ...
The Beach Boys #1: The Perfect Wave
Discography by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973
"I love to make records that my friends like to hear." BRIAN WILSON ...
The Pretty Things: Still As Strong As Bo Diddley's Guitar Arm
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973
FEEL THE svelte red leather. Take in the expensive walnut dashboard surrounding the precision instruments; the speedo flicking between 70 and 80. Experience the full ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
THE BECK, BOGERT and Appice album is completed and virtually upon us, and it leads us to two inescapable conclusions. The first is simple: man ...
Elton John: Sundown, Edmonton, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
I WAS counting the number of fainting chicks pulled up out of the audience. After the 38th, I gave up. ...
The Temptations: Following Darling David, it's the Temptations Sensation
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
ROGER ST. PIERRE ON THE BIG SOUL TOUR ...
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
WELL NOW, there's country music, and there's country music. And this here's the second of the two. The first is what you would hear at ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Lake the Strongman
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
EVERY SO OFTEN, Greg Lake refers to the music of Emerson, Lake and Palmer as art. He chooses the word quite deliberately. Everything he speaks ...
Led Zeppelin: Houses Of The Holy (Atlantic)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
Zep make masochism worthwhile ...
Little Feat: Dixie Chicken (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
SINCE SAILIN' Shoes, the group's last album, asthmatic Pachuco bass-player Roy Estrada, formerly of The Mothers, has departed to join Captain Beefheart under the pseudonym ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: Oo La La
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
I AM DEATH. Huddled in my anorak. Alone and palely loitering in the stalls of the empty Rainbow Theatre. I am miserable with cold in ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
IRONICALLY the Sutherland Brothers' first 'major'' London gig since teaming up with Quiver was opened by an acoustic duo, as if to remind the audience ...
The Beach Boys #2: The Exiles Return
Discography by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
THE SECOND and concluding part of Jonh Ingham's retrospective look at the Beach Boys covers the '66 to '73 period. ...
Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Best Of… (Vanguard)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
BUFFY SAINTE-Marie is one of the special ones. She's one of the few performers guaranteed to move me to tears, and side two of She ...
Detroit Emeralds: Smooth-Cut Emeralds
Report and Interview by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
"I DON'T THINK we're what people expect us to be," James Mitchell of the Detroit Emeralds explained after receiving a lukewarm reaction from a music ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmaltzson
Report and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
STUDIO ONE at De Lane Lea studios in Wembley is a massive room; big enough to hold close to a 50-piece orchestra. Most of the ...
Henry Cow: Just Happy Playing Their Music
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
HENRY COW, a quintet formed at Cambridge University five years ago, are probably best known — though the group themselves would rather forget it — ...
The Faces: Private Lives, Public Faces
Report and Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
JAMES JOHNSON DROPS IN ON A FACES PARTY, AND FINDS THE BAND ITCHING TO GO ...
Procol Harum: So Who Loves Procol Harum?
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
WHO LOVES Procol Harum? Not England, it seems. Apart from a tough faction of loyal devotees, this isle has said cheerio boys. ...
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
ATTENTION PLEASE. For the next few weeks, Britain will have the chance of witnessing 'live' one of rock's most creative and significant guitarists. ...
Sweet: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
I'M STILL trying to work this one out, but here's a brief rundown of what basically happened at the Sweet's Rainbow gig. ...
The Faces: Ooh La La (Warner Bros.)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
FIRST THERE'S this rolling piano lick, then in comes Ronnie Wood's guitar. Nice tough chording, anchored down with a bent note descending to the root ...
Black Sabbath: To Knock OR Not To Knock The Rock
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
WHEN IT COMES to obvious targets for critical assassinations, then Black Sabbath are sitting ducks very loud, very basic, very brash. And now at ...
Captain Beefheart: The Beef Of The Matter
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
DON VAN VLIET and his orchestra are here for their third British tour. The current line-up of The Magic Band features Zoot Horn Rollo (first ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
Bye-bye, Ziggy. It was nice seeing you, and I hope you'll keep in touch. Hello, Aladdin Sane, make yourself at home. David Bowie's new album ...
Diana Ross: Rapping with Lady D
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
THE DISTINGUISHED-looking old gentlemen in the red braided uniform accepts my coat with an expression of mild distaste and ushers me into the Pine Room ...
Roger Daltrey, The Who: Roger Daltrey: Who Does What In The Who
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
WHAT'S HAPPENED to the Who? Pete SHOULD be writing and recording for the Who. John Entwistle SHOULD be concentrating on the Who's future, but he's ...
Steeleye Span: Parcel of Rogues (Chrysalis)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 April 1973
IT WOULD be considerably more than a pity if Steeleye Span, that most English of bands, have to become superstars in the States before really ...
Don Covay: Are You Reggae For Don Covay?
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
AMERICA JUST had to catch on to reggae. After all, the roots of Jamaican music lie in the '50s out-put of Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis ...
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
THE MAN from the customs a surly-looking Negro eyed me suspiciously for a full ten minutes, and checked and rechecked my baggage and ...
Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page, the Mild Barbarian
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
JIMMY PAGE'S slightly timid, mild-mannered exterior is of course, deceptive. There's no need to explain how Led Zeppelin come across on stage, while in between ...
Roxy Music: The Dome, Brighton
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
GROUPS TOURING Britain are expected to put on that little bit extra for their London dates on the simple score of the probable presence of ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
BACKSTAGE at Bristol, and everything is panic and turmoil. Steeleye Span's support act hasn't arrived half-an-hour before show-time. Jo Lustig, Steeleye manager, is standing with ...
Steve Miller: Miller's Hard Grind
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
STEVE MILLER'S concerts at London's Rainbow theatre last year were two of the most pleasant gigs of 1972. Since he'd never played here before, Miller ...
Traffic: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
DEAR MR. FANTASY played us some tunes, something that made us all happy. No, it was more than that. All of us at the London ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
BY NOW, most people know that Fanny are one of the best rock bands currently functioning. Their albums, particularly Charity Ball (their second, but the ...
Profile by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
IF YOU asked someone who, apart from Elvis, has contributed the most to rock and roll, he'd probably say Chuck Berry, Little Richard or Jerry ...
Lou Reed: The Sinatra Of The 70's
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
LOU REED SURE is a card. The day before this interview was supposed to take place, an associate of mine phoned up the Reed management ...
Roberta Flack And All That Jazz
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
DANNY HOLLOWAY talks, in New York, to the lady who made the big transition from jazz to mass acclaim. ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
"I'D BEEN nursing the idea for Roxy since my last band," says Bryan Ferry, "since 1964-65. Obviously, when I stopped with the other band I ...
Roxy Music: Ultra Pulp Images On The Video-Cassette Of Your Mind
Profile and Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
THE FIRST COSMIC rock law of the seventies is this: "Everybody is a star". To which the answer is: "So what?". Roxy Music, undeniably, have ...
T. Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex: T. Rex: Where Now, Elemental Child?
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 April 1973
ONCE UPON A time there was Tyrannosaurus Rex. In the days immediately following flower-power, rockanroll music was getting very sweaty around the edges. What with ...
Dory Previn: Madness, Fear and the Demons Inside
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
AT THE END of the Dory Previn concert at Carnegie Hall, a couple of New Yorkers are standing near the exit, one whispering to the ...
Profile by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
CREATOR OF one of rock's two most distinctive bass styles (the other being Paul McCartney's), Jack Bruce has, during the course of a long and ...
New York Dolls, Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: New York: The Dark Side Of Town
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
THE GRAFFITI IN the toilets at Max's Kansas City is abysmal. It's the only word that comes to mind there's not one subversive scrawl, ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
HERE'S A TEASER for you to masticate the ole' brain molecules on: pretend you're a big record corporation and you've got these two acts, one ...
Speedy Keen: Speedy Words and Speedy Keen
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
JOHN 'SPEEDY' KEEN is the rock and roll war-horse who wrote 'Something In The Air' for Thunderclap Newman. He's recovered from that – scarred of ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
JON HISEMAN is sitting in a Viennese coffeehouse on a bright Sunday morning, and talking about the four-piece rock band he formed earlier this year. ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
IT BECAME Friday night in Birmingham on a Friday morning in London – when I listened to this live Heep set. ...
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
ANGIE BOWIE is a gas. She really is. She's sitting between Cherry Vanilla and an ice-bucket at a table in the colossally elegant main dining ...
Focus: Focus And The American Hell
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
MIDNIGHT was our cue to quit the Swiss restaurant and return, like five Cinderellas, to our hotels. It wasn't a case of trembling at the ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces Of A Man (Philips 6369 415)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
Heron, with the sound of the black revolution ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
LOS ANGELES: If we hadn't been formally introduced by a super cool hip slingin' secretary I very much doubt that I'd have recognised Smokey Robinson. ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
This is the man Presley's musicians turn to when they're sick of those Las Vegas riffs. ...
Paul Simon: There Goes Rhymin' Simon (CBS)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
LISTENING TO an album twice through the No. 1 studio sound system at CBS is not the best way to hear a new set. Nor ...
Dada, Vinegar Joe, Geno Washington: Pete Gage, The Man Who Drives Vinegar Joe
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
WHEN VINEGAR JOE are on stage Pete Gage is probably the last person you notice. He stands towards the back, almost out of sight, adding ...
Sly & The Family Stone: Fresh (Epic)
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
SLY IS AN interesting enigma. Top soul dj-turned-musician, he singlehandedly influenced the course of soul music with a sound that owed more to acid than ...
The Beach Boys: California Dreamin'
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
IT WAS ALL a California Vision come to life. Pure and simple. Speeding down from the Hollywood Hills, leaving behind all the emaciated refugees on ...
Alice Cooper: Alice, Nixon and Batman at LA Party
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973
ALICE COOPER was introduced by a fake President of the United States at a reception at the Coconut Grove to mark the group's appearance at ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973
"AND WHEN he arrived they screamed and they cried, and they rushed, and gushed forth and beat their feverish feminine fists into..." FORGET IT! This ...
Hatfield And The North: New Band on the Old Road…
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973
PIP PYLE, Phil Miller, Dave Stewart, and Richard Sinclair have been on the road a few years between them. ...
Hawkwind: Space Ritual Alive At Liverpool Stadium And Brixton Sundown (United Artists)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973
WELL, THESE COSMIC tacos ain't about to make you wet yourself, but it's still a fact that, contained on these four sides, are the very ...
Roy Buchanan: The Guitarist's Guitarists' Guitarist
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 May 1973
THE WORD is out and the message is self-explanatory. Buchanan, they say; Roy Buchanan, they mean. And if you've missed this paean that's currently ringing ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
"I'M AGELESS," said David Bowie in a recent interview – and these 21 tracks from the very earliest days of his career point up the ...
David Bowie: Total Sensory Overload
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
Following the controversial London Earls Court gig, Charles Shaar Murray and photographer Joe Stevens check out Bowie on tour – and find a riot goin' ...
Flo & Eddie: Flo and Eddie: Flo & Eddie
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
MR. HOWARD KAYLAN and Mr. Mark Volman are a somewhat literal-minded pair. When they originally left the protectve aegis of Frank Zappa to strike out ...
Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
WHEN HE'S playing nice, you couldn't possibly hope to hear more creative or more exciting rock guitar playing than that of Jeff Beck. He was ...
Judge Dread: Working Class Hero And The Robin Hood Of Reggae
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
NICK KENT SPECIAL interview (snigger, snigger) with the man who's rude (snigger) but heaven forbid not crude ...
Liza Minnelli: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
LUREX 'N ADULATION — OR, WHAT HAPPENED WHEN FLAME TORSO (with a T) REVIEWED LIZA MINNELLI'S RAINBOW GIG ...
Steeleye Span: So Who ARE These Limeys Playing Folk Music?
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
IT TAKES approximately 11 hours to fly from London to Los Angeles. You get off the 'plane, and the heat fills your lungs like a ...
The Eagles: Desperado (Asylum)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
IT IS ARGUABLE that the test of a fine example of any genre is to consider the extent to which it transcends its category. Our ...
The Wailers: Speakeasy, London
Live Review by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
IF YOU FOUND the Wailers' debut Island album, Catch A Fire, an uncomfortable sidestep to your usual tastes, I'd strongly advise you to witness a ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Tina Turner: Get Your Eyes Off... and Listen
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
THE MAKING of Tina Turner — was it the singer or the song? Well, we all know the answer to that one don't we? The ...
Led Zeppelin: Zeppelin Take The States By Storm
Report by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
THE LATEST Led Zeppelin tour is taking America by storm, proving yet again that this is the top rock 'n' roll band in the world. ...
Eric Burdon: Back On Stage… The Charlton Heston of Rock
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
Eric Burdon has been absent from the rock scene — but never gone. Hes made more comebacks than Jesus... and now hes making another. And ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
LEON WANTED US TO LIVE IN HIS HOUSE...WE WEREN'T INTERESTED NEEDLESS TO SAY ...
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
I'VE NO CLEAR idea of what was going on at this concert at all. Faust, hardly the most publicised of bands, appear suddenly at Plymouth ...
Gladys Knight & The Pips: A Day With Miss Knight
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
IF GLADYS Knight took time off to reminisce there's no doubt she could come up with a few interesting tales about the record business. Simply ...
Jefferson Airplane: 30 Seconds Over Winterland
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
THERE'S REALLY nothing quite as dead as the recent past for further proof just dig out those old Jefferson Airplane albums currently collecting dust ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
PERHAPS THE most refreshing thing about Loudon Wainwright's concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall last Monday was that there was a songwriter who was more ...
Suzi Quatro, Sweet: Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman: The Dynamic Duo Of Plastic Pop
Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
Nicky Chinn is an ex-public schoolboy, Mike Chapman a one-time waiter. Together they're... The Dynamic Duo Of Plastic Pop ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
Will Slade break America or will America break Slade that was the question being resolved by the Noddy Holder Experience as they ...
Suzi Quatro: This Is Suzi Quatro. She's Heavy
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
ON THE HORIZON of Charles Street, London, or more precisely in the RAK Record Company offices, is a Star. Her name is Suzi Quatro. Five ...
Lou Reed: A Walk On The Wild Side Of Lou Reed
Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973
"I HAVE ALWAYS thought it would be kinda fun to introduce people to characters they maybe hadn't met before, or hadn't wanted to meet, y'know. ...
Thom Bell, The Spinners: Detroit Spinners: Memories of the Brown Beatles
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973
SINCE LEAVING Motown the Detroit Spinners have changed considerably, largely because of the recording direction of Philadelphia genius Thom Bell. ...
Roxy Music: Last Tango In Amsterdam
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973
BEING A ROCK writer isn't so bad. Quite often you get to go down to a nice hotel, get a few drinks, maybe even a ...
Silverhead Training For The Heavyweight Stakes
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973
THE SIGN on the marquee outside the Continental Hyatt House on Sunset Blvd., L.A., read: "Welcome Silverhead." Well, not quite: the 'a' was missing after ...
David Bowie: The Bowie Experiment
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 June 1973
THIS IS ONE OF those restaurants where quiet good taste just screams its presence. You just know that they have pheasant under glass, and that ...
Fleetwood Mac: The Fleetwood Mac of Today
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 16 June 1973
FLEETWOOD MAC have been through a lot of changes since the club days. What began as a straight blues band has progressed into new musical ...
Gilbert O'Sullivan: Gaumont, Ipswich and Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 16 June 1973
Big G and the Scream Machine ...
John Entwistle: Rigor Mortis and the Happy Funeral
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 16 June 1973
THE ROOM is deathly silent, apart from the occasional rumble of a stomach going by. We are gathered together on this day for a belated ...
Johnny Nash: My Merry Go Round (CBS)
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 16 June 1973
LISTENING TO this record the first time through is as frustrating as trying to see a beautiful woman through a steamed-up window. But the third ...
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 June 1973
"I DON'T EVEN like Led Zeppelin," the girl in the black velvet jacket and hotpants said petulantly as she bummed a cigarette off an acquaintance ...
Bill Withers: Live At Carnegie Hall (A&M — double album)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
SOUNDS OF applause, opening bars or lazy stereotyped black funk, then a hoarse voice yelping out "I don't mind you're using me — uh! — ...
Cat Stevens And A Revolution In Athens
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
THE shining white block of the King George Hotel stands imposingly on Constitution Square, Athens. It's dauntingly grand in the true sense of the word: ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight & the Pips: Neither One Of Us (Tamla Motown)
Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
SINCE GLADYS Knight and the Pips have now joined the Buddah label this will be their last album released on Motown, unless the company chooses ...
The Jackson 5: J5 Kick Harder Than Ever: Jackson Five: Skywriter (Tamla-Motown)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
BOISTEROUS young Charles Shaar Murray wrote a more-than-adequate appraisal of this fine album before it was released and I can only restate his enthusiasm for ...
Jefferson Airplane: Just An Exercise At Being Repulsive?
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
"WE ARE all outlaws in the eyes of America," sang Grace Slick from the stage at Woodstock. God, it must be fun to be a ...
Junior Campbell, Marmalade: Junior Campbell: Hallelujah Campbell
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
JUNIOR CAMPBELL is one artist with a hit single who you won't find on stage. After 10 years with Marmalade, he's content to take things ...
Led Zeppelin: Robert Plant — And That Below-The-Belt Surge
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
A HOT AND sticky Friday afternoon in L.A. Nine stories over Sunset Boulevard, Robert Plant takes Roy Harper's Lifemask off the stereo in his hotel ...
Medicine Head: The Unknown Celebrities
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
AT A DELIGHTFUL pub in Twickenham on Saturday eve, Medicine Head's Peter Hope-Evans sat drinking a glass of Lowenbrau. The perpetual grin across his face ...
Sparks: A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing (Bearsville)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
I ONCE found myself involved in a curious argument with one of Detroit's more-respected rock writers concerning his contention that Sparks were dangerous to the ...
Carole King: Subtle, Intense: Carole King: Fantasy (Ode Import)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
AFTER THE DISAPPOINTMENT of Rhymes & Reasons, I found myself approaching this album with a certain degree of trepidation. For, having failed to ignite any ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
"KING EDWARDS are a really heavy smoke," the publicist is saying, "but Manikins and things like that are all right". The advice is aimed at ...
The Temptations: Masterpiece (Tamla-Motown).
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
AND SO it came to pass, dat one day de Nazz summoned Norman Whitfield — de man dat dotted de most funkiest of crotchets — ...
Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
BOY, IS THIS a great record. I love it and that's saying a lot seeing as I don't seem to like that much of anything ...
Alice Cooper: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 June 1973
LET'S ASSUME, just for the purpose of arguement, that you're a sensitive soul filled with love for your fellow humans, and that you really get ...
Jimmy Helms: Helms In Need Of A Direction
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 30 June 1973
JIMMY HELMS is at a cornerstone of his career. 'I'm Gonna Make You An Offer (You Can't Refuse)' wasn't just a hit record — it ...
Sweet Little Sixteen making out on Sunset Strip
Report by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 30 June 1973
FROM ROY CARR A KEYHOLE GUIDE TO THE GROUPIES OF L.A. RESEARCH: CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY, NICK KENT ...
Cymande, making it with West Indian "Rasta" soul
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
WHATEVER BRITISH fans think about homebred groups, blue-eyed or otherwise, it seems Americans are prepared to listen to them with enthusiasm. ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
VOODOO CHILE ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
SEX, DRUGS, VIOLENCE AND THE MAFIA? FORGET IT. THIS GUY'S THE SAVIOUR OF NEW ORLEANS. ROY CARR reports from Montreux. ...
Fairport Convention: Fairport And The Mysterious Lady
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
"FOTHERINGPORT CONFUSION", states Trevor Lucas with a wry smile. That's his pet description of the present Fairport Convention. After all, the band comprises part of ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE ...
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
Far more so than all the Bowies, Bolans and Roxies... Slade are easily the most important British band of the '70s. ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: The Captain Kirk in John McLaughlin
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
PART 1: IAN MacDONALD CHARTS THE RISE AND RISE OF THE COLOSSUS OF ELECTRIC GUITAR ...
Faust: The Helmet of the Policeman is on the Head of the Musician: Faust In Britain
Report by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 July 1973
FAUST WERE bored. Bored with the set they'd been playing on tour, feeling that they'd much rather lounge around all day in their London flat ...
Allen Toussaint, Producing the New Orleans Feel
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
QUESTION: What could Alvin Lee, Frankie Miller, Mac 'Dr. John' Rebennack, Robbie Robertson and Lee Dorsey possibly have in common? Answer: Allen Toussaint. ...
Brinsley Schwarz: Beware of the Rock Machine: Brinsley Schwarz
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ are playing nice clean rock 'n' roll these days – but they're wary of getting caught up in that rock 'n' roll machine. ...
David Bowie: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
THERE ARE crowds of kids outside the hall, waiting for Stardust to limousine into view. And for them this is all three times as real, ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr Hook: Sylvia's Mother Meets Durty Cindy Lou…
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
WE ALL KNOW the famous American rock venues, don't we? We've all heard of the Forum in L.A., the Academy of Music and Madison Square ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
SEEMS LIKE only yesterday that Family returned from America, wheezing and coughing about the sheer enjoyment of their tour. And quite a number of Family ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: John McLaughlin: Gimme Dat 11/8 Time Religion
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
PART 2: IAN MacDONALD ON THE SPIRITUAL McLAUGHLIN ...
Professor Longhair: Longhair, the man who started it all
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
ROY CARR MEETS PROFESSOR LONGHAIR, THE WORLD'S MOST RIPPED-OFF LEGEND ...
David Bowie: The Case For and Against Bowie: Shrewd Publicity Stunt Or Necessity?
Interview by Roy Carr, Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
AFTER CALLING Jeff Beck on stage to climax last week s final night of his British tour, David Bowie reappeared alone before the curtain to ...
John Martyn: The Stormbringer Comes Into The Sun
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 21 July 1973
"Love me with your head and heart.Love me from the place it starts;Love me from your head and heart.Love me like a child." ...
War: The Battle Against 'Unlove'
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 July 1973
THIS IS the story of war declared but not yet unilaterally. Approximately two years ago, when the American 'jazz-rock-blues-soul' band appeared in the U.K. with ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973
SINCE THE Beatles re-created the album market with Sergeant Pepper we've become used to the idea that the best of rock'n'roll is invariably found in ...
Edgar Winter: Just A Friendly Texan
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973
STEVE PAUL'S in a good mood right now. He's just been informed that West Side Story is playing somewhere in London and already he can ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Of Launderettes And Lizard Girls
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973
...and things that go bump in Ladbroke Grove. Nick Kent stakes out Eno's closet ...
Horslips: Well You See, There Was These Five Irishmen...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973
TONY STEWART reports the long, involved story of Horslips ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973
SOUL MAN Joe Simon has scored a long run of American hits — with country songs. And now his 'Step By Step' currently climbing the ...
The Pointer Sisters: The Pointer Sisters
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973
ANITA, RUTH, JUNE and Bonnie Pointer come to us with the fervent recommendations of seemingly everybody in America. But with the best will in the ...
Albert Hammond: Moroccan Strip Clubs To All American Boy
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
DESPITE THAT rich, drawling brogue and songs like 'It Never Rains In Southern California', Albert Hammond is no American. As it happens, he was born ...
The Osmonds: Br-r-r-ring... Hi, this is Alan Osmond
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
WIMP ROCK AND WEIRD CITY. IT'S THE OSMONDS GROWING UP. IAN MacDONALD REPORTS ...
David Bowie: Bowie-ing Out at The Chateau
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY WITH THE MAIN MAN IN FRANCE. WORK ON NEW PROJECTS, REPORTS MURRAY, IS GOING AHEAD DELICIOUSLY IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT ...
Greenslade and the Trumpet Maniac
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
THE WAYS bands are born vary immensely. Like, the idea may be only two hours old when Phantom Balloon hits the stage, but other outfits ...
King Crimson: Latest Shade of Crimson
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
SOME REPORTS from America suggested that King Crimson's recent tour had bombed completely. Others maintained that everything had gone according to plot and that audience ...
Smokey Robinson: Miracles And Meditation
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
IT'S JUST on a year since Smokey Robinson split from the Miracles to spend more time as an executive of the Motown Corporation. Now, he ...
The Faces, Nazareth: Strangely missing that barrow boy stagger: in Frankfurt with the Faces
Report and Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
IT'S EARLY Sunday evening and three large Mercedes limousines are skimming through the outskirts of Frankfurt in rather regal convoy. In one, Keith Moon reclines ...
Van Morrison, Them: Van Morrison: Early Them and all the vocal fire of Tarzan with a hernia
Retrospective and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
BUT WITH CONTROL, MAN, WITH CONTROL ...
Genesis: The Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 10 August 1973
IT'S A LITTLE dishonest using the same strokes to hammer Genesis as are periodically used against Yes. But there you go. Such is the nature ...
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 11 August 1973
CAN YOU AFFORD TO LAUGH AND MISS OUT ON 10CC? ...
David Bowie: Tight Rope Walker At The Circus
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 August 1973
THE CHATEAU D'HEROUVILLE is probably the only recording studio in the world boasting a resident chef who does Charlie Chaplin impressions at suppertime. Trouble is, ...
Status Quo: Enjoying A New Status
Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 11 August 1973
TONY STEWART GOES SWISS WITH STATUS QUO, WHO ARE BIG BUSINESS THERE ...
The Who: Bang A Gong The Who Get It On
Report by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 11 August 1973
THE MAN across the road didn't really understand why Keith Moon was standing in the pouring rain, beating on a Paiste gong outside the Who's ...
Alice Cooper, Lou Reed: Bob Ezrin: The Square And The Faggots
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
"DETACHMENT. Yes, that's it exactly. We were both talking about that. Lou said last night: 'This album is an exercise in detachment and apathy'. I ...
Carly Simon, James Taylor: Carly and James: The Taylors in Paris
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
WITH CARLY MAKING OLE LONESOME JAMES SMILE (WELL ALMOST) — IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF TRUE LOVE GUARANTEED TO THREATEN THE DEFENCES OF THE MOST HARDENED ...
Earth, Wind & Fire, Isaac Hayes: Isaac Hayes: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
Brilliant Hayes: the bald facts ...
Stackridge: Lummy Days Are Over, Stackridge Move On…
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
ONCE BILLED as the Almost Greatest Show On Earth, those remarkable young men from the West Country known collectively as Stackridge are currently at work ...
Manu Dibango: Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
MANU DIBANGO'S appearance at the Apollo was the capper for a frenzied week of concert-going in New York and the East Coast. ...
Nazareth: So You Wanna Stay A Rock 'N' Roll Star?
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
DAN McCAFFERTY has no pretensions. As he sits chain smoking in his manager's flat – a mere Rolls Royce-throw away from London's Hyde Park Corner ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
NOW THIS is a little more like it. Of course, it would be ludicrous to expect a sudden reconciliation with the original classic Byrds feel ...
Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers: Brothers And Sisters
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
IT MUST have been just at the point where the Grateful Dead has started to tarnish their once peeless charisma as the magic band that ...
Tony Joe White: Home Made Ice Cream
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
I'VE HAD a healthy respect for the work of Tony Joe White for quite some time now, and it is because of the excellence of ...
Commander Cody: Country Casanova
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
I'VE GOT to admit I was thrown when I first saw the cover of this album. The dude in the cowboy shirt leaning next to ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
"ZAPPA'S IN TOWN," they said. "Wanna go along and talk to him?" Oh sure, sez I, always glad to have a chat with Frank. So ...
Genesis: The Man Behind The Mask
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
THE MUSIC world rarely awakens before noon, but I met Peter Gabriel at the unlikely hour of 9.30 a.m. Genesis, having finished their Selling England ...
Hot Chocolate: Chocolate Brown
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
THERE IS absolutely no getting away from the fact that it was an excessively hot and sticky afternoon. Sweaterama incarnate. Clothing stuck unpleasantly to the ...
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
SO YOU'RE a dues-paying rock 'n' roll star with a couple of weeks to kill and you decide to flit off to Ahmadnagar and hang ...
Mott The Hoople, New York Dolls: New York Dolls/Mott The Hoople: Felt Forum, NYC
Live Review by Michael Gross, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
THE EVENING SIMPLY reeked of promise. Mott the Hoople, the Anglo glamour band of the moment, billed with New York's very own Dolls. ...
New York Dolls: The Guys In The Dolls
Report by Michael Gross, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
THE BACK room of Max's Kansas City is generally bathed in a pink glow of lighting effects. Depending on how much liquor you've consumed, it ...
Genesis: No Exodus Yet for Genesis
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
"OBVIOUSLY we're out of the public's attention but we come back that much stronger; some bands seem afraid to take time off; they feel ...
Robert Fripp, King Crimson: Robert Fripp: Head, Heart and Hips
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
ROBERT FRIPP doesn't give many interviews – which is silly because he's a shrewd, witty, and engrossing man who, when he's not sitting on a ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973
THE NEW YORK Dolls are trash, they play rock 'n' roll like sluts and they've just released a record that can proudly stand beside Iggy ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, September 1973
I COULDN'T find the name 'Dobie Gray' in any of the rock encyclopaedias. Presumably after 'The In Crowd' he became one of those half-forgotten names ...
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
BARBARA CHARONE TAKES THE HIGH ROAD WITH BABE RUTH. ALL THE WAY TO WICK, CAITHNESS A MERE CABER-TOSS FROM JOHN O' GROATS. AND DISCOVERS ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Days Of Rest
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
Forget witchcraft, forget heavy metal Tony Iommi is laying back in his luxury pad, listening to the Carpenters and Sinatra ...
Funkadelic, Mandrill, Osibisa, Rare Earth: Black 'Woodstock': A Violent Fiasco
Report by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
IT COULD have been the biggest event of the summer. For many of us trapped in the iron heart of the city, it promised to ...
Frank Zappa: Penguins in Bondage and Other Perversions
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
WHERE WERE WE? Oh yeah, Frank Zappa. Anyway, ol' Frank is sitting in his hotel room above Kensington, discoursing on this and that and demonstrating ...
Jaki Whitren: The I Don't Want To Be A Star Star
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
NOT THE USUAL pub or press office for interviewing this newcomer. Oh no. For Jaki Whitren — CBS have put their money where their faith ...
Kilburn & The High Roads: Kilburn and the High Roads: Hardened Criminals Plan Big Break-Out
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
AT LEAST, THAT'S THE WAY THEY LOOK. BUT THEY'RE GOING TO BE BIG: NICK KENT ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS WITH KILBURN AND THE HIGH ...
Robert Fripp, King Crimson: Robert Fripp: The Sexual Athlete
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
ROBERT FRIPP paused in a virtuoso display of cross-picking on Francisco Tarrega's 'Recuerdos de la Alhambra', the interlude music he'd chosen between the two parts ...
Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds: Session Star: Jimmy Page
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
JIMMY PAGE is as wary of discussing his formidable past as he is talking to the press in the first place. ...
Allman Brothers Band: Allman Explosion
Report by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
IT'S THE speed of the thing that's been most memorable – the way the Brothers And Sisters album literally exploded across North America. Within the ...
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry: Party Fun From an Old Poseur
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
AT NOON PRECISELY, on a colourless day, I pressed the bell-push of Bryan Ferry's chic Earl's Court flat. Fifteen minutes later I was still ringing. ...
Howard Tate, Lou Courtney: Howard Tate and Lou Courtney: The Blues and Dance Men
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
TWO ARTISTS of widely different appeal, Howard Tate and Lou Courtney both deserve inclusion in this series because although only modestly successful even in the ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Goat's Head Soup (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
Stones: you can sometimes get what you want... ...
Toots & The Maytals: The Maytals: From The Roots (Trojan)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
IF EVER a group deserved recognition beyond the realms of its chosen music form, then it's the Maytals. ...
The Rolling Stones: Goat's Head Soup
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
FIRST COMES the riff. It's like 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' 'cept it's slowed down so it sounds like it's being played on horse tranquilliser. Ominous and ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
THIS INTERVIEW had the most ordinary of beginnings. David Byron and Uriah Heep's Press Miss and myself left the other four members of the band ...
ZZ Top: Tres Hombres (London, Import)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973
THERE'S A huge spread of all-American grub dominating the sleeve of this album. ZZ Top are a three-piece Southern fried chicken band from Texas, and ...
Candi Staton: Foxy Lady Of Soul
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 September 1973
RIGHT FROM the days when Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Ida Cox and later the ladies Holliday, Vaughan, Fitzgerald and Washington ruled the blues/jazz roost there ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 15 September 1973
THIS PIECE might easily be subtitled "How to operate with ice-cool expediency without ruffling your cosmique mantle." But that would definitely be rushing things. ...
Alan Price: That Lucky Old Price
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
THERE'S still much of the flat cap rocker about Alan Price. At his best he's a kind of cross between Randy Newman and Jackie Charlton ...
Alice Cooper: Alice Shows His Muscle
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
"YA WANNA SCOOP?" grins Shep Gordon, the inimitable manager of Alice Cooper, a paragon of virtue in his rust-coloured brushed velvet jacket. "Sure" hisses the ...
Billy Preston: God Planned It Good
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
AFTER YEARS spent as a session man for an astonishing roster of star names the Beatles, the Stones, Barbra Steisand, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Sam ...
The Delfonics, Eddie Kendricks: Eddie Kendricks, The Delfonics: Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
Hot night at the Apollo ...
Jethro Tull: The House That Jethro Built
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
IT NOW SEEMS rather incongruous to think back on Jethro Tull as veterans of the Great 1968 Blues Boom, right out of the same scene ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
Keith Altham gets a sneak preview at the next original Slade Album ...
The Carpenters: Summer Sweethearts
Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
If it's muzak you're looking for, look no further... ...
Jimmy Hughes: The Great Unknowns: Jimmy Hughes
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
"I NEVER FELT more like singing the blues," sang Guy Mitchell and Tommy Steele a long while ago, and both did a lot of business ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones-On-The Road Special
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
THE LADY behind the amps, staring hazily at Billy Preston and his band performing on stage, looked elegantly damaged. Half of her face was covered ...
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 22 September 1973
IF ALL THE world were a movie set, the Japanese artist could have married her rock star and lived happily ever after in the East ...
Beck, Bogert and Appice: The Axeman Cometh
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
IT JUST GOES to show that things ain't always what they seem. Bopping down Savile Row in the general direction of Apple Studios (ah, Apple! ...
Deep Purple: Purple, Introducing The…Err…Unknown Mr. Coverdale
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
PURPLE RECORDS took the press down to Clearwell Castle on the Welsh-English border last week to meet their new singer boy. The name of this ...
Diana Ross: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
ANYONE WHO doubts that Diana Ross is a star in the old-fashioned sense of the word should have been at the Albert Hall last Tuesday. ...
Focus: At The Rainbow (Polydor)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
LIVE ALBUMS basically attempt to recreate a concert atmosphere with favoured musical pieces by the band in question and sycophantic noises from the audience. ...
Genesis: Selling England By the Pound (Charisma)
Review by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
GENESIS FANS unite, stand proud and be counted; get ready to say 'I told you so' to all those people who have been doubting your ...
John Martyn: Inside Out (Island)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
YOU COULD SAY that the post-decadence rock scene is structured rather like the society of ants: a hangover of old drones twittering away behind last ...
Judy Collins: In Through The Other Door
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
TRANSATLANTIC phone calls can be a precarious undertaking at the best of times. But on this grey Wednesday afternoon, as successive international operators tried vainly ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
LOU REED and James Taylor on the same bill? What a masterstroke of pure gonzo rock n' roll strategy! ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
THE FIRST TIME I saw Slade I thought they were dreadful. It was that memorable night at the Lanchester Arts Festival when Chuck Berry cut ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
THE SWEET'S BALLROOM BLITZKRIEG GOES ON. BUT BEHIND THE ONSTAGE MINCING AND MAKE-UP, THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE IN THE AIR. IN FACT, THE ROCK PARIAHS NOW ...
Profile by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
ANYTIME THE American media welcomes a new act with such an overt display of scraping and bowing for superlatives, it's time to be suspicious. ...
The Righteous Brothers: Two By Two (MGM)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
INCREDIBLE, They may not have been black, they may not even have been soul music (though to my mind they were), but nobody could deny ...
Mick Taylor, The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones: Dead Goats And Other Delicacies
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973
THE CURRENT European tour has again given us all the opportunity to dogmatically state that the Rolling Stones are indeed the greatest rock 'n' roll ...
Brenda Lee: Mmmmm…Sweet Nuthin's
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
WESTCLIFF-ON-SEA, Monday: "To make the most of the things you were born with...Think Big." ...
Fairport Convention: Nine (Island)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
I'VE BEEN trying for some time not to like a Fairport Convention album. After the endless catalogue of disaster and misfortune, it seemed vaguely unnatural ...
Gilbert O'Sullivan: I'm A Writer, Not A Fighter
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
ANYONE WHO IS a regular reader of this paper will be aware that in the past I've criticised Gilbert O'Sullivan quite strongly, and yet I've ...
Gram Parsons: The Superstar Who Didn't Quite Make It
Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
GRAM PARSONS somehow never quite got to be the nationally-touted superstar he deserved to be, which is possibly as much his own fault as anyone ...
John Denver: Farewell Andromeda (RCA)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
Y'KNOW IT'S somehow comforting to know we've got a guy like John Denver to kick around. ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
JUST WHEN you think your ex-idol has slumped into a pitiful display of gross terminal self-parody, Lou Reed comes back and hits you with something ...
O.V. Wright: Wright Man In The Wrong Place
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
MANY SUPPOSEDLY great soul singers are, in truth, only as good as their current producer and/or writer. O.V. Wright's reputation however is solidly based on ...
Report and Interview by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
John Pidgeon reports as, ever so slightly, America begins to quiver... ...
Suzi Quatro : You Don't Have To Be A Dyke…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
I FIRST ran into Suzi Quatro late last year. She was a nice, bouncy little American chick who played bass, wrote songs, was forming a ...
Roger Daltrey, The Who: The Who: Triumph And A Threat
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
IT HAPPENED TO THE BEATLES, BUT IT WON'T AFFECT THE WHO. AND ROGER DALTREY NOW PREPARES TO DO THREE YEARS HARD LABOUR ...
Bruce Springsteen: Was Bob Dylan the Previous Bruce Springsteen?
Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
"RANDY NEWMAN is great but hes not touched. Joni Mitchell is great but shes not touched. Bruce is touched... hes a genius!" Manager Mike Appel ...
Brian Eno: Happiness Is A Warm Jet
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
...BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE LATEST RECORDED WORK OF MR. BRIAN ENO, LATE OF ROXY MUSIC, AND FEATURING BLANK FRANK, FRIEND OF THE MASSIVE MASSIMO ...
David Cassidy: Real Cool Cassidy
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
I ALWAYS FIGURED secretly that David Cassidy was a cool guy. ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
FAUST IV is the chronological successor of So Far (The Faust Tapes being from the period of the transparent album) and, as such, represents the ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
THE MUSIC world rarely awakens before noon, but I met Peter Gabriel at the unlikely hour of 9.30 a.m. Genesis, having finished their 'Selling England ...
Lindisfarne: How Wee Wee Music Went Down The Drain
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
LAST WEEK I heard the new Lindisfarne album, provisionally titled Don't Rip It...I'll Take It By The Yard with sleeve complete and scheduled for release ...
Neil Young: Time Fades Away (Warner-Reprise)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
NEIL YOUNG didn't really have too much to say after the days with the Buffalo Springfield. ...
The Kinks: Ray Davies: Doggie Tricks And Bizness Licks
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
THIS IS THE TRUE STORY of a street dog and his best friend – an incorrigible pair who get to see each other only on ...
Rory Gallagher: Full Blooded Gallagher
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
DURING A RECENT trip to America I was able to watch Rory Gallagher work at that musical pit of iniquity known as 'The Whisky A ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
I GUESS I ought to be grateful to Status Quo. If I hadn't heard this album, I wouldn't have thought of writing the "Heavy Metal" ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
"WE GOT a great new single comin' out," says Suzi Quatro from the depths of a rather predatory-looking brown armchair in Mickie Most's office at ...
James Carr: The Great Unknowns No. 9: James Carr, the Memphis Master
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
JAMES CARR has never had a hit record in this country and has now disappeared from the scene. Yet at one time he was seriously ...
The Lovin' Spoonful: Golden Spoonful (Polydor Twosome)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
JOHN SEBASTIAN was the best P.R. man that hippies ever had. ...
Donny Osmond, The Osmonds: The Osmonds Fan Club
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
TONY STEWART meets a mother to 60,000 gymslips ...
The Persuasions: Big Legs 'n' Bad Asses
Profile and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
WE'RE BACKSTAGE at Birmingham's Odeon, logjammed into a feeble grey van a constable and sergeant at the controls and now we're going to ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 October 1973
EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973
THE GOLDEN AGE Of Rock is almost universally assumed to have been in full swing between about 1954 and 1959, following which, according to every ...
Don McLean: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973
AFTER RECEIVING one of the warmest receptions that it's possible for a sepulchral Albert Hall audience to give there can be no doubt about either ...
Garnet Mimms: The Mysterious Fade-Out Of Garnet Mimms
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973
JIMMY HELMS has a fair rendering of 'I'll Take Good Care Of You' competing in the chart stakes right now, but soul freaks who can ...
Judy Collins: Easy Times Come Hard
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973
JUDY COLLINS TALKS TO BOB WOFFINDEN ON MUSIC, FILMS, PEACE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF FURTHER POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT ...
McGuinness Flint: McGuinness Is Still Good For You
Profile and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973
McGUINNESS FLINT should now be regarded as an emerging new band – and an exceptionally good one at that. But instead they're being cautiously measured ...
The Moody Blues: Moody Blues: Saints Or Sinners?
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973
SO THE Moody Blues have just finished then cathedral-rock tour of Europe and Britain – their first British dates for over a year. As usual ...
David Bowie, The Troggs: David Bowie: Zigs and Troggs and Backless Nuns
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
IT DOESN'T MATTER who's playing. The Marquee's always a drag on Saturday nights. It's hot, crowded, uncomfortable, and noisy, and it poses a severe visibility ...
Don McLean: Playin' Favourites
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
AN ALBUM of other people's songs from someone who's written a few celebrated ones of his own? Yes, this is Don McLean laying bare his ...
Faust, Henry Cow: Faust: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
I SENSED something weird was in the offing the moment I was met in the foyer of the Rainbow by a lady dressed as a ...
Brian Eno, Robert Fripp: Fripp and Eno: No Pussyfooting (HELP)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
Sex of one, Eno of the other ...
Maria Muldaur: Maria Muldaur (Warner Brothers, Import)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
Maudlin Maria malady of rock ...
Stephen Stills: Behind The Malicious Rumours
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
EVER SINCE he wrote 'For What It's Worth' Stephen Stills has had his share of criticism. And oddly enough it's often been more personal than ...
The Rolling Stones: Up Against The Wall and Other Seedy Tales
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
WEST BERLIN has to be the absolute lowest, scuzziest dive sprawled out within the bounding perimeters of Western Capitalist Society. ...
Review and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
TOWNSHEND'S Quadrophenia is a rather daunting proposition. Another Who double-album rock opera? About a kid called Jimmy? With a massive booklet of grainy monochrome tableaux ...
Thin Lizzy: Civic Hall, Gravesend
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
THE GRAVESEND Civic Hall is a remarkable institution featuring a different event nightly — everything from wrestling to old time music hall. Sunday night is ...
The Groundhogs: Tony McPhee: Who Will Save McPhee
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
What makes a respected guitarist ditch his axe for the complete Rick Wakeman multi-keyboards trip?Tony (T.S.) McPhee tells Tony (T.J.) Stewart... ...
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, November 1973
"I NEVER EXPECTED anything like this," exclaimed a small enthusiastic person who occupied the seat next to mine in Plymouth's famous Guildhall on May 19 ...
Al Stewart: Of Simon, Seers And Ages Past
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
IF YOU'RE in New York at the end of the seventies, don't drink any water because it's liable to be poisoned. ...
Don McLean: One Of Mammy's Boys
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
DON McLEAN on the traumas of 'instant' success and the virtues of Al Jolson's act...not to mention, of course the incredible Perry Como and Bing ...
Duke Ellington: Westminster Abbey, London
Live Review by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
IF DUKE ELLINGTON was responsible for the banal lyrics accompanying his new composition Sacred Concert which was premiered at Westminster Abbey last week he should ...
Ellie Greenwich: Leaders of the Pack
Interview by Roy Carr, Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
Ten years ago the American pop scene was dominated by two opposing song factories — KIRSHNER'S Krazy Kids and the Behemoths of the BRILL BUILDING. ...
Faust: "We're Just Trying to Be Here Now"
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
FOLLOWING A PAPER TRAIL, IAN MacDONALD TRACKS DOWN FAUST TO A DISUSED CAR LOT OUTSIDE SOLIHULL WHERE THEY REVEAL DRAMATICALLY... ...
Manu Dibango: Joining Soul With Its Afro Roots
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
THINGS HAVEN'T improved much in the last few weeks. The Apollo, the main showcase for black talent in the New York area, continues to run ...
Neil Young: The Naked Cowboy Fresh Out Of Beans
Essay by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
EXPERIMENTS IN college dormitories with electrodes, erectoids and heat-meters show that the most consequential moment of a stripper's act is just prior to the panties ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: Who's Jimmy?
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
IN THE SECOND LEG OF THE TOWNSHEND-MURRAY TALKABOUT, PETE TELLS ALL...AND MORE. ...
The Osmonds: The View From Seat T39
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
He thought it would be good clean fun… Safe family entertainment. He was wrong. Now Charles Shaar Murray reveals the full horror of the night ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
Grateful Dead: In the Wake of the Flood (Grateful Dead records, Import) New Riders Of The Purple Sage: The Adventures of Panama Red (CBS, Import)America: ...
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
ROY CARR in Wandsworth with another of those up'n coming pub bands. ...
Bettye Swann: Still Waitin' for a Swann Song
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
IT WAS indirectly through Joe South that I first got turned on to the delectable Miss Bettye Swann. I'd done an interview with the white ...
Focus: Queen Juliana and the Boys Nextdoor
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
TONY STEWART goes Dutch and finds FOCUS in the painful throes of an identity crisis. Get your paranoia here, folks. ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
IN A WAY, Roxy Music's original ambiguous stance the Chinese Box thing that was probably their most enticing quality always fought against their ...
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
THIS TIME around, Slade are making a dent in the American market. Armed with a new record company and determined to knock 'em dead, the ...
Fleetwood Mac: New Singer and A New Sound
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 January 1974
NEW FLEETWOOD MAC singer Dave Walker says his move to the group from Savoy Brown has given him a feeling of liberation. He claims it ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the importance of ritual.Most rock bands have a certain schtick that's always part of the show, something the audience knows that it's gonna ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
WOWEE, that Alice Cooper is certainly a funny fellow an no mistake. ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan & The Band: Night of the Zimmerman
Report by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
CHICAGO, ILLINIOS land of Lincoln, booming metropolis of the Mid-West, heart of Middle America. Not as sophisticated as New York, nor as small as ...
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
"I TELL ya, mate, just wait till Bryan Ferry gets onstage 'is face is goin' to look like a fuckin' cancered lung". ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters: Hank Ballard: The Man Who Twisted Himself
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
COVER VERSIONS have long been the bane of the rhythm and blues field of music. During the 'Fifties, the major record companies kept their ears ...
John Lennon: Please, Your Majesty, Can Our John Have A Free Pardon?
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
Heavy breathing over the phone as ANDREW TYLER gets the lowdown from LENNON in L.A. Genius is police harassment, says the Walrus ...
Mott The Hoople: Memoirs of a Street Punk
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
IAN HUNTER knows a thing or two about being a rock 'n' roll star. ...
Ringo Starr, Wings: Paul McCartney: Band On The Run/Ringo Starr: Ringo
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
RINGO STARR is a wonderful person. His new album proves it. ...
The Faces: Rod Stewart & The Faces: Live Coast To Coast/Overture And Beginners (Mercury)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
LADIES AND gentlemen, a study in disintegration.When the Faces began their current incarnation, their boozy looseness helped to add some riotous vibes to a tight, ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
SANTANA WERE always a good group, even though debs and deadheads liked them and played 'Soul Sacrifice' endlessly at boring Friday night Strand-ups. ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
WHATEVER REASON you might tender to explain the artistic atrophy that has overtaken Dylan, it's beginning to seem as though his old cronies, The Band, ...
The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys On Tour (Warner Bros. Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
WELL NOW, there are live albums and there are live albums. ...
Can: Future Days (United Artists)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
I'VE HAD MY paltry reservations about Can in the past, but their previous album, Ege Bamyasi, allayed most of them and this, the group's fourth ...
Carly Simon: Hotcakes (Elektra)
Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
SINCE SHE recorded her No Secrets Carly Simon has been through a huge change in status, becoming widely recognised and appreciated through 'You're So Vain' as well ...
Cockney Rebel: The Human Menagerie (EMI)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
JUDGING FROM the mass of press coverage that Cockney Rebel are currently grabbing for themselves, it would appear that their verbose frontman Steve Harley is ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
THERE WAS a curious smell in the Belle Vue Hall, Manchester. ...
Golden Earring: New Wax From Earring
Profile and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
"WE'RE JUST AVERAGE REALLY", SAYS GEORGE KOOYMANS, GUITARIST WITH GOLDEN EARRING. TONY STEWART LENDS AN EAR TO A TOUCH OF DUTCH ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
YOU WILL soon be told that this cat is going to be the big breeze in 1974. Receive this piece of information with sceptical, though ...
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
SOUL MUSIC and the blues have boundaries which are largely indefinable — a factor which has allowed many artists to straddle the two. ...
New York Dolls: Dead End Kids On The Champs-Elysées
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
"NOW JOHN LENNON... y'know, that song 'Gimme The Truth'?" The Dolls' David Johansen's cracked Brooklyn drawl appears from the side of his mouth while a ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
MAKES YOU SICK how desperate some folks are getting when it comes down to basic rock 'n' roll hype. ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
THE COVER of this album has real style. Bonnie Raitt is photographed in one of those cavernous early-twentieth century railway stations, slumped in a large ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle (Columbia Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
Howls of derisive laughter, Bruce ...
Brian Eno: Everything You'd Rather Not Know About Eno
Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
IT WAS WITH a certain apprehensive curiosity that I first noticed the brown lace-up shoes. He displayed a normalcy that I just couldn't trust. After ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
COME TO THINK about it, I always did rate Gladys Knight very highly. Take Me In Your Arms and Love Me especially was one of ...
Marianne Faithfull: As Years Go By
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
EVEN THOUGH it's so bloody cold, everyone wants to know what happens to John Osborne's loathsome soldier hero in the end. ...
Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Bros. Band: Dead Or Alive?
Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
IS IT ENOUGH TO LOVE YOUR MOTHERS, HATE FAGGOTS AND RIDE A MOTOR CYCLE? WELL, PLAYING A LITTLE MUSIC OCCASIONALLY HELPS, SAYS NICK KENT, WITH ...
The Isley Brothers: 3+3 (Epic)
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974
BLACK MUSIC is currently well entrenched in the process of mixing recent rock forms into the standard sound of soul, a process in which the ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974
Planet Waves has so far been received with resounding critical acclaim. Robin Denselow in The Guardian describes it as "an album that ranks with Blonde ...
Charlie Rich: Behind Closed Doors (Epic)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974
IT HAS taken Charlie Rich all of twenty years of concentrated recording and innumerable kick-backs to become the kind of big star his devotees always ...
Joni Mitchell, Tom Scott: Joni Mitchell and Tom Scott: Lost Innocence with a Rock and Roll Band
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974
JONI MITCHELL, no longer an innocent folkie, has turned her back on the garden for rockier pastures. Yep the times certainly are changing. ...
Man: This Is The Man Band. In 6 Years They've Had Six Lineups. It Looks Like This One May Do It
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974
TRANSLATED FROM THE HERO'S TONGUE BY CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY, WHO'S ABOUT AS WELSH AS A NICE JEWISH BOY CAN GET THESE DAYS... ...
Bob Dylan: Remember Those Fabulous Sixties? An NME Consumer's Guide to Bob Dylan
Guide by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974
Enigma, prophet, fink or sell-out? MICK FARREN looks back over Dylans recorded career at a time when argument over the artistic worth — or lack ...
10cc: Have You Seen A More Boring Picture Of A More Bored Looking Bunch Of Creeps?
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
WOW, HEAVY STUFF, MAN. BUT LOL CREME, THE SMALL ONE, SAID IT. NICK KENT, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS NEITHER BORED NOR BORING — IN ...
Bob Dylan: An NME Consumer's Guide to Bob Dylan, Part 2
Guide by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
CONTINUED FROM PART 1 ...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
NICK KENT slinks unobtrusively into the back-room for something a little stronger ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
NEW LINE-UP time, folks. As all you well-informed young people will have been aware for nigh on a full season, Ian Gillan has left to ...
The Edgar Broughton Band: Edgar Broughton
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
SHED A TEAR or, if you will, a small sympathetic whimper, for The Edgar Broughton Band. ...
Linda Ronstadt: Ronstadt Country
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
TIME WAS when being a country music fan was difficult going. You could secretly dig people like Dolly Parton or Charlie Rich but it wasn't ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974
PEOPLE ARE always saying that the real modern age miracle is how you can fly London to Furt-frank and stand a penny on a table, ...
Al Green: Call Me (London), Livin' For You (London)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
THESE TWO ALBUMS have been released here in the last three months, in uncomfortably close succession, mainly because Decca procrastinated over issuing Call Me by which time Livin' ...
Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Reprise import)
Review by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
WHEN YOU'RE sitting in a trailer at 2 a.m. somewhere out in 'Last Stopsville', and there's just you, one more hit of apple wine, the ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Attempted Mustache (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT'S a mean son of a bitch. Maybe his bark is worse than his bite, but his bark is still pretty nasty. ...
Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon
Essay by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
IF YOU'D played this to an average record-company executive at the beginning of '73 and told him it would become the year's best-selling rock LP ...
Roger McGuinn: Spacemen in my garden
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
ROGER McGUINN has been around a long time. Way before the Byrds, he was with the Chad Mitchell trio superstars of the Peter, Paul ...
Roy Harper: Valentine (Harvest)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
THIS ALBUM is going to sell a lot of copies, and not just because Jimmy Page and Keith Moon are on it, either. It's going ...
Steely Dan: Walking Slow, Drinking Alone, And Moving Swiftly Through The Night…
Profile and Interview by Wayne Robins, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
WERE SITTING drinking Campari in the Angry Squire in Seventh Avenue on a dull sweltry Sunday night, watching the sippers and swallowers drift through a ...
Suzi Quatro: A Rap In The Loo With Suzi Q.
Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
CHRISSIE HYND, who's got this thing about black leather, snuggles up to SUZI QUATRO for an intimate girl-to-girl tête-à-tête in the Ladies' toilet ...
Van Morrison: A Van For All Seasons
Interview by Ritchie Yorke, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
LET'S talk about the albums, starting with Hard Nose The Highway. ...
Greenslade: Olé… Greenslade Rock The Spanish Inquisition
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, March 1974
ADMIRAL BLANCO'S assassination could have caused a big clamp-down in Spain. But luckily for the developing life-style based on British rock, the Espana government don't ...
Black Oak Arkansas, Blue Oyster Cult: Blue Oyster Cult/Black Oak Arkansas
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 March 1974
THIRD TIME down 52nd and 6th, and this guy from The Process is still trying to accost you with his pamphlets and spectre-of-doom rap. ...
Brian Eno, The Winkies: Eno, the Winkies: Greyhound, Croydon, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 2 March 1974
IN THE CAR travelling back to London, Eno was making some excuses. The acoustics of the hall were terrible, he said, and the heat put ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: Marc Bolan: Zinc Alloy And The Hidden Riders Of Tomorrow (EMI)
Review by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 2 March 1974
I WAS HOPING the spangled dwarf was going to pull off something approaching musical competence just so as I could do my small bit to ...
Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star and Todd
Essay by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 2 March 1974
SHOO AWAY, Todd, and stop filling my head with this blue vinyl trash because it turns my head to glass and I'll never see light ...
Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
CHILLI WILLI and the Red Hot Peppers are gonna save your soul. They're the only band in the country specialising in funky country, an area ...
Kool and the Gang: Kool The Brand Leader In Funky Stuff
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
KOOL AND the Gang are just about the biggest thing on the Southern (of England that is) soul scene at the monent, and they're even ...
Lou Reed: A Stumble on the Wild Side
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
A sort of... uh, you know, interview with... uh, LOU REED, who's lost three stone but still has problems ...
Live Review by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
Music to build empires ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
A FINE RECORD. And that sentence goes first because the fact that a band as perfectly poised as Steely Dan can reach their third album ...
Dr. John: Tell me, Dr. John... Dr. John? Dr. John? Wake up Dr. John!
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
THE KING OF VAUDEVILLE FUNK NODS OUT ON NICK KENT ...
Todd Rundgren: Todd (Bearsville Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
Rundgren's musical jungle ...
Van Morrison: ...It's Too Late To Stop Now... (Warner and his wonderful Brothers)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974
Hey, the caravan is on its way... ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Tyranny And Mutation (Columbia Import)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974
WELL, HERE it is then: volume two of Sandy Perlman's boys' collective voyage in the S.S. "Cosmic Greaser Speed-freak" towards strange new worlds of murk ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Stephen Stills: CSN&Y: Euphoric Acoustic Good Guys Hit The Dylan Trail
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974
"WELCOME AMERICAN Dairymen" read the hotel display-board and beneath it, in smaller letters, "Welcome Stephen Stills Group". Upstairs, overlooking Chicago in just another hotel room, ...
Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974
Is it time to shut the closet door? OUR HERO SEES THROUGH THE SEE-THROUGHS AND COMES TO THE CONCLUSION THAT ELEGANCE IS MORE THAN A LIMP ...
Genesis Is The Start Of Something?
Report by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974
ARRIVING AT THE seedy looking Capitol Theatre, New Jersey's lower middle-class palace of rock, you could tell something good was going on inside. With even ...
Vinegar Joe: King's College, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 16 March 1974
Over and out.. ...
Aretha Franklin: Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974
Aretha: a Queen with no dignity? ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974
Seven years in the shadow of Diana Ross ...
Hatfield And The North: Hatfield And The North
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974
TO BE BLUNT, Hatfield And The North have missed the boat. What they're doing on this record, admirable as it may be in itself, is ...
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974
'I'M DOIN' Fine Now' was a great pop soul single. 'Quick Fast In A Hurry' their current, much played, 45 is a disco and a ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974
STRANGE THING about the Return To Forever gig at the Rainbow, and that was that the place seemed fuller than I've ever seen it before. ...
Elton John, Marc Bolan, The Rolling Stones, Roxy Music, Slade, Sweet: Fashion: The Politics of Flash
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 April 1974
NICK KENT traces the Rise and Fall of The Satin Jacket...and generally walks it like he talks it into the land of 'Rock Chic.' ...
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
Central Station soul special ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
The Hawkwind 1999 party rolls across the plains of America, dealing in cosmic vibes and - more important in the eyes of the Chicago denim ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Friends: Will The Circle Be Unbroken (United Artists)Dillards: Tribute To The American Duck (United Artists)Country Gazette: Don't Give Up Your ...
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974
The summer of '67 went up like a psychedelic mushroom-cloud – and some of the fall-out's still coming down. Brian Jones was casually snuffed out, ...
David Bowie: The Scruffy Little Failure who became David Bowie
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 18 April 1974
Ken Pitt, Bowie's former manager and the only man In the world who's lived with both Bowie and James Dean, reflects on the days before ...
Eddie Cochran: He Shouldn't have Used The Car 'Cos He'd Been Workin' Late
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 April 1974
But he did – and, fourteen years ago this Easter, EDDIE COCHRAN died of multiple injuries when a tyre blew out. MICK FARREN traces the ...
Graham Nash: Return of the Manchester Mind Wrestler
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 20 April 1974
CONSIDERING the wastage rate in the higher echelons of rock 'n' roll, it's not difficult to accept as the norm a situation in which an ...
MC5: Kramer Climbs Back From MC5 Wreckage
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
NEW BAND AND A NEW IMAGE: Mick Farren in Detroit ...
Grateful Dead: Lookin' Back: The Grateful Dead
Retrospective by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
Whatever happened to the Cosmic Dream? Part 45 (13th Hexagram) ...
Ten Years After: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
TEN YEARS AFTER just don't cut the bread. I find it hard to recall just when I heard a more boring, bored and listless performance. ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon (Mercury)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
Sloppy seconds ...
The Velvet Underground: 1969 Live
Review by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT. I'm alone and all I don't wanna do is keep leafing through this copy of Vogue I got in my mits - ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer: Welcome Back, My Friends, To The Show That...
Report and Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 27 April 1974
… requires 40 tons of equipment, 18 humper/loaders, seven personal roadies, six sound crew, five trucker/drivers, four spot manipulators, three heavy musicians two outside coordinators and (we guess) a man to make the ...
Au Bonheur des Dames, The Frenchies, Jim Morrison, Magma, Nico: Last Drongo In Paris
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 May 1974
FRANCOIS MITTERAND… GUY CHABAN DELMAS… GISCARD D'ESTAING… YOU WILL BE AS RELIEVED AS US TO LEARN THAT NONE OF THESE TURGID FRENCH DEMAGOGUES APPEAR IN ...
MFSB: set for a smash despite the slagging?
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 May 1974
A NUMBER one album and single in the American pop charts, with strong chances of rivalling the success of 'Love's Theme' in the UK, make ...
The Groundhogs: Groundhogs: Groundhogs Best 1969-1972
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 May 1974
FATHER, I HAVE sinned. Though the words may echo through my remaining days on this doomed planet, though I be haunted through eternity by these ...
Dr. John: Dr John: Anytime, Anyplace
Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 18 May 1974
Chance discovery yields delightful work ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 18 May 1974
ONE WAY or another, 1974's turning out to be quite a year for rock 'n' roll. ...
Monty Python's Flying Circus: Monty Python: Hi There, Tiger!
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
THE DUNBLANE HYDRO bestrides a cemented hillock just five miles across freeway and dale. ...
New Riders of the Purple Sage: Home Home On The Road
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
IT WAS Greil Marcus who founded what has since become known as the "What-is-this shit?" school of rock criticism. ...
Scott Joplin: The Great Pianoforte In The Sky
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
IT WAS ALMOST as hard as getting to Dylan – but, eventually aided by an agent called Godwin, who knew everybody worth knowing, I was ...
Sparks: Nouveau Riche Sweet Young Brats Strike Sparks
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
TALK ABOUT BEING short changed! The way I heard it, these Sparks whizz-kids take great pride in escorting the press cognoscenti to the finest hostelries ...
The Beatles: Silly Charlie and the Not-So-Red-Hot Pepper
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
Will Ringo get the mums? Can George hold the mystics? Who was the Walrus? Is Charles Shaar Murray a loony? Only the last question need ...
Graham Bond: The Death Of Graham Bond
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS before his death two weeks ago, Graham Bond phoned the NME offices. He sounded purposeful, optimistic, enthusiastic, and full of energy. ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 June 1974
Super Euro group developing super ego ? ...
Kiki Dee, Steely Dan: Steely Dan, Kiki Dee: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 1 June 1974
Thumbs down for the Dan ...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 June 1974
Death has always been big business as a perverse form of entertainment. In the 18th Century, public hangings had similar pulling power to Emerson Lake ...
Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath/Black Oak Arkansas: Black Power
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
IF JIM DANDY'S PANTS were any tighter they'd have hair growing out of them.Fringed suede jacket, fringed suede boots, and those white satin pants. Now, ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
ONE THING you gotta admit about Steve Harley, and that is that he does the funniest interviews since Marc Bolan. He even opens up Cocky ...
David Cassidy: Terminal Fandom
Report and Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
IN "FREE" ADULTS, mass frustration breeds war. In "free" teenagers, mass frustration breeds rock phenomena. ...
Deep Purple: Monsters of the Deep
Report and Interview by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
I'M SITTING on Deep Purple's jet waiting to take off from Detroit Metro. The accommodations are luxurious and the general mood is a Saturday afternoon ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
YEAH, KING of the Laid-Back and all that bananas, but it goes a little deeper than that cos, even though he probably spends more ...
Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Brian Eno, Nico: Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico, Eno: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
Ayers puts the A in ACNE ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
Resuscitated zomboid wows Gallic crowd ...
Live Review by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
Randy Newman: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London ...
Tim Buckley: How a Hippie Hero became a sultry Sex Object...
Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
...and had a simply devastating effect on the glands of a certain Chrissie Hynd [sic]. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 June 1974
"IT GETS ON my tit when people start talking when I'm listening to music, so when I'm at 'ome I always turn the sound right ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
Take a holiday, Elton. Take two. ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: It's Only Rock 'N' Roll But I Like It
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
ROUTE 66 REVISITED By NICK KENT ...
Randy Newman: Aw, forget it. Just ask me my favourite colour…
Profile by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
Randy Newman says hes not an over-indulgent cynic. He also says hes sick of folks asking him silly questions. After all, Dylans said he likes ...
Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard and Linda Thompson: Life without Fairport
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
RICHARD THOMPSON wrote 'Meet On The Ledge', in case you'd forgotten. On that basis alone the man would be due a certain portion of immortality. ...
San Francisco: Who needs music when we've got the Zebra?
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
IT WAS A bad times for San Francisco. It was spring, but whereas in most places this is greeted with some joy with snows ...
Stomu Yamashta: Stomu Yamash'ta: He Say "Not Really"
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
A VERY CURIOUS thing happened to me about 15 months ago. There I was, coming on home about two o'clock one Saturday morning feeling a ...
Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight: Gladys Knight: Claudine (Original Soundtrack)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
IT MUST have seemed a good idea. Amalgamating the talents of Buddah stablemates Gladys Knight and Curtis Mayfield for the sound-track of Claudine. ...
The Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
THERE WAS a time, way back in the middle of the sixties, when the British mod-Motown bands were all growing their hair and going psychedelic, ...
Pharoah Sanders has been here and gone
Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
BRIAN CASE delves back into the jumping New York scene of the '60s, to a time when avant garde musicians like Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, ...
Rock on TV: Old Grey Whistle Test
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
Meanwhile, in a small, cramped studio, dedicated men wrestle desperately with obsolete equipment in a noble attempt to produce meaningful rock TV for 800 quid ...
The Butts Band, The Kinks: The Kinks; The Butts Band: The Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
GIVE THE Kinks album a review and you bear the responsibility for Ray Davies' crying for the next three days, I'm told. ...
10cc: Viability Of New Marketing Techniques Illustrated
Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
What's this? A band with no image. They'll never shift the vinyl, insists STEVE TURNER firmly. But 10cc prove that there's more to the art ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Before The Flood
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
AN APPOSITE QUOTE from Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (the town preacher talking): "Oh Lord, can we truly accomplish this great task or are we ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
WHY DO people make albums? There are probably three reasons: ...
Leonard Cohen: Depressing? Who? Me?
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
Nervous? Tense? Sos Leonard Cohen. In fact, hes so miserable hes even given up suicide. Steve Turner attempts to pin down the Beautiful Loser himself, ...
Dr. Feelgood: Doctor Feelgood: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
IT'S NOT often that the jaded, booze-soaked crowd that throng Dingwalls dancehall bring an almost unknown band back for three encores. ...
Tangerine Dream: Exclusiv interview mit Tangerine Dream
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
They were in Oxfordshire, mixing it at the Manor and sunbathing with scantily clad ladies in the presence of fully clad FRED DELLAR, who here ...
Laura Nyro: The Five-Year, Five-Album Span Of High-Pressure Creativity
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
"Nights in New York street angels running down steps into the echoes of the train station to sing..." ...
Budgie: Rapping with a Burke from Budgie
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
...is extremely difficult, seeing as he's not the slightest bit interested that The Album has made the charts. In fact, he couldn't care less. What's ...
Uriah Heep: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
Heep howl out at Hammersmith ...
Al Green, Laura Lee: Apollo Theatre, Harlem, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
Uptight Green holds it all back ...
Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
Gothic horror, funeral processions, The Exorcist ten years early on a crazed tenor. The critics loathed it. Audiences stayed away in droves. ALBERT AYLER. Have ...
Andy Mackay: In Search Of Marcel Proust
Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
IN TERMS of the rock machine they were chronologically burned out from the start. Who but a pack of literary looneys could have survived falling ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Be Bop Deluxe: Axe Victim
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
IT'S GREAT to be right in there on the first still-to-be-perfected artistic utterance of A Truly Great Group To Be. That old warm self-congratulatory glow ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
OL' COCONUT Bonce is back. Elton Schmelton himself in the too, too solid flesh, still opening up interview sessions by walking into the room at ...
Hawkwind: Dorkwind in Dutchland
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
JUST OVER a year ago I went up to the Cambridge Corn Exchange to get my first ever taste of Hawkwind live. ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
ALL THE New York City rockers had come down to the Bottom Line to check out Rocket Records' latest entry, Kiki Dee. Elton John and ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
EVER SINCE the Allman Brothers came howling out of Macon, Gorgia, and Texas graciously gave Johnny Winter and Janis Joplin to the world, Southern rock ...
Interview by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
The cool gentleman above is MOSE ALLISON. Among others, he penned 'Young Man Blues', 'Live The Life I Love', and 'Parchman Farm'. Randy Newman's spiritual ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
I NEVER COULD understand why so many Rock Critics (sic) couldn't stomach The Supremes. ...
Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd Rundgren: Thank God for Todd
Live Review by Michael Gross, New Musical Express, 6 July 1974
Todd Rundgren: Central Park, NYC ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 13 July 1974
FRED DELLAR. Nothing strange about that name is there? It's sort of, well, homely, Comforting. And he lives in Badger's Walk, too. A far cry ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 July 1974
I'VE ALWAYS HAD me suspicions about Johnny Cash. ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 July 1974
Take one midget, add a small guitar, wind him up and hear him talk ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 July 1974
COUNTING MATCHING Mole's first album, this is Robert Wyatt's third solo record. It echoes his previous ventures in being a strong statement of mood, but ...
Robert Wyatt: Join The Professionals, Form A Rock Band…
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 27 July 1974
YEAH, WELL – Robert Wyatt (fact) drummed with Soft Machine, led Matching Mole, and fell from a fourth-storey window in Maida Vale early last year, ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: A Stadium Fulla People An' Neil Young's Dog An' No Fist Fights
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 3 August 1974
TIME DOES indeed fade away. Four years and lots of solo albums later, 52,000 fans are sitting in the Milwaukee baseball stadium on a Sunday ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: 1974 was Last Year’s Thing
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 August 1974
...so what about the Sound of 75, man? Could it even be BE-BOP DELUXE, already? (We knock em down and then we build em up ...
Grateful Dead: The Exhumation of The Dead
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 3 August 1974
They've been slagged, slated, abused, and misused – most often in these very pages. But Hell hath no Fury like a Dead fan scorned, and ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 3 August 1974
THE MAIN OBSTACLE between a rock song-writer and Major Form (as ye olde musickologists have it) is Objectivity. ...
Gryphon: Medieval Knight Jousts At Rock Press Knaves
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974
RAY HARRYHAUSEN, as anyone who's seen The Golden Voyage of Sinbad will attest, knows all about strange creatures. So if he says that a Gryphon ...
Jefferson Airplane: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974
Birth-pangs of the acid monster ...
Mickey Baker: l00 Club, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974
THE EPITHET "Living blues legend" has been much overworked. but in Mickey Baker's case it doesn't even begin to be adequate. He's that, and so ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
Pain-wracked Glasgow octogenarian fights tooth decay, endorses anarchy ...
Jimmy Buffett: Living And Dying In 3/4 Time
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
JIMMY BUFFETT will never be a rock'n'roll star. ...
The Fugs: Lookin' Back at The Fugs
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
... a word of thanks to the guys who made all this decadence, vulgarity and debauchery possible. ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
RIGHT NOW NEIL YOUNG is in kind of an invidious position. On The Beach is his equivalent of Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album in terms ...
The Osmonds: Our Man in Lost Wages
Report by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
The man to the right of this announcement is ANDREW TYLER: He's a hippie. And he's on the loose in YOUR neighbourhood. Parents, protect your ...
Eric Clapton, Yvonne Elliman: Yvonne Elliman
Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974
How come a lady who'd never played rock music in her life has recently been doing so with RSO record star Eric Clapton? ...
Nico: I Was a Hausfrau from Hanover — Until I Discovered Heroin...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 August 1974
...the effect is shattering NICO confesses to NICK KENT ...
John Cale, Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: Phil Manzanera: Snake-Eyed Latin Lothario Goes Pan-Tonic
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 August 1974
...And that's not all, as NICK KENT discovers after conversations with none other than marimboid Roxyite PHIL MANZANERA. (P.S. John Cale is involved in this ...
Dr. Feelgood: Doctor Feelgood: Rocking at the Canvey Island Oil Refinery Claimants Union Ball
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
NICK KENT probes the aesthetics of DOCTOR FEELGOOD's chisel-toe chic. ...
Harpers Bizarre: The Best Of Harpers Bizarre
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
THE TRADITION of the American pop/soft-rock interpretative/performing outfit, apparent now in the Pointer Sisters and Three Dog Night, goes back into the '60s (and ultimately ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
Rock verite — the Beatrix Potter way ...
Henry Cow: Gerroff An' Milk It
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY wanted to call it 'How I listened to HENRY COW and lived' ...
Robert Palmer: Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
I ALWAYS felt more than a little sorry for Robert Palmer when he was in Vinegar Joe. ...
The Drifters: Drifting With An Endless Identity Crisis
Report by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
"BELL RECORDS and Henry Sellers Ltd., on behalf of Faye Treadwell, manager of the Drifters, wish to make known that Charlie Thomas and the Drifters ...
Alice Cooper: Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
Alice's absurd achievements ...
Annette Peacock: Primitive Bird Tries New Thing
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
ANNETTE PEACOCK, erstwhile prisoner in the Bowie/DeFries camp, reveals big plans for what you've all been waiting for... Yes folks, it's THE NEW MUSIC. Here ...
Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: So Far
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
Gormlessly groping ...
Hawkwind: In The Hall Of The Mountain Grill
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
DON'T TELL anybody, but yours adoring thinks that he's finally got this bunch sussed. ...
Jimmy Cliff: Skanking In Exile
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
I'VE BEEN living in Stoke Newington for about six months. The area's one of the most cosmopolitan in North-East London, with an immigrant population that ...
John Mayall: Empty Rooms/The Turning Point
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
WHAT WE HAVE here is a shrewd exercise in marketing. Two deleted albums reissued as one double package for the apparently reasonable price of £2.99. ...
Lorraine Ellison: Lorraine Ellison
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
THE STORY so far: in 1966 Lorraine Ellison made one vast contribution to popular mythology with 'Stay With Me, Baby', unquestionably a classic (maybe this ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
Peace and paranoia: The Metropolitan Police Force's Gala Weekend Outing at Hyde Park ...
The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn: A Man's Gotta Do...What A Man's Gotta Do
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
NIK COHN seemed to have it pretty well summed up in his Byrds caption for Rock Dreams: "The Byrds weren't so much a band as ...
Billy Preston: The Busiest Soul In Showbusiness
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
THANKS TO his prodigious session-work, as well as his own tours, Billy Preston is one of the most frequent American soul visitors to our isle; ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
Can in Curio City ...
Miles Davis: Young Man with a Horn
Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
THE EARLY YEARS OF MILES DAVIS: on the bandstand with Bird where changes came fast and tricky... to keep fools away. ...
Robert Wyatt: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
EVEN THOUGH the gig was due to start at 8.30, Drury Lane had started to clog up with earnest-looking hippies nearly two hours before the ...
Roxy Music: Discovery Of Amazing Corporate Hippie
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
EDDIE JOBSON is quite a cute little cookie. ...
Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd. Wizard? Or Silly Sod?
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
Genius is paid — and none more highly than T. Rundgren, ace gelding of the New York Production Stud. Count his teeth! Hear him neigh! ...
Toots & The Maytals: Toots and the Maytals: In The Dark
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 September 1974
This, Toots, was made for dork-ing ...
Grateful Dead - How the hell do ya play them five-hour sets without slinkin' off for a leak?
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
Yes, it's an interesting one isn't it? I mean, five hours...that's a long time, and well...camels are different of course, so really it must be ...
Jefferson Airplane: Don't Just Do Something, Stand There…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
UP GOES the window and out comes the head. ...
The Jimmy Castor Bunch: Jimmy Castor: The Everything Man
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
SUBTLE ONE, that title. See, in the centre of the sleeve there's a picture of the dude who is presumably Jimmy Castor wearing a standard ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
THE LATEST saga in the Great American Singer/Songwriter Conspiracy, Jewish Division, in which Cohen and King are chief protagonists. ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
WE HAD IT ALL is the country album Walker's been planning for sometime. And it's country the Walker way, sophisticated and on velvet. Del Newman ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974
UP IN EAST HAM, Stratford and, in fact, all the way out to the end of the Liverpool Street suburban line, they liked their acid ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
FORGET THE Yardbirds, forget J. Geils. Last Thursday, Dingwalls had the real demolition men in. Name of Dr. Feelgood; they're what rhythm and blues is ...
Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
Sickness and diseases may bring you down, and FAIRPORT CONVENTION have had more than their share, but they always come back for more. BOB WOFFINDEN ...
Johnny Bristol: Hangin' Out with the Other JB
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
PRODUCER/SONGWRITERS turned artists are an increasingly common feature of the soul scene. ...
Lou Reed: Sally Can't Dance (RCA Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
"Life is such monotony/Without a good lobotomy" Roy Harper ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
IN 1965 Jac Holzman, then head of Elektra and master of good taste, pulled a young man and his group out of an L.A. club, ...
Miles Davis: Not Waving But Drowning?
Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
Miles Dewey Davis, Part Two...in which the temperamental Frank Sinatra of jazz swings a pugnacious blow at the faithful by blowing a little jazz-rock ...
Neil Diamond: Gold Diamond Vol. 2
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
ALTHOUGH IT'LL never get to the situation where the ramifications of his use of Room 109 are being discussed, the time is probably just about ...
Neil Merryweather: Space Rangers
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
THIS GUY'S got to be kidding. ...
Beck, Bogert and Appice, Vanilla Fudge: Vanilla Fudge: From Pizza to Fudge
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974
SO WHAT did happen to Beck, Bogert and Appice?. ...
Frank Zappa: Roxy And Elsewhere
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
CAPSULE REVIEW for the Busy Reader: if you like Apostrophe and Over-Nite Sensation better than any of Uncle Frank's other efforts, then ooze into your ...
Frank Zappa: Relax, Frank. We Ain't No Liggers. A Few Of Us Just Came To Join In…
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
WHY IS Stephen Stills not smiling? To be more precise, why are those noble, rugged features sporting an expression roughly equivalent to that of a ...
John Lennon: Walls And Bridges
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
IT'S A FINE, warm day here in London, Johnny. What's the weather like in New York? ...
Kiki Dee: The Life Story Of A Hot Girl
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
I'LL SHOOT you a few names. Dusty Springfield okay on that one? Susan Maughan yeah? Then how about The Caravelles? Louise Cordet? Ethna ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
THE PREVIOUS two albums by this final King Crimson lineup have never been as hysterically self-conscious in their obvious adventurousness as the first four studio ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
MARTHA AND The Vandellas never really made the grade. ...
Mick Greenwood: Midnight Dreamer
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
THERE ARE a large number of musicians who make music that's always eminently listenable though hardly likely to send record companies' sales-graphs climbing like a ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
"A VINDICATION of the South?" Hey Randy y'all gon' lay A CONCEPT ALBUM on us? Yeeee-haw! ...
Robert Fripp: Something Is Stirring Down At Wimbourne
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
IT'S NOTHING to do with egos, you know, this final dissolving of King Crimson. No, there's something of a much grander design — somewhat rather ...
Steeleye Span: Hark The Village Wait
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
IN THE BEGINNING there was Ashley Hutchings, he of steadfast purpose, leaving Fairport to form a group dedicated to the preservation of English folk-song in ...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
JIMMY PAGE talks about guitars he has owned, the development of his style and reminisces on those early Yardbird and Led Zep days ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
THOUGH HE had a massive hit here some years back with 'Who's Making Love' and has consistently been one of the top-selling Stax artists, Johnnie ...
Johnny Bristol: Hang On In There, Baby
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
HEY, THIS cat's a whole lot better than Barry White. ...
Maggie Bell, The Pretty Things: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
OKAY, FIRST things first. When Maggie Bell's done a few more gigs (and maybe even a couple more rehearsals) with her new band, then there's ...
The Rolling Stones, Mick Taylor: Mick Taylor: But I Still Love Him...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
...admits a "thoroughly reasonable," or maybe just "resignedly realistic," MICK TAYLOR as he lets us in on what it's like to be a Secondary Stone in this year of Our Lord 1974... ...
Roxy Music: Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
Fairbanks triumph at ersatz Nuremburg rallies ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
"ON OUR first American tour," says Ricardo Kemprini, famed Italian bass player, "the agents put us on the bill with everybody and his dog, right? ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: The Impossible Dream
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
ALEX HARVEY has just released the first rock and roll comic book. ...
Utopia: Todd Rundgren's Utopia
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974
OF THE presumably few people who ignored the charges of self-indulgence and pretentiousness generally levelled at Rundgren's last effort (the double-album Todd) and, despite everything, ...
Black Oak Arkansas: Hot And Nasty
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
ACTUALLY Atlantic are taking a hell of a chance with this album. In case you haven't yet glommed the cover in your local, it's a ...
Alice Coltrane, Santana: Carlos Santana & Alice Coltrane: Illuminations (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
SO WHAT did you expect he'd do next? Open a macrobiotic restaurant in Marin County? ...
Curtis Mayfield: Sweet Exorcist (Buddah); Move On Up — The Best Of Curtis Mayfield (Buddah)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
IF CURTIS Mayfield had started out with the intention of riding squarely astride every bandwagon that was rolling he couldn't have done better than 'Sweet ...
Doug Sahm: Groover's Paradise (Warner Bros.)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
OL' UNCLE Doug sure is a goodtimer. Take a whole chunk of that Johnny Rivers Boogie Band feel, dilute with a touch of pure Mike ...
Elvis Presley: There Is No Truth In the Rumour that Elvis Is Losing His Marbles
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
ELVIS AARON PRESLEY, one time truck driver and supreme rock-and-roll superstar, has been taking some pains of late to allay a host of false rumours ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
AN IRRATIONAL prejudice: Given a choice between the sound of New York and the sound of New Orleans, I'd always go for the former. If ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
IT MUST BE something of a bringdown for Pete Atkin that so much of the critical interest in his albums is focused on his collaborator, ...
Tim Buckley: Look At The Fool (Discreet Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
SO WHAT'S all this fuss about Tim Buckley all of a sudden, already. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
IF YOU WANTED to be crass you could say that the main features that made Buddy Holly a legend were that, first, he was the ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
IS THERE life on Uranus? Dunno. Things were pretty quiet last time I looked. On the other hand, Tony Defries' little redhead has a new ...
Gong: Look! There's A Pothead Pixie Arriving
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
THERE'S A lot of musicians around that are going to be kissing Mike Oldfield's dirty underpants. The success of Tubular Bells has almost certainly uncovered ...
Robert Wyatt: I Played Robert Wyatt At 78rpm And Saw God
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
THERE'S SOMETHING extra special about green suede boots. A certain devil-may-care attitude, a touch of fearless dandyism combined with a sense of the earthy and ...
Ivor Cutler: Dandruff (Virgin)
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
I REMEMBER the time when you got seven tracks on each side of an album. Over the years, the quantity has been steadily decreasing and, ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
DON'T WORRY. This is not as that first peek at the multi-stellar sleeve credits may have suggested, the Greg Lake contribution to the Arts for ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
PEOPLE WHOSE tastes are rooted in the Blues did not, apparently, find what Ron Mael was doing with rock on Kimono My House either interesting ...
Supertramp: Crime Of The Century (A&M)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
OWN UP you'd written Supertramp off, hadn't you? ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
THE COMMODORES, a sextet who compare roughly with Kool And The Gang and the Ohio Players, appeal to me in a limited way. ...
The Meters: Funk From The Crescent City
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 26 October 1974
THERE'S ALWAYS been something unique about New Orleans music, whether it's the jazz of Louis Armstong, the boogie-woogie blues of Champion Jack Dupree, the lopping ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: Dreamer
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, November 1974
ONE DAY last week I tuned into Noel Edmunds and I heard it and fell back into bed. ...
Can: They Have Ways Of Making You Listen…
Profile by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974
ONE NIGHT IN NOVEMBER 1969 the phone rang in Irmin Schmidt's Cologne home. Schmidt got out of bed to answer it and found himself talking ...
Eddie Holman: Holman's Recurring Revived 45
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974
REVIVED 45s are a familiar part of the British pop scene, but Eddie Holman's '(Hey There) Lonely Girl' is somewhat special in that it's now ...
Jeff Beck: Music And Cars And Sex…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974
A DIGESTIVE BISCUIT is poised, somewhat uneasily, a few inches away from Jeff Beck's celebrated nasty leer. ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974
SO THE BARON displayed a certain lack of sartorial "chutzpah" in his last choice of onstage image-tackle. So blame his tailor. Country Life is so ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 9 November 1974
THINGS COULDN'T really have got off to a worse start for Sparks. First their coach broke down in Barnsley of all places which ...
Blue Magic, Aretha Franklin: Aretha Franklin, Blue Magic: Radio City Music Hall, New York
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
ARETHA FRANKLIN ascended into the firmament that was always hers by right anyway with a spectacular Radio City Music Hall series of concerts that would ...
Barry White - Can't Get Enough
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
THE TITLE TRACK has just left the British and American top thirty. The album itself is resting at No. 1 on the US album charts ...
David Bowie: Mr. Bowie Has Left The Theatre
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
NEW YORK'S Radio City Music Hall, with its elaborate art deco Thirties interior, must be the ideal place to present a David Bowie show. Unfortunately ...
Hatfield And The North: Hatfield & The North
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
IN A LAND and a business where quickfire hype and quickfire playing are adjudged almost twin brothers, Hatfield And The North are very much on ...
Frank Zappa: How To Write, Sub, And Lay Out A Frank Zappa 'Lookin' Back', part 1
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
"LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING. You've got our recordings, you've seen us work a few times, you interviewed me three or four times, you've read a ...
James Brown: The Apollo Theater, New York NY
Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
UPTOWN AT the Apollo, an eager audience is wondering when The King of Soul will make his appearance. ...
Maria Muldaur: Waitress In A Donut Shop
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
MARIA MULDAUR'S got class no argument about it. It may have been a long, hard climb, but she is now receiving the attention she ...
Tangerine Dream: Is This The End Of Rock As We Know It?
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974
EVER HEARD of a group who would rather not be visible to their audience and let the music work on its own? Seems peculiar even ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
CAN AL GREEN recover his credibility and save the world after all?, is the theme of today's programme. ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: War Babies
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
DARYL HALL and John Oates are acquiring something of a cult following in this country. ...
Frank Zappa: How To Sub And Lay Out A Frank Zappa Lookin' Back Part 2
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
"PERHAPS THE most unique aspect of the Mother's work is the conceptual continuity of the group's output macrostructure. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
IN WHICH two culture heroes find themselves well and truly on the artistic skids. ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
ONE GOOD album deserves another, they say — but that's as maybe. What we have here is John Lennon's maxim of "never change a winning ...
The Pretty Things: Silk Torpedo
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974
IT GIVES you faith to know that through all the impermanency and transience of this beast we call rock, The Pretty Things soldier on. ...
Can: Imagine 20 bulls and cows going up a hill...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
...or learn guitar the avant garde way! MICHAEL KAROLI of Can, talking to CHRIS SALEWICZ ...
Elton John: Ms. Streisand & The Pants of John
Report and Interview by Richard Cromelin, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
LOS ANGELES. It was a busy week for Elton John: a couple of hours in the DJ chair at KMET radio, a tennis game ...
Fanny: Unnnghhh! Grunt, Slurp…
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
LETS BE SEXIST for a coupla paragraphs. ...
Hawkwind: The Regular 'Wind Miracle
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
NEW YORK just doesn't seem to be the place for Hawkwind. ...
Frank Zappa: How To Complete The Subbing And Layout Of A Very Long Frank Zappa Lookin' Back, Part 3
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
THE ALBUM and movie of 200 Motels erupted late in 1971. Both received near-unanimous critical meat-axe jobs and both were ignominious commercial failures. United Artists, ...
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
HONESTLY, HAVING even to think about Jeff Airplane/ Starship/whatever these days is getting to be a bore. ...
John Sebastian: Speak Up Ya Creep!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
THERE ARE certainly more than one or two among us who suspect that John B. Sebastian has long since gone right over the top; that ...
The Delfonics: Developments In The Delfonic Dilemma
Profile and Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 30 November 1974
MENTION THE Philly sound, and people will start thinking about The O'Jays, Billy Paul, The Intruders or The Three Degrees. ...
Brian Eno: ANNOUNCEMENT: Texans like steak, oil-wells, large hats and Eno…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
WELL, I SUPPOSE we should start as we intend to continue. So come along, Eno, how does it feel to be just regarded as Good ...
Cornell Dupree: Teasin' (Atlantic)
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
THE COVER sums this one up: a comfy sofa and an old electric fan and a Coke machine that's about fifteen years old, with the ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
BACK IN JUNE I made one of my regular midnight creeps to Dingwalls in Camden Town with the main purpose of getting drunk. ...
John Lee Hooker: Free Beer And Chicken (ABC)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
ANYBODY WHO'S ever listened to a fair amount of John Lee Hooker will have realised that recording him with a band is a task on ...
Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (Swansong/Atlantic)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
Quintessential doyens of the kamikaze dizzbuster game Exclusive preview by Nick Kent ...
Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page: Led Zeppelin: The Graffiti of the Physical...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
...and the Exploration of the Metaphysical. A candid interview with Led Zep. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
A LOT OF people are going to be highly disappointed with this album, Lee's first with the new but not improved Love. Not that he ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
COINCIDING with their decision to reform comes this compilation of Moby Grape, not a greatest of hits but a personal faves number allotted to Bill ...
Steeleye Span: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
IT WAS not one of Steeleye's better gigs perhaps the Rainbow doesn't suit them. ...
The Beach Boys: Hello Bruce, this is Bruce, Bruce
Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
GIVE BRUCE Johnston credit; he isn't put off his chosen path easily. ...
Thelma Houston: Sunshower (ABC)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
IF I REMEMBER correctly, this is the third time that Sunshower has appeared in this country — not that I'm complaining, I just think it's ...
Profile by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
Some things turn me on...like the way you might say a word or the way you wear your hair and have a certain smile on ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
UNEASY PREAMBLE: I don't really know what to make of this album. Bits of it seem to me very good, other bits leave me unconvinced, ...
Eric Clapton: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
THURSDAY NIGHT marked the final gig in the third of Eric Clapton's post-hibernation tours and in conjunction with the Wednesday night concert, the first time ...
MC5, The Stooges: MC5/Stooges: Panic in Detroit
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
THOSE FUN lovers from the motor city, the Stooges and the MC5, are winding up for another rampage. Of course, we've heard tales like this ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
IN WHICH it begins to look disturbingly like influences are dangerous toys indeed. ...
Bryan Ferry: Tired of that same old anorak?
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
Achieve the Country Life look in a Komfi-twede blazer. By Ferrari of South Kensington. ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
THERE'S NOTHING more disappointing than finding one's teenage heroes crumbling ineluctably into middle-aged mediocrity. Hari Georgeson (as he often refers to himself) is on a ...
Gong: You See A Lot Of Frenchmen With Berets... But Not Too Many With Fried Eggs On Their Heads
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
GONG'S HOTEL in the Avenue de Wagram in Paris is directly opposite the Salle Wagram where they are due to gig tonight. It should take ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wally: Lynyrd Skynyrd/Wally: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
CLOSE ONE, you know. I mean, after Lynyrd Skynyrd had played their first few numbers it was decided that this might have to be a ...
Otis Redding: A Legend During His Lifetime, Or Only After His Death
Retrospective by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
The former, argues ROGER ST. PIERRE, in this appreciation of OTIS REDDING, who died seven years ago this month the Boss Man soul music ...
Rick Wakeman: Beers of the World
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
"ON OUR rider for the tour of America for the seven of us we had twelve six-packs of Budweiser, two bottles of tequila, ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
CONTRARY to popular belief, Santa Claus alias Saint Nicholas is alive and well and living in Amsterdam. ...
Johnnie Allan: The Promised Land …… And How To Get There: Oval Records
Report by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
Inside looking out; CHARLIE GILLETT, who has started his own record label, Oval Records, reports from the other side of the fence on the processes ...
The Rolling Stones, Mick Taylor: The Rolling Stones: Melodrama in Munich
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974
Blockaded in a Hilton cocktail bar the Rolling Stones bathe their wounds in whisky... while Jagger recounts the events that led to Mick Taylor quitting ...
Alvin Lee: Alvin Thrills the U.S. Army Freaks
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
ALVIN LEE is a deceptive character. He's never really worked at making his presence felt in the way Rod Stewart or Elton John have done, ...
Bryan Ferry: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
THE ALBERT HALL is teeming, brim-full with the beautiful awaiting the first solo airing of his master's voice in the Capital. ...
Edwin Starr: The Thespian Anglophile And The Motown Machine
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
EDWIN STARR has a rather special place in the British soul scene, since none of America's top soul acts can match his record of some ...
Fumble, Rock Bottom: King's Road Theatre, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
ON SUNDAY, at the ratty end of Chelsea, the King's Road Theatre opened its doors for a double bill of rock'n'roll; pretty disastrous it was ...
Gary Glitter: Ballroom Dancing With The Big G
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
GARY GLITTER is sensibly ensconced in a very old fashioned smart hotel where the only thing liable to disturb his peace-of mind is a nutty ...
Dr. Feelgood, Hawkwind: Hawkwind and Dr Feelgood On Tour
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
THE START OF a tour is never really any great cause for rejoicing. It's the end of a tour that is usually all fun and ...
Santana: Latin Limbo Dancing Over Hot Coals
Retrospective by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
OF ALL the really big American bands perhaps Santana remain the most enigmatic, the least publicised – yet, ironically, enduring the test of time and ...
Overview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974
Are Steeleye Span last year's thing? Is Alan Stivell just a Celtic showman? And where is Richard Thompson now that Bob Woffinden needs him most ...
Buddy Holly: Never Mind The Lubbocks, Here’s Buddy Holly & The Crickets : 20 Greatest Hits
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1975
THE ROCK and roll of the 50s produced three incomparable all-rounders equally adept and influential as signers, composers and guitarists. ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 1 January 1975
Black is busting out all over ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
IF YOU LIKED the instant, stylised commercialism of 'Pinball', with its dilettante finger poppin'; then the album of that name might be just up your ...
Bryn Haworth: Let The Days Go By
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
SO UNASSUMING IS Bryn Haworth's Let The Days Go By that I was initially tempted to dismiss it as just another singer/songwriter effort, but having ...
Hound Dog Taylor, Junior Wells: Chicago: Big City Blues
Report by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
How ya gonna pull a black chick, honkie baby? The answer: Don't try. You could get wasted — BRIAN CASE prowls round the rough, tough blues joints ...
Donovan: Portrait Of The Artist As A Desert Rat
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
a small, furry, herbivorous animal, which possesses the happy knack of elusiveness. Just like DONOVAN, in fact, who's so elusive that even CHRIS SALEWICZ ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
RELUCTANTLY, ONE MUST admit that Aretha Franklin has now lost her crown as America's top female singer to Miss Knight. Gladys and her Pips have ...
Mott The Hoople: Ian Hunter: 'I Have Nothing To Say'
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
THERE IS a certain poetic irony in the fact that Saturday Gigs and Mott The Hoople Live turned out to be Mott's farewell recordings anyway, despite the addition of ...
Cher, LaBelle: LaBelle: It Happened In Hollywood
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
IT HAPPENED in Hollywood.To be precise it happened on The Cher Show. ...
Mick Ronson - Play Don't Worry
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
DUNNO ABOUT YOU, but from where I'm sitting it seems as though you can't go on saying that someone has potential for too long unless ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
SCAFELL PIKE ARE a four-piece, three guitars and piano, who confine themselves to British traditional song and seem to specialise in sea shanties. Given that, ...
The Delfonics: Alive And Kicking
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
THE REAL SOUND of Philadelphia belongs to the Delfonics, who started not only the Philly sound but almost the whole black vocal-group syndrome back in ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
WAS THIS ALBUM WEIRD? You bet yer snakeskin mitts it was. ...
The Faces: Kilburn State, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
"YES, MY PEOPLE, you make me strong," sighed the Golden Catarrh with a de rigeur flexing of the neck muscles as The Faces knocked into ...
The Faces: Kilburn State, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
"YES, MY PEOPLE, you make me strong," sighed the Golden Catarrh with a de rigeur flexing of the neck muscles as the Faces knocked into ...
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
OR, CHRISTMAS COMES BUT ONCE A YEAR... BUT, FOR ROD STEWART, EVERY BLEEDIN' NIGHT (jammy git) Being a crisp resume of three nights in the life ...
The Righteous Brothers - Give it to the People
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975
ANOTHER ILLUSION SHATTERED. ...
Ace gotta play their cards right
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
When you've spent your life on the breadline, one hit single doesn't mean a financial freakout. Our economics correspondent ROY CARR reports. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
I CANNOT THINK of any legal way in which the Baker-Gurvitz Army can be prevented from Becoming Huge, so maybe there's something to Adrian Ben ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
Thats SOUL TRAIN, a TV showcase not only for the cream of US soul acts, but for the stuff-struttingest most fashion conscious kids on the ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
POSTING HER way to a real left-field hit is Gloria Gaynor with 'Never Can Say Goodbye' which sounds like a revived 45 but isn't. ...
Jan & Dean: Jan and Dean: You Don't Come Back from Dead Man's Curve
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
Mick Farren talks to Dean Torrence ...
Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
Question: what well-known biped possesses an upper-register vocalic system, is pleasant to look upon, and is almost universally misunderstood and/or patronised? Answer: any Rock 'n ...
Kiki Dee: I've Got Music in Me
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
THIS ALBUM RIDES out with a crescendo of powerful, robust rock, as the band and Kiki pull out all the stops. The song in question, ...
Mike Oldfield and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Tubular Bells
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
AS IT ALREADY appears that every other person in Great Britain possesses a copy of this much-venerated work, I doubt if it's necessary to explain ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
IT'S JUST ANOTHER of the great Woodstock fallacies. Let's face it, aside from the Who, Havens, and lovable John B. Sebastian it was those nice ...
Ozark Mountain Daredevils: It'll Shine When It Shines
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
THINGS ARE STIRRING in Jefferson City, Missouri. It'll Shine When It Shines is The Ozark Mountain Daredevils' second album and mighty fine it is too. ...
Soul (Style): Baggy Trousers Will Not Be Admitted
Report by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
THE STYLISTIC rivalry between soul fans in the North and South of England has been well publicised. But what magazine odes to regional soul tend ...
Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Art Ensemble of Chicago: Like Hi Man, I's Yo New Neighbour
Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
Yep, it's a tough town and the music fits like a glove. BRIAN CASE meets The Art Ensemble of Chicago on their home patch. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
A CURIOUS ONE indeed is Wally's first album. You know, I listened to it the appropriate five or six times and each play only highlighted ...
Billy Swan: I Can Help (Monument)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
CRUNCH. THAT'S my pick-up going down for the hundredth time on 'Don't Be Cruel', unbelievably placed second track in on side two — a killer ...
Dave Cartwright: And Now, Half An Hour Of Masochism
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
BY THE TIME this article gets into print, Dave Cartwright will have bitten his fingers down to the knuckle or gone prematurely grey. He worries, ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
NOW THE FACTS are these: 7-Tease is a concept album; 7-Tease is a massive made-in-Nashville production; 7-Tease is also The Album Of The Stage Show. ...
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
Which is a slick way of saying The Package Tour She Lives She Breathes She Is Reborn. You remember the Package Tour, eh kids? It ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
THE ONLY THING wrong with Sun Secrets is that Eric Burdon should have made it six years ago. ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Grand Funk - All the Girls in the World Beware
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
...I GOT TAR on my teeth but I don't care/I got dark brown stains in my underwear... ...
Kinky Friedman: Kinky Friedman
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
ONE LEARNS FROM the customary reliable sources-from-which-one-learns things that Kinky Friedman's original ideas for the title of this album included "Come Back Little Kinky" and ...
Lady June: Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
FILE THIS ONE under Everybody Is A Star. ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
HERE'S A NICE fresh pizza, straight from our favourite Italian baking firm, manufactured live and steaming at gigs in Toronto and New York, last August. ...
Peggy Lee: Let's Love (Atlantic)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
"The landing lights of the jetliners flickered in the night sky. The smell of hashish wafted across from the hippy section." ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
HERE'S A NICE fresh pizza, straight from our favourite Italian baking firm, manufactured live and steaming at gigs in Toronto and New York, last August. ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
HMMM...NOT BAD. Quite a jazz lady actually mind you she's got her sights on that kind of bluesy, folksy, nostalgia-filled hinterland that's proved so ...
Queen: Helpful Boy Scout Transforms into Werewolf
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
Well, perhaps that's putting it a little strongly... let's just say he transforms into a demon who pushes old ladies under oil tankers. But WHO ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
ONE DAY WHEN it was raining, I swore a great and terrible oath. ...
Overview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
"Oh yeah, who says?" asks a sceptical ROY CARR who, after swigging hard on the Confederacy's brew of Redneck Rebel Rock, remains stubbornly unintoxicated. ...
Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
Fate on the Skates ...being an exclusive peekaboo into the head of R. ZIMMERMAN via his latest LP of pop songs. Consultant Psychiatrist: NICK KENT ...
Dr. Feelgood: Down By The Jetty (United Artists)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
BOYS, BOYS now what did I tell you about being "too ethnic"? ...
Linda Ronstadt: Heart Like A Wheel (Capitol)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
LINDA RONSTADT is a remarkable Country Rock singer who sells plenty of records, with Capitol reportedly shifting 150,000 copies of this new one in the ...
Profile and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
STUDENTS OF the currently emergent Miami Sound will have noticed the proliferation of album credits, both as writer and musician, for one Willie Hale. ...
Roy Wood, Wizzard: Roy Wood: Yeah Roy, But What Do You Sound Like?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
THERE WAS the time that Roy Wood shoved his jeans in the washing machine and ended up with one very wet, very tattered and very ...
Soft Machine, The Wilde Flowers: Soft Machine, part 1
Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
CLASS OF '61 at the Simon Langton School, Canterbury – an exclusive, private establishment for the sons of local artists and intellectuals. Very free, emphatically ...
Suzi Quatro: For Your Information, She Happens To Be A Lady
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
"ALISTAIR...CAN YOU go through your solo again and count exactly how many bars you need for it?" ...
John Coltrane: The Trane now waiting on p.30...
Retrospective by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
...was no cheap day-excursion, bub. This guy went all the way — heap far out, kemo-sabe. JOHN COLTRANE, him make mighty spirit music. BRIAN CASE, ...
Three Dog Night: Greatest Hits
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975
IT WOULD BE an amusing little taskenheimer indeed for some rock-oriented socio-anthropologist to work out exactly why Three Dog Night were at one time The ...
Bob Pegg: The Strains Of The Life Of A Non-Superstar
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
IN 1972 Bob and Carol Pegg parted company and their band, Mr. Fox, one of the most individual folk-rock outfits, terminated its existence. ...
Bruce Springsteen - The brilliant, the awful and the bumfluff shuffle
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN IS an excellent rhythm guitarist, which just about compensates for the fact that he grows a terrible beard. ...
Doobie Brothers: In Defence Of The Doobie Brothers…
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
IT IS, PRIMARILY, totally incorrect and irrelevant to give the Doobies an out-of-hand dismissal simply because their role as bill-toppers over Little Feat at the ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
IF YOU'RE a pal of Babbling Barry's you gotta have a Theme. Love Unlimited have got one — so has Gene Page — and Jay ...
John Holt: Reggae In The Moonlight
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
ETHNIC REGGAE'S TRADITIONAL image has been of rough raw-edged sounds, but Jamaica has always had just as strong a strain of ultra-smooth ballad-styled sounds. ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: John McLaughlin: Phew! — This is a Jolly Interesting Article!
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
— And BOY! has it got a lot in it! First, there's the full gen on Miles Davis, plus all the top-secret stuff about In ...
Profile by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
"LIFE BEGINS AT forty," they say, so 1975 maybe the year in which Little Milton finally breaks out of the Chitlin circuit – that long ...
The Ohio Players: Ohio Players: Fiery, Freaky and Funky
Profile by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
CURRENTLY THE HOTTEST item on Billboard's album chart is The Ohio Players Fire (Mercury). Phonogram must have burnt their fingers in the rush get it ...
Soft Machine, part 2: The End of an Ear at the Proms
Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
IN LAST week's issue, Part One recounted the history of the Softs from their schooldays to the break-up of the group following the recording of ...
Steeleye Span: Commoner's Crown
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
STEELEYE SPAN ALWAYS deliver on time. Commoner's Crown is the fourth offering from the Mk. III line-up in a little over three years, and they've ...
Thin Lizzy: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975
IT WAS WITH thunderous welcome that the dynamic Thin Lizzy returned to London last Saturday, winning many new fans and "wowing" old ones in a ...
Bo Diddley - Bo's a Lumberjack!
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
THE WHOLE THING about Bo Diddley was that he was by far the weirdest and craziest musician ever to come out of either blues or ...
Chick Corea, Return to Forever: Chick Corea: Playing the Harmonics of a Hotel Ass Cushion
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
...among other harmonics of course. The piano man describes the development of his new outlook to BRIAN CASE ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
THE BIGGEST MISTAKE Don Covay made with this album was in making 'It's Better To Have' track one, side one. ...
Elvis Presley: The Promised Land
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
IT HAS ALWAYS been accepted as an article of faith by ladies and gentlemen in the critical profession that Elvis Presley is not dead. ...
Report by Vernon Gibbs, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
...Look what a hole he's in. From New York VERNON GIBBS reports on the man's present crises, and on funk acts Kool, BT Express, and ...
John Cale: Cale and Eno Horror Story…
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
CO-STARRING ST. PAUL'S SCHOOL CHOIR ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
SO GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION RUNS TO SCHEDULE... ...
Nick Drake: Requiem For A Solitary Man
Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
ON OCTOBER 25th, 1974, at approximately six in the morning Nick Drake, a 26-yearold singer/songwriter, died from an overdose of Typtasol, an antidepressant, in the ...
Mike Heron, Nico: Nico/Mike Heron: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
NICO DOES RATHER have an ability to polarize her audiences, you know. ...
Mike Oldfield: Tom Newman: The Man Who Taped the Tubular Bells
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 8 February 1975
WHEN IT COMES to tape, who better to talk to than the guy who did the 2,000 over-dubs on Tubular Bells, engineer Tom Newman? ...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
WHILE RADIO and club exposure sells a whole lot of records, it's easy to overlook the importance of word-of-mouth recommendation, which is the medium likely ...
Albert King: I Wanna Get Funky
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
I WANNA GET Funky is the best album I've heard all year. ...
Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
The very serious business of trying to be funny: An assessment of ALBERTO Y LOST TRIOS PARANOIAS by MICK FARREN ...
Blue Öyster Cult: That's Right, Another Bunch Of Neo-Fascist Heavies
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
"We're pain, we're steel, we're a plot of knives...we're obsessed with the technology of matter...our symbol is a swastika substitute..." ...
Ducks Deluxe: Man in the Moon, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
THE DUCKS ARE one of the few '70s bands that have the power to redefine rock and make it a vibrant life force once more, ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
AHA! ESSRA Mohawk, formerly plain ol' Sandy Hurvitz. You may remember her as the original Uncle Meat in F. Zappa's late sixties circus until she ...
Gene Vincent: Po' White Punk from the Pool Hall
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
MICK FARREN traces the career of GENE VINCENT, the Rock 'n' Roll star who didn't sell out his audience or his origins. ...
Leiber and Stoller: Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller: By Royal Appointment
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
THE SCENE IS the Dorchester Hotel, one of the last vestiges of Britain's Imperial splendour and we've just been refused admission to the restaurant for ...
Montrose, Rapping with the Ring of Confidence
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
RONNIE MONTROSE hates doing interviews. When I arrive at Warner's hideout I'm apologetically informed that Ronnie is too shattered to talk after driving down from ...
Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneeky Pete Kleinow
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
SNEEKY PETE KLEINOW looks like you'd expect a veteran pedal-steel player to look. Green shirt with an elaborate marijuana-leaf motif emblazoned there-on, neatly pressed, white ...
Syl Johnson: Barbarella's, Birmingham
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
MOST OF the soul artists who do the one-nighter round of the UK and USAF bases have some kind of hit going for them, or ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Grease; Alive Forever! (More Grease)
Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
SOME OF YOU may remember The Flamin' Groovies. ...
Alice Cooper: The Man Who Ate Alice Cooper
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
Yes, once again CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY, Regius Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, Trash Aesthetics, and Hohner Super Vamper, leaps forth with a mouthful of scintillating verbosity ...
Elton John: The Life And Times Of Elton John, part 1
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
Part one: how the sand kicked in his face turned to gold-dust after all ...
Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
ETHYL'S FRIGID AS an eskimo pie, she's cool in bed/she oughta be, 'cuz Ethyl's dead... ...
Bobby Womack: I Can Understand It
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
CALLED IN America Greatest Hits, this album simply illustrates the unsatisfactory position that Bobby Womack finds himself in in England. Hitless. ...
Larry Coryell: Coryell and Spam... (With Not So Much Miles In It)
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
"I'm always secretly happy when somebody comes to me after a concert and says 'I didn't like it because it was too commercial.' It means ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
ONLY ONE OBJECTION to this album, so let's put it right up front. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
UP UNTIL Max Bell gave us his reasoned defence of Kiss a couple of weeks ago, I had assumed they were simply an also ran ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
THE AVERAGE WHITES broke the ice with their second album and Kokomo will be the first of the beneficiaries. ...
Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
IT'S A SOMEWHAT perplexed Chi-Lites who recently embarked on their second and most extensive UK tour of Clubs and Cabaret. ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Today Central Poly – Tomorrow The World?
Report by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
"I'VE ONLY GOT the five shirts, so I just take 'em off and leave them to dry. It's no good washing them too much, they ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries - Starting Over
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
I DON'T KNOW why but it always seems odd when American groups try to sound English, although the reverse is quite acceptable. ...
Tom Rush - Ladies Love Outlaws
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
IN THE PAST Tom Rush has been hailed as a great interpreter, someone who can lift a number by nuance and feeling. His latest album ...
Curtis Mayfield, The Impressions: Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions: Big Sixteen
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, March 1975
IT'S PLEASING to see Anchor pushing out this classic compilation, as it's been unavailable for several years. It was originally issued on the old HMV ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
AIN'T NO GETTING round it: 10cc make brilliant records. ...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
BETTY WRIGHT IS, as they say, a lot more than just a pretty face. She's also got a voice that's stacked with burning southern soul, ...
Claire Hamill: Stage Door Johnnies (Anchor)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
CLAIRE HAMILL'S AGED 24 if you take notice of the inaccurate bumf from Anchor Records, but considerably younger than that – about 20 – if ...
Elton John, part 2: They Laughed When I Stood Up To Play The Piano
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
NME: Earlier, you said that when you first met Taupin his lyrics were somewhat influenced by the Flower Power fad. It was a period when ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
THE NAUGHTIES OF THOSE NAUGHTY RHYTHMS ...
Chuck Berry: Rancid and Smutty (Apologists Only)
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
Chuck Berry: Lewisham Odeon, London ...
The Kids Are Not Necessarily Alright
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
Or how the '70s has seen a limp-wristed sell-out of the ideals of the 60s. MICK FARREN discusses the way the Uncle Toms of Teendom ...
Tim Buckley: Greeetings From L.A.
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
WAY BACK in the dim and distant, old Tim had to sing for his supper, along with the likes of Steve Noonan and Jackson Browne, ...
Tim Buckley: Greetings From LA
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
WAY BACK IN the dim and distant, old Tim had to sing for his supper, along with the likes of Steve Noonan and Jackson Browne, ...
Chuck Berry: Chuck Has Been Leaving The Stage For 20 Years
Report by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
They weren't complaining – they were awestruck ...
Elton John part 3: Maybe It's Because I'm A Socialist…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
TELL US, El, what is Rock all about? Having a bloody good time. When I was a kid and went to see those Larry Parnes-Billy ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
"STEELEYE ARE A jumped-up lot we've had a standing challenge with them for six months now and they've never taken it up." ...
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
THIS WAS THE one that mattered for the Kiki Dee Band, and they made sure it counted. ...
LaBelle: Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir?
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
"THE RE-VO-LU-SHUN...will not be televaaaaaazed," declaims Patti LaBelle, staring into the audience from the stage of the Congressgebouwe in the Hague. ...
Interview by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
"Lou Reed is a completely depraved pervert and pathetic death dwarf — a wasted talent living off the dumbell nihilism of a '70s generation that ...
Milk 'n' Cookies: Mlk'n'Cookies: Sweetness & Light With Milk & Cookies
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
IF I TOLD you that the latest band to ride the grapevine from New York to London, Milk'n'Cookies, are three guys from the affluent suburban ...
Richard and Linda Thompson: Do You Wanna Be A Star?
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
IT WAS ONE of those large Edwardian houses in London's Hampstead, just off the main road. Like most of the others, it had been converted ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975
LOVE THAT title, Hard Core Poetry. Unfortunately the album does not move me as much. ...
10cc: The Punk And I or Two Jews Blues
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
...In which two nice young men of Hebraic extraction (LOL CRÈME and CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY) engage in heated debate about 10 c.c.'s collective attitude. Or ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
WHERE have all poppa's heroes gone? Living in New York, every one. A hard city by reputation, but presumably it has its compensations for someone ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
READING THE CREDITS and titles to Franco Battiato's Clic you'd be forgiven for thinking that here was just the latest example of technoflash absurdia masquerading ...
Genesis: Gabriel's Cosmic Juice
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
"I believe in getting art out of the galleries and onto the streets. Status Quo are so cultural, so Wagner..." ...
Paul Kossoff, John Martyn: John Martyn: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
YES, THAT'S right, "Koss" turned up for the final couple of numbers. ...
LaBelle: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
THE PROVERBIAL BREATH of fresh air. ...
Alice Cooper, Lou Reed: Nick Kent – A Limey in LA #1: Hey Man, You With A Gwoop?
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
Speech impediments are the thing in Los Angeles this year. There are quite a lot of naked men jumping out of bushes – whereas more ...
The Moments, Shirley & Company: Shirley & Company and The Moments: The Carpenters Are My Real Faves
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 March 1975
Al Goodman, A & R man for All Platinum label. So what are you doing on the Soul page with Shirley & Co., Al? ...
Blue Oyster Cult: On Your Feet Or On Your Knees
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
FIRST OF ALL let me tell you about the art work that John Berg has concocted for the Blue Oyster Cult's most extreme venture to ...
God is Alive and Well and Living Off Rock'n'Roll...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
Unfurling his roadmaps for the soul, MICK FARREN, Bachelor of Divinity of this parish, slumps grimly over his flea-ridden Olivetti to bang out the sandwich-luncher's ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
IAN? IAN? ...
Jonathan King: A Rose in a Fisted Glove
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
WHEN JONATHAN KING first manifested his presence upon this already sufficiently troubled planet he was able to masquerade as a genuinely provocative presence, mainly because ...
The Chieftains: How to record 4 albums in 18 years, and still sell out the Albert Hall
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
"HE'S LIKE ONE of the little folk – a lovely, lively leprachaun, with an enormous musical talent and sense of humour to match." ...
King Crimson, Uriah Heep: Uriah Heep: Ex-Crimson Bass Man Seduced
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
JOHN WETTON JOINS HUMBLE WEALTHY HEEP ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 March 1975
PETE SAGE'S FUR-TRIMMED cap and hunched stance give him something of the aura of a demented Moroccan camel trader as he relaxes into the flow ...
Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Improvisations on Life
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 29 March 1975
DOLLAR BRAND don't take music lightly. No sir! So fasten your seat-belts please for a guided tour of Allah, the meaning of life, Africa, the ...
The Mighty Clouds of Joy: Hey You, Get Onto The Mighty Clouds Of Joy…
Comment by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 29 March 1975
...and discover the undiluted gospel fervour and emotional commitment you thought black music had lost. ...
Ronnie Lane: Seedy Lad Discusses Tent Collapse
Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 29 March 1975
SOMEWHERE IN the hinterlands of this once-proud isle, in a medieval pub which has beams wallpapered with matchbooks proclaiming the existence of "Joe's Cafe", Ronnie ...
Gloria Gaynor: I just love your British discos
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
ROGER ST. PIERRE talks to GLORIA GAYNOR, the girl who sums up what the disco boom is all about ...
James Brown: Reality and Breakin' Bread
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
A WORD OF advice. Never attempt to review James Brown product whilst the records are actually playing. It's impossible either to write or type when ...
Johnny Mathis - The Heart of a Woman
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
JOHNNY BRISTOL'S RISING reputation as an ace producer hasn't, as far as I can see, resulted in any really solid product to back up the ...
Lou Reed at the Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
THERE'S AN ILLUMINATED sign outside the Hammersmith Odeon that says: "It's all too much. Lou Reed in Concert." Wry humour or someone taking a subtle ...
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
ALSO INCLUDES: The Dog That Ate The Dog That Ate Los Angeles ...
Rick Wakeman: The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
The Cadbury capers, part 1: the management requests you leave your brain at the door ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
THIS ALBUM worries me. It worries me because so much of the music here is so blatantly lacklustre compared with the exhilaratingly high standards already ...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
"WHERE ELSE BUT in America could a person own a Rolls-Royce, an Eldorado Mark IV, a Mercedes limousine, an estate in Long Island, an apartment ...
Tangerine Dream: Rubycon and Alpha Centauri
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
IF I'VE ASSESSED the vibe correctly, it would seem that the appropriate critical response to Tangerine Dream is to dismiss Edgar Froose, Chris Franke and ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 April 1975
"WHAT DO YOU think of the new album then?" ...
Alphonse Mouzon: Meet the Seaside Landlady's Nightmare
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
Your delicate NME representative cowers under his seat in the hotel lounge while Alphonse Mouzon ('my real name's Manny Finkelbaum') lives up to his heavy rep as ...
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
IN WHICH CHARLIE Rich, understandably exhausted after a twenty year struggle to Make It, manages to record one side of an album and then runs ...
Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson: Hunter Ronson at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
SHUCKS. TO THINK it's well over a year now since I last saw Ian Hunter and the whole Hoople caboodle in this very same theatre ...
Iron Butterfly - Scorching Beauty
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
SEEMS LIKE 1968 all over again, doesn't it? ...
Lee Dorsey, Labelle, Allen Toussaint: Marshall Sehorn: The Night They Drove Lee Dorsey Down...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
MARSHALL SEHORN had to get him out of jail. ROGER ST. PIERRE raps to one of the mainmen of New Orleans soul. ...
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
...in a tune-up room on the last night of the Faces' 1975 LA gigs? Why, the closing aria in D from 'il Cavalleria Rusticana', of ...
Ringo Starr: Everyone One Of Us Has All We Need…
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
SOMETIMES your friendly neighbourhood interviewer is allowed to conduct his interview in a small room with only the interviewee and a tape, recorder for company. ...
Rock and Western Films: My baby useta love western movies...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
OVER CHRISTMAS THE BBC showed The Magnificent Seven – and gave us a very forcible reminder of how great an effect western movies have had ...
Tangerine Dream: 1983 — A Synthesiser I Will Be
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
Do TANGERINE DREAM, wizzkids of organic electronic rock, play their instruments?Or do the instruments play them? ...
The Dictators - The Dictators Go Girl Crazy
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
PSSST. WANNA BUY a dirty record? ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
THE VERY Famous Tony Williams once included on one of his albums a track entitled 'Some Hip Drum Shit'. ...
The Winkies: Winkies - Winkies
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
AND SO, AS if to pinpoint that they'd stuck a ring through the collective nose of every other pub rocker when it came to osmosing ...
The Byrds, David Crosby, Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young: David Crosby
Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 April 1975
IT STARTED with trademark objects, really. When The Byrds got their hit with 'Mr Tambourine Man', Jim McGuinn established himself as the one with those ...
Loudon Wainwright III - Unrequited
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 April 1975
THE WORST THING that ever happened to Loudon Wainwright III was being branded The New Dylan, kiss of death to any self-respecting artist who hopes ...
Phil Manzanera: Head hunting in darkest Acton
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 April 1975
YOU'VE GOT TO be quick to catch a Manzanera. No sooner has it left America than it's off to sunny Hawaii to sojourn, returning home ...
Report and Interview by Bob Fisher, Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 19 April 1975
From the great lost soul label of Atlantic it came, writhing with synchronized funk, its many black heads chanting and wailing. Nothing like it had ...
Steve Harley at the Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 April 1975
INSIDE THE HALL you could tell it would be one of those nights. Row upon row of bowler-hatted disciples clutched onto their Harley scarves in ...
Al Green: Eaten Something Funny Al?
Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
"L.O.V.E. SPELLS LOVE," says Al Green on his current NME chart rider of the same name, while according to Jimmy Witherspoon's current US hit, it's ...
Allen Toussaint: Southern Nights
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
IF ALLEN TOUSSAINT ever wants to make the great album he's obviously capable of, he'd be best advised to first take a year's sabbatical from ...
Anne Murray: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
THE DIFFICULTY OF categorising Anne Murray as a singer is she pop, country, soul or strictly MOR? was probably the main reason for ...
The Edgar Broughton Band, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd: British Psychedelia: More Zits Than Hitz…
Guide by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
It's dream-time in Compilationsville once again, amigos. This week CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY does his worst to induce EMI into issuing Volume Two in his discocartography ...
Carla Bley: Arrangements for the Death Dance
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
The socio-musical thoughts of Carla Bley ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
Mothers albums nestle amongst the legal papers. A stereo system has been set up in front of The judge. The scene is Law Court Seven. ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Grand Funk at Wembley Stadium
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
LORD, LORD, WHY hast thou forsaken me? ...
J. J. Barnes: The Groovesville Masters
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
DESPITE A couple of very successful tours of the Midlands and the North, JJ seems dogged by bad luck. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
AT LAST the 1972 show! ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
JUDY COLLINS HAS recently completed a movie about a female symphony conductor. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
KANSAS ARE THE latest group to hoist the Dixie flag, though thankfully they don't seem anxious to broadcast the fact that "the South is gonna ...
Pete Atkin And Clive James: From Little Atkins Great Oak Trees Grow
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
A fearsome encounter between two of the foremost minds of a Generation...uh...two of the most cerebral Rock Critics afloat...um, two of the most Accomplished Raconteurs...the ...
Syl Johnson: A Whole Lot Of Whiplashes And Scars…
Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
NOT MANY artists hot on the US Soul charts have had the apprenticeship of Syl Johnson. ...
The Pink Fairies: Looking Back
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
A thrilling tale of Ladbroke Grove, loose aggregations, hanging out, and falling about recounted in loving detail by an actual participant in those glorious ...
Sweet: The Sweet: No Longer Unfashionable
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
ROCK SNOBBERY. THAT'S what it is. A prevailing attitude that anything commercially successful in terms of the charts must therefore be top-twenty hype, not suitable ...
Steely Dan: Yes, it's Steely Dan Versus the Fifth Ice Age
Interview by Richard Cromelin, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
A meteorological report from stalagmite-encrusted California, U.S.A. ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey - Thou shalt have no other punk before me…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
AND NOW, ALEX Harvey, your starter for ten. What is rock and roll? ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
LET'S GET ONE thing straight right up front. ...
Bees Make Honey: The Kensington, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
BACK AT THE Kensington, the pub they first opened up to rock music, Bees Make Honey gave a storming set as usual. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
THE GRAPEVINE WHISPERS Billy Joel is going to be a superstar. ...
Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
IT WAS THE Chairmen of the Board's umpteenth tour of the UK, but this time round, the venues were a little classier, with week long ...
Emmylou Harris: Pieces of the Sky
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
THIS IS AN album that has been quite eagerly anticipated, mainly because of the reputation Emmylou Harris built for herself with her participation as co-vocalist ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy Pop: The Mighty Pop vs. the Hand of Blight
Special Feature by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
Never before told! The story of a brilliant monster called IGGY POP, whose life and countless near-demises have provided Rock with one of its most ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Nuthin' Fancy
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
WELL, IT LOOKS as though they're here to stay. ...
Man: Recall the Beginning! A journey from Eden, cert U
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
"Director Andrew Tyler and stars The MAN Band together produce a moving enconium for a dying lifestyle. I wept"William F. Buckley ...
Mickey Jupp: The Lost Legends of Southend Rock
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
Down where the fag-end of London slopes into the sea, there lies the forgotten land of Southend, home of the whelk stall and source of ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
HOW MUCH SUGAR do you take? ...
Steeleye Span at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
THIS WAS STEELEYE'S loudest gig, a fact which may or may not indicate the shape of things to come. ...
The Amboy Dukes - Journeys and Migrations
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
THIS MOST RECENT collection of The American Amboy Dukes, taken from the first three albums, is strictly one for masochistic archivists. Amusement value only. If ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975
If you're a living blues master, are you better off dead? ...
The Beatles: Apple Corps: They didn't have to be so nice... (We would have liked them anyway)
Report by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
Inquest by ROY CARR ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: 'I've been black all the time,' admits controversial star
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
He also admits to a severe case of baldness. Otherwise it's still ARTHUR LEE, back in Britain with a new Love ...
Bachman Turner Overdrive: Bachman-Turner Overdrive - And this isn't all they do
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
"WHEN I'M TRYING to do a solo, I'll try and play what Jeff Beck would play, or I'll try and play what Eric Clapton would ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
'SUPERNATURAL Thing Pt. 1' marks the first occasion on which Ben E. King has hit the American Top twenty since 'Don't Play That Song' in ...
Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth, Wind and Fire: 'Turn on the funk motor'
Profile by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
...ordered Godfather James Brown, and the welter of street-funk bands has been unstoppable. EARTH WIND AND FIRE are this month's chart faves. BOB FISHER examines ...
Special Feature by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
Hey, punk! — Didja know that... ...
Geno Washington: Ram Jam Thankyou Ma'am
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
In other words GENO WASHINGTON is back. And proud. And Bald. ROGER ST. PIERRE talks to the veteran soulster on his return from the Amazon ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
THE FIRST TRACK on John Cale's Slow Dazzle is so excellent that I played it eight times before I could bring myself to continue. ...
Ronnie Scott: The East End whizz kid who copped the bop
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
FEATURING THE RONNIE SCOTT STORY, IN GLORIOUS BRIANCASERAMA ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 May 1975
Slicker and rougher ...
Barry White: Villa Park, Birmingham
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975
THERE'S BEEN some controversy about the prices on Barry White's English gigs £5 was the top price at Birmingham. ...
Bill Monroe: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975
BILL MONROE IS the main-man of bluegrass music, a veteran innovator whose recording career spans 40 years. ...
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975
WHY SHOULD DON McLean have chosen to open his Albert Hall-concert – and with it his first British tour for eighteen months – with his ...
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975
COVENT GARDEN HAD its second major rock venue re-opened last Thursday for a series of regular concerts by bands not big enough to warrant an ...
Cecil Taylor: Ladies and gentlemen, please adjust your re-entry goggles
Profile and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
...CECIL TAYLOR has left the Stanford-Binet scale and is still climbing fast. The treble clusters are zipping into the stratosphere. The memory banks have blown. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
I'M HUNTING THROUGH the cartridges in the glove compartment of Chris Squire's '63 Rolls Royce as we head out of Liverpool towards the M62 and ...
Patti Smith, Television: Down In The Scuzz With The Heavy Cult Figures
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
C.B.G.B. is a toilet. An impossibly scuzzy little club buried somewhere in the sections of the Village that the cab-drivers don't like to drive through. ...
Frank Sinatra: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
Forever doobeedoobee beedoobeedoo ...
Henry Cow: In Praise of Learning
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
IT HAS been said that rock has lost its vision. It has also been suggested that the current drought of spectacular things to behold in ...
John Cipollina, Man, Quicksilver Messenger Service: John Cipollina
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
JOHN CIPOLLINA, he's the real thing. Smallish, wiry, hair tied back, nicotine stains up to his elbow and the confident loquaciousness of a man who ...
Sailor - No sex please we're Russo-Nordic
Profile by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
TWO HAIRDRESSERS, a parachutist and a tortured poet; a band called Sailor, dressed in nautical gear, including a Ruskie prince and a member of the ...
The Beach Boys: Wild Honey and Friends
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
IN THE GRAND old tradition of milking every last drop from The Beach Boys' catalogue comes this double coupling of the '67-'68 albums Wild Honey ...
The Exciters - Dark Clouds Over the Black Country
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
INTERNAL DISSENSION IS the bane of any cult, and though the Northern Sounds soul movement might seem healthy from the outside, in reality it's torn ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 June 1975
There is no mention of brown rice on this page. Persian rugs and health food in general? Well, OK...yeah, but not in any harmful quantity. ...
Candi Staton, Bettye Swann: Candi Staton and Bettye Swann: Broken Hearts, Do Right Women
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
EVERY TIME I hear Bettye Swann's pained 'Don't You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me' I'm so moved I want to go and punch that ...
Curtis Mayfield: America Today
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
THREE YEARS AGO, Curtis Mayfield was one of the golden boys of New Wave soul, having broken with marketing formats (The Impressions) and joined the ...
Eddie Cochran: The Very Best of Eddie Cochran (15th Anniversary Album)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
I SUPPOSE WITH Showaddywaddy up in the singles chart with 'Three Steps to Heaven', and the 17-year-old version of 'C'mon Everybody' once again bubbling under ...
Billy Swan, Eddy Mitchell, The Jordanaires: Eddy Mitchell/Billy Swan/The Jordanaires: Olympia, Paris
Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
Vegas on 8 cheeseburgers a day...or a bitch-in with Nashville's men of steel in Gay Paree. Which would you prefer? ...
Brian Eno, Robert Fripp: Fripp & Eno: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
"IT'S NOT just an ordinary loop system. In fact, it's very complex. I invented it. Why don't you come and see me tomorrow and I'll ...
Georgie Fame: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
WHILE APPRECIATING THAT what George Fame and his occasional Blue Flames are delivering is white rhythm'n'blues and not soul, it's perhaps unfortunate that he chose ...
Loudon Wainwright III - at Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
YOU MIGHT HAVE noticed that Loudon Wainwright III has been in Great Britain recently, completing the second lap of his tour; you might have noticed ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975
UNLESS PAVLOV'S DOG prove to be a figment of Sandy Pearlman's crazed imagination, then their debut album must make them great white hopes for the ...
Smokey Robinson: Smokey's Backatcha
Profile and Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 15 June 1975
MOTOWN announced the retirement of William "Smokey" Robinson in January 1972. ...
Al Kooper - Al's Big Deal and Unclaimed Freight: An Al Kooper Anthology
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
AL KOOPER IS good at lots of things. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Last Beach Movie part 1
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
THE INCIDENT MUST HAVE occured a little over a year ago. Paul McCartney, complete with the inevitable Linda, had just flown into Los Angeles – ...
Cher, Tammy Wynette: Cher: Stars/Cher's Greatest Hits; Tammy Wynette: The Best Of Tammy Wynette
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
IN MANY WAYS Cher and Tammy Wynette make up the two facets of the Cosmopolitan philosophy, that candy coated version of feminism that seems to ...
John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Sonny Rollins: Elvin Jones: This Is The Surgeon Who Pared The Flab
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
His name? ELVIN JONES — the man who dissected drum technique, put it together with new muscles, and has been demonstrating the product at Ronnie ...
Gay and Terry Woods: Backwoods
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
AFTER BEING INITIATORS in the early development of English folk/rock a period which culminated in their helping to form the Steeleye Span's first cup-winning ...
Jackie Wilson said... 'Reet Petite'. And the mothers of Harlem said 'No'
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
BOB FISHER traces the sometimes controversial career of 'Mr. Excitement,' currently stomping his way across Britain. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
IN WHICH JOHNNY Cash meets up, quite casual-like, with the '70s and discovers that even though they don't really have a whole lot in common, ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975
"I WAS BORN to fly higher, born to stand where I'm standing now/Basking in the light of the neon fire/As it burns my useless body ...
Neil Young: Tonight's the Night: Play It Loud and Stay in the Other Room!
Interview by Bud Scoppa, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
NEIL YOUNG isn't out to win any popularity contest. Just as he reached the top of the heap three years ago with the huge-selling Harvest, ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Last Beach Movie part 2
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
PET SOUNDS was about to be released when Derek Taylor was taken on The Beach Boys' pay-roll. 750 dollars for dealing with the group's publicity. ...
Hamilton Bohannon: The Great Disco Mystery
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
H. BOHANNON DISCOVERS WHERE IT'S AT ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
THIS ALBUM REPRESENTS Joan Baez's volte-face; after the years of diatribe and tireless dissemination of political views by every available channel, her records included, she's ...
Pete Seeger: Together In Concert
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
PETE SEEGER HAS just about every credential it's possible for a folk singer to have without actually being dead. ...
Stax - The Stax Story - Volumes I & II
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
SINCE THE 32 tracks collected here were cut after the 1968 Stax/Atlantic split it would be unwise to take the over-all title of this two-record ...
The Beach Boys, The Eagles: The Beach Boys and The Eagles at Wembley Stadium
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
"HI, WE'RE THE Eagles from Los Angeles." Well that was a fact as predictable as the set those five gentleman dished up, a kind of ...
The Rolling Stones - Made in the Shade and Metamorphosis
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
ECONOMICS: When a famous big-time rock and roll band reaches that particular special point in its year when it's time to pack the clean socks ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: In and Out of The Box
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
INTROSPECTION. THAT'S WHY your face is on the floor and you're listening... doo dee dum doo. The French are good at it. French rock crowds ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, July 1975
ELVIN BISHOP'S place in the scheme of post-Beatles US Rock has been pretty much undervalued over the years. This is probably owing to his uncanny ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan & The Band: The Basement Tapes (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975
A drunkard's dream (Nos. 13 & 35) EIGHT years after they were first recorded with The Band in Woodstock, Bob Dylan's "lost" basement tapes have finally ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Last Beach Movie part 3
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975
EARLY MARCH 1975: The clapper-board reads "The Last Beach Movie The Brian Wilson Story" Take 96, and our camera zooms in on the exterior ...
Larry Coryell: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975
YOU COULD tell it was Jazz night at Dingwalls. ...
Little Richard: Lewisham Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975
THE DEBUT DATE of Little Richard's UK tour at the half empty Lewisham Odeon was little short of a disaster. Possibly the person least to ...
Dionne Warwick: Worries of the Warwick sisters
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 July 1975
WE'RE A LONG way on from 1964 and 'Walk On By' but, despite the profusion of instantly forgetable records Dionne Warwick has turned out since ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART (AKA Don Van Vliet) moves in sufficiently mysterious ways for me to believe that Zoot Horn Rollo (aka Bill Harkleroad) may just possibly ...
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
THE FIRST WORD of this review is "deteriorate." It means to Lose Your Magic. ...
10cc, Man, Steeleye Span: Man, Steeleye Span and 10cc at Cardiff Castle
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
DEKE LEONARD IS getting incoherent. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
MENTION THE name Keith West to anyone and odds on they'll say "Teenage Opera" and not much else. ...
Gong, Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt: Robert Wyatt and Henry Cow, Gong: Piazza Farnese, Rome
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
The Roman Spring Of Mr. Wyatt Thrill to the chariot racing. Dice with death in the streets of the Italian capital. Listen to the music. Special ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
MY H.A.L. PRINT-OUT on Ron Wood sez that his guitar-playing veers from the sublime to the ridiculous (i.e., his playing on Rod Stewart's solo albums ...
Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan: Skunk Hunting In W1
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
THERE'S A delicately detailed brass rubbing of Burlington House above the bed-head in room 420 at the Inn On The Park. Some rock musicians would've ...
The Righteous Brothers - Sons of Mrs. Righteous
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
IT REALLY DOES seem that the greater part of the Righteous Brothers was their uncle Phil Spector. ...
Todd Rundgren: Man, Myth Or Rabbit?
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 July 1975
THE BOY FROM Upper Darby is pressed into the corner of a Blake's Hotel settee. He looks so much like a very glum rabbit that ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
TOYS IN THE Attic, is Aerosmith's third record. No one here knows that much about Aerosmith, except that they're a straight-ahead Eastern seaboard band with ...
Billy Cobham: When This Man Plays Drums, He Thinks Of A Box Trying To Roll
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
BRIAN CASE interviews BILLY COBHAM, the Buddy Rich of the seventies. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
"HEY, MON... WHAT are all these whites doin' here? They not here last time the Wailers play..." ...
Bobby Womack - I Don't Know What The World Is Coming To
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
FROM 1964, FOLLOWING the death of his mentor Sam Cooke, to 1969, when he finally began to record under his own name, Bobby Womack was ...
Decameron: On The Eve Of A New Album
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
DECAMERON lyricist and front-man Dave Bell is articulate but quietly spoken. ...
John Lennon's battle with the US Immigration Department
Report by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
JOHN LENNON, IN his battle of wits with the US Immigration Department, is looking less like the stoical pre-doomed crazy of old, and more like ...
Lenny Bruce: The Law, Language And Lenny Bruce (Phil Spector International)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
ABOUT EIGHTEEN MONTHS or so before Lenny Bruce died, he formed a loosely defined business relationship and a close friendship with Phil Sector. On the ...
Wings: Paul McCartney: …No Not Really In A Way Actually As It Happens…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
VENUS AND MARS ARE LATE. The sandwiches don't care, though. Even though they're the same day's vintage fresh, soft white bread-triangles housing excerpts from ...
Overview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
NME raises its bleary-eyed head to peer at the wacky world of Press receptions. Or how to get some not-so-cheap publicity. ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Tour Of The Americas 1975
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
The Usherettes at the Los Angeles Forum all wear short Roman tunics, and calf-length, white mid-sixties style boots. The outfit gives them the looks of ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
NAT HENTOFF really should know better. Having, in the past, written liner-notes for the very best (Davis, Trane) he now finds himself eulogising the "scope ...
Wilson Pickett: Join Me and Let's Be Free
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 26 July 1975
FIRST OF ALL you have to picture the scene. There he stands, up to his elbows in stagnant water, a faraway look in his eyes, ...
David Bowie: Watch Out Mate! Hitler’s On His Way Back
Interview by Anthony O'Grady, New Musical Express, August 1975
"WE THINK WE'VE got an audience," says the spokesperson in the Bowie suite. "We're pretty sure the operator will be listening in." ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
THE NAME GIVES it away, really. ...
David Bowie: Did We Use Him? Did We Abuse Him?
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
Well, he's acting like we did, so maybe there's something in it. Two recent and much-maligned Bowie albums are herein re-evaluated for your reading pleasure... ...
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
THERE'S NOTHING NEW about black anger. It's run through the whole of black music from the blues onwards, finding perhaps its most forthright expression (in ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
"WHITE ROCK", OBSERVED CSM last week in his Wailers review, "lays its beat on you; the Wailers' music allows you to find your own rhythm ...
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
"Marty Wilde was managed by Larry Parnes 'They don't call me Parnes, shillings and pence for nothing' who entered rock as Tommy Steele's ...
Maria Muldaur: The Effect Is Underwhelming
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
Maria Muldaur: Ronnie Scott's, London ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
"BASICALLY, YOU'RE TALKING about a lorry driver who was thrust into it because he had a number one for seven weeks." ...
Steve Hillage: On The Banks Of A Fish Dinner
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
"The fish really get off on it man...it's their whole trip"... New angle on Gong's STEVE HILLAGE the world's leading exponent of Fish Rock. ...
The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, The Supremes, Junior Walker & the All Stars: Tamla albums round-up
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS. The Supremes' new LP is a winner. ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Acid Hurt My Brain
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
WHEN, TOWARDS the tail-end of 1969, the Flamin' Groovies' first Epic single 'Rockin' Pneumonia' crashed the American Hot 100 at No. 27 (with a bullet), ...
The Kursaal Flyers - Chocs Away
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 August 1975
THE KURSAAL FLYERS' entry into the Wonderful World Of Wax is neat, tidy, restrained, unobtrusive, and extremely well-behaved, more like a third album than a ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 August 1975
THE FIRST THING that hits you when you see Be-Bop Deluxe in their current incarnation (or, for that matter, listen to said incarnation's Futurama album ...
Camel, Michael Chapman: Fairfield Hall, Croydon
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 9 August 1975
KUH-RAAAACKKK!!!! ...
The Heavy Metal Kids: 'I Useta Strong It…'
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 9 August 1975
'But we're much tighter now.' ...
Ben E. King: The Ben E. King Story
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
ATLANTIC, YOU'RE NOT fooling anyone. ...
Bob Dylan: The Basement Tapes (CBS)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
Leonardo's sketch-book? Something eventually got delivered. ...
James Brown: Live at the Apollo Vol.1
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
EVERY SO OFTEN an album comes along that is more than just another good, bad, or indifferent release from the artist concerned. ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
CONSIDERING THAT THEY'D only checked in at 4 a.m. that morning – that they hadn't been notified of our appointment for an interview – and ...
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
YOU KNOW when you're frantically searching for a specific waveband on a cheap pocket transistor radio, and no matter how hard you try to tune ...
Procol Harum: The London Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
One senses that Gary Brooker could well fancy his chances with Joan Bakewell. ...
The 101'ers: Hope & Anchor, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
THE CELLAR OF Islington's Hope and Anchor is hardly the place to keep cool, calm and collected on one of the hottest nights of the ...
The Kinks: The Kinks Live at Kelvin Hall
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 August 1975
IT'S AMAZING. BY now, Pye must've incorporated virtually every track The Kinks ever cut into one or other of their multifarious compilation albums, and in ...
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
WHERE THE HELL is Lou Reed?Good question, if a trifle academic, but eminently suited for whiling away times in the coach by discussing. ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
WANDERING HOMEWARD WITH this album tucked under my arm I was unexpectedly accosted by three ripe young ladies who seemed to want to get to ...
Max Merritt: It's Almost Like Art…
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
IT'S GOOD to be sitting in a pub courtyard with the pleasingly craggy Max Merritt. ...
Stevie Wonder - Blind, Gifted and Loaded
Report by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
THERE HAS BEEN an official silence about Stevie Wonder's plans since he publicly announced in March last year that he was to retire in 1976 ...
The Brecker Brothers: Everythin's All White
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975
...
Andy Pratt: Nobody Knows My Name
Profile by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
HAVE your albums been deleted? Do they even refuse to take them at second-hand shops? Are you even now living off the dole, wondering where ...
Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins: Johnny Cash: Riding the Rails and Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
OKAY, SO HERE are two special double album packages from CBS that feature two of the world's greatest exponents of country and western melodrama. ...
Report and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
LEO KOTTKE'S come a long way from St. Louis now he's got more stories to tell than British Rail has stale rolls... ...
Roger McGuinn - Roger McGuinn and Band
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
IT'S BEEN A fair old while since anyone pointed the finger at Roger McGuinn and accused him of pumping out high energy rock and roll. ...
Roger McGuinn: Urban Spaceman Metamorphoses Into Plumber
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
ROGER McGUINNS return to the Los Angeles Troubadour could be described as something of a minor triumph. With Steve Love, Richard Bowden, Greg Attaway and ...
The Isley Brothers: Churnin' of Fraternal Funk
Retrospective by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
From mock gospel to hypnotic energy, via an engagement with Jimi Hendrix and a 16-year track record that few groups can emulate; CLIFF WHITE charts ...
The Selling Of Reading Festival
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
THE SUN was westering in a haze of towering cumulus, fire-orange against midnight black, filling the still air with speckled light, as we came over ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
MICK FARREN visits the Notting Hill Carnival ...
Windsor/Watchfield Festival: The Smallest Story Ever Told
Report by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
Meanwhile...out west on Windsor's High Chaparral, a wandering hippie couple in search of the Ultimate Alternative Festival are waylaid by a pack of journalists hungering ...
Duane Eddy: Bailey's, Leicester
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, September 1975
YET ANOTHER rock 'n' roll legend is stalking the stages of the club circuit and on July 14 he trod the stage of Bailey's, Leicester. ...
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, September 1975
"MY NAME is Yum Yum, Gimme some!" ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
AS SUNDAYS GO, this promised a real party. Wake up for Charlie Gillett's Honky Tonk on BBC Radio London and then down to the Roundhouse ...
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run (CBS Import)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
Roy Orbison makes big comeback ...
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
DAEVID ALLEN GOT out of it this year. Out of the VAT-race, to be more precise and let's keep the double-entendres under control, eh? ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
LEAPING ONTO THE dance floor of American's all-pervasive disco, Simon recovered from a slump in popularity by intoning "Get down, get down" about fifty-nine times ...
Kraftwerk: The Final Solution To The Music Problem?
Interview by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
In the beginning there was feedback: the machines speaking on their own, answering their supposed masters with shrieks of misalliance. In the music of KRAFTWERK we ...
The Chi-Lites, The Moments: The Chi-Lites: Half a Love and The Moments: Sharp
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
IF IT WERE ONLY for All Platinum's second certifiable classic – The Moments' 'Dolly My Love' – this group's new album would need to be ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
"DENNIS BROWN," announces Trojan manager Webster Shrowder From the sleeve of the man's album, "is one of my favourite artists, who I put in the ...
Wigwam: In Finland They Get Drunk
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 September 1975
When the sun won't set and you can't get to sleep, what do you do?In Norway they play the violin.In Sweden they kill themselves. ...
Buddy Holly: The Rocker Next Door with the Mail-Order Axe
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
IN A frame of reference where you might think of Elvis Presley as an idol and Little Richard as a hero, Buddy Holly has to ...
Dave Mason and Streetwalkers at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
SOME NEED WIRES and some need strings, but Dave Mason don't use none of those things. Instead he hitched himself onto the back of his ...
Frank Sinatra: The Reprise Years
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
YEARS IS JUST one enormous sampler really – a fifty-track, four album, boxed set containing cuts from nearly every album Sinatra's made for Reprise since ...
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
WHY IS it that audiences will dance all night to records, but stand round and drum their fingers to the real thing even when it ...
Howard Werth And The Moonbeams: King Brilliant
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
AUDIENCE WERE ALWAYS a band which threatened massive stardom. That they never made the final breakthrough wasn't for want of trying. They made four excellent ...
Jive Bombers: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
THERE'S ALWAYS A good time to be had at the 100 Club. ...
Johnny Nash: Tears On My Pillow
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
ANYONE WHO CAN cheerfully sing "be careful how you hold her, please don't even scold her, she's my cream puff" either deserves a hefty kick ...
Natalie Cole: Meet Nat Queen Cole
Profile by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
WITH 1975 almost certain to establish itself as a most uneventful year for soul, it's refreshing to come across a 45 by a newish singer ...
Orchestral Soul: So When Was the Last Time You Saw a Black Cello Player?
Overview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
SOUL: the emotional part of man's nature, or the seat of the feelings or sentiments.SOULFUL: of, or expressive of, deep feeling or emotion. ...
Earth, Wind & Fire, Santana: Santana, Earth Wind and Fire: Hippodrome, Birmingham
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
Lift-off on schedule for Santana tour ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
Marley No Woman No Cry No Opposition Mon ...
Supercharge: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
SUPERCHARGE CERTAINLY HAVE something to celebrate. They've just signed a five year record contract, and are probably hoping to be very rich one of these ...
The Chi-Lites at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
AFTER AN HOUR or so of the kind of entertainment that tempts freeloading reviewers to demand their non-existent money back, any halfway-decent act is a ...
The Supremes at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 13 September 1975
NEXT TIME YOU have the opportunity, check out Motown's Anthology of Diana Ross and the Supremes' Greatest Hits. Unless you're an avid fan whose every ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey: Delivered From The Jaws Of Death
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
...We proudly present the intrepid ALEX HARVEY, fresh from being restrained from swimming in the shark tank and currently engaged in entertaining the young people ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
THE LATEST IN a long line of good albums from the largely ignored Bob Seger sees him returning to Muscle Shoals, scene of the Back ...
Budgie, Hobo: County Rock, Northampton
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
NORTHAMPTON DOESN'T exactly welcome poster prolificacy. Here and there you might spot one that extols the virtues of the latest production at the Rep, but ...
Santana: Carlos Santana: I Can Almost Materialize... If I Think Real Hard…
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
...be still for I bring peace, love, and a new Santana line-up. ...
Disco-Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes, Susan Cadogan: Leicester
Live Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
APART FROM the flash of inspiration provided by the Birmingham band Muscles, the evening ranked as one of the most musically boring I have ever ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Earth, Wind, Fire, Dry Ice and Conviction
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
MAURICE WHITE, of the above qualifications, talks to CLIFF WHITE (no relation) about the New Thing in soul music. ...
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
On the fifth anniversary of his death (Sept. 18, 1970) a personal view of the Titan Axeman ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
FOR ALL PRACTICAL purposes, Phoenix is Labelle's third album. Forget anything prior to Pressure Cookin': those albums were by some other people and are of ...
Max Merritt And The Meteors: White Hart, Willesden
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
A FEW YEARS ago, when I was employed in a South London certain department store, I worked with a couple of globetrotting New Zealanders who ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
"ANYONE WHO KNOWS my work" said Bob Calvert earnestly, "would realise that however bad they might think it is, it's all intentional." ...
The Rolling Stones: Robert Greenfield: A Journey through America with the Rolling Stones
Book Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
I FEAR THIS book may be the one that could finally O.D. the reader on rock writing, particularly that flat, conscientious, detailed, post-Truman Capote style ...
Earth Wind and Fire, Santana: Santana and Earth Wind and Fire at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
ONE OF THE ironic features of Columbia's prestigious double billing, Earth Wind And Fire/Santana is that in America right now the kudos for star spot ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 September 1975
EARLIER THIS YEAR Ralph 'Pee Wee' Middlebrook, trumpeter with The Players, admitted in an interview "now we've made it after all that scuffling I suppose ...
B.T. Express: Non-Stop (EMI International)
Review by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
SIX MONTHS ago, with an album called Do It — Till You're Satisfied, The B.T. Express produced the major work to emerge from the ongoing ...
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
"THE THING ABOUT concept albums is that they're never done successfully except mine of course," So speaks modest avant garde composer David Bedford, Virgin luminary ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
BACK IN 1965 there was this group called the Young Rascals who, along with Vanilla Fudge and the Lovin' Spoonful, formed the big "New York ...
Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac (Reprise)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
Have the Mac lost the knack of attack? ...
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
ONSTAGE ARE FUNGUS, five beards in search, of folk-rock fame... and they're singing in Dutch. ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
The Great 8-Furlong Three-Year-Old Handicap: Giant a cert at Newmarket ...
George Jones, Wanda Jackson: George Jones and Wanda Jackson at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
THE FOYER OF the Hammersmith Odeon was like Middle America gone London town, except the folks were mostly British and there wasn't a stetson to ...
Grateful Dead - Blues for Allah
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
DEPENDING ON WHERE you part your hair, the Grateful Dead are either the finest rock'n'roll band in the world bar none... or else they are ...
Howard Werth And The Moonbeams: Howard Werth
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
"SEE, THE 'THE' is actually a joke, an abbreviation of the first word. It's not really 'King Brilliant' it's '...King Brilliant' that we ever got ...
John Cipollina, Man: Man and John Cipollina: Maximum Darkness
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
WHEN JOHN Cipollina's visit to England was announced earlier this year I made a conscious effort not to check him out. ...
Starry-Eyed and Laughing - Thought Talk
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
WHILE AMERICAN COUNTRY Rock bands seem to spring up from everywhere, there has yet to be one from these shores who really convince. ...
The Doors (part 1): The Hunting of the Lizard King
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
Visionary? Poet? Revolutionary? Or was he simply a narcissist with a drink problem? Either way he created a considerable legend. In the first of a ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT Sean Tyla, late of Ducks Deluxe, is one of the finest and most distinctive rhythm players in town. ...
Shirley Goodman, Sylvia Robinson: All Platinum Records: My Wife, The President…
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
IT'S NICE AND cool and dark in the back room of the bar, and you can sit in your booth and nurse a beer and ...
Johnny Cash: The Gospel According to J.C.
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
IF I'D never heard of Johnny Cash and someone came up and described him to me, I can't think of any other entertainer, short of ...
Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
INSTANT OPINION: BLOOD On The Tracks apart, Still Crazy is the best album you're likely to hear all year. ...
Steeleye Span: All Around My Hat (Chrysalis)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
Now Steeleye got a brand new bag ...
The Doors (part 2): Incident in Miami
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
...and JIM MORRISON'S FINAL DECAY. Fame may have made him crazier but the money hardly affected him all it meant was he could buy ...
The Doors Consumers' Guide, Part 1
Discography by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
"There are things that are known and things that are unknown; in between are the doors." ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Kingston Polytechnic, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
THIS WEEK THE Kursaal Flyers waved a fond farewell to the London pubs with two rip-roaring nights at the Newlands in Peckham, and now the ...
The Who: The Who By Numbers (Polydor)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
Once upon a time Pete Townshend was young and full of hope. That was then. ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975
VICTOR JARA sang songs for the people of Chile. In 1973, in the Santiago boxing stadium, a soldier cut off Jara's fingers before six thousand ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
REMEMBER WHEN YOU were young, listening to Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes by torchlight? ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
I THINK IT was Lester Bangs who put forward the proposition that people who went to Black Sabbath concerts derived their pleasure from ingesting massive ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Sprucing Of The Springbean
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: Man, Myth or Monster? CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY reports from Houston, Texas ...
Esther Phillips: Laissez-Faire in Bouffant Hair
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
ESTHER PHILLIPS doesn't get too knocked out when she scores with a hit single. ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
OKAY, SO YOU'VE heard it all before: ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
BUDDY HOLLY SO overshadowed The Crickets that one tends to forget that they went on to produce some very creditable work on their own after ...
The Doors Consumers' Guide, Part 2
Guide by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
"This is the strangest life I've ever known" ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1975
Up T’NORTH, they don’t like London journalists snooping about. Still, this was a special occasion at the shrine of the " Northern Soul Scene". ...
Bert Jansch: 'Bert Jansch? Not Still Going, Is He?'
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 October 1975
Certainly he is, still alive and well and producing records; rumours of his retirement have been exaggerated. ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 18 October 1975
THE SLEEVE of this album, unhelpfully enough, doesn't give the history of these tracks, which are taken from the 500 plus hours of 16-track tape ...
Baker-Gurvitz Army: Watford Town Hall, Watford
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
THE HONEYMOON MAY have ended for the Baker-Gurvitz Army at the end of their first British tour in the early Spring. ...
Betty Davis: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
WITH THE Viking Warrior Case fresh in every mind, punters packed Ronnie's for the Betty Davis exposure. A threat to the moral health of the ...
Blue Oyster Cult, Motorhead: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
Heavy metal fatigue ...
Elton John: Rock Of The Westies
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
FACT: ELTON JOHN is one of the nicest people ever to touch ground while walking. ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: I See The Bloodbath That Was Hamburg
Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
When a band start slashing each other's wrists before gigs you know they're confident. TONY STEWART applies the tourniquet to LYNYRD SKYNYRD on the eve ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
IT BEGINS LATE, of course. ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
During this week and next week London's Second Pub-Rock Festival is being held at the Hope And Anchor, Upper Street, N.1. CHAS DE WHALLEY examines ...
Dr. Feelgood: The Slaughterhouse 4: Dr Feelgood and Mr Freud (Cert X)
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 October 1975
MICK FARREN in the Abattoir with The Greatest Local Band In The World ...
Ginger Baker: “People Thought We Were Only Good For One Album. But We Made Another. So There”
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
Yes, success is getting a little nearer ever year for the BAKER GURVITZ ARMY! Report by CHRIS SALEWIZ ...
Al Jarreau: We Got By (Reprise)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
HERE WE have a black singer/songwriter who's into heavy introspective lyrics which he puts across in a distinctly original manner. We'll get to his singing ...
Brewer and Shipley: Welcome to Riddle Bridge
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
MIKE BREWER AND Tom Shipley are just plain lads at heart, from Oklahoma and Ohio. ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
THIS ONE'LL SORT out the liggers. ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
SO WHAT ABOUT The Snow Goose at the Royal Albert Hall, then? ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: CSNY: Graham Nash & David Crosby
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
Its hard to pin down the seventies. We're already half-way through and still theres no significant characteristic about which well be able to reminisce in ...
Freddie King: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
A NIGHT TO remember. "It's Blues time, ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome Freddie King." ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Ike and Tina Turner: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
WELL, TO BE quite frank I thought they were fairly dreadful. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
SHAVED FISH is all of John Lennon's post-Beatle singles scooped up and dumped onto one album, spiced up with a few relevant album tracks and ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 November 1975
CLIVE DAVIS COULD sell Chesty Morgan a subscription to Mark Eden. Consider previous adventures of his with Copperhead and the Rowan Brothers, two acts who ...
Art Blakey: "All This Rock Noise. It's Gotta Go. It's Not True."
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
Sez who? Sez ART BLAKEY. Art's got an opinion on most subjects. So d'you wanna hear a discourse on world problems? Drummers who use huge ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
THIS IS IT funk y'allThis is it right hereThis is it do ya hear me girlsAnd well they can't do it forya no nastier than ...
Cliff Richard: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
A GIANT TUPPERWARE party. ...
Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart: Bongo Fury
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
THE STORY SO far. ...
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
"BEAT ON the brat, beat on the brat, beat on the brat with a baseball bat..." ...
Ozark Mountain Daredevils: The Car Over The Lake Album
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
FOR A BUNCH of guys who are supposed to be averse to leaving their country ranch in Missouri for the hustle of the cities, the ...
The Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, The Searchers: The Sound Of '64
Retrospective by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 8 November 1975
WHEN 'GLAD All Over', the third single by The Dave Clark Five, hit number one in Britain in January of 1964 it offered the media ...
Bob Dylan: Plymouth Memorial Hall, Mass. USA
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
BOB DYLAN'S ROLLING Thunder Revue hit the Plymouth Memorial Hall at 8.20 p.m. on Tuesday November 4.That's Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA, by the way, and it ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN says he just writes down his impressions of stuff whereas here in Hollywood, Calif., there are people in from New York who believe ...
Dr. Feelgood: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
DEFINITELY a weird one. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
THERE WAS a time, I guess it must have been a couple of years ago now, when the J. Geils band were being hailed as ...
Jimi Hendrix: Midnight Lightning and For Real
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
AND THE GHOST walks once more. ...
John Cale: Paradiso, Amsterdam
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
EUROPE'S MOST DECADENT capital: inflatable paramours dangling like trussed chickens in the windows of the sex shops, hookers in their shop windows, the smack centre ...
Report by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
IT'S SATURDAY night, a good ten minutes after closing time. Down at the Hope and Anchor in Islington landlord Fred Granger is going quietly berserk, ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
FRESHERS' WEEK IS a great time to visit Dublin's Trinity College. ...
Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Syd Barrett: Is It Possible, Too, That Syd Has Risen From The Grave?
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
THOUGH IT'S been something like a year and a half since yours truly and the NME brought you all the harrowing "Saga of Syd" (ne Roger Keith Barrett) ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolled Gold
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
DECCA RECORDS, even though their past form on the subject of Rolling Stones albums is not immaculate, have now produced what is undoubtedly the definitive ...
Captain Beefheart: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
DON'T BELIEVE WHAT your mother tells you kids, there really is a Legion of Super Heroes. ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
ONE THING about Doris, she can't be confused with any of the other soul girls around at the moment. ...
Emmylou Harris: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
THE OTHER ROLLING thunder revue stole into town last week. ...
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
TEN YEARS AGO Britain was set to become the R&B capital of the world. Between 1962 and '67 we were visited by so many legendary ...
Gong: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
THE HALL was packed. It was the kind of audience that likes to jostle like mad for the first half of the set, blast a ...
Héctor Lavoe Orchestra: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
And you thought Latin music meant Edmundo Ros... ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
FIRST ALBUMS THIS good are pretty damn few and far between. ...
Queen: A Night At The Opera (EMI)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
Studio shares rocket as Queen connect ...
Rory Gallagher: Against The Grain
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
DO YOU realise that Against The Grain is Rory Gallagher's seventh album since he split Taste? ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
WHEN SASSAFRAS FIND the right single, they are going to be huge. ...
Supertramp: Crisis? What Crisis? (A&M)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
SUPERTRAMP AREN'T the type of recording band who demand immediate attention; they're very much an acquired taste. ...
Interview by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975
In 1975 the economy ground to a halt, the potato crop failed and suicides were more in vogue then ever before. The Faces aren't feeling ...
Dr. John: Cut Me While I'm Hot and Hollywood Be Thy Name
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
"DOCTOR JOHN THE Night Tripper, he's the King of New Orrlins". ...
Frank Sinatra: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
ENFORCED AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION – that's what this "black tie" demand on the ticket is. Imagine reading "gauche gaucho" on Roxy tickets or "sequined jockstrap" on ...
Johnny Cash: Look At Them Beans
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
I FEAR JOHNNY Cash has turned his back on progress once again. ...
KC & The Sunshine Band: Los Angeles
Live Review by Todd Everett, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
K.C. AND THE Sunshine Band, operating out of the T.K. Records complex in Hialeah, Florida, are at once one of the oddest and most commercial ...
Nosmo King: Northern White Soul: Nosmo King
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
A TALK WITH Steve King... er no... Nosmo Jameson... er... oh, Nosmo King, that's it. A talk with Nosmo King.* ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
There is no truth in the rumour...that there is any truth in the rumour. So, alright you guys, what's to look so glum about? ...
Supertramp: Winter Gardens, Bournemouth
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
Are you ready for the breathtaking visual dynamism of Supertramp? ...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
YOU WON'T GET all sweaty or break a leg while listening to Tangerine Dream, but you will not be unmoved. You see, they haf vays ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
IT'S COMFORTING TO have a few acts that you can rely on to keep supplying the goods, and The Temps certainly do deliver. ...
Tom Waits: Not So Much a Poet, More a Purveyor of Improvisational Travelogue
Profile and Interview by Todd Everett, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975
Could TOM WAITS really be The Next Big Thing? TODD EVERETT, in Los Angeles, finds out. ...
Back Street Crawler: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
SOME UGLY MOMENTS here. ...
Elvis Presley: Pictures Of Elvis
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
THERE CAN BE little doubt that the Elvis Presley Sun collection was a compilation of some of his finest work. ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
IF EVERYONE HAD a pair of disco turntables as well as a telly, this record might sell a million. ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
ONCE UPON a time in the early '60s when everybody suddenly started getting paranoid about advertising men, and half the people you met were convinced ...
Queen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
MAYBE QUEEN'S act is just the dry-ice run for America. ...
The Band: Northern Lights — Southern Cross
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
I'M UP AGAINST a deadline on this one, having to hurry – which is bad enough without having to respond fairly to a group operating ...
The Pretty Things: Greatest Hits 1964-1967
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
FOR A SHORT time, around the London clubs and art school dances, back in 1964, it seemed as though the Pretty Things might just unseat ...
The Staple Singers: Let's Do It Again
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
IF MAYFIELD'S lyrics are anything to go by, this film must be whole lots of scenes of funky loving in which they do it again ...
Yvonne Fair: Ths Story of Y: Yvonne Fair
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
That's "Y" for "Yvonne." YVONNE FAIR that is, Soul Veterenne and Dominatrix. Cringin' CLIFF WHITE listens to some old sounds, discovers a new kick and ...
Weather Report: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 6 December 1975
TO MYSTERIOSO OR not to mysterioso – that was the question facing Weather Report last Thursday at nine p.m. ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
JIGS AND reels and the Albion Country Band at the LSE? What??? Danny Cohn-Bendit, I feel for you, man. ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
HERE COMES ONE of the strongest reggae albums of this year, lately available only on import in specialist shops and now rushed out in Britain ...
Climax Blues Band: Stamp Album
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
I'M SICK AND tired of bloody good bands. ...
Neil Young: Sooner or Later it All Gets Real...
Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
The greening of the lean American: NICK KENT attempts a critical reappraisal of the work of NEIL YOUNG ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
WANT TO HEAR a shaggy dog story? O.K. Once upon a time there was a completely unknown band who were so exciting that ABC Records ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
WHAT A LETDOWN. ...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
Here's WAYNE SHORTER taking care of business. TCB. And what business — taking in the days with Maynard, the Messengers, and Miles right through to today's WEATHER ...
Roogalator: A More Satisfying Musical Climax With... ROOGALATOR
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
NICK KENT feels the hot breath of London's hottest new band brush his ear, and appraises the fine and diverse arts of Roogalation. ...
Cat Stevens: Bingley Hall, Stafford
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
THE HEROIC singer-songwriter begins solo: a white-shirted, dark-trousered speck of religious experience at the end of the cattle barn. The Laura Ashley winsome-ness of 'Moon ...
Chris Farlowe: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
HE'S REALLY ONLY back on the road to squeeze every last drop of success from his reactivated hit 'Out Of Time'. That's what you're expecting ...
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
LAST TIME PAUL Simon toured in Summer '73, he used a South American group, Urubamba, and an American gospel quartet, the Jessy Dixon Singers (Jessy ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
OVER ONE HUNDRED Santana fans coughed up the full twenty pounds for this triple live album when it first appeared on import. ...
Steeleye Span: Making Sense Of Original Sin...
Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975
IN BRITAIN we voted to stay in. In Eire and Denmark they voted to go in. In Norway the public answered the call to European ...
Bob Dylan: DYLAN does his first radio interview in eight years, and still manages to say nothing
Report by Miles, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
THE NEWS OF A RADIO interview with Bob Dylan, who rarely does such, caused Dylanologists, fans and degenerates to take up their trannies recently to ...
Profile by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
THERE WAS A time when the Dutch folk scene just mirror-imaged that of Britain. For every traddie rendering 'Lord Randall' or 'Twa Corbies' at Loughborough ...
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes: Harold Melvin: Wake Up Everybody
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
WHEN IS A group not a group? ...
James Brown: Everybody's Doin' The Hustle/Dead On The Double Bump (U.K. Polydor)/Hot (U.S. Polydor)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
J.B. reforms the Famous Flames, says hello to '57 ...
Kilburn & The High Roads: Hope & Anchor, Islington, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
AMONG CERTAIN CIRCLES, Ian Dury has gained a reputation as one of rock'n'roll's losers. ...
Linda Lewis: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
IT WAS A cold foggy night and there was a brass monkey sheltering in my hallway as I went in search of a Hansom to ...
Overview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
We kid you not.What else happened?Remarkably little actually. ...
Mr. Big: Mr Big: A Yob In A Support Band Is Something To Be
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
BIRMINGHAM – DICKEN IS your archetypal hardcase punk. Shortish. Face slightly disrupted from the original mould. Oxford accent. ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: The Faces Dossier: An Everday Saga Of Mick&Rod&Keef&Ron&Mac
Report by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975
MARCH, 1973. ...
Emmylou Harris: Emmylou's Four Star Hotel
Review by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, January 1976
THE ELITE HOTEL is a swell place. It's best to travel there by car on a hot, sunny day with the windows rolled down, a ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
EXPERIMENTAL AND AVANT-GARDE music, by its very nature, exists mainly in the fringe area of private pressings, such as the Musica or George Avakian productions ...
Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa: Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart: BLLLAAAaaaaahhhhh
Memoir by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
Actually, it didn't work. However, something that did work was the re-uniting of THE CAPTAIN and FRANK ZAPPA a few months ago for a tour ...
Bob Dylan, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bruce Springsteen: Is Rock 'N' Roll Ready For 1976?
Comment by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
What has all this to do with all this? Does anyone care? MICK FARREN'S IS THE VOICE FROM THE GALLERY ...
Ringo Starr: Blast From Your Past
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
THE REASONS WHY Ringo has chosen this moment to release a Greatest Hits album are perhaps two-fold: ...
The Rumour: Rumour: Newlands Tavern, Peckham
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
ARE THE Rumour really Pub-Rock's first Supergroup? Some people would tell you so, and they would have their reasons. ...
The Strawbs: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
AFTER AN ABSURDLY dramatic entry, this much loved male sextet took their places with a white suited Dave Cousins in the limelight. ...
Van Dyke Parks: Clang Of The Yankee Reaper
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976
VAN DYKE PARKS is one of those people who are usually regarded as either genius or idiot. ...
Cat Stevens: A Cat Stevens Spiritual Tours Vacation
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976
RONALD BIGGS, the last of the Great Train Robbers still not in captivity, was finally run to ground by the Daily Express in a Rio ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976
THE RECORD came into the office round about lunchtime. At approximately three forty-five, I went into the review room, turned on the stereo and put ...
David Bowie: Station To Station
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976
"A sixty thousand word novel is one image corrected fifty-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine times" Samuel R. Delaney ...
James Brown, Silver Convention: Disco: "Who's that on the jukebox?" "Who cares?"
Overview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976
ROGER ST. PIERRE considers what the disco boom has done for soul, and reviews forthcoming action on the soul scene. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976
POOR OLD TODD'S taken a lot of stick of late, not least in this paper, for adhering to his mystical mind games in the face ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
IT'S ALL A far cry from Alfred Jarry. ...
Keith Moon, The Who: Keith Moon: The Chancellor and the Drummer Boy
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
Is KEITH MOON The Biggest Loony in the World? Or is DENIS HEALEY Even Dafter? ROY CARR tells the heart-tugging tale of The Chancellor and ...
Queen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
IT'S DIFFICULT, YOU know, keeping up with all the fickle shifts in credibility and acceptability. ...
Ronnie Lane: Can Rock Survive The Holocaust?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
RONNIE LANE'S up in town today. Been up from the farm in Monmouthshire for about a week now. ...
The Kinks: Schoolboys In Disgrace
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
I LIKE THE KINKS a lot, but have to say that this album is a pretty uninspired collection of product. ...
Howlin' Wolf: ...Howlin’ for The Wolf
Obituary by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
"I was just a country boy, glad to get some sounds on wax" ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
SINCE HE split with The Animals and the Rock 'n' Roll mainstream to home in on the craftsmanship of Randy Newman, Price's career has seen ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
In which BOBBY BARE, country singer of the '60's re-emerges with a bunch of Shel Silverstein songs and a socialism as potent as Keir Hardie's; ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe McDonald: Paradise With An Ocean View
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
Gimme a W, gimme an H, gimme an A, gimme an L... ...
Decameron: Greenwich Borough Hall, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
THE GREENWICH BOROUGH Hall is on Peyton Place, and inside Decameron, have a problem. ...
Ace, Graham Parker: Graham Parker: Southampton University, Southamption
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
YOU CAN PICTURE the scene – it's the same one that goes down on the first night of every major college tour; equipment trouble, late ...
Ian A. Anderson: The Curse of the Lone Grinner
Profile and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
IF YOU bought a copy of a 1969 Island sampler called You Can All Join In, you'll probably remember the cover shot, which depicted most ...
Interview by Lenny Kaye, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
HIS HAIR IS short, coloured black and closely cropped, though not unnaturally so. He wears a red T-shirt and his body, which has fluctuated from ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
ARGUABLY, THERE IS no more exciting rock artist to listen to than one whose time has come; one whose art (not to mention attitude, appearance, ...
Elvis Presley: Okay, Kids... Which Twin is the Real Elvis?
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
"I'm gonna go infiltrate the International ELVIS PRESLEY Fan Club Convention", said MICK FARREN. ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Brunel University, London
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976
THE ONLY REASON I KNOW for the Kursaal Flyers not to be as popular as sliced bread is that their first album was so badly ...
Kraftwerk: Exceller-8, Radio-Activity
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 31 January 1976
EXCELLER 8 IS a 'best of album taken from the three Vertigo albums that Kraftwerk have released in this country and it's a good selection ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 31 January 1976
Too many holiday brochures getting you down – let some real sun into your home... ...
Ron Geesin: Cockpit Theatre, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 31 January 1976
DRESSED IN RED shorts and jersey with white sneakers, Ron Geesin looks like a combination of Elton John and Alexander Solzhenitsyn but has the crazed ...
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 31 January 1976
A TERRIBLE HANGOVER and a record comes under the front door. I pluck up the courage to put it on (the cover has such loud ...
Sweet: The Sweet: Top of the Pops
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 31 January 1976
OH, YOU know, it gets so very confusing. What with the fickleness of all these rock writers and the constant need to come across with ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Arty Smarty Or Just The Guitar Hero Next Door?
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
THE SAME sign as Hendrix: Sagittarius. Into Hank Marvin, Duane Eddy, Wes Montgomery, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and BB King. And Jimi Hendrix. ...
Boxer: College Of Food Technology, Weybridge
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
BOXER'S WARM-up gig, one of a few, prior to their major tour which starts shortly…and the hall was about a third of the size which ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
I DON'T UNDERSTAND it. Carole has gone back to recording demo discs again. ...
Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
Commander Cody: Good timin' in the Ozone zone ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Earth Wind & Fire: Gratitude
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
PROOF AT LAST that EWF deserve all the acclaim that's been heaped on them in the last couple of years. ...
Henry Cow: London School of Economics, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
SOMEHOW HENRY Cow all seem slightly amused to be on stage. This is one of the many communications going on between them, but mostly they ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
LAST AUTUMN, IN a move that marked a complete departure from previous practice, Joan Baez went out on the road in the States with a ...
Junior Byles: From the Dread Depths of Despair
Report by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
JUNIOR BYLES emerged as the supreme talent of the year, if not of the decade. His moving 'Bur O Boy' was without peer. ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Kursaal Flyers: Surely This Band Is Too Young To Die?
Profile and Interview by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
PAUL SHUTTLEWORTH'S Secret Ambition is to become a member of Equity, the Actors' Union. "Trouble is though," he told me, "You can't just pay your ...
10cc: The 10cc Fine Art Collection
Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
In which the Fab Four pick their Fabbest Fourteen to illustrate the ascent of sweetness, light, and the Technological Aesthetic to the neanderthal world of ...
The Blackbyrds: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976
BETCHA DIDN'T know there's such a thing as Black-byrdomania. Neither did I until this concert, when a quietly slumbering stalls suddenly became a heaving sea ...
Gladys Knight: The Best Of…, A Little Knight Music, Gladys Knight And The Pips
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
DON'T BE MISLED – The Best Of... actually refers to the best of Gladys and the 'Pips' Buddah output, but such is the strength of ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
IN 1970 Julie Driscoll married Keith Tippett, the modern composer, and entered the mysterious other world of contemporary music. ...
Quicksilver Messenger Service: Solid Silver
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
YOU MAY REMEMBER Quicksilver Messenger Service as one of the most enigmatic West Coast bands from the acid-soaked sixties, and not just because they never ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
RONEE BLAKLEY was the star of Robert Altman's Nashville, if you remember, the film that was universally condemned by the inhabitants of Music City U.S.A. ...
Overview by Miles, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
With a rose clenched between his teeth, the man they call EL MILES infiltrates the heady, exotic world of the Strand Lyceum, where trousers are ...
The Isley Brothers: Twist And Shout, Super Hits
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
SOME RECORDINGS CRY out to be reissued. In fact they never should have been deleted in the first place. Others should never even have been ...
The Salsoul Orchestra: The Salsoul Orchestra (Epic)
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976
I ASKED Paul Atkinson, who decides these things at CBS, why he was releasing this album here. ...
Clancy: Kingston Polytechnic, London
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
FOR A BAND which has been going for something like two-and-a-half years, which has survived the pub circuit and come out the other side, and ...
Gong, Steve Hillage: Gong: Demise Of Teapot Heralds New Obscure Era
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
We proudly present GONG Now, in which assorted Gauls and other Foreigners explain (sort of) certain radical changes and new concepts which may extend the ...
James Last: Last of the MORicans
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
Forget that Kaspar Hauser. JAMES LAST – or "Hansi" if you prefer – is the real Enigma of modern Germany. TONY STEWART investigates. ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
WE ALL KNOW about Lynyrd Skynyrd. As barroom brawlers go, they don't come quite as gross as these six Southern redneck bruisers wired on Coors, ...
Speedy Keen: Y'Know Wot I Mean?
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
ONE IF THE many things of which any court of law would instantaneously acquit Speedy Keen (along with singing in a thunderous bass voice and ...
Toots & The Maytals: Toots Hibbert: The Man Who Would Be God
Profile and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 21 February 1976
Rasta revelations courtesy of FREDERICK "TOOTS" HIBBERT of Toots and The Maytals, who'd rather incarnate here and now than talk about old times with PENNY ...
10cc: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
THE MUSIC IS exactly as you'd expect it really. More or less. ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
IN 1968 IN Memphis, Tennessee, Willie Mitchell succeeded to the board of an ailing record company called Hi. ...
Johnny Clarke: Where are the songs of Spring?
Profile by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
Ay, where are they? PENNY REEL looks at the erratic career of JOHNNY CLARKE, the star should have been. ...
Kokomo, The Kursaal Flyers: Kokomo/Kursaal Flyers: Guildford
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
A VERY strange billing, Kokomo as support to the Kursaal Flyers. Now that seems to say something about relative popularity and the length of time ...
Maria Muldaur: Sweet Harmony (Warner Brothers)
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
"BECAUSE OF the eclectic nature of her thing Maria goes through a lot of different styles – that's her thing, that's what she does, that's ...
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
I LIKE GOING to concerts at L.S.E. because the audiences there are such fanatics. Such was the case with National Health, the audience being exceedingly ...
Sex, Drugs And Violence In Rock: The Sexual Language Of Rock Part 1
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
"Eddie please write me one line,Tell me your love is only mine,Please Eddie, don't make me wait so long,You left me last September,To return to ...
David Bowie: Spiders from Mars
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
"We've still got the Bowie costumes. We can wear those.""Yeah, Dave was really into duffle coats for a hour and a half in them days." ...
T. Rex: Lyceum Ballroom, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 28 February 1976
BORN TO BOOGIE, or born to Waltz? The story of an ageing teendream with the cheek to book himself into London's Lyceum Ballroom, without a ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
Big in the States. Still trying to breakthrough on the home turf. CHRIS SALEWICZ chews on a 'cheese and tomato' ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie And The Hot Rods: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
FIRST DUKE DUKE and the Dukes, now Eddie and the Hot Rods – Kursaal Flyers' manager Paul Conroy knows how to pick support bands. ...
Gil Scott-Heron: And now, for a fascinating and demanding dialogue...
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
Learn more about yourself and about the problem facing our society today in this week's... GIL SCOTT-HERON LECTURE ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
THE LINEUP CHANGES have been so substantial and the musical direction has altered so drastically since their last album (You), that Gong might have changed ...
Julie Tippetts, Isaac Guillory: Kings College, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
"I'M NERVOUS." ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle (Warner Brothers)
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
"THERES A song of Kate McGarrigles, which Maria Muldaur sang on her first LP, called Work Song, which is about all the old songs that ...
Phil Spector: Upstairs, downstairs and in my mixing chamber
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
DATELINE: MARCH 31, 1974. ...
Sex, Drugs And Violence In Rock: The Sexual Language Of Rock Part 2
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
"I'm gonna pick you up nowAnd carry you away,So you'd better pack up now, baby,Packin' up today,Here I come, just a big bad man,When I ...
The Everly Brothers: Songs Our Daddy Taught Us
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 March 1976
IN A QUIET sort of way, 1975 saw an Everly Brothers revival of sorts. Warner Brothers released their magnificent Walk Right Back With The Everlys, ...
King Crimson: A Small Mobile Intelligent Independent Double Album???
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
King Crimson: A Young Person's Guide To King Crimson (Island) ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
WELL, HERE HE comes again. Bill Wyman, on face value the least likely Stone to strike out on his own account and yet, apparently, the ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
POLE-AXED BY SKIN-CRAWLING hot and cold flushes, with a head full of demented panel-beaters, the last thing I wanted to do was travel 50 miles ...
Deep Purple: Empire Pool, Wembley
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
AT THE Empire Pool, Deep Purple rule. The roaring audience of ten thousand or so press their hands to their heads as their ears get ...
Jess Roden: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
DRESSED IN the remains of a particularly dapper three-piece suit and with straight hair stretching to his collar and no further, British country-soulster Jess Roden ...
Paul Butterfield, KGB: KGB: KGB (MCA): Paul Butterfield: Put It In Your Ear (Bearsville)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
"I saw young Vanderbilt playing down at the tennis club and he doesn't hit the ball any better than a fellow without money " — ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
LAURA NYRO: fringed red velvet shawl over a lamp, candlelight, one line of cocaine on a mirror, a half-empty glass of red wine on the ...
The Beatles, Dion, George Harrison, John Lennon, Darlene Love, Phil Spector: Phil Spector Again
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
Flourishing a revolver our weird hero enters his dark, refrigerated room to recount strange tales the likes of which may never before have been heard ...
Steve Gibbons Band, The Who: Who, Gibbons Face the Hog Butcher Vibe
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 March 1976
The Who/Steve Gibbons Band: Pavillion de Paris ...
Bobby Womack: BLAM! Bobby Womack Calls The Shots
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
CLIFF WHITE hits the floor and runs the tape as the soul veteran pulls the trigger. ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
IF YOU WANT to do Bobby Womack a favour, you'll ignore this album. ...
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
HORSLIPS ARE CURRENTLY between record companies, apparently by their own choice, but unlike thespians, who rest, the group are doing a series of gigs in ...
Kevin Coyne: Coyne, The Unfrozen Currency
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
KEVIN COYNE kicks and stamps his feet outside the Atlantic Hotel in Aarhus, Western Denmark, as we waits for a taxi to take us to ...
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
In downtown Manhattan the rock 'n' roll war rages on as potential crown princes of Punkdom battle for recognition.. NICK KENT interprets the action ...
The Twinkle Brothers: Rasta Pon Top
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
EVER SINCE ITALIAN propagandists began spreading false rumours concerning the demise of the Emperor, Negus Ras Tafari, Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Conquering Lion ...
The Yardbirds: The Yardbirds Featuring Eric Clapton, The Yardbirds Featuring Jeff Beck
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 March 1976
STRANGELY ENOUGH, the thing that hits you first about these albums is not so much the excellence of the two gentlemen named in the titles ...
Phil Ochs: Philip D. Ochs and the Hollywood Sign
Obituary by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, April 1976
PHIL OCHS is dead. He hung himself on April 8th at the home of his sister, Sunny, in Far Rockaway, New York City. ...
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 April 1976
AT FIRST SIGHT, Bonnie Raitt isn't the world's most startling human being. In fact, she seems pretty damn ordinary. Quiet; medium height; plain; unkempt red ...
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Sweet America
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 April 1976
IT TOOK ME a while to figure out where Buffy Sainte-Marie was at with Soldier Blue. ...
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 3 April 1976
IT'S MY IMPRESSION that Camel are becoming a band to reckon with. ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Tasty, Urban Tension Classics…
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 April 1976
MAX BELL says, "Kids, you gonna drive me to drinkin'. If you can't get next to HOT ROD thinkin'" ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 April 1976
THE KID was good. I have to hand it to him: he was good. ...
Al Jarreau: Jarreau Gig At La Coupole Goes Molto Bene
Report and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
"THERE'S NO reason for my deserving this interview any more than the man out there pouring drinks, except that I try to say something through ...
Boxer: The Nude, The Boxing Glove And The Wooden Box
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
...a slightly misleading headline heralding an informative article on BOXER which does in fact refer to nudes, boxing gloves and wooden boxes. ...
Fats Domino: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
WHAT CAN I do? What can I say? How exactly can I prostrate myself? I guess there's no excuse for a rock critic who goes ...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
Headline contributed by the Mediterranean boatman lui-meme. Actually he was born in 1944. Fascinating, isnt it? ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
M'lawds, ladies 'n' gennelmen, presenting the new album by... ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
IRRATIONAL SCHMIR-RATIONAL; it still don't seem right to see a Man album without a United Artists logo on the label. ...
Mike Dorane: The Lone Arranger
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
"Say, stranger...who's that masked man who just wrote those songs, played all the instruments, sang all the harmonies, mixed the tracks in his home studio ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
"WHEN YOU'RE NUMBER two, you try harder." ...
The Bothy Band: Guinness Brigade in Nescafé experiment
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 10 April 1976
FOR SOME considerable time now, a new "underground" music situation has been developing. Not one concerned with any aspect of rock, but rather one that's ...
Global Village Trucking Company: Global Village Trucking Company (Caroline)
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
THIS IS not so much an album, more an epitaph; the GVTC disbanded during last summer, largely due, I suspect, to the fact that they ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Her Man, His Woman
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
RECORDED AND FIRST released as the Get It, Get It L.P. on the L.A. Cenco label circa 1965, this album was snapped up by Capitol ...
John Denver: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
WILL JOHN SWOOP down to the stage on the back of a pantomime Golden Eagle? Will his teeth be clean in time for the new ...
Pavlov's Dog: At The Sound Of The Bell
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
Condition your reflexes the Pavlov way! ...
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
IT ALL SEEMED as though it should have had some connection with what I was there for. ...
Third World: Third World (Island import)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 April 1976
THIRD WORLD were the support act at Bob Marley and The Wailers' Lyceum concerts last summer, where they provided the kind of pleasant surprise that's ...
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
Whats squeaky-clean, exquisitely produced, Scandinavian and goes OOMPAH? The answer to the riddle is ABBA ...and heres MICK FARREN to ask it. ...
Tammy Wynette: Boots, Brandy, Boots, Bouffants + Buffy
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
THERE WERE more Stetson hats than you could shake a stick at in Wembley last weekend. ...
Brook Benton: This Is Brook Benton
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
THIS MONTH'S MIND-BLOWER: The Benton basement tapes surface after 18 years in the can and turn out to be a bag of fun for all ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
THAT THIS ALBUM has already been such an overwhelming success in America must surely be due to US Columbia's marketing techniques rather than the music, ...
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
THIS IS KEVIN COYNE'S seventh album in as many years, and I find it the most satisfying record he's made since the second (and final) ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
IF EVER A GROUP have made it huge in America by carefully manipulated saturation in terms of records, concerts and promotion then Kiss are that ...
Magna Carta: Funky Folk Deliver Body Blow To Public Transport
Profile and Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
IT WAS late, pretty late. And it was in an era where public transport seems loathe to operate when darkness falls. ...
Osibisa: Fairfield Hall, Croydon
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
ONLY CRITICAL SNOBBERY could deny Osibisa the distinction of having played one of the finest sets I have seen this side of Christmas. On this ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Black And Blue
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
"THE ROLLING STONES are a really good band, but, like, I consider them like a boys' band because they don't play mens music. They don't ...
Dr. Alimantado: The Curious Case of Dr. Alimantado
Profile by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
"Ere Jah Man!""Ites!""Whadda word Babylon mean, dread?" ...
The Kursaal Flyers: The Great Artiste
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
I'VE BEEN PLAYING this album to the exclusion of all else over the last couple of weeks: it comes as something of a shock to ...
Brook Benton, The Stylistics, The Three Degrees: The Stylistics: 'Chitlins In A Basket' Special
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976
Stylistics/Brook Benton/Three Degrees: The Palladium, London ...
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
A MEANINGFUL title. Three years ago, the duo of Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman made a very good album for Elektra, which received critical acclaim ...
Bill Bruford, Genesis: Bill Bruford
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
ARE YOU quite sure that you're definitely not joining Genesis full-time? ...
Willie Nelson, Billy Swan: Billy Swan, Willie Nelson: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
The majesty of Nelson's column ...
Bootsy Collins, Swamp Dogg, Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Bootsy's Rubber Band a snappy little number
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
KEEP YOUR ears pimmed back for Bootsy's Rubber Band, a nifty little album soon to be released by WEA. ...
Horace Silver: Phil T. McNasty, Hippy Dippy outa Detroit, and other characters
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
HORACE LOOKED like a greyhound in a basket. Knees pulled up to his chin, high shoulders canted up under the lobes of his ears, hands ...
Kevin Coyne: New Theatre, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
WITHOUT DOUBT ONE of the most powerful presentations I've ever attended. When it was over Kevin was drained, his band was drained, the audience was ...
Louis Jordan: The Best Of Louis Jordan/Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
SUFFERING FROM HEAVY metal fatigue? Bunions on your disco feet? Are you too pooped to pop, too puked with punk rock, rasta'd rigid by reggae ...
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Never Argue With A Pregnant Indian: Buffy Sainte-Marie
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
CARL PERKINS looks glazed. Teeth, eyes, toupee, rhinestoned double-knit denim-look casuals: all veneered with the same hospital-tile finish as the off-white Tele-caster that Perkins is ...
Premiata Forneria Marconi: PFM: Civic Hall, Guildford
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
PFM fan injures hand in blaze ...
Rick Wakeman: Art with a Capital F***
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976
RICK WAKEMAN on the aesthetic of bodily functions, as applied to rock concerts. "We'll have none of that thank you, we're English." ...
David Bowie: Heil and Farewell
Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
THE PERSON now arriving on Platform 8 is David Bowie. ...
Gladys Knight & the Pips: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
HORACE SILVER to Brain Case, NME, May 1st 1976. "I'd prefer just reports on concerts rather than a critique." Quite right too, Horace. O.K. then. ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight: Things happen when you're a disciple of Buddah...
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
... but it helps if you're GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS. Here's how things are going, as told to CLIFF WHITE. ...
Johnny Walker: The Rock Assassination Takes Place On Tuesday Between 11 .30 And Four
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
JOHNNY WALKER has seen a lot of bloodshed, and a poor disc jockey can only take so much... To cut a long story out, he's ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
A COUPLE of weeks ago our very own Mr. Murray suffered a bitter anti-climax after waiting nigh on two years to hear the latest ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
DEFINITION: SCAM – THE scenario for a confidence trick. The lowdown on same. The stage preparatory to the heist or sting. ...
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
JIMMY BUFFETT and Steve Goodman seem to have a lot more in common than the fact that their names have the same number of letters. ...
Sex Pistols: Terrorise Your Fans The Pistol Way
Readers' Letters by Neil Tennant, uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
GOSH, BLIMEY, what's going on ere? Relax, it's just a friendly Friday night down at the local — the Nashville, Kensington to be precise — ...
The Rolling Stones: Too Rolled To Stone
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 May 1976
THE NICE THING about the law of gravity is that it applies to everybody. ...
David Bowie: The Man Who Fell Into Sinatra's Suit
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
IT'S HALF PAST five on Sunday afternoon and I still don't know how to start this thing. Only David Bowie could return like the Prodigal, ...
Ian Hunter: An American Alien Boy
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
THERE EXISTS A subtle difference between a tax exile and an expatriate. ...
Jesse Winchester: Learn To Love It
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
THIS IS BOTH Jesse Winchester's third album and his third good album. ...
Nils Lofgren: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
I SAW LOFGREN'S gig at the same theatre at the end of last year. It was duff. His band didn't gell and the sound was ...
Retrospective by Miles, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
TEN YEARS AGO THE PINK FLOYD were a semi formed idea in the mind of one SYD BARRETT. Nine years ago they were the darlings ...
Shirley Bassey: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
SLIDE UNDER the floating haze of perfume, cigar and flower fumes. Duck from the champagne bottle corks bulleting through the air, and join me in ...
The Ramones: Ramones (Sire — Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 May 1976
A WEEK back, if you'd asked me nicely, I'd have dogmatically opined that Ramones – SASD 7520 – was absolutely the most grievous hot rock ...
Caravan: Blind Dog at St. Dunstan’s (BTM/Arista)
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
WHEN THE members of Caravan pulled down their trousers, bent over, and revealed the name of their last album spelt out on their white English ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis: Well, Bless-uh Muh Soul, What's-uh Wrong With Me?
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
WHEN AN artist hasn't produced anything of note for something like 14 years, the world begins to judge him on just about anything but his ...
Kiss: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
THE LADY on the door was most persuasive. "Would you take a Kiss mask? Please...go on have a couple, we're trying to get rid of ...
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
Meet the man who put dues-paying into the big league: LEE GARRETT. Born blind into a poor family and a drifter by his teens, Garrett ...
Patti Smith: At Last, The Lower Manhattan Show
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
Patti Smith at the Roundhouse, facing fans, friends, fungoids and straightforward weirdos – Britain's first live chance of checking out the 'legend'. MILES went as ...
Profile and Interview by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 22 May 1976
"I WASN'T disturbed by having a hit I was exhausted! Before The Joker became successful we'd done 220 concerts in the previous year. Then ...
Chuck Berry, 49, Denies Knowledge of the Previous 48
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
Chuck (Crazy Legs) Berry, top ten contender for the title "King of rock and roll", has been referred to as the greatest black folk poet ...
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS emerged in the wake of the resurgence of interest in Burning Spear – "I and I, son of the Most High – ...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
SONNY ROLLINS. Mister Big. BRIAN CASE'S main man on a bad line. Case fumbles the introductory bouquet... emerges with a satisfied smile. ...
The Bellamy Brothers: Let Your Love Flow
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
YOU MUST have heard the single which gives this its title, and there's little doubt that the Bellamy Brothers are a distinctly classy addition to ...
Joe Higgs: The Fastest Left Hook in Rock Steady...
Profile by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
...was not JOE HIGGS. He was the one on the receiving end of Coxsone Dodd's mighty fist. But then that's all in a day's work ...
The Rolling Stones: The Rock 'N' Roll Circus Hits Town
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
THE ROLLING STONES first night at Earl's Court, back in the ol' U.K. NICK KENT was there. Need we say more? ...
Todd Rundgren: Faithful (Bearsville)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976
I NEVER REALLY gave up hope on Todd Rundgren. Even when the maestro was seemingly irreconcilably immersed in expounding his slant on poe-faced spiritualist dogma, ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 June 1976
I GUESS that one of the main functions of any greatest hits album is to explain to anyone who isn't a hard core fan exactly ...
Profile and Interview by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 5 June 1976
CERTAIN QUALITIES seem to be needed for a musician to become a hero to the man in the street who buys a lot of records ...
The Meters: The Battle of New Orleans Re-visited...
Retrospective and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 5 June 1976
It's a battle ART NEVILLE of THE METERS is still fighting. He's happy about being on the Stones tour but angry at never having ...
Tom Waits: Would you say this man was attempting to convey an impression of sordid Bohemianism?
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 June 1976
I CAME IN on the southbound flyer, then hoofed it halfway across town to see Tom. From a nearby window drifted the sound of Billie ...
Millie Jackson: Free And In Love
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 June 1976
OOWEE, LORD HAVE mercy. This girl just turns me to jelly every time she opens her mouth. ...
Steve Goodman: Words We Can Dance To
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 12 June 1976
AFTER A three year gap since his two Buddah albums, this is Steve Goodman's second LP in less than a year, which presumably means that ...
Tom Waits: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 June 1976
HE TAKES the stage with what he describes as his don't care-a-shit shuffle. Very apt ...
Steve Winwood, Stomu Yamashta: Winwood & Yamashta: GO GO GO
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 12 June 1976
MILES, our resident Grand Master of cosmic funk, unscrews the inscrutable and accompanies STEVIE WINWOOD and STOMU YAMASHTA into the infinite as they discuss, rehearse ...
Bonnie Raitt: Bonnie Raitt; Give it up; Takin' My Time (Warner Bros.)
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
IT'S ALL very well Warner Bros. making magnanimous noises about re-releasing these albums, Bonnie's first three. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
THIS BOY certainly eats up producers. ...
Genesis: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
IF YOU take the trouble to embroider "Genesis" in fancy letters on the back of your pressed denim jacket, or if you are prepared to ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
ABOUT EIGHT OR nine months ago I was preposterously drunk in the Bottom Line club in New York watching the Roger McGuinn Band. ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Sly and the Devil Was Walking Side by Side
Overview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
...and on a clear day you could even tell which was which. NICK KENT reads Sylvester Stewart's musical palm and sifts out the rumours behind ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
ONCE UPON A TIME the idea of liking Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes was considered remarkably unhip. Poor old Ted and his boys were ...
Michael Chapman: The Body In The Lake and Other Stories
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
SO THERE we were sitting in the studio drinking wine and talking rock and roll talk when Rick Kemp shouldered in, slammed the door and ...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 June 1976
AS YOU CAN all quite well-imagine, the letters that get themselves printed in Gasbag (or Dogbag or Ratbag or Scumbag or whatever jiveass name we've ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
The Sorry Stax story ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
RIOTS LAST NIGHT they said, marauding hordes of smart, mean kids swarming around getting illegal all over the place with property and the concession stands ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
THERE WERE EXACTLY four things wrong with the final show by the Wailers at Hammersmith last Friday. ...
Dr. Feelgood: It's Only Rock 'n' Roll... But it's Crowded
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
MICK FARREN bares armpits and gets sweaty (and drunk) with DR. FEELGOOD ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Flamin' Groovies: Shake Some Action (Sire)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
MAX BELL provides sleeve-notes for the new album ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
Rock'n'Roll? Nah, that's kids' stuff ...
Little Feat, The Outlaws: Little Feat/The Outlaws: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
THE OUTLAWS ARE really pretty much your standard ranch stash. Three lead guitars primed to shit-kicking yee-ha, mighty purty 'n' all but lame beneath the ...
Michael Chapman: Savage Amusement (Decca)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
ABOUT THE only thing that Michael Chapman has in common with Laura Nyro, apart from vast merit, is that a lot of people find the ...
Michael Chapman: Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
IT'S TERRIBLE HOW people sometimes get the wrong idea, it really is. ...
Robert Wyatt: The Wild Spume of His Hair Broke Over My Bowsprit
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
...and I felt the tape line tauten on my cassette recorder as ROBERT WYATT plunged forward into the waves. ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: It's My Party... And I'll Pose If I Want To...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
TONY STEWART visits Rod and Britt's (retch!!) love-nest. A Time-Life and Vogue special. Exciting revelations (no, really!!). ...
Tangerine Dream: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
T-DREAM HAVE BEEN described as everything from 'the most advanced development of progressive rock' to 'electronic muzak'. The band generates controversy probably because people are ...
Brothers Johnson: The Brothers Johnson: Look Out For Number One (A&M)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
TWENTY-YEAR-OLD session bassist Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson and his elder bro, guitarist George "Lightning Licks", leap from the striking cover of this album like two ...
The Runaways: The Runaways (Mercury, Import)
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
Falling foul of Fowley? ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
AEROSMITH HAVE GOT the whole situation psyched. ...
Spirit: America: The Titanic Might Be Sinking, But There Are Plenty Of Lifeboats Left
Essay by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
BACK IN this very spot, Mick Farren pulled out his critical cudgels and delivered a sorely needed attack on the current state of rock'n'roll. ...
J. Geils Band: J Geils Band: Blow Your Face Out (Atlantic)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
FOR A BAND who've been as ludicrously misrepresented by their critics as the incomparable J. Geils Brew, Blow Your Face Out must be the best ...
Kevin Ayers: Yes, it's make it or break it time again...
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
This week: well known pataphysician KEVIN AYERS Fortune teller: MILES ...
Mr. Big: Mr Big: Oh No…Not Another Geezer With Hooter Problems!
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
THERE'S A bleedin' ennui OD here in the audience tonight. Not that they're into being-super-blase or super-arrogant. It's just that this is the hottest day ...
Bootsy Collins, Parliament: The Amazing Disco-Man from Planet X
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
PARLIAMENT: Mothership Connection (Casablanca)BOOTSY'S RUBBER BAND: Stretchin' Out (Warners) ...
The Beach Boys: 15 Big Ones (Reprise)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
WHAT THE little deuce coupe is goin' on round here? ...
The Outlaws: Southernly Last Summer...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
I'M SITTING in a dressing room at Celtic Park football ground. In the distance the Glasgow crowd is rootin' for Alex Harvey, but as the ...
Soft Machine: The Soft Machine: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
IT WAS a surprise to see so many people in the heat and the gloom of the Hamersmith Palais to see Soft Machine, because in ...
The Ohio Players, War: War & The Ohio Players: Say It Loud, I'm Black an' My Bank Manager's Proud
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
WAR and THE OHIO PLAYERS fall into a similar category –- two flash, young(ish) outfits with artistic and financial freedom and an interesting line in ...
Alan Parsons: Tales Of Mystery And Imagination
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
A bearded, disembodied head appeared in the darkness. My blood ran cold. It was PARSONS I saw... ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
ERIC BURDON'S notorious reputation as an abusive boozed-up Geordie ruffian might only have been part of rock's mythology, but at the moment it appears to ...
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
MAYBE IT WAS no accident that the hottest, steamiest, dirtiest night of the year was reserved for July 4. It's not every day that we ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
SPEAKING AS someone who knows little more about Joe Cocker than he does about me, I am perhaps not the most fitting person in the ...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
WHEN ALL AROUND YOU is brown, burnt, pink or peeling and you're tired of squinting in the glare it's time to consider... ...
The Modern Lovers: The rarefield talents of Jonathan Richman: The Modern Lovers
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 10 July 1976
David Hepworth reviews the most in-demand album in London ...
Tony Wilson: So It Goes: A TV breakthrough or tubular balls?
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
IT'S A LITTLE weird when you see something that is obviously well intentioned, is very close to what you and your own personal colleagues and ...
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band: Live Bullet
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
I GUESS YOU could say that Bob Seger and Ted Nugent are the last of the Michigan cowboys. ...
The Crusaders: Crusaders: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
THE HELL WITH it, let's be dogmatic and lay down a truth that was already manifest before their historic visit. When it comes to pumping ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Flamin’ Groovies: It Ain't Much Fun Bein' In The Import Bins' Blues
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
SOMETIMES DEJA VU gets to choke you up. After ten years of trying to prove themselves the Flamin' Groovies must be wondering just what the ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
MOST OF US drift into comfortable mediocrity; in the end it's hard to avoid, particularly if your career had dumped wads and wads of money ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
IT WAS FUNNY, though, wasn't it? ...
Jesse Winchester: New Victoria, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
JESSE WINCHESTER certainly didn't have things easy for his British concert debut last week. For a start, the combination of heatwave and Bonnie And Clyde ...
The Ramones: 'Waitin' for World War III' Blues
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
JOEY RAMONE is wandering around the empty Roundhouse, looking vacant and clutching a brand new camera under his arm like a teddy bear substitute. A ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: SAHB Stories
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
ROUND ABOUT THE third revamp of Captain Marvel (that's Marvel's Captain Marvel, not the other one), they changed his billing from The Sensational Captain Marvel ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
CURIOUS BUSINESS, this intercontinental jet travel. High altitude transportation appears to have a spectacularly adverse effect on Britrockers' vocal chords. Old Jagger, now: there are ...
The Crusaders: After a Quarter of a Century, Yes, It’s Overnight Success
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
Yup, it's taken a little time. Uhhuh, that's right 25 years of bein' hot stuff. But for THE CRUSADERS worldwide acceptance does at last ...
Back Street Crawler: Leaving Coffins Outside Dressingrooms is Sick
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
Just one of the problems Back Street Crawler have had to contend with since the death of Paul Kossoff. Terry Slesser explains. ...
Mel Tormé: Velvet Peasouper Blankets West End
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
MEL TORMÉ talks LIKE THIS. He has VERY STRONG OPINIONS and also DOESN'T LIKE cigarette SMOKE. ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Steal Your Face
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
SURPRISE, SURPRISE. THE new Dead album is coming in for the most monumental panning. Seems that for the past four years (at least) they've been ...
The Runaways: And I Wonder…I Wah Wah Wah Wah Wonder…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
THE CORRAL lies maybe midway down Topanga Canyon, between Ventura Freeway and Malibu Beach. Maybe it's just the Romantic in me but visually – and ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
WILD TCHOUPITOULAS extend an invitation to all those who've ever loved New Orleans music... ...
Twiggy: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 24 July 1976
I GUESS they popped the champers at Phonogram after this glitzy shindig at the Home of Fest. For hadn't Mike Harding, had 'em clutching at ...
Profile and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
Something with Integrity has descended among us (from California as it happens). It's AUTOMATIC MAN. It landed in the Marquee. MILES was there ...
Deep Purple: Why The Purpling Had To Stop
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
In which TONY STEWART listens patiently while IAN PAICE and DAVID COVERDALE explain (within the limits of decent reticence and Not Ratting On Mates)... ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
THE YELLOW CAB has taken me just over half the distance down to 6565 Sunset Boulevard before I notice the driver look in his rearview ...
John Prine: Regent's Park, London
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
IT MUST have been a terrible choice between seeing John Prine (and perhaps Steve Goodman?) at Regent's Park, and checking out the first British gig ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
And yet more folksiness as Kate & Anna McGarrigle BLITZ OVER LONDON ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate And Anna McGarrigle: Kiss Me Till My Mouth Gets Numb
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
The harrowing tale of two sisters who narrowly missed getting typecast as nuns when their real thing is foolin around in bathrooms... Seriously though, we ...
Marianne Faithfull: Kenneth Anger: My Boyfriend Left Me For Charlie Manson!
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
Hi! I'm KENNETH ANGER. Marianne Faithfull plays a demon in my new movie. This is a picture of me when I was three and a ...
Martha Velez: Escape from Babylon
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
WHATEVER HAPPENS, no way can Martha Velez bitch about never getting the breaks. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
How Kapt. Kopter kept coming back California, a bona fide genius guitar hero. Who says so? Max Bell says so. ...
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
ALTHOUGH I IMAGINE it could be a disaster area if it rained, Cardiff Castle on a fine day is an ideal spot for a one ...
Report by Brian Case, New Musical Express, August 1976
Simple. SUN RA knew that one way back. Every musician on the planet just gotta play a C7th — all at the same time. While ...
Don Covay: Travelin' In Heavy Traffic
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
AN APPRAISAL OF THE VIRTUES OF MR. DON COVAY ...
Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading (A&M)
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
Joan puts on her sailin' shoes ...
Luther Allison: Luther Dusts His Broom
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW that Motown had a blues man on their books? Yeah that's right, blues. Amazing, is it not? Luther Allison's his ...
Sam Cooke: Twistin' The Night Away
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
BETWEEN 1960 and 1963 more Twist albums hit the market than the total spinoff products from Elvis, The Beatles and Jaws. ...
Weather Report: This Man Is Watching Out For Custard Pies
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
It seems most successful artists participate in the ritual — with Presley coming to mind as a particularly adept dodger. Right now, though, we're watching ...
Boz Scaggs: Central Park, New York
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 August 1976
STROLLING THROUGH New York's Central Park on a hot and sultry Friday afternoon was pretty much like reliving a David Peel song. The paths and ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
Nectar of strychnine! Seminal psychedelic trip-wire rock'n'roll! Geometric chaos! Neo-nuclear Pearl Harbour precision! Flash-pod explosion! Blood-on-snow controlled fury! Boot-heeling dangerous! ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe MacDonald: The Essential Country Joe McDonald
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
ALTHOUGH THERE have been three compilations of his work with the Fish, this is the first collection covering Country Joe's seven solo albums. ...
Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic, Parliament: It's a PARLIAFUNKADELIC-BOOTSYMENT THANG!!
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
"THERE'S a lot of chocolate cities around. We got Newark, we got Gary, somebody told me we got L.A. And we're working on Atlanta. But ...
Linda Ronstadt: Hasten Down The Wind (Asylum)
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
LINDA RONSTADT has taken a tip from Carly Simon and taken off her bra for an album sleeve – not that she ever did wear ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Open Air Theatre, Regents Park
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
IT'S A LITTLE disturbing to discover yourself in the minority, the camp who really didn't much like the star. But that was the way it ...
Stax: Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)...
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
CLIFF WHITE charts the fall of Stax Records ...
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 6 September 1976
THE REAL THING seems to be an apt name for a trio who are determined to succeed on their own merits and not as a ...
Arthur Brown: Live at Speakeasy, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
THE LAST time I saw Arthur Brown work he perpetrated one of the most numblingly embarrassing performances I can recall, one that still festers in ...
Bobby Womack: B.W. Goes C&W (United Artists)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
RECORDED BEFORE Safety Zone last year, this is the set that Bobby had intended to call Black In The Saddle. UA wouldn't release it at ...
Burning Spear: Man In The Hills
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
NEXT TO THE current crop of wild-eyed wired-op weird-asses coming out of JA these days, Burning Spear sound almost conservative. ...
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
CAPITOL RADIO are blitzing Can's top-40 commercial rock number 'I Want More' right now; it is typical that the band would choose to issue it ...
Derek & Clive: The Worst Job I Ever 'Ad
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
Derek and Clive and the rich panorama of sub-human life ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
AFTER MY initial listening to this album I was going to take the easy way out, fob off with a few jokes about the Raga ...
Dr. Feelgood: Hope & Anchor, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
REAL CASE of dejaja vuvu it was, the night the Feelgoods played the Hope. To readers outside London the Hope and Anchor may just be ...
Bryan Ferry, Uriah Heep: John Wetton: I Have Nothing To Hide Shock
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
John Wetton reflects on past problems with Uriah Heep – and on his future plans which, among other things, involve working with Ferry. ...
Mighty Diamonds, U-Roy: Mighty Diamonds/U-Roy/Delroy Washington: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
The Lyceum rockers wore dreadlocks, the Aldwych wouldn't do the Strand; the rude bwoys were on a ballroom blitz; and PENNY REEL reports on a ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
Support your local Spades!! ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
Our Islington correspondent mingles with the Sex Pistols' portable audience looking for Johnny Rotten's toof. It's incisive stuff… ...
Kevin Ayers, Soft Machine: Kevin Ayers/Soft Machine: Edinburgh Playhouse
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 18 September 1976
AN INTERESTING booking, Kevin Ayers – one of the founding members of Soft Machine – playing on the same bill as their present, 14th, line-up ...
Jefferson Starship: Skate Board Grounds the Starship
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 18 September 1976
I WAS WOKEN up by the phone. I had some trouble working out where I was. It took a few seconds to realise that I ...
The Band: ...Mounties, Maple Syrup: The Band at the Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
RUMOURS HAD BEEN circulating (the way rumours always do) for some months. They claimed that there was some kind of rift between The Band and ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
AS SOME OF you regulars out there have probably long suspected, I have a certain difficulty in being strictly objective about the work of Bob ...
Dr. Feelgood, The George Hatcher Band: Dr Feelgood: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
HERE IN Sheffield there's a local aphorism along the lines of "Tha' works 'ard, so bloody well play hard". It fits. Most of the concerts ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
THERE ARE only a few things you need to know about J.J. Cale. ...
Bob Dylan: Mother, Old Glory, Apple Pie, Bob Dylan
Comment by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
Lester Bangs pours down like scalding rain on the Dylan documentary due to be screened on BBC2 next Tuesday, and coincidentally (fight fans) on the ...
Rick Derringer: This Man Is Aiming To Kill
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
Excuse the pun it's Rick Derringer, of course, knockin' 'em down with hardnose rock'n'roll. ...
The Band: The Best Of The Band
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
ANYTHING THAT allows The Band to maintain their self-imposed torpor should be actively discouraged, and it is with this sentiment in mind that I proposed ...
The Bay City Rollers: The View From Seat A6
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
"Then one day I found a perfect plan,I shake my ass and sing in a rock and roll band,From now on there'll be no compromisin'Rock ...
Don Harrison Band: The Don Harrison Band
Interview by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976
HERE'S A question that's been puzzling me: just how did the Don Harrison Band, who are rather less than a familiar name, get on the ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
MY LAST VISIT to the quaint, cobbled pavements of Camden Lock was to see Eddie Floyd knocking on wood in standard mid-60s soul routine. Ben ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Blues-type Situation With Relative Roots: Johnny 'Guitar' Watson
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
"I'M SO excited man, I don't know, Jesus Christ, everything is really so grand, the company seems to be so together and I think I'm ...
Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen: Hot Licks, Cold Steel And Truckers' Favourites
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
We've Got A Live One Here ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
IT'S 1 A.M. and I've just about survived a ludicrous Sunday, beginning at some ungodly hour I never knew existed and exercising patience I never ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: 'Ere, who you screwing, John?
Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
Once again our halls of entertainment echo to the banshee wail of urban youth. Here BRIAN CASE, always the man to spot the first robin ...
Joan Armatrading, Moon: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
MOON GET better weekly. Disciplined, tight, colourful but most important eager to please. They got an encore. Between their leaving the stage and Joan Armatrading ...
June Tabor: Sensuous Librarian Reveals All
Interview by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
SUDDENLY MY HEART STARTED TO POUND. ...
Kool And The Gang: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
DO YOU ever feel out of touch? Secure in the calm of your own head while all about you are losing theirs. It's a disquieting ...
Kris Kristofferson: Surreal Thing
Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
THERE APPEARS to be a ridiculously large number of "established" artists making records which, were they by an unfamiliar name, would not only sell zero ...
Marvin Gaye: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Cliff White, Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
WELL, IT finally happened. After much speculation, confusion and gnashing of teeth, the rehirsuted one arrived in Britain for the first time in 12 years, ...
Stevie Wonder: The Selling of Stevie
Report by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
MAYBE I'M just a cynic... but from where I'm standing it appears that, in terms of pushing as much product as humanly possible, the 13 ...
Buzzcocks, Eater: The Buzzcocks, Eater: Holdsworth Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
YOU CAN count on Manchester to be 48 months behind apparent national trends. Like, reggae is largely frowned upon: crunching hard rock bands employing predictable ...
The Gladiators: Trenchtown Mix Up
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
RED HOT IN BABYLON OR MAUVE IN THE GROVE ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
DAY ONE: can't get past the third track. Before reaching it, 4.08 mins of 'Disco Is The Thing Today' revealed a commercial, characterless leap onto ...
The Runaways: From Jailbait to Jes' Plain Bait
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
Q: How do you persuade five young LA Teen Queens to clean up their act?A: Put 'em in a group and make 'em famous ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976
AT £2.50 a ticket I was expecting to hear the words, particularly from a group whose lyrics are so important, but the thousand or so ...
Natalie Cole, Tavares: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976
NATALIE COLE is an MOR sophisticated lady, right? An exceptional singer in the mould of Aretha Franklin who's chosen to, or been persuaded to, don ...
Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976
RUMOURS THAT the New Musical Express has deliberately pursued a course of hostility towards Stevie Wonder are, of course, utterly without foundation; but (even at ...
Marvin Gaye: The Marvin Gaye Interview: Earthly Fights and Mystic Flights
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976
"HOW ARE you? I must say you have the patience of Job." ...
Waylon Jennings: Are You Ready For The Country
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976
Waylon breaks thru' Nashville's blanket defense ...
AC/DC: Is Britain Ready For The Human Kangaroo?
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
Yes, it's AC/DC, hoping to make progress in leaps and bounds... (groan) ...
Barclay James Harvest: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
BARCLAYS BANK ON CORN HARVEST ...
Hawkwind: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
TIGER OPENED to a leaden audience who failed to be moved even by big Nicky Moore, twisting and turning through the vocals like a giant ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy & The Stooges: Metallic K.O. (Skydog)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
Iggy — still burning his brain at both ends. ...
Kraftwerk, National Health: Krautwerk: This is what your fathers fought to save you from...
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
Kraftwerk, National Health: The Roundhouse, London ...
Lone Star, Mott The Hoople: Mott, Lone Star: Salford University, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
…and here's what they fought to save you for: MOTT ...
The Dictators: The Handsomest Man In Rock And Roll
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
You may have been ready for Patti 'n' the Pistols 'n' the Ramones, but are you as ready as MAX BELL for The DICTATORS and... ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Teenage Head
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 October 1976
I MUST confess that when I was first confronted with the Flamin' Groovies, I was not impressed. ...
Aerosmith: Gonna Have Me A Real Wild Time…I'm Going To Harrods
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
BRAD WHITFORD wears a grey roll-neck sweater and faded jeans. He looks slightly insecure up there on the stage of the Liverpool Empire. Tom Hamilton ...
Aerosmith: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
He likes 'em... or does he? Well, kind of. NICK KENT vacillates before the... AEROSMITH BEHEMOTH ...
Demis Roussos: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
MUZAK OF THE GODS ...
Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne: I Got Sensitive Didn't I
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
BLACK SABBATH'S Ozzie Osbourne has changed his personality since we last met. He is no longer vulgar and ingenuous. Instead, he is composed and carefully ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
NOW HERE'S what you do for openers. You get someone to blindfold you, put boxing gloves on your hands, tie a maddened rhino to your ...
Patti Smith: Welcome To The Monkey House
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
"IT'S LIKE...I'm not ever gonna be a hundred per cent cool, y'know...I mean, for you to like even try to be a hundred per cent ...
Ry Cooder, Flaco Jimenez: Ry Cooder: Chicken-Skin Music (Reprise)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 October 1976
With the pound tottering, Kissinger's Rhodesian settlement crumbling, and Revie's team a complete shambles... it's nice to know there are still things you can rely ...
Albert King: Truckload Of Lovin'
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 October 1976
HOT DAMN! Way it looks to this white boy, Albert King just has to be to the blues what John Wayne is to cowboy movies, ...
Gary Wright, Peter Frampton: Peter Frampton: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 October 1976
Rock genius...or just another biodegradable pretty boy? C. SALEWICZ sinks his nashers in P. FRAMPTON's persona and finds it... ALL SMILE AND NO TEETH! ...
Spirit: If You Value Your Life, On No Account Read This Headline...
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 October 1976
...because if you do you'll have to read the feature which is about RANDY CALIFORNIA of SPIRIT. He's a very far-out person. He says so. ...
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band: Night Moves (Capitol)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
WHEN YOU'VE just made one of the year's classic live albums, following it can be a bit of a problem. ...
Max Romeo & the Upsetters: War In A Babylon
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
I WAS a soft-porn-skankin' rude boy in a mohair suit until I discovered RASTAFARI!!!! ...
Live Review by Brian Case, Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
GETTIN' BACK TO IT: MUDDY WATERS, McCOY TYNER & SONNY ROLLINS brought Newport to London's New Victoria Theatre on Saturday. CSM & BRIAN CASE went ...
Sun Records reissues: Rock’n’Roll – first dinosaur still extant
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
CLIFF WHITE examines a major re-packaging of Sam Philips' Sun catalogue. ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
I-CENSE IS SWEET, but rockers is sweeter yetter; as the good brother I King Tapper Zukie would say. The man from Bosrah came to High ...
The Clash: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
A ROW OF PARKED Vivas, Consuls and Zephyrs indicated that the ICA had an audience a little different to the usual. It was "A Night ...
The Doctors Of Madness: Live in Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
THE DOCTORS of Madness have shot disjointed from dissident Velvet Underground empty emotions and heavy-eyed exasperation, the Bowie of Diamond Dogs admission that conventional revolution ...
Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis: Vangelis: The Moans And The Stares, An Ouzo And Thee
Profile and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 November 1976
I THOUGHT I was in for a real treat. ...
Profile and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
THE SENSUOUS POUT FROM CBGB ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley and the Wailers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
THERE WERE EXACTLY FOUR things wrong with the final show by the Wailers at the Hammersmith last Friday. ...
Boz Scaggs: Bar-Room Brawls Are Out Man — I've Gotten Sophisticated
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
Yes, this is one for the, err, cognoscenti. It's BOZ SCAGGS man but coming on strong like Bryan Ferry's wardrobe. Admirer MAX BELL talks ...
David Essex: Manchester Palace, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
CLEAN ROCK from the super slick, sadly lackadaisical David Essex Band at the plush Manchester Palace is a harmless way to waste a few hollow ...
Graham Parker: Believe Everything You Hear
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
IT'S LUCKY for Graham Parker that he's come along at a time when the Jack Nicholson Academy of professional Beautiful Losers is providing the most ...
Lol Coxhill, Henry Cow: Henry Cow, Lol Coxhill: Lindisfarne Centre, Southend
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
THIS WAS only the fourth concert that Cow have done in this country all year — they have been touring Europe all through the summer. ...
Dr. Feelgood: It's only Rock 'n' Roll ...But it's crowded
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
MICK FARREN bares armpits and gets sweaty (and drunk) with DOCTOR FEELGOOD ...
Jonathan Richman: Town Hall, New York City
Live Review by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
THE FUNDAMENTAL things apply, as time goes by. Like Sister Ray, for instance. It had only been out for a couple of years when Jonathan ...
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same (Warner West End/ABC Shaftesbury Avenue)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
ZEP BLOW IT ...
Lynn Anderson, Ronnie Prophet, Steve Young: Nashville
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
An Englishman's adventures in the city of the rhinestone kings. Mick Farren was that Englishman. ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
RY COODER isn't the only person using a Mariachi band at the moment. ...
Steeleye Span: The Universalisation Of Steeleye Span
Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
SALLY JEAN IS DARK, demure and very attractive. Though well-dressed, well-spoken and well-meaning, she is alas also well dull. For over two hours now she ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
How they made a billion while still in their twentiesWITH THE POP MUSIC OF TODAY ...
AC/DC: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
THE EMCEE only just ducks into the wings and out of the firing range when the Odeon stage explodes deafeningly. Bruised about the head, their ...
Captain Beefheart: Beefheart Discovers “World's Greatest Band” Sensation
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
I CALLED Captain Beefheart the other day. His huge voice came booming down the phone even though I'd probably woken him up. ...
Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: The Roaring Silence
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
I WAS IN New York when they last asked me to write a thing on Led Zeppelin. An American magazine, it was, with strict deadlines ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Newcastle Polytechnic
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
AFTER THIRTY interviews in two days Johnny Watson's throat was as raw as fresh beefsteak. So for the first two gigs of his European tour ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
THERE ARE several possible ways to review this gig. ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
In which Mick Farren doesn't talk to Chet Atkins, visits Opryland, views the tourist spots from the OAP's bus and, (quiver, quiver....), converses with Dolly ...
Tom Waits: Small Change (Asylum, Import)
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
Waits refuses to face his critics (to his lasting credit...) ...
Buzzcocks: Band on the Wall, Electric Circus, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
MANCHESTER MADMEN ...
Brian Eno, David Bowie: Eno: "Zing!" Go the Strings of My Art...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
...as Thin and Serious People gather to make music. The luscious but committed BRIAN ENO has been in recording with the skinny and deranged ...
George Harrison: Thirty-three & 1/3
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
WHEN I tell you that the first line of the song with the most memorable hook on the album is. "I was so young when ...
Jim Croce: Photographs And Memories
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
JIM CROCE was a witty, adroit songwriter with a dual penchant for sharp, good-humoured barroom-jive badman songs and love songs which ranged from the genuinely ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
THESE ARE heady days for Joan Baez. ...
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
IT WAS a delight to witness those old school chums John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett play Dunstable on Thursday night. ...
Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
Joan travels on; Joni travels back ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
MEET MALCOLM McLAREN. He runs a shop called "SEX". He manages a group called THE SEX PISTOLS. He sincerely believes that he and his band ...
Robert Palmer: How To Get Rid Of The Nude In Your Bedroom
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
ROBERT PALMER, who's Big In America, finds his musical progress rather cluttered with scantily clad femininity. TONY STEWART murmurs disapprovingly. ...
Live Review by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
THERE ARE some memories we have which are straightforward memories, but then there are other memories which are more like memories of memories and we're ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
YOU KNOW what these albums remind me of: The This Is Mersey Beat collections that Oriole put out after the first wave of Liverpool bands had gotten ...
Fabulous Poodles: UMIST, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
PURE, UNDISGUISED entertainment from a crackerjack fun quartet of sly, sleazy, 'appy crups who played like the Beatles never happened — a major reason why ...
Frank Zappa: Any Resemblance is Purely Conceptual
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
MILES SCOOPS THE POOP ON UNCLE FRANK ...
Jess Roden Band: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
RIDE ON RODEN: MILES finds the JRB in fine form ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
ALTHOUGH A lot of recorded music is impersonal (not necessarily a bad thing, it's quite possible to enjoy a record for its own sake without ...
New York Dolls: Meet The Boys In The Band: The New York Dolls
Retrospective by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
Prime movers of P**K, this gang of poseurs were wearing safety pins when they were still in diapers. ...
The Alpha Band: The Alpha Band
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
THERE MUST be something about playing with Bob Dylan that turns musicians a bit...well, shall we call it strange. ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Sarfend, Sarfend, It's A Hell Of A Town…
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
The smell of coins and oil and penny arcades; of fish 'n' chips; of salt and wave against pebble and promenade; of wide boys and ...
Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 4 December 1976
The Blues is getting old, and young black kids ain't taking over where the old-timers are leaving off. BRIAN CASE talks on the subject with ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
ON ONE level, this gig (the second of City Boy's current tour) could be whiled away by playing "spot the influence" – 10cc, Roxy, the ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie and the Hot Rods/The Pirates: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
THE HOT RODS are careering through 'Get Out Of Denver' at a speed so close to the velocity of sound itself that the song seems ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
THIS ALBUM is neither Bizarre nor DiscReet, but that's neither here nor there. ...
Tangerine Dream: Palais Des Sports, Paris
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
T-DREAM had no support and so they started cold, but soon as the lights dimmed the Palais Des Sports audience roared and cheered and lit ...
The Clash: Eighteen Flight Rock...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 11 December 1976
...AND THE SOUND OF THE WESTWAY ...
Can: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
IN ONE OF the most glorious cases of mismatching ever seen on a British stage, Can are preceded tonight by an agonisingly kitsch comedy jug-band ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
THE OFFICE outside has been a-buzzing of late with the latest report concerning the whole punk conspiracy – the to-ings, and fro-ings, of the Sex ...
Santana: God Flows from Every Mouth
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
AND THAT DON'T MEAN GOBBIN' ON PEOPLE, WARNS SANTANA ...
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
A TRIP to the sea end of Wardour Street is always fine by me, so Tuesday found me on the Chrysalis bus to Brighton to ...
The Eagles: Hotel California (Asylum)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
On the border? They go straight down the middle ...
Thin Lizzy: How the Laid-Back Californian met the Drunken Scot and the Heavy Black Irishman…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 December 1976
IF LEW GRADE ever gets round to planning a rock 'n' roll soap opera he could fill the first fifty-two weeks (at least) with The ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: After The Sand Box
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
The zany, madcap world of Brian Wilson, episode 98 ...
Ike & Tina Turner, Phil Spector: Ike and Tina Turner
Profile by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
THAT THE Tina Turner-Phil Spector combination should have produced one isolated tour-de-force 45 was perhaps not surprising; after all, Tina more than anyone else was ...
Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon: New Victoria Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
WARREN ZEVON hits the stage an hour and five minutes late. This is not without significance. ...
Bob Dylan: Journey To The Centre Of The Psyche: Blonde On Blonde
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
IT'S AN almost impossible opening sentence. ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
THREE DANCE bands playing the Electric Circus for the second time in ten days. They're back because the Circus is one of the very few ...
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
AFTERMATH CATCHES the Rolling Stones in transit: somewhere in between pissing on garage walls and the mass dope busts, after their first long spell on ...
Jimmy Page: Anger Rising: Jimmy Page and Kenneth's Lucifer
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1977
LED ZEPPELIN guitarist and leader Jimmy Page has been fired as composer for the soundtrack of the film Lucifer Rising by its director, Kenneth Anger. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1977
Beneath this middle class suburban casual wear lurk a bunch of REALLY NICE GUYS. So why are they banned from Top Of The Pops? ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Shelter, import)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 January 1977
DONT KNOW much about these guys except that they breeze out of Los Angeles, have a great image and play very good '70's rock'n'roll which ...
Tower Of Power: Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 January 1977
THIS IS essentially transitional meat from Oakland, Soul City's finest. ...
James Brown: Git Down! Git Down! Git Down!
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 8 January 1977
Is Britain ready for the return of the Godfather of Soul? On the eve of JAMES BROWN'S fourth visit to the UK, Cliff White reveals ...
Average White Band: The Average White Band: Person To Person
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 8 January 1977
WELCOME BACK the musically credible and eminently excellent Average White Band with this defiant poke in the ear for all those people who seven months ...
Ace: It's An Ace Life In The Low-Key Whacky World Of Los Angeles
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
SEVEN OF US leave the Ace ranch in Hidden Valley and go late night cruisin' in drummer Fran Byrne's '69 Pontiac. Fran heads for ex-Chilli ...
Elvin Bishop: Hometown Boy Makes Good
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
YES INDEED I do believe we've got ourselves a good one here. Elvin Bishop has resisted the slightly formulaic limpness of Struttin' My Stuff ...
Emmylou Harris: Luxury Liner (Warner Bros.)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
While the Hot Band get hotter, Emmylou just gets better... ...
Gladys Knight & The Pips: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
THERE IS AN unwritten guarantee with every ticket for a Gladys Knight & The Pips concert. A guarantee of aural, visual and emotional satisfaction. I've ...
Jermaine Jackson: My Name Is Jermaine (Tamla Motown)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
COULD BE that marrying the boss's daughter has caused Jermaine Jackson a few problems. Not only is the boss' son-in-law expected to try that much ...
Kiss: Rock And Roll Over (Casablanca Import)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
The Red Carpet, but no Heat Treatment ...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Kirk's Works
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
In spite of a stroke, multi-instrumentalist RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK is still hangin' in there, copying carpets and capturing the sound of the sun. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
PREDICTABLE BOYS from the Rock Steady stable with Jack Douglas production. ...
Suzi Quatro: Aggrophobia (RAK)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
FOUR AND A HALF YEARS since Suzi Quatro scored jackpot and replay with 'Can The Can', and it's only now that she's made an album ...
The Jacksons: The Jacksons (Epic/Philadelphia International); Joyful Jukebox Music (Tamla Motown)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977
The red carpet, but no heat treatment ...
Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias: Not Only The Whole Story Of Rock But A Killer Whale Too…
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 22 January 1977
"DA HIPPY Church" is what my Dutch cab driver calls it. As regular readers will know, the Paradiso is a converted church in the centre ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 22 January 1977
YOU'RE JUST a little girl with grey eyes and you never leave your room. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 January 1977
AND YOU'RE profile to profile with The Man Who Fell To Bits. Against an incandescent orange background, the cover of David Bowie's new album reprises ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
TYPICAL OF A Sheffield gig is the way in which the dancing section of the audience settles down crosslegged in front of the stage to ...
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
'Dock Of The Bay' was never like this! Soul Music shifts a gear ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
SUCCESS BREEDS success, states a music biz maxim, and under the altruistic banner of Services To The Public, any record company which has old or ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
Cliff White on recent soul ...
The J.A.L.N Band: J.A.L.N. Band: Life Is A Flight (Magnet)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
THIS BRITISH based band are closer to the mark than our previous two contestants, especially on stage where they cut a deeper groove than many ...
Joan Armatrading: If Only They Knew She Had The Power...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
If you've got a taste for terror, take NICK KENT to interview JOAN ARMATRADING... ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 January 1977
THE MAIN thing that's wrong with this album can be summed up in two words. They are Kim Fowley. Yes that's right. Fowley appears to ...
Buzzcocks: Teen Rebel Scores £250 From Dad
Profile by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
This feature bears the New Wave Seal of Quality ...
Chet Atkins, Les Paul: Chet Atkins and Les Paul: Chester And Lester (RCA)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
WELL NOW, this isn't exactly the kind of record that you hear every day of the week. ...
Gong, Allan Holdsworth: Gong: Gazeuse! (Virgin); Allan Holdsworth: Velvet Darkness (CTI import)
Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
THE PRESENT Gong lineup includes only three of the members of the line up on the last album Shamal. They are Didier Malherbe, Mireille Bauer ...
Elvis Presley: In Search of the Real Elvis
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
Otherwise known as an interview with FELTON JARVIS (Felton who???) ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Peter Green Committed
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
CHRIS SALEWICZ details the sad story of PETER GREEN, which last week culminated in a court-order committing him to mental hospital... ...
Television: Marquee Moon (Elektra/Asylum)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
CUT THE crap, junior, he sez and put the hyperbole on ice. ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977
Womack & Butler: Soul Survivors ...
Funkadelic, Parliament: Funkadelic: Hardcore Jollies/Parliament: The Clones Of Funkenstein
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977
In the last 12 months no less than eight albums have escaped from this mind-bending menagerie and yet only one (Parliament's Mothership Connection on Casablanca) ...
Report and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977
"I TELL YA, man, the blacks have sold out. Listen to the music. No meanin', no feelin', it's all about one thing... dance, dance, dance. ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Dancer With Bruised Knees (Warner Bros.)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977
THE DIFFICULTIES of following an album not simply outstanding but universally acclaimed as such are only too apparent. Even a demonstrably first-class work could not ...
Utopia: Rundgren: Democratic Offal — Utopia: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977
NICK KENT finds the brainiac kid wallowing in a four-way blitzkrieg bog. Deafened and demoralised, the only conclusion is: he was better on his Todd... ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977
THEORETICALLY this bout should have provided at least a points-win decision in favour of Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, although, owing to recent personnel upsets in ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 February 1977
THE MIGHTY John Alcock, the producer who brought Thin Lizzy their success, performs here the most masterly musical illusions, which assist Bandit to deliver an ...
Procol Harum Triumph Over Worms
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 February 1977
That seems to be the gist of it. Like, if you're attacked by worms, here's some good news from a bunch of lads who've suffered ...
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 February 1977
Hank B. Marvin, Bruce Welch and Mick Farren chew the cud... ...
Frank Zappa: Torture Mama & Open Brain
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 19 February 1977
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London MILES gets his time organised ...
Frank Zappa: O.K. Frank, Let It Roll…
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
IS THE CONCEPTUAL CONTINUITY of your output macrostructure still operative? "Yes," nods Frank Zappa solemnly. ...
The Darts, Jerry Lee Lewis: Jerry Lee Lewis/The Darts: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
"WANKER" "RUBBISH", "R o c k 'n' ROLLL!!!!!" screamed the frustrated bopper just behind my right eardrum. He wasn't the only one. A distinct rumble ...
Johnny Cash: The Last Gunfighter Ballad
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 March 1977
THE PICTURE on the cover shows Cash, head and shoulders, in a beat-up cowboy hat that looks like the one he wore in the movie ...
Iggy Pop: Iggy Said It, Iggy Had The Power, Iggy Had The Disease
Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977
THINKING BACK, IT WAS almost a year ago to this very day when I last ran into Iggy. An assignment had got me holed up ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977
STUFF CONSISTS of Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale (guitars), Stephen Gadd and Christopher Parker (drums), Gordon Edwards (bass), and Richard Tee (keyboards). ...
Ted Nugent: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977
WE'VE HEARD a great deal lately about how Ted Nugent abjures drugs and alcohol. Perhaps that's his mistake. The occasional soul searching high might have ...
Graham Parker, The Rumour: The Rumour: 'I Believe In Graham Parker'
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977
As The Rumour plan their own group LP, guitarist MARTIN BELMONT reaffirms his faith in Big G and the solidarity of the Parker/Rumour operation ...
Grateful Dead: Wake Of The Flood/From the Mars Hotel
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
THE GRATEFUL DEAD have always been a band whose work formed into waves and troughs. Wake Of The Flood is unfortunately one of the low ...
James Booker: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
SOME FOLKS need two tons of equipment, the LSO, and a bunch of chorus girls or a performing elephant to justify their reputation. James Carroll ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: Marc Bolan: Son Of Magical Pouting Panache
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
Yep, Here we go again. But this time it promises to be different. BOLAN MARC TWO makes his come-back on tour with The Damned, and ...
Spirit: Future Games — A Magical Kahauna Dream (Mercury Import)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
THE RETURN of Tab, Hunk and Dr. Sardonicus — more outrageously smooth than ever before. A new Spirit album is not only becoming a frequent ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
NICK KENT comes out of hiding to offer himself as a 'punk' sacrifice to the ritualistic 'beat' of THE CLASH, THE BUZZCOCKS, THE SUBWAY SECT ...
The Damned: The page you are looking at takes no responsibility for your sanity or well-being
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
THE KID IN THE PUB doesn't believe I'm me. "You a roadie?" "I'm a writer." "Yeah?" He's already dubious. "Who do you write for then?" ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
BECK IN Ongoing Fusion Situation (he blows it). Bloomfield Simply Plays The Blues (he makes it). ...
Pink Floyd: Eyeless In The Galaxy
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
Depressed? Anxious? Hung-up, man? Don't just sit there, bozo get out and make money out of it! FREEWHEELIN' FARREN winds up out on the ...
Roger McGuinn: Bottom Line, New York City
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
A FLURRY of movement on a darkened stage then a sudden hit of déjà vu – that voice and the song and the long jangling ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
IT IS no accident that The Band have been the most bearded outfit in the rock business. They entered the public arena, when at all, ...
Richard Hell, Television, Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine: How Pleasant (?) To Know Mr Verlaine
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
OPINION: Tom Verlaine is a great songwriter, the next seminal rock charismatic, a genius.OPINION: Tom Verlaine is an egomaniac, a back-stabber, a thankless paranoid. ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977
Unfortunately, we don't have Patti or Lenny here to tell us. We DO have Penny Reel, who INSISTS he use this space to lord the ...
Alex Chilton: CBGBs, New York NY
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 2 April 1977
ALEX CHILTON is known for two things: 'The Letter', which he did when he was with The Box Tops, and his work with the legendary ...
Flying Hearts, Arthur Russell: Flying Hearts: Other End, New York NY
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 2 April 1977
WHEN JONATHAN Richman went acoustic, the other members of The Modern Lovers tried really hard to play with him but it just didn't work out. ...
Review by Max Bell, Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 April 1977
Igs past and present collide in sonic fury as NICK KENT & MAX BELL once more grasp for the identity of the enIGma, quest for ...
Talking Heads: CBGBs, New York NY
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 2 April 1977
Yes, but who nicked the bog door? ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
CAN AN ELEVEN-PIECE WESTERN SWING BAND EVER FIND WEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN THE WORLD OF ROCK'N'ROLL? ...
Dave Edmunds: Get It (Swan Song)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
FOR SOME TIME NOW, Dave Edmunds has been nearly legendary. He started as the minor league guitar king of Love Sculpture's 'Sabre Dance' fame, then ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: The Truth Behind The Break-up…
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
AS REPORTED in the news pages Dr. Feelgood have come apart at the seams, with Wilko Johnson going one way and the rest of the ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Dancer With Bruises
Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
THERE ARE three sisters altogether. Jane, the eldest, who sometimes plays organ on her sisters' records, lives a happily married life in California, and the ...
Mumps: Max's Kansas City, New York
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
...meanwhile MILES catches THE MUMPS New York style – and enjoys it ...
Ronnie Spector: Hi There, Big Boy! Wanna "Interview" Me?
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
Mmm-mm. Eighty-eight pounds of compact yumminess on parade for all you heavy guys out there. CLIFF WHITE, hot from New York, on delectable RONNIE SPECTOR's ...
Roy Harper: The Malady Lingers On
Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
Not since Uncle Lou's days as The Zombie From Beyond The Grave has a rock show held such a morbid fascination. ...
The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys Love You (Warner-Reprise)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
A Psychology Today Special in which NICK KENT diagnoses a steady recovery for the Wilson muse. ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977
These young chaps have an album out soon. It would be strange if they didn't ...
Blondie: Max's Kansas City and The Palladium, NYC
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 16 April 1977
MAX'S KANSAS CITY has become a tourist rip-off joint $5 admission and no way to see anything unless you booked a table. ...
Roy Harper: What Now For Roy Harper?
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 16 April 1977
IT'S UNLIKELY that Roy Harper would be admitted to a health and happiness club. Because of his seemingly chronic illness he is facing a real ...
The Boys, John Cale, Generation X: John Cale, Generation X, The Boys: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977
WILD WELSH ROCK: Lush valleys and terrifying peaks ...
Talking Heads: This Is A Minimalist Headline
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977
...for MILES' neo-structuralist look at New York hotshots Talking Heads ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977
THE JAM WERE scarcely halfway through their set at half past six when the geezer at the door of the Roundhouse told the 300-plus still ...
Van Morrison: A Period Of Transition (Warner Bros)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 April 1977
A MOST DISTRESSING set of circumstances is what we have here. ...
Atlanta Rhythm Section: Baby You Can't Drive My Car
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
THE ATLANTA RHYTHM SECTION don't really get on well enough to travel in the same vehicle. There's a personality clash between the sober, introspective section ...
Fats Domino: Diamonds and Mr Domino
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
"I went on a two-week trial to Las Vegas... and stayed there for seventeen years" ...
John McLaughlin & Shakti: The Bottom Line, NYC
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
"McLAUGHLIN LOOKS GOOD with long hair," said Nancy. ...
Muddy Waters: The Blues Had A Baby… And They Called It Rock 'N' Roll
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
"THE KIND OF BLUES I play there's no money in it. You makes a good livin' when you gets established like I did, but you ...
Supertramp: Even In The Quietest Moments (A&M)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
SUPERBLAND ...
The Dead Boys: UK in the USA '77
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 30 April 1977
The Dead Boys: CBGBs, NYC ...
Deniece Williams: Don't Mess with the Celestial Hitman...
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
DENIECE WILLIAMS, whose amazing rise to fame began when she was removed from a nursing college to work with Stevie Wonder and tour with the ...
Eric Clapton, Ronnie Lane: Eric Clapton: Clapton God Again
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
Eric Clapton/Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
RECORDED at the 1976 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, from which a live double-album of various acts was recently reviewed by Roy Carr, this ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
NOT CONTENT with unearthing far more previously unissued recordings from the Sun vaults than those that were released during the label's prime time, and recycling ...
Slade: Ar The Kidz Owt've Site Shock Probe
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
BANDS DON'T readily admit to being yesterday's heroes...so Slade, not long ago one of Britain's most celebrated bands, will only acknowledge that they've been through ...
The Chi-Lites: Theatre Royal, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
THE HOUSE LIGHTS dimmed and the musicians took their places. There was a buzz of activity on the darkened stage for a minute or so ...
The Jacksons, Wild Cherry: Convention Arena, Fort Worth, Texas
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
A LABEL CHANGE and a substitution of brothers doesn't seem to have harmed the famous five some's charisma any. Michael's still up front and he, ...
Valerie Wilmer: "Art is a luxury. Music is a functional thing."
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
Photographer-writer VALERIE WILMER opts for unlearning and the sovereignty of the heart ...
Asleep At the Wheel: The Wheel (Capitol)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
I'D BEEN beginning to think there wasn't that much happening on the live front until I saw Asleep At The Wheel at Hammersmith last week. ...
Joe Tex: Bumps 'n' bruises in Fayette, Mississippi: On tour with Joe Tex
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
THE SUN burns out of a clear blue sky like in all the best travel brochures; the air is warm and moist and heavy with ...
Chuck Berry: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
THERE'S NO BETTER indication of the pervasive and thorough influence of Chuck Berry than the fact that he could go almost anywhere and the chances ...
Delbert McClinton: Love Rustler
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
IN THE grand tradition of Elvis and Tony Joe White this is white, southern r'n'b. ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Sneakin' Suspicion (United Artists)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
Is there a doctor in the house? CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY thinks the FEELGOODS might just need one… ...
Elton John: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
THE SOCIAL division between rock star and audience is usually more obvious than it was at the Rainbow last Monday night. ...
Ian Hunter: What A Hunter He Turned Out To Be
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
ONE THING YOU GOTTA HAND to Ian Hunter: the old bastard knows how to make an entrance. ...
Tom Waits: Sound Circus, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977
APTLY ENOUGH, since he lives in hotels for ten months of every year, Tom Waits was born in the back of a taxi. His description ...
David Peel, John Lennon: Beatle Freak: Lennon Talks
Report by Miles, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
DAVID PEEL and the Apple Band have released an album dedicated to that all-American cause of re-uniting The Beatles. ...
Denny Laine, Wings: Denny Laine: Holly Days
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THERE ARE some people who can do it, and there are others who can't. It's as simple as that. ...
Dr. Feelgood: Exeter University, Exeter
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
NO FLASH hyperbole, no frills on this one, reet, because, contrary to more than one sneaking suspicion, this new-fangled Feelgoods practice is in fine fettle ...
Elliott Murphy: Just A Story From America (CBS)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
A FEW years ago, Rolling Stone printed a sizeable review of the first albums by Elliott Murphy and Bruce Springsteen, assessing them as contenders for ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
WHAT KIND of future can Heavy Metal orphans really look forward to once they fall from grace? ...
John Mayall: Falkshaus, Zurich
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
AS A TALENT scout John Mayall is a shrewd, calculating operator with few equals. Now with 26 albums to his credit and almost as many ...
Little Feat: Time Loves A Hero (Warners)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
MIGHT AS WELL jump in at the deep end and ask you to indulge in some consumer advice research. ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THE WORD from over there was that Mink De Ville were probably the tightest and best musically organised outfit in the whole of the C.B.G.B.'s ...
The Ramones: Notes on Minimalism (or Learning To Live With The Ramones)
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THERE'S BEEN A LOT of loose talk, and it has got to stop. Ever since The Ramones blundered into the blinding spotlight of international rock ...
Split Enz: Sheffield University, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
THE IDEA that a rock band from New Zealand should possess any merit whatsoever strikes many as ludicrously funny; the idea that such an antipodean ...
Talking Heads: Rock Garden, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 May 1977
AS FAR AS I'm concerned, this last week has been a monumental one for live rock. ...
George Benson: Benson Hedges His Bets...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977
When 'jazz guitar' rises on the Dow-Jones Index you know there's been a crossover. GEORGE BENSON made the switch from beret to broader base but ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Exodus (Island)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977
THE REVOLUTION may not be televised, but sure as death and taxes it'll be packaged... the sleeve of this album looks like a Cecil B. ...
Grateful Dead: My Night With The Dead
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977
IT'S LIKE GOING back home."Acid!""Acid, black beauties!""Acid!""You got any pot to sell?""No, man, all I got is acid and black beauties."What else could it be ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 May 1977
WHEN THIS was recorded in June 1976 as part of the Newport jazz festival, it came from an evening grandly titled a 'retrospective of the ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Now You See Him. Now You Don't.
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
The goods on the Feelgoods: did Wilko fall or was he pushed? ...
Elliott Murphy: Bottom Line, NY
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
I WAS HALFWAY through my cheeseburger when Elliott Murphy hit stage. He was greeted by the kind of applause that is reserved for unknowns who ...
Millie Jackson, Minnie Riperton: Feminism Is, Uh, Like Skinning Cats...
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
...or something like that, so it says here, in this double-date interview with Mss MINNIE RIPERTON and MILLIE JACKSON ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
AFTER MORE than six years and eight albums with Frank Zappa (which must be something of a record), after five solo albums for the small ...
MC5: Kick Out The Jams (Elektra)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
BROTHERS AND sisters...the time has come for each and every one of you to decide whether you are going to be the problem or whether ...
New York: Suddenly It's A Hell Of A Town Again…
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
And why? Because folks have got nothing to lose. Because it's happening, it's exciting, life is fun again and people aren't ashamed to have a ...
The Sex Pistols: Rotten Is Mum's Boy Shock
Report by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
NO MATTER how much criticism a young boy incites by his allegedly outrageous behaviour there's always somebody who will lovingly stand by him. His mum. ...
Tony Joe White: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 4 June 1977
IT'S MIDNIGHT, and I'm still dazed from a bolt out of the blue which hit me some time around 1.15 this afternoon. Completely unexpectedly, Tony ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Jahve, Mon
Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977
We know where we're going,We know where we're fromWe're from Babylon Bob Marley – 'Exodus' ...
Dickey Betts: Movin' On Out Of The Macon Mess
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977
I GUESS it's fair to say that Dickey Betts was the one member of The Allman Brothers to come out of the convoluted saga of ...
Neil Young: American Stars'n'Bars (Reprise)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977
Neil: bad judgment...or just a bad liver? ...
Report by Paul Morley, Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 June 1977
This band has fans. Lots of them. They sold out the Free Trade Hall and surprised even the promoter. PAUL MORLEY asks why, PAUL RAMBALI ...
Al Jarreau: Look To The Rainbow — Live
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
OF THE twelve songs here, four are from his first two albums, two are throwaway versions of show-tunes and the remaining six are new material. ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
THERE IS undoubtedly a great deal of refining and cleaning to be done on Buzzcocks' material before the album they can so definitely record comes ...
Queen: Freddie Mercury: Is This Man a Prat?
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
FREDDIE MERCURY has always liked to dance the Millionaire's Waltz. There's a story about him, dating back to his days as an impoverished student, which ...
Greg Kihn, The Rubinoos: Greg Kihn: Again; The Rubinoos: The Rubinoos (Beserkley)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE recently pointed out that, if they had come out now instead of the mid-60s, 'You Really Got Me' and 'Doo Wah Diddy' wouldnt ...
Ian Hunter: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
Mutton dressed as lamb ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
Taj Me In The Morning ...
The Heavy Metal Kids, Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
Rainbow rub out ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Ramones: The Ramones: So The New Wave Have Scruples Too
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE is quite definitely pissed off. ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey: The Meat Of The Matter
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
A discussion of the respective virtues of sheep's brains, raw mince, or monkey's brains sucked through a straw. Plus a bit about ALEX HARVEY. ...
Aretha Franklin: Sweet Passion
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
WHAT to do with Aretha Franklin? The question must echo around Atlantic's New York offices whenever it's time for her to make another record. ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby Stills & Nash: CSN (Atlantic)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
PREDICTABLY IT'S a creeping disease on this waterfront. After all everyone knew that Crosby, Stills and Nash would have to get back together sooner or ...
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas: Anthology
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
IF MARTHA and the Vandellas had never made another record 'Dancing In The Street' would still have assured them of a hallowed place in pop ...
Tony Joe White: Still Going Strong - Polk Salad Annie: It (and She)
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
THERE'S AN intangible something about Tony Joe White that puts me in mind of Elvis; but whoever he looks like, he is disgustingly handsome. ...
Talking Heads: Are These Guys Trying To Give Rock A Bad Name?
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
TALKING HEADS: it's a term they use up in the high-rise skyscrapers that house all the cogs in the corporate machinery cranking out network television ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
THIS ALBUM has caused me I more brain damage than my love life and if I didn't think it was worth the hassle I'd have ...
The Police: The Table, The Police: Music Machine, Camden, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 June 1977
A BAND THAT calls itself The Table must, at the very least, lack sound commercial principles — and will hopefully have something novel to offer. ...
Demis Roussos: A Shadow Darkens The Sun...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 July 1977
TONY STEWART sights DEMIS ROUSSOS off Beachy Head. ...
Bob Dylan: For Dylanologists Only (Otherwise v Boring)
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 2 July 1977
LAST YEAR Thrills (NME's news pages – RBP Ed) ran a transcript of Bob Dylan's first interview. It was done by Billy James of Columbia ...
999, The Saints: The Saints, 999: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 July 1977
THERE IS A TEMPTATION to regard The Saints as comic. This stems from a number of idiosyncratic things about them, not least of which is ...
Bad Company: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE 15,000 DISGUISED PUNKS ...
The Bay City Rollers, The Sex Pistols: GLC v Punk: Move Over, Sid Vicious
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
GLC Tory jumps on "Good Kickin'" bandwagon ...
Laura Nyro: Season Of Lights (Live)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
THERE'S something about Laura Nyro that inspires devotion in her followers. ...
Alternative TV: Life after punk?
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
Alternative TV: The Roxy, London FROM A MOVEMENT to a fashion. Johnny Rotten said in a recent interview that "the whole idea of our band ...
Michael Jackson: Show You The Way to the Infirmary
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
MICHAEL JACKSON proves you don't have to be a punk to get the benefits of the health service. ...
The Isley Brothers: Go For Your Guns (Epic)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
"YOU GET some writers saying, 'Why don't you do something like you did before?' They think they really want it but at the same time ...
X-Ray Spex: Plastic table cloths in the UK '77
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 July 1977
X-Ray Spex: Man In The Moon, Chelsea ...
The Rolling Stones: Advance Warning of New Meisterworks Department
Report by Miles, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
Stones: Got Duff Chord Changes If You Want THE ROLLING STONES — even Bill and Charlie — have all been in New York this ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
WHEN MICHAEL Des Barres was sojourning in London, going through the motions of Silverhead and other assorted, third division glitzkid antics, I always got the ...
Johnny Nash: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
FOR HIS first appearance on a British theatre stage (I think he once toured the USAF bases) in over 20 years of recording, Johnny Nash ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
From human beings to cardboard cut-outs. Kiss defy orthopaedic surgery... ...
Edgar Froese, Peter Baumann, Tangerine Dream: The 120 Decibel Dream - Warning: This Page is Heavy
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
TANGERINE DREAM have released an album — Stratosfear — written a movie score for Friedkin, completed a successful American tour and two members have released ...
Frankie Miller: The Everything's-Coming-Up-Roses-For-Frankie Miller Headline
Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
ONLY SOMEONE as talented as Frankie Miller could have afforded to be so profligate with his gifts. He's a survivor, sure, but it's been a ...
This Heat: Chelsea College Of Art, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
THERE ARE weird gigs, and there are weird gigs, but this one stands as the weirdest I've attended since the memorable time Faust caused a ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977
ONLY A FEW NIGHTS EARLIER there'd been a brawl in the Music Machine involving the Boom Town [sic] Rats, but in the cold atmosphere while ...
Woody Guthrie: Growin’ Fat on the Grapes of Wrath
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 23 July 1977
LAST YEAR they tried it with Leadbelly, the year before it was Lenny Bruce, this year they're doing it with Woody Guthrie. It seems like, ...
Pink Floyd: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 23 July 1977
THE FLOYD sure picked a fine week to appear in New York. Not only was it the eve of July 4th, but also it was ...
The Mamas and the Papas: The Best Of The Mamas and The Papas
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 23 July 1977
REMEMBER THOSE fabulous '60s? The protest marches? The draft card burnings? All those wandering boot heels? You had to swat the little bastards before they ...
Mink DeVille: Willie the Mink: Street Elite, Just Cruisin’ on the Neat Beat
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 23 July 1977
Mink DeVille: Bottom Line, NYC ...
Average White Band, Ben E. King: Ben E. King/Average White Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
THIS ISN'T an original thought but it bears repeating: Ben E. King is an excellent singer, and highly individual with it unmistakeable in a ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Island Records, Hammersmith, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
THE KING ARRIVES ALIVE ...
Generation X, The Lurkers: Generation X/The Lurkers: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
YOU KNOW THAT immense sense of relief that hits you when you get through the one album in every twenty or so that you might ...
Grateful Dead: Terrapin Station (Arista)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
Dead Still Riding The Rods of the Celestial Train ...
Little Richard: Is This the Start of A WOPBOPALOOBOPALOPBAM BOOM?
Report and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
(Or... will the real Little Richard please stand up) ...
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
"Hey, Gene.""What, Peter?""What are we doing in one of Farren's record reviews?" ...
Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto, The Fall: Manchester: They Mean It Maaanchester
Overview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
MANCHESTER as a Rock and Roll town just didn't use to exist. It fed dutifully off London, and there were frequent visits from groups to ...
Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Rockpile: The Rockpile Tapes
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977
DAVE EDMUNDS HAS had his definitive quote on Nick Lowe's talents down pat for a long while now. "There are loads of guys around in ...
Big Star: Big Star Burns Real Slow
Overview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
For almost ten years now, Alex Chilton has resolutely resisted successive attempts by the rock press to deify him. ...
The Beach Boys: CBS Convention: Beach Boys Party
Report by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
BEACH BOYS PARTY FOR CHOSEN 1,600 ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
BACK IN 71, it seemed that the Sweet Baby was every body's favourite. He'd already had a massive hit with 'Fire And Rain', while a ...
Little Feat: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
FEAT HEAD OFF FOR FRAMPTON ZONE?!! ...
Patti Smith: Roll Over, Rimbaud (tell Marc Bolan the news)
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
Patti Smith: The Village Gate, NYC ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
THE ALBANY is one of those places and there aren't many that can get packed to the rafters, sweaty and messy, and still ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
A long-running family saga continues: California fnurgs dump on U.K. public... ...
The Sex Pistols: The Social Rehabilitation of the Sex Pistols
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
THE PROSPEROUS CYBORGS at the next table in the backroom of this expensive Stockholm eating-place are sloshing down their coffee as fast as they possibly ...
The Vibrators: Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
THE TWO-FINGER salute put in a surprise appearance at The Vibrators' gig on Sunday. Whether the dozen pairs of arms frantically waving V signs were ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: Wayne County: Electric Circus, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 August 1977
UPSTAIRS IN THE tiny Electric Circus dressing room Wayne County fussily fumbles and fidgets; he's got to look just right. He's wearing a crisp fawn ...
Bootsy Collins: Space Bass Reveals Plans for Planetary Domination
Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
Bootsy's Rubber Band, Funkadelic: On video, from... Houston, Texas ...
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers: Rock 'n' roll with The Modern Lovers (Beserkley)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
A FRIEND of mine who has seen The Modern Lovers reckons they're the best band he's seen in about ten years, since The Who in ...
Mink DeVille: Just Another Tough'n'Tender Street Poet Outta New Yawk
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
Now Spanish music plays in my hallway And the wind blows through my door And my mind is out on the corner And my eyes ...
Ry Cooder & The Chicken Skin Revue: Show Time (Warner Bros.)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
Cooder tat no Coup d'etat (geddit?) ...
Retrospective by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
While the poor people sleep-in with the shade on the light While the poor people sleepin' all the stars come out at night – 'Show ...
Betty Wright, KC & the Sunshine Band, Latimore: The Miami Transfer: Florida Soul
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
AFTER SEVERAL year's of British release through President Records, earlier this year Henry Stone's Miami-based TK conglomerate switched outlets to RCA who have ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 August 1977
THE THING about Ultravox is that they're ultra-confident — and cynical observers haven't failed to point out that confidence comes easy when it's backed by ...
Eric Clapton: The Bullring, Ibiza
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 August 1977
IBIZA IS A VERY LONG way from the high pressure world of first division rock and roll. From the ancient Spanish women shrouded in all-concealing ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 August 1977
Whaaat? we hear you gasp. Supertramp? Guess you thought the punks had it all sewn up, huh? Well, you ain't heard nothin' yet. The war ...
MC5, Wayne Kramer: Wayne Kramer: Broke, Busted, Disgusted, Agents Can't Be Trusted
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 20 August 1977
Former MC5 guitarist WAYNE KRAMER live from Lexington Penitentiary, talks to MAX BELL about times past and time passing ...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
IT'S BEEN a rough old week for Elvis Costello. Last weekend he was right up there in the play lists with his 'Red Shoes' single ...
Obituary by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
IT WAS ONE OF THE worst storms to hit London since God knows when. The thunder rolled, lightning flashed and the rain hammered into the ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
GOG AND MAGOG?! No, Dog And Maindog. A Pure Pop Person Pleads Sanity. MAX BELL Was At The Hearings. ...
Johnny Winter, Nils Lofgren: Nils Lofgren, Johnny Winter: University of Texas, Dallas
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
THE UNIVERSITY of Texas auditorium was packed and standing with 3,300 big people. Some were seven foot tall, wearing Stetson hats, cowboy boots and chewing ...
The Slits, Steel Pulse: Slits, Steel Pulse: Clouds, Brixton, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
Once more the NME asks the question on the lips of thousands: Is this woman a prat? Yup, 'fraid so says PENNY REEL ...
Ted Nugent: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
WHY AMERICA is anxious to develop the Proton Beam Weapon, when they already have Megadecibel in the shape of Ted Nugent, is a question perhaps ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
SINCE THIS album was recorded it's reported that The Meters have succumbed to the clash of personalities and aspirations that's dogged their career for several ...
The Only Ones: I Have Seen The Future Of…etc. pt 52
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
"FLARED TROUSERS...FLARED TROUSERS...", the audience at the Marquee taunt brightly. On stage, the Only Ones are sticking together the kind of set that makes most ...
Gong: UFOs Over The UK '77 — Gong: Gong Live, Etc. (Virgin)
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 August 1977
Old H*pp**s Never Die — They Just Release Live Albums ...
Ultravox: Patchy Enough, But Powerful
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, September 1977
ULTRAVOX HAVE come in for their share of criticism since Island Records launched them with a bang eight months ago and amidst the flashing lights ...
Ash Ra Tempel: Regents Park, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 3 September 1977
IT WAS a warm, moist evening — ideal for sitting on damp grass and peering at laser beams through your wineglass. A perfect bring-along-the-doggie-and-the-kids hippie ...
Lowell George, Little Feat: Fear and Loathing in Little Feat?
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 September 1977
LOWELL GEORGE IS NOT HAPPY. BILL PAYNE IS BEING DIPLOMATIC. THRILLS IS ALL EARS. ...
The Clash: God, What A Bummer! Stuck Here With Joe Strummer!
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 September 1977
THE CLASH AT BELSEN... 'ALL JOURNALISTS ARE SWINE' BY CHRIS SALEWICZ, WHO DUCKS AND RUNS. ...
Diana Ross, The Supremes: Diana Ross and the Supremes: 20 Golden Greats
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 10 September 1977
IF THEY weren't the highest form, they sure as hell were the most refined. The three-piece girl vocal group is almost a dying art. Only ...
John Cale: Fan Fare for the Uncommon Man
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 September 1977
AARON COPELAND DIDN'T know what he was letting the world in for when he sent John Cale a letter authorising the young Welshman's scholarship at ...
Thin Lizzy: A Peep Into The Soul Of Phil Lynott
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 September 1977
A black Irishman the son of a Brazilian seaman; a Roman Catholic of uncatholic lifestyle; a bass playing poet in a rock 'n' roll ...
Aerosmith: Quest For The Man In Glitter Wellies
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 September 1977
AEROSMITH get stuck in European mud. And NICK KENT, picking his way carefully around the problem, concludes that the U.S. giants may be bogged down ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Be Seeing You
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 September 1977
MAYBE IT'S FREUDIAN. The Feelgoods have picked up on a motif from The Prisoner for the title of this album and, in some ways, they're ...
The Jam: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 September 1977
THE NEW WAVE scene is arguably more interesting now than ever, as the big five or six bands are being forced to consolidate their first ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: Marc Bolan: A Fan's Tribute
Comment by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 September 1977
IT'S DULLY strange — just a few fast days after reading and hearing the effect on so many lives that Presley's 'Heartbreak Hotel' had — ...
Nona Hendryx, Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel/Nona Hendryx: Live in Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 24 September 1977
NONA HENDRYX possesses all the lumps and bumps, (in abundance), in all the right places, and flaunts her curvacity in a performance which promises sexuality ...
Marc Bolan, John's Children, T. Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Rock and Roll Heart: Marc Bolan 1947-1977
Obituary by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 September 1977
MARC BOLAN was born on September 30, 1947, in Hackney Hospital, East London, the second son of Sid and Phyllis Feld. ...
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: Southside Johnny: If You Can't Take The Heat
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 September 1977
A BRIEF NATTER over a can of beer in a tent that's tripling as a refreshment bar, dressing room and rehearsal area is not the ...
The Rolling Stones: Love You Live (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 September 1977
JUST UNDER a minute into the first side there's been the usual audience mayhem, a snippet of exotic percussion, cannons firing, about four bars ...
Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties!! (Stiff)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
WHAT WE have in New Boots And Panties!! is a long overdue solo album from one of Britain's most unique and uncompromising talents. ...
Jonathan Richman Melts An Old Cynic's Heart
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
ALTHOUGH THIS is the seven-piece group's first album as Maze they've each paid dues in various guises for years. It shows. With one concerted effort ...
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
AFTER A WEEK of cloud-sealed gloom the sun shone down on London on Friday pushing the lunchtime temperature to 63 degrees. The vibes seemed auspicious ...
Genesis, Peter Gabriel: The Re-Genesis Of Peter Gabriel
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
For someone who once accepted the Noble Order Of The Pension Book, this chap is rather lively. TONY STEWART saw him knocking out audiences at ...
Dire Straits: Hope & Anchor, Islington
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
NOT AN obvious little band, this. ...
Dwight Twilley Band: Twilley Don't Mind (Shelter)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
ALL THE OMENS seem up there in the ascendant for Dwight Twilley. All the rock critics love him to death and even the most austere ...
Magazine: This Man Is Not A Minor Writer!
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
For a start he's dispensed with words! ...
The Slits, The Subway Sect: Subway Sect, Slits: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
Some-of-us-take-this-seriously Productions present: THE CAVORTINGS OF CREATIVE PEOPLE ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
LAST MONTH the more alert London habituee got the chance to compare England's new wave inner-workings with those of its fore-runner over in New York ...
Dr. Feelgood, Wilko Johnson: Wilko Johnson: Wilko Not Buried Yet
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 8 October 1977
WITH DOCTOR Feelgood moving into the charts and just embarked on a headlining nationwide tour, one question still hangs around the street corner waiting to ...
Brothers Johnson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
AS BONES OF contention go, there is currently none more fat and juicy than the one being wrestled between the main pack of legit music ...
Deniece Williams / Lenny Williams: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
REGULAR PATRONS of theatre gigs in Britain have become so wary, not to say weary, of suffering rent-a-stooge warm-up acts that many now don't bother ...
Elvis Presley: Junk, junk food junk prose (pulpitations for all)
Book Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
Red West, Sonny West, Dave Hebler, as told to Steve Dunleavy: Elvis What Happened? ...
The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger Hits Out At Everything In Sight!
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
IF ONLY IT HADN'T all been so damnedly, unrelentingly...uh...amicable. ...
Weather Report: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 15 October 1977
JOE ZAWINUL's mob are the one band I would never expect to let me down and although Weather Report didn't quite do that, they ...
Bob Seger: Palace Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 22 October 1977
THAT IT should have taken Bob Seger so long to receive his just reward is in itself one of the more disgraceful cases of rock ...
Graham Parker, The Rumour: Graham Parker: Shades Of The Pink Parker
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 October 1977
NINE WAYS TO AVOID THE HEAT TREATMENT ...
Leo Sayer: The Palladium, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 October 1977
THE VERY idea of Leo Sayer trotting about the hallowed stage of the Palladium is enough to have him executed by any gang of rock ...
801: Phil Manzanera / 801: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
THERE IS something to be said for the notion that Phil Manzanera's music, as such, doesn't exist. Listening to it is like watching a chameleon ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
YOU HAVE to hand it to him. Carlos Santana may only know a handful of licks, but at least they're attractive — like the moment ...
Overview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
THE MUTANTS, the dwarfs and the all night girls (that's right, the ones who still brag about escapades out on the D train, despite the ...
The Tubes: What is Our Role in the Universe?
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 October 1977
These young people are pondering the question that has perturbed all the great philosophers since time immemorial and beyond: WHAT'S the barbed wire doing over ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977
SINCE 1971 this band has been one of the few HM perpetrators worth listening to. Since 1974's Secret Treaties it has been only one. If ...
Iggy Pop, The Ramones: Iggy Pop: Cobo Arena, Detroit
Live Review by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977
Iggy suffers metallic KO, Ramones rule OK? ...
The Jam: This Is The Modern World
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977
SO THIS is the modern world. I'm glad they told me. For an instant I'd thought I'd been transported back to 1965. Flashback on flashback ...
Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe: The Stiff Tour: Stiffs Drugs And Rock 'N' Roll
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 November 1977
"SEX AND drugs and rock and roll...sex and drugs and rock and roll...sex and drugs and rock and roll..." Hot damn, m'man, Leicester University is ...
Bob Seger: The Michigan Marvel
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
ON THE covers of several of Bob Seger's albums there's this curious production credit to "Punch". ...
David Bowie: Who Was That (Un)masked Man?
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
CHRIST, HOW LONG has it been? Four years, man, and I set up the tape machine – Bowie attempting to balance the microphone on top ...
Burning Spear: Dry and Heavy in the Ozone: Burning Spear at the Rainbow
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
IN THAT it (a) got me truly into reggae, and (b) has continued to stand as a symbol of the truth and beauty that all ...
Gong: Magik Brother, Mystic Sister; Gong Est Mort — Vive Gong!
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
TWO CHAPTERS in the life of Daevid Allen, space dingo and nomad of nonsense. ...
Joan Armatrading: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
AS ANY regular user of London's Underground rail network can testify, not all of the strolling troubadours who jostled for recognition in the balmy '60s ...
Tyla Gang: Sean Tyla: Beserkley Badass Braggadoccio
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
ISN'T THIS A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS? ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
JIMMY PURSEY bursts upon you. He is a natural. A natural natural. Distortion in the media can colour reputations wrongly, especially the reputation of fulsome ...
Smokey Robinson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 12 November 1977
BILL-TOPPERS usually command a bigger stage area and more musicians than opening acts, but on this occasion the position was reversed for Viola Wills with ...
Ben Sidran: The Doctor Is In (Arista)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
IN SOME ways Sidran is an anachronism. Though he's got something of a rock pedigree after paying his dues as side man with Steve Miller, ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
DOWNSTAIRS AT Newcastle's City Hall, Josef Zawinul has just made a very astute point. "All the originators are always great," he repeats, looking inquisitively close ...
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
Nona Hendryx and Patti Labelle unveil their new aspirations ...
The Darts: Darts: Darts (Magnet)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
THEY PROBABLY won't thank me for saying so, but there's no getting around the fact that there are marked – if only coincidental – similarities ...
Levon Helm: Levon Helm and the RCO All Stars (ABC)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
LEVON HELM was the kid who went north in the late 50s with a rockabilly singer called Ronnie Hawkins, whose talents were dime-a dozen in ...
Little Richard: Little Richard Now (Creole)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
AT IRREGULAR intervals throughout the 20 years since he cut about a dozen of the greatest rock'n'roll records ever made, Little Richard has re-re-recorded the ...
Rod Stewart: The Latest Rod Stewart Album
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
TONY STEWART makes the Atlantic Crossing to queue up for a Night On The Town down Millionaire's Row (oops, sorry, Gasoline Alley) with ol' Smiler ...
The Hollywood Binliner: L.A. Punk
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
THERE ARE 70 PUNKS IN L.A. – HERE'S MOST OF 'EM... ...
Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
STUCK FOR a suitable opening gambit? You could start with the name, I guess. ...
The Tubes: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 November 1977
THE TUBES recorded their two debut London gigs for a live album. This was indicative of either supreme confidence or supreme folly – ...
Brian Eno, Roxy Music: Eno Part 1: Before and After Science — Accidents Will Happen
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 November 1977
Thinking about music with BRIAN ENO. Some monologues recorded and compiled by IAN MacDONALD. ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 26 November 1977
THERE IS something about the Music Machine in Camden Town that severely dulls one's capacity for enjoyment of an evening of live rock. ...
Stan Getz: You Getz what you deservz
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 November 1977
...Says Stan the Tenorman, with no time for hard luck stories and strong opinions on everything. He talks to BRIAN CASE ...
Brian Eno, David Bowie: Eno Part 2: Another False World — How to Make A Modern Record
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977
Thinking about music with BRIAN ENO. Some more monologues recorded and compiled by IAN MacDONALD. ...
Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne: Beyond Black Sabbath
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977
IN THE PAST Ozzy Osbourne has often over-dramatised the state of both his mental and physical health, but as he now relates his reasons for ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977
So this is Christmas: The Voice of Young Amerika! ...
Wilko Johnson: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 December 1977
THERE WAS something almost malevolently horrible about the atmosphere in Dingwall's when Wilko Johnson's band debuted there last Thursday. ...
Generation X: Roundhouse, Chalk Farm
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
THE FIRST TIME I encountered Generation X (or at least their lead singer/figurehead Billy Idol) it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. ...
Nina Simone, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
YOU CAN'T keep tabs on everybody all the time. It wasn't until this concert was announced that I realised there hasn't been much heard from, ...
Bob Dylan: Renaldo Zimmerman and the Cubist Movie
Report by Miles, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
WHEN THE ROLLING THUNDER Revue ended two years ago, Bob Dylan took the 400 hours of film footage that had been shot during the tour ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
ON AUGUST 5th, 1975, Stevie Wonder signed an historic contract with Motown. Apart from the little matter of a $13 million guarantee, the deal reputedly ...
The Modern Lovers: Modern Lovers Live (Beserkley)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
JONATHAN RICHMAN reminds me irresistibly of Fotherington-Thomas in the old Nigel Molesworth books: forever skipping about burbling "Hello sun, hello trees, hello sky." ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: The Sid Vicious Guide To London Hotels
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
IT WAS AT THE A&M Sex Pistols press conference, convened early this year, that newly appointed group bassist Sid Vicious gave his brusque views on ...
Burning Spear: Winston Rodney is Burning Spear
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
Is The Man In The Hills, is The Sound Of The Present Age ...
Aerosmith: Draw The Line (Columbia Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
AEROFLOP! ...
The Dictators: Dictators Debunk New York Chic
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
SO WHY IS DICK Manitoba nicknamed Handsome? ...
Greg Kihn: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
BY WAY of introduction, says Greg Kihn, short, smiling, bopping, "We're from Berkeley; that means we don't give a shit about nothing". ...
Lonnie Donegan: The Lonnie Donegan File (Pye)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
TAKES YOU back a bit, doesn't it? I'd almost thought the world had forgotten about Lonnie Donegan. Which was really a crying shame since Donegan, ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Here Comes The Wrath Of Sid!
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
IT WAS the last day in November when the whole ugly mess finally exploded. Sid Vicious, the bass player of The Sex Pistols, had once ...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Requiem For Rahsaan
Obituary by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
THE DEATH of Rahsaan Roland Kirk at the age of 41, shortly after playing two concerts with his group, The Vibration Society, at Indiana University ...
Rick Danko: Rick Danko (Arista)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
IT'S ODD that the least prodigious songwriters in The Band should be the quickest to deliver solo goods. First Levon Helm and now, hot on ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 17 December 1977
AN ANECDOTE: hopeful young Irish band up in London for the first time. Their bass player Philip Lynott by name is exploring the ...
Johnny Winter: Dis Man am de Saviour of de Blues. An’ Dis am no Joke...
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 24 December 1977
Live from Fort Worth, Texas: JOHNNY WINTER talks to Miles ...because it seems like the world's whitest blues player is really getting it together after ...
John Martyn: This Man Is A Walking, Playing Bag of His Own
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 24 December 1977
"ACTUALLY," ADMITS John Martyn, as he gives in to one of the great groundswells of spluttering, infectious laughter that carry along his speech, "I see ...
The Ramones, The Rezillos: Market Hall, Carlisle
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 December 1977
THE WORD used all day was surreal. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1978
"TAKE OUTCHA false teeth, mama...I wanna sssssssssuck on your gums!" ...
Ray Charles: Renaissance (London)
Review by Mick Brown, New Musical Express, 1978
TO SEE a Ray Charles album on the London label is to experience a flash of nostalgia. For in his greatest hour – the mid-1950s ...
Dr. Alimantado: Doctor Alimantado Meets His Duppy Uptown
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
A DIAGNOSIS OF NEAR-DEATH ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
DID THEY really get what they wanted? They being black Americans. Gil Scott-Heron doesn't think so. He thinks that what they got came only on ...
Joan Baez: Joanie returns as Bobby: Joan Baez at the Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
JOANIE BROUGHT the audience right up on stage with her at the Odeon two rows of them, mostly her guests, sitting rather self-consciously behind ...
John Otway: Beware of the Underdog
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
JOHN OTWAY to be precise. The madman who's been falling around on your TV screen. The background story is interesting. TONY STEWART reports. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
THEY SAY ENVIRONMENT determines character, and when it comes to American music, they're probably right. ...
George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic, Parliament: The Creation of Dr Funkenstein
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
The scene: Maggotropolis, Hollywood. The target: the infamous Mr. GEORGE CLINTON High Priest of a Black Unholy Trinity. Enter a reporter clutching a clove of ...
The Damned: The Torments of The Damned
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
(a somewhat sobering cautionary tale of our time)Charles Shaar Murray asks, is that a light at the end of the tunnel or another oncoming ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
HAVE THE Black Slate group been taking their cue from Glitterbest Promotions? ...
Boz Scaggs: Portrait of The Image as a Reality
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
The elusive BOZ SCAGGS picks up the phone in deepest America and suavely refutes all allegations of artifice. 'My image is no pose man ...
Keith Hudson: A Better Brand Of Dub
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
YOU MAY recall reading, a couple of years ago, an NME recommendation of Keith Hudson's Pick A Dub LP, on the now sadly defunct Atra ...
Parliament: Funkentelechy vs. The Placebo Syndrome
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
Clinton's Clones Hit Ass & Funny Bone ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees: A World Domination By 1984 Special
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
This is Siouxsie and the Banshees/They are patient/They will win/In the end. ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
(AND YES, THEY DO WANT TO BE TEEN IDOLS...) ...
The Last Poets, Merger: The Last Poets/Merger: Acklam Hall, Notting Hill, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
CHANCES OF seeing The Last Poets I would have thought were only marginally better than those of seeing The Beatles. ...
The Last Poets: Wake Up Limeys, The Last Poets Are Among You
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 14 January 1978
"Wheat's characteristics and nature make it wheat. It differs from barley because of its nature. Wheat perpetuates its own characteristics just as the white race ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
TRY AS I might I never could nestle up to Clover's last album (their English debut). There were several ingredients missing, elements that jarred on ...
Johnny Clarke: Don't Stay Out Late (Penguin)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
THIS IS the second album from Johnny Clarke since the sudden termination of his Virgin contract, and it marks the general decline in standard and ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Funk Beyond The Call Of Duty (DJM)
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
NUMBER THREE in an open-ended set of however many the market will take before the law of diminishing return starts operating. ...
Ozark Mountain Daredevils: Don't Look Down
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
Second Cut is the Lowest ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
NINTEEN seventy-seven happened pretty fast. ...
Split Enz: College Of Art, Maidstone
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
'THE DAMBUSTERS March' (at double speed, natch) fades away as Split Enz vocalist Neil Finn ("Actually, we're New Zealanders not Australians") plunges through the murky ...
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
The Department of Cryptic Headlines presents a retrospective view of THE WHO's Quadrophenia, noting that Mr Pete Townshend's Mod vision is as valid now as ...
Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band: Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978
AND WELCOME back the Bosstown Sound! That's Boston USA, spelled B-O-S-S-T-O-W-N, home of the J. Geils Band, Aerosmith, The Modern Lovers (sort of) and now…Willie ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
SO NOW the whole Toussaint catalogue is available again, enabling listeners of taste to trace for themselves the development of the New Orleans man's approach, ...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
Although he paid a lot of dues — with Korner, Bond, Mayall, Colosseum and a handful of Rolling Stones — veteran R 'n' B tenorman ...
Frank Zappa: Stern Words in Knightsbridge
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
…when cynical ol’ Uncle Frank knocks punk, record companies and U.S. presidents, and reveals the CIA plot to spike San Francisco… ...
Iggy Pop and James Williamson: Kill City (Radar Records)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
WELL, IT'S finally out and yup, disregarding the shoddy cover, it's a great album. ...
Johnny Winter, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters: I'm Ready
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
"If you're watching me and Johnny Winter, the show is MEANT to be in black and white." ...
Dire Straits, Talking Heads: Talking Heads, Dire Straits: Sheffield University, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
How 77 moves smoothly into '78 ...
The Equators: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
DURING RECENT months we have been witness to increasing media interest in the indigenous UK reggae scene, especially as focussed upon Matumbi, Black Slate, Steel ...
The Osmonds: The Osmonds' Greatest Hits
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 28 January 1978
I HAVE this theory that they're a totally separate (and probably hostile) species. They breed and multiply in hidden canyons of the American South West. ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: An Evening with Sid and Nancy – The Odd Couple Behind Closed Doors.
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
SWAYING CRAZILY, Sid Vicious clambers up off the bed. He manages the three or four steps to where, obeying live-in-lover Nancy's instructions, he removes the ...
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
"FRANK ZAPPA is the leader and musical director of the Mothers Of Invention. His performances in person with the group are rare. His personality means ...
Hirth Martinez: Big Bright Street
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
APART FROM its notoriety for encouraging idle hedonism, California also seems to breed an unusually high percentage of oddballs. ...
Lonnie Donegan: Will The Circle Really Be Unbroken?
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
LONNIE DONEGAN'S life seemed to have completed such a perfect full circle that it could almost prove even the dumbest hippy's half-assed theories of a ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
EXCESS AND incongruity seem to be the key factors at work here. An abundance of diverse stylistic elements piledriven and packed high into what must ...
Millie Jackson: Odeons Birmingham And Hammersmth
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
Millie's preoccupations, said The Guardian, are sex, sex and more sex; can't argue with that. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
An investigation of the theory behind TALKING HEAD music. ...
Adam & The Ants: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
Termites devour part of New Wave ...
Art Pepper, Before And After Life
Profile and Interview by Roy Carr, Brian Case, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
And still going strong. The alto legend is working again after beating heroin addiction and 12 years in jail. ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Earth, Wind & Fire: All 'n All
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
CBS HAVE A problem. To be sure, it's the sort of ticklish little teaser that most record companies would be glad to scratch, but a ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
What do all these bands have in common? ANSWER: They're all EDDIE AND THE HOTRODS, slidin' on the moment and trying not to fall off. ...
Millie Jackson: Another Day, Another Dollar
Report and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
A COLLEAGUE FROM another paper and I were swopping reactions about Millie Jackson. He'd interviewed her in London; I'd caught up with her a couple ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
FAITH, HOPE AND HIP ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
"Anybody wants to get mellow better turn around and get the fuck outa here." ...
Tom Waits: Foreign Affairs (Asylum)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
A RUMOUR IN HIS OWN TIME ...
XTC: Sheffield Polytechnic, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 February 1978
IT WAS pointed out, some while ago, that a large number of punk outfits preface their name with the definite article, as compared with the ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978
999 ARE A heavy-pop quartet signed favourably to United Artists. They are, in effect, on the verge of some kind of breakthrough. A likeable bunch ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: A Lickle Love An' T'ing
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978
Interview CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY. From the Court of the Ranking Dread. ...
Little Feat: Waiting for Columbus
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978
IF IT'S DEAD, IT'S SIX FEAT UNDER ...
The Residents: Meet the Legendary Residents, Alias the Cryptic Corporation
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978
...alias Pore-No-Graphics, alias Pale Pachyderm Publishing, alias Ralph Records. Maybe. Or maybe not. Some people think they're The Beatles. Hell, anybody who makes Ku Klux ...
Tina Turner: If This Is Vegas, Give Me More
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 18 February 1978
JANUARY, Millie Jackson; February, Tina Turner; soon to come, Gladys Knight...gee whizz, can it all be too much for this white boy? No, no, no; ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
The Dangers Of Being Likeably Listenable ...
Big In Japan: From Little Idiots Big Idiots Do Grow
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
"BIG IN JAPAN...BIG IN JAPAN...BIG IN JAPAN..." ...
The Clash: Cult Figure Cuts Clash To Suit American Dream Machine
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
SANDY PEARLMAN IS A BRISK and lively talker. He can probably offer an animated dissertation of any number of irregular topics, ranging from advancements in ...
Dillinger: Central London Polytechnic, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
ON THIS opening night of his first full-length tour of the UK college circuit, Lester Bullocks better-known as Dillinger maintained an impressive, large and volubly ...
Karla Bonoff, Kate Bush: Kate Bush: The Kick Inside; Karla Bonoff: Karla Bonoff
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
THOUGH ON the surface just another member of the incestuous West Coast singing/songwriting sisterhood, Karla Bonoff is different in one crucial respect — she isn't ...
Howard Devoto, Magazine: Magazine: Howard Devoto's Enigma Variations
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
HOWARD DEVOTO gives good face. Unlined and triangular, topped with a vast expanse of forehead; the kind that popular folklore maintains is the unmistakeable dead-giveaway ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
THERE'S NO-ONE lower than Nick, it's been said, and here's the booty to bear that out. ...
The Adverts: Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
ONCE UPON a time, the fastest way of revealing yourself as an Old Fart Who Didn't Understand The New Wave was to allege in ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
They came out of the mists of Hibernia... They were wild, weird, and whacky...They were the first Rock-A-Hula Beat Combo to hit Scotland since 1961...They ...
Blue Oyster Cult: The Cult Occult And The Disco Nightmare
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
ALLEN LANIER sits down for a pleasant chat about bikers, Burt Bacharach and band ideology. ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
The 1978 edition BRYAN FERRY These Four Wall of my Prison I Have Come to Love.'Byron said that. ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
"CBGB & OMFUG" is what it says over the door of Hilly Kristal's rock and roll dive down on New York's Bowery. That's the club ...
Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
Mighty Dury, due to be mightier ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
I'M AN AMERICAN ARTIST , I HAVE NO GUILT, I TRUST MY GUITAR ...
Rush: Is Everybody Feelin' all RIGHT? (Geddit...?)
Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
The gist of this being that H.M. tourist RUSH are all RIGHT-er than most, as MILES discovers ...
The Subway Sect: Bernard Rhodes Great Unknowns Payola Special
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 March 1978
SUBWAY SECT have been together in some form or another since the semi-legendary 100 Club punk festival in September 1976. The line-up on that date ...
Buzzcocks, The Slits: Thames Polytechnic,Woolwich, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
Buzzcocks turn pro ...
Elvis Costello: This Year's Model (Radar Records)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
THERE'S ONLY one real problem facing the reviewer assessing this, our El's second album, but if it's tricky enough to deal with then at least ...
Bryn Haworth, Gallagher & Lyle: Gallagher & Lyle, Bryn Haworth: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
We used… to believe… in rock'n'roll ...
Jacob Miller, Tapper Zukie: Jamaica: Peace Conference In A Western Kingston
Report by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
ON JANUARY 10 of this year, Samuel Dreckett — JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) Councillor for the Western Kingston district of Tivoli Gardens — entered the ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
WRECKLESS UBU: Waiting For The End ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
HALFWAY through, this chaotic gig had all the makings of one of the Great Disasters Of Our Time. ...
Profile by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
IT WAS AN EVENT of no great consequence. In a swoop on EMI's press department back in spring 1974, intent only on plundering as much ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Palladium, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
How the old wave is coming to terms with post-"77 existence. Meeting the challenge of '78: Alex Harvey hired an orchestra, a pipe and drum band, ...
Wreckless Eric: Wreckless Eric
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
IT'S RATHER appropriate that you can buy a hideous dung coloured version of Wreckless Eric's first album. Like the person who reminds you that the ...
Wreckless Eric: Sheffield Polytechnic
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978
A YOUNG lady appears on the stage and proceeds to shout something about today being her birthday, saxist John Glyn accompanying her (less than diplomatic) ...
Bethnal: Sheffileld Polytechnic
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
More of a ripple than a wave? ...
Devo: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
SUDDENLY.....Devo! ...
Elvis Costello: Holocaust In Microcosm
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
"HEY ELVIIIIIS!!!" There's this blonde gumdrop down the front, see, shaking it down in that demure stoned way that hippie girls seem to favour, and ...
Devo: Hi! We're DEVO and We've come to get your toilet ready for the 1980's
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
THE TRUTH ABOUT DE-EVOLUTION AND OTHER PLANETARY MODES. ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
EVERYONE GETS that glazed marzipan look in make-up. Maybe it's some weird chemical that they put in the booze in the Artists' Bar at Television ...
Spirit: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
DO YOU BELIEVE in magic? Me, I'm still dreaming, lost in the welter of sensory impressions that seeped into the Rainbow the minute Spirit dripped ...
John Lydon, The Sex Pistols: The Poolside Pronouncements Of Johnny 'No-Tan' Rotten
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
JOHN ROTTEN likes dressing up. Seeing him stuck away under a parasol by the side of the Olympic-sized pool of the Kingston Sheraton at eleven ...
The Soft Boys/The Brakes: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
Why it's safer to lack discipline than imagination ...
The Bee Gees, John Travolta: Saturday Night Fever (X)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
Directed by John Badham. Starring John Travolta (CIC) ...
Elvis Costello: Disgust! Irritation? Revenge! Obsession?
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
NICK KENT — whose 1977 interview with ELVIS COSTELLO was internationally quoted as the definitive piece on The Man In Glasses — goes back for ...
Joe Ely: Honky Tonk Masquerade
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
'T FOR Texas, T for Tennessee' sang Jimmie Rodgers back in '28, cementing the blues alongside country music, thus helping himself to a million-seller. ...
Kansas: Buffalo huntin' in Hamburg
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
A species threatened with extinction suddenly gains a new lease of life, and causes a big stir in the world of natural history... in this ...
Reggae Regular: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
CONSIDERING THE brevity of its existence, seven-piece outfit Reggae Regular has caused considerable stir in this man's town in recent months. ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
IN THEIR infinite wisdom, Chiswick first pressed five-sixths of this rocking package on a 10-inch album. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
ON PAPER Generation X have their credentials for being The Now Sensation all present and correct. They've had them for a long time too. ...
Joe Sample: Rainbow Seeker (ABC Import)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
SEARCH AND DEPLOY ...
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
The Love Story Of Leroy Smart ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
ARTHUR RIMBAUD, the late 19th Century French poet who dreamt of 'recreating life through his words' and whose work helped inspire poetic Symbolism, Dadaism and ...
Overview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
Exploring alternative hives of industry in Akron, City of Rubber, and Cleveland, City of Steel. ...
Interview by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
THE KOOK WHO FEEL TO EARTH. ON THE 8th DAY HE BOMBED OUT. ON THE 9th HE WAS RESURRECTED. ...
Cheap Trick, Johnny Moped, The Stukas: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
ON SUNDAY night at the Roundhouse, Cheap Trick showed how it should be done. ...
Cheap Trick: Meet Tricky Ricky and the Denim Deliverers
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
....Ricky Neilsen and CHEAP TRICK, to be more precise, who're currently wowing the Heavy Metal Hordes and MAX BELL (who naturally feels there's a bit ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
Not Funny But Frankly ...
Generation X: Generation Rock & Roll Soul
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
MIDNIGHT IN THE basement console room at Advision Studios, London W1. As Generation X bassist Tony James avidly demands of producer Martin Rushent that he ...
The Bush Fire That Ate Bogville, Arizona
Overview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 April 1978
Oh-no-not-another-fanzine-survey (goes West) ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
FIRST OF all: a public service announcement: the Charing Cross Road Astoria is one terrible gig. ...
Graham Parker: Gram Parker: The Parkerilla
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
YEAH, WE know: just what the world needs is another double live album, right? ...
Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Billericay Dickie vs. Uncle Sam
Report and Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
Two Cultures Collide: BRIAN CASE on IAN DURY & THE BLOCKHEADS' U.S. tour ...
Kevin Coyne: Matching girth & vision!
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
In both cases, the operative term is "broad". At a time when the unique worldviews of Elvis Costello and Ian Dury have become chartbound sounds, ...
Professor Longhair: Ronnie Scotts, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
I HAVE immense admiration for Professor Longhair ...
Professor Longhair: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
I HAVE immense admiration for Professor Longhair. ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
ANGELA IS a slim, pretty, 16-year-old blonde with the kind of Camay complexion and wide-eyed innocent appeal that drives randy old journalists into that wretched ...
Allen Toussaint, Lee Dorsey: The Meat And The Motion
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978
Allen Toussaint: Motion (Warner Brothers Import)Lee Dorsey: Night People (ABC) ...
Brian Auger, Julie Tippetts: Brian Auger and Julie Tippetts: Encore
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
AS REUNION albums go, this is considerably better than The Byrds' album, Booker T and the MGs', The Small Faces' or The Animals', but that's ...
Graham Parker: The On-Going Story Of Little Men In Glasses
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
Graham Parker, in this instance — who reflects on the vagaries of the rock power struggle while socking it to 'em in Ireland. When you're ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
THERE IS nothing especially new about this power pop hullaballoo, y'know. As a sub-genre it has existed in a succession of shapes and guises for ...
The Only Ones, Television: Television, The Only Ones: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
LAST YEAR, Television arrived in Britain under a shower of gilded prose and hyperbole claiming that they were the hottest thing since the invention of ...
The Band: The Last Waltz (Warner Brothers)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
The second feeding of the 5000... And lo, the leftovers filled six sides of vinyl. And the people marveled. ...
Todd Rundgren: Hermit of Mink Hollow (Bearsville)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
AND JUST when we all thought that Todd Rundgren had finally disappeared into the darkest recesses of his cosmological inner sanctum he comes back at ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 April 1978
NO MORE GOOD GUYS ...
Bootsy Collins, Raydio: Bootsy's Rubber Band, Raydio: Felt Forum, NYC
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 29 April 1978
SELF-STYLED Player Of The Year, Bootsy Collins is hip to the dynamics of Showtime. As his music is a fantastic flight from bases built by ...
Kraftwerk: The Man Machine (Capitol)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 April 1978
IT IS RATHER unfortunate that Kraftwerk's current popularity is based, to a large extent, on the chic appeal of David Bowie's favour. True, such favour ...
Kraftwerk: Terminal Weirdness à Paris
Report by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 April 1978
(Airport terminal, that is. Meanwhile somewhere up in some posey skyscraper, KRAFTWERK are boring everyone stiff...) ...
Wings: The Trial of James Paul McCartney
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1978
IMAGINE THAT Paul McCartney didn't bury himself in hermit-like seclusion in Liverpool after the assassination attempt by Jack Ruby that followed the break-up of The ...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
That was the title of one of the influential, flamboyant R'n'B man's hits, for you punks too young to remember. But nowadays, believe it or ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
THE ONE thing more annoying than a duff album, by a duff band is a duff album by a good band. ...
Jerry Garcia Band: Cats Under The Stars
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
UNCLE JEROME'S fourth foray into the solo light gets some of that old Dead sound back to base. Just in time I guess. ...
Report by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 May 1978
AS HE STOOD at the top of Whitehall at 10.35 last Sunday morning gazing impassively towards Nelson's Column, the optimism of Commander Walker of Scotland ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
ALL ROADS LEAD to the 100 Club in London's West End every Thursday night, where "in tune to Silver Camel Sound" the weekly ...
Horslips: Heard The One About Irish Band And The Green Beer?
Report by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
No? Read on then, bro'. This is a story of amazing weirdness. You obviously haven't heard about the green underwear either. Or the green Chicago ...
The Gladiators, Reggae Regular: Rafters, Manchester
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
OF LATE, I and I have been nursing a nagging ambivalence towards reggae. ...
The Only Ones: The Only Ones (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
Not Only but... ...
The Tubes: New Theatre, Oxford
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
I DIDN'T see this exotic troupe last time around but I do recall one particularly purple review of them; words to the effect: "Would you ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
TO USE an alimentary analogy, punk can be seen as a kind of musical laxative, clearing away all that stodgy stuff that was blocking the ...
X-Ray Spex: Poly Styrene Is Still Strictly Roots
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 May 1978
SUNDAY NIGHT in Croydon, and Poly Styrene's voice is shot. Flu goes for the throat like a cornered rat: when the victim's a singer, the ...
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band: Stranger In Town
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
Meanwhile BACK IN '78 ...
David Bowie: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
IT WOULD make a great parlour game were some enterprising company to formalize rules. A game this writer has been known to play over the ...
Meat Loaf: New Hope for the Heavier Man
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
CLIFF WHITE, who thought he had a weight problem, suddenly feels emaciated. Thanks to Slender? No way. Thanks to MEAT LOAF. Say it loud, I’m ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
EDGAR FROESE reflects on days of hope and dissipation, and wonders why the photographer's hiding behind a pillar. ...
The Cimarons: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
FIVE LIVE Cimarons is generally cognate with an agreeable evening's entertainment, such as this duly proved. ...
The Darts: Gaumont Cinema, Southampton
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
CLIFF WHITE CRIPPLES THE STARS! (No. 3 in an exciting, if tasteless, new series) ...
The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman: The Jonathan Richman Colouring Scrapbook
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
Fun for all the family in the Modern World as No.1 citizen J. RICHMAN holds court in a rare and candid interview with our own ...
Adam & The Ants, X-Ray Spex: X-Ray Spex, Adam & The Ants, The Automatics: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 20 May 1978
AS MS. POLY'S strychnine air-raid voice shreds the encore and all present, the audience front-line snaps. ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
Heaven On The Cheap ...
Dexter Gordon: The Exile's Return
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
Fashion and fate have dealt a few blows — but now DEXTER GORDON is cutting in, recapturing America and standing CBS on its head. The ...
Junior Murvin, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Tapper Zukie: Jamaica: The Young Lion Roars, part 1
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
"WELCOME TO REMA," reads the spray-can graffiti down by 7th Street in Trenchtown. "Peace, Love And Unity". Over on the other side of the Calamite ...
Plastic Bertrand: "My Bird Has Thrown Up..."
Report and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
The French produce Punk's Greatest Hit (eat your heart out, Pistols!) ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Rafters, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
ABOUT BEFORE 12.15...I don't want to talk about it. ...
Thin Lizzy: Live And Dangerous (Vertigo)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 May 1978
LIVE, DANGEROUS, AND AS HOT AS IT GETS ...
Brass Construction, Rokotto: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
...CLIFF WHITE sounds his Funky horn about what he sees as a lack of critical perspective... ...
Culture, Peter Tosh: Jamaica: The Young Lion Roars – The JA Connexion Part 2
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
SURROUNDED on three sides by a raw, harshly primal terrain that combines austere Bronte-evoking moorland with a dense near-Northern Californian verdancy, the Jamaican Tourist Board ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
DROPPING INTO 1977 was 'easy'. ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
STYX, AS you'll doubtless be aware if you're familiar with the curious musical predilections of our American cousins, are a disgustingly successful five-piece band of ...
Wilko Johnson — To Hell And Back Via The M1 Caff
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 June 1978
THE MARQUEE'S jammed up jelly tight; foot on foot, elbow in kidney, spilled drinks and apologies or not, as the case may be ...
Bruce Springsteen: Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
So where you been, Bruce? ...
Peter Gabriel: Gabriel: The Image Gets A Tweak
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
The Crazy Baldhead of Bath Meets NME's Sublime Subterranean— NICK KENT to you. ...
Live Review by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
THE HEAVY rain outside did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the audience inside. With a majority of those in attendance being press and record ...
Randy Newman: Randy Takes The Fifth Amendment
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
RANDY NEWMAN talks to BRIAN CASE...but BRIAN CASE does the talking ...
Steel Pulse: Black Pride Don't Mean Black Racism... Meet — The Handsworth Klan
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
Steel Pulse guitarist DAVID HINDS talks to ROY CARR about the joys and vexations of a British reggae band. ...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
BY DAY, DENNIS DE YOUNG WAS A REGULAR GUY WITH A PONCEY NAME, LACQUERED HAIR, AND A PENCHANT FOR GAUDY FAKE ANTIQUE FURNITURE... BUT BY ...
The Cramps: Psychobilly and Other Musical Diseases
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
I SEARCHED HIGH and I searched low. I scuffled around garbage cans, looked under cars and peered in doorways. ...
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
THESE LAST two or three years, the Stones haven't really been that important to rock and roll. ...
Jefferson Starship: Grace Slick's Superstarship
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
Planet minders turn platinum miners ...
Heatwave: West Runton Pavilion, Norfolk
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
Waiting for the Getdown gestalt ...
Howard Johnson, Taj Mahal: Howard Johnson: He's Got His HoJo Working..
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
HOWARD JOHNSON has played with everybody — from Mingus and Taj Mahal to Lennon and The Band. And he won't hear a word against his ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
Form a band instead and drive others to it. PAUL RAMBALI Checks Out The Odd Couple From The Big Apple ...
The Band: Ten Years of Stage Fright: The Life And Times Of Robbie Robertson & The Band
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 June 1978
ALTHOUGH AT the time individuals may tell you different, it's no big deal for a band to break up. It happens almost every week and, ...
Alternative TV: The Image Has Cracked
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
MARK PERRY has been a confused person and, through that, confusing. ...
Bob Dylan: The View From Seat BB59
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
THE FIRST NIGHT it rained, and it seemed that the atmosphere would be nostalgic to the last: all of us in our massed thousands gathered ...
Bootsy Collins: Bootsy: Developments in the Popcorn Industry
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
...a.k.a. A Visit To The funk Factory a.k.a. A Meeting With A Black Man In Daft Glasses a.k.a. PAUL RAMBALI talks to superfunkster BOOTSY COLLINS ...
Iggy Pop: Pure Pop……For Iggy People
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
Iggy Pop: Music Machine, London ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
Power, Pomp, Purity, Pretention, Popularity... The RUSH Problem ...
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 24 June 1978
MOTOWN GETS on its good foot again. ...
Alternative TV: The World At Once…Dateline: Stonehenge
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 29 June 1978
I FOUND myself re-reading Colin Wilsons' prodigal slice of philosophical mythmaking The Outsider the other week. During the time I spent submerging myself gleefully into ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Bingley Hall, Stafford
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 29 June 1978
BETWEEN I AND I, a writer's relationship with his reader is a balance of equal power: the former dictates terms, but only at the latter's ...
Bootsy Collins: Bootsy's Rubber Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 29 June 1978
A MESSAGE from the Mothership: "If you ain't gonna get it on, take your dead ass home." Some did...some of those dead asses...they couldn't cope ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Ain't Nuthin' But The Blues Band
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 June 1978
LOOKED AT MY watch and it was almost one, and George Thorogood And The Destroyers are just sloping on stage for their third set of ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: Do It Dog Style
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 29 June 1978
UNFORTUNATELY, A posthumous debut album. Quite something, not even the anti-Christ (Sex Pistols) managed to pull that off. But it is a rather sad, inevitably ...
The Stonehenge Summer Solstice Festival: Hippies — Will This Sinister Cult Catch On?
Report by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 29 June 1978
NME's fluid druid, BRIAN CASE gets unhinged at Stonehenge, meets strange young people with long hair, observes weird rites and inexplicable occurrences and stands in ...
Boney M: By The Rivers (well…sands, beaches, coves, quays and bays) Of Babbacombe
Report by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
TORBAY OR NOT Torbay that is the question! I am standing at the barrier of Platform 2, Paddington, one chilly Saturday morning expressing Brandoesque ...
David Bowie: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
BRILLIANT BOWIE... WITH ONE RESERVATION ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
THERE IS a particular type of songstress who feels the need, once a year, to commit her emotional diaries to vinyl. The purpose and merits ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
Goodbye To Rock And All That (For Another Year At Least) ...
The Undertones: Queen's University, Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
ON A NIGHT when one of the world's top bands, Ireland's favourite sons Thin Lizzy, were packing them in at the Ulster Hall, it was ...
Black Slate: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
THE ACCOMPLISHED Black Slate roadshow has reached just about the limit of its capabilities without coursing a drastic change of direction. ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
Reach Out, We'll Be There (Ha, Ha – Fooled You) ...
The Beatles: The Beatles: The Authorised Biography, Hunter Davies
Book Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
FIRST PUBLISHED in 1968, Hunter Davies' official biography of The Beatles had just been reissued, for the most part in its entire, original form. ...
Big Star: The Big Star Story, Take 4
Retrospective by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
THE BIG STAR story seems to have taken up a considerable part of my writing life. This is the fourth time in three years that ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
I'M NOT at all sure about this band. Their roots place them in the Boston, Massachusetts region which, not being New York or LA, guarantees ...
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
IT'S AS IF THE Clash's 'Police And Thieves' stage backdrop has suddenly transmogrified into moving 3-D. ...
The Prefects, The Subway Sect: The Prefects, Subway Sect: A Tale Of Two Bands
Profile by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
TWO GROUPS, both of whom have to some extent followed their instincts. Prefects have always been aware of the area they were aiming for; Subway ...
Tom Waits: The Bad Liver and Broken Heart Brigade
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
The gent pictured on the left has quit the organisation listed below, at least as far as vocally viewing life through the bottom of a ...
The Pop Group, This Heat: The Pop Group/This Heat: Collegiate Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 17 July 1978
TWO SEEMINGLY unconventional, superficially 'bleak', jagged modern-music outfits. Both engineer music suggesting radical departure, still somehow quaint. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
WITH HER first album for six years, Annette Peacock softens the fabric. Glancing curiously and greedily at the rhythms and advantages at the tip of ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
THEY PROBABLY don't realise it but The Who once dedicated an album to Etta James. Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy it was called, and by ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
MANCHESTER, 1977: the picture of a period stutters erratically to a docile completion. The picture is inconclusive, blotchy, but considering circumstances the best possible. ...
Buzzcocks: Rock Against Racism's Carnival Of The North: Chaos & Concern
Report by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
THE ANTI-NAZI LEAGUE and Rock Against Racism were formed specifically as a reaction against racism. ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
TOMMY RAMONE don't wanna be a pinhead no more (that's assuming you thought he was a pinhead in the first place in which case ...
The Rezillos: Can't Stand The Rezillos
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
FINALLY, AFTER telling wrangles, we have Can't Stand The Rezillos, 13 quick cuts lustily shot through with cheap culture combinations. Tanners, annuals, Stan Lee, beatpunk ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978
DO NOT BE fooled by New York New Wave. New York Punk is mainly the product of the small, highly incestuous Soho arts scene. Jimmy ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Banshees Make The Breakthrough: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978
IF PUNKS ARE currently being brushed off by "official sources" as a speedily-becoming-extinct species, why then is it damn near impossible to find a comfortable ...
Stiff Little Fingers: The Harp Bar, Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978
THE HARP Bar is packed for the return of Ulster's most popular and notorious modern rock band, Stiff Little Fingers. ...
Culture: Support the New Ministry of Culture
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978
Better Living Through Roots Reggae! Harder Than The Rest! ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 July 1978
THE NOW Society, a university-based organisation, has been putting on gigs featuring local, predominantly experimental bands (such are the local mores) for some time now; ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
CONTRARY TO legend, out on the road the Rolling Stones attempt to lead as normal a life as one can expect when living out of ...
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
IN THE words of the legend inscribed on t-shirts won by WEA pinheads at the time of the Hansaettes' second album, Love For Sale ...
Buddy Guy, Junior Wells: Buddy Guy and Junior Wells: Why Are These Guys Grinning?
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
...They've been 'between contracts' since 1969, there's hardly any such thing as a black audience for their music and on their recent visit to London ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
CABARET VOLTAIRE performances, if I can make a sweeping generalisation, are always interesting but never satisfying. Interesting because they're prepared to probe, often at the ...
Report by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
Last September, in our extraordinarily collectable NME Collectors Issue, we looked at the seemingly unstoppable explosion of independent record labels. Times change, though. Rebels become ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
MAGAZINE, MYTHS AND MIRAGES ...
Raydio: Raydio & A Moon In June Reality
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
RAY PARKER Jr., creator and main man in Raydio, the American sextet who recently toured with Bootsy and are just scoring their second British hit ...
Sham 69: Pursey's Down The Dogtrack
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
Sham 69's leader blows his wages, ponders his role, and has a few larfs. DANNY BAKER goes to see an old mate about a dog. ...
Smiley Lewis: I Hear You Knocking
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
WHEN FATS Domino first bounced out of the bayou with his bronze voice, gold rings, pumping piano and infectious grin, half a pace behind him ...
The Adverts: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Miles, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
Gobba Gobba On Gaye ...
The Clash, Suicide: The Music Machine, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
TIME HAS come today. Third of four Music Machine gigs and surprise! the ritual bottling of Suicide appears to have been omitted for ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
OVER THE years, The Hollies' records have tended to fall into one of three categories: the bright, snappy early '60s pop put together from the ...
The Band: The Last Waltz: Time Gentlemen Please
Film/DVD/TV Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
The Last Waltz (United Artists)Directed by Martin ScorseseStarring The Band, Bob Dylan etc. etc. ...
Wigwam: Dark Album; Jim Pembroke: Corporal Cauliflowers Mental Function
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
OUTSIDE THE range of rock's organised trendy-treats industry, alien settlements and sentiments remain. Resolved. ...
Annette Peacock: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 12 August 1978
ONE OF THOSE musical experiences devised as a tape-loop for the Pavlov Institute, Pekin, the oddly assorted fare at the Lyceum drew a deservedly tiny ...
Asleep at the Wheel: Collision Course (Capital)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 August 1978
STRANGE TO relate but not everything that emerges in the new release racks this week will bear the mark of androids in overalls. And disco ...
Gregory Isaacs: Presenting Mr Isaacs
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 12 August 1978
PRIOR TO the glorious advent of soulful lover Pat Kelly in more recent weeks, lean, laconic crooner Gregory Isaacs was recognised as possibly the most ...
The Only Ones: The Bristol Community Free Festival, Ashton Court, Bristol
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 August 1978
ANOTHER BOY, ANOTHER BLOODY GUITAR HERO ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
BUFFY SAINTE MARIE used to have this song called 'I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again', but you won't find Elizabeth Barraclough or Carlene Carter ...
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
AT ABOUT 3 pm the Sunday before last, one American rhythm 'n' blues pioneer and six British beer 'n' peanut-circuit musicians got together for the ...
The Residents, Snakefinger: Snakefinger: Meet the Latest New Wave Cult Figure
Profile by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
YOUVE SEEN the ads. You've been enticed, or not by the quirky graphics. Perhaps you've even bought the record, itself as quirky and improbable as ...
Etta James: Soul Punk Etta: Superstardom the Hard Way on a Dollar a Day
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
"THANKSGIVING DAY in November will be my silver anniversary: 25 years since I cut my first record and I haven't become a superstar yet. It ...
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
REEL-TO-REEL life: patt-ur stagg-urs on... In bu-tween the s-o-n-g-s... ...
The Only Ones: Peter Perrett Picked A Peck Of Pickled Peppers
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
LAST MONTH, Peter Perrett won himself a Concorde ticket to Brazil. The loot for the trip came not from playing rhythm guitar but poker. ...
The Sex Pistols Interview: The Life & Crimes Of Two Simpleton Workin' Class Tossers
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
THE SCENE: A modern four roomed flat situated somewhere near the Edgware Road. Its two inhabitants, Messrs Paul Cook and Steve Jones, are holding forth ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978
Say Goodbye To Angry Songs For Kids Say Hello To Angry Songs For Grown-Ups ...
Freddie Hubbard: Chokin' On The Eezi Spred...
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978
FREDDIE HUBBARD tried a slice garnished a la Creed Taylor but the taste proved unsatisfactory. Here's how. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978
TWENTY-EIGHT year-old Gene Simmons of New York City, New York, is sitting in his hotel-room near Marble Arch. It's four o'clock on a humid Friday ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Bansheed! What's In An Image?
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978
JOHN MCKAY, the Banshees' guitarist, has a pale, ashen look constantly playing about his features and talks in measured, serious tones. ...
The Charts and the 12-inch Limited Edition Single
Comment by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978
NME's LAST chart-hyping piece concluded with a statement to the effect that the twin threat of both exposure in the press and the greater number ...
The Human League, The Rezillos: The Rezillos, The Human League: Music Machine, Camden, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 August 1978
REZILLOS CAN'T STAND THE AUDIENCE And that goes for all you liggers in the bar, too ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 September 1978
DEBBIE HARRY: a few more brisk calculations in the dry equation, and she will be a star. A household name. An object. An illusion. Well ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 September 1978
EVERYBODY'S FAVOURITE cult and an even bigger cult than Nick Lowe, his erstwhile companion in the reversible Rockpile is the little Welsh rock'n'roller, ...
The Commodores: Motown's Black Beatles
Profile by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 September 1978
HOW'S about it, Expressways Moosik? We're broadcastin' at ya from the command module, Commodore Steamship, Commodore Country, sitting right down town, Tuskogee, Alabama, modulatin', right ...
Ultravox: Vee Hav Vays Of Makink You Experiment
Report and Interview by Miles, New Musical Express, 2 September 1978
Unfortunately, this piece is not about Germans. It's about ULTRAVOX. However, it does take place in Germany. Will that do? ...
Blondie: Parallel Lines (Chrysalis)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
WOOPS — BLONDIE SHOWS ROOTS ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Sheffield – This Week's Leeds
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
UNTIL LAST YEAR, Sheffield was undoubtedly the most musically inactive city in Britain. For a city with over half a million people, the paucity of ...
Joy Division: Band On The Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
THOSE FAMILIAR with this young quartet. mainly through their excitable appearance on the "Short Circuit" pretty package, and to a lesser extent with their self ...
The Stranglers: Really Nice Guys
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
So why are they banned from Top of the Pops? ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 9 September 1978
The Further Decline And Fall Of The Western World ...
Mac Curtis, Matchbox: St. Helier Arms, Carshalton
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
TIME HAS seldom dealt lightly with '50s rock'n'rollers. Be they the white country-based variety or the black R 'n 'B guys, the majority of survivors ...
Patti Smith: Breaking The Shackles Of Original Sin
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
The White Niggah, Biblical Obsession, and The Mutant Army witnessed at Cardiff where discussions encompass the sexiness of Prince Charles and the pressures of ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
I AM A commentator in a Consumers' Guide. This week I guide you towards entertainers The Fall, as I always have done. ...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
"Well it's alright just listenCan't wait for 78God those r.p.m.Can't wait for themDon't just watchHours happenGet in there kidAnd snap them." Wire, 'It's So Obvious' ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 September 1978
YES, YES, YES — BUT SO WHAT? ...
Annette Peacock: A Rock & Role Alternative
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
"I THINK what happened was, after I left New York all the anger and the toughness and the hostility seemed to dissipate and in ...
Chas And Dave: What We Want Is Rockney
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
...an ethnic feature which eschews 'plastic fantastic kharzis', refers frequently to 'geezers', and acknowledges virtue by repeated use of the colloquialism 'bleedin' great'. Subject: CHAS ...
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
Mister DAVE 'Are You Sure Chuck Played It Thaat Way?' EDMUNDS, the celebrated Welsh lickologist, persevered and learned those classic solos note for note. So ...
David Toop: Gorilla Noises & Mains Hum
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
Free musician DAVID TOOP fingers the West while Lol Coxhill unleashes a gorilla tape in the toilet. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
LARRY CARLTON, super side-man should need no introduction. The weeping, fluid style that Carlton rings from his 335 has become a definitive sound on albums ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
THAT AKRON ALBUM took its listeners by surprise. Simultaneously old, new and current, it was fashioned like any good adventure playground from whatever ...
The Ramones: Ramones Go Depresso
Interview by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 23 September 1978
Hanging out on Second Avenue Eating chicken vindaloo Hanging out all by myself Cause I don't want to be with anybody else I just want ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
"YOU CAN touch the magic tonight," claimed guitarist Eric Stewart. ...
Annie Nightingale Joins The Old Grey Whistle Test
Profile and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
WHY THE BBC MAKES YOUNG WOMEN CARRY OUT THIS HIDEOUS ANCIENT RITUAL ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
STUDIO TAN drops into the industry's autumn orgy unheralded. ...
Linda Ronstadt: Living In The USA (Asylum)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
LINDA RONSTADT – oh my God, she's so hunky. Those long, bronzed legs, that Ms Piggy face, those capable fingers – is it any wonder ...
Mick Farren: Is There Life After Dingwalls?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
DESPITE THE SILK shawl wrapped about its neck to prevent its head falling off, there is a dignity, a pride, even a sense of all ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead's First Annual Pyramid Prank
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
"There were no sets. Sometimes we'd get up and play for ten minutes and all freak out and split. We'd just do it however it ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
PARDON ME if I've misunderstood, but amongst all those pretty speeches and petty let-downs didn't somebody once ask for 'new music night and day'? And ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978
How to almost drown your way to a name and fame ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Some Enchanted Evening
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
NOW THAT Blue Oyster Cult have a patented studio style of their own, neatly quashing any lingering doubts that they had softened up in the ...
Dr. Alimantado: Dr Alimantado: Best Dressed Chicken In Town
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
INTRODUCING THE august surgeon of ital nourishment on a ten track album of selected singles dating from 1973-6. ...
The Slits: Girl Trouble with The Slits
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
NICK KENT on the wildest waifs in town ...
Mickey Jupp: Micky Jupp: Juppanese
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
MICKEY JUPP has always been nearly famous, and even then it's been by default. ...
Rose Royce, Stargard: Odeon, Birmingham
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
IT SURE WUZ A GREAT PAAAARTY... ...
The Clash: Problems with The Roxy
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
I'D CALLED Mick Jones last Friday night The parsimonious Bernie Rhodes – who, though a replacement manager has yet to be found (and it is ...
The Crusaders: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 7 October 1978
ON STAGE, as on record, The Crusaders an elusive synthesis of assorted musical elements which, although generally bonded in a cohesive sound that is unmistakably ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
AND YES, this unfortunately is where it separates. 999's second album – always a fateful thing – and the illusory packaging hides a regression. ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
"I'M NOT really interested in the quality of the film, what they furnish is an excuse to do some music...they're areas where I can experiment ...
Buzzcocks: The Lust Train Stops Here
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
LOVE… Ain't that something to be proud of? Isn't it a bitch? Don't the waves crash, the trumpets roar and the planet split? Doesn't the ...
John McLaughlin & The One Truth Band: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
THIS WAS A celebration of John McLaughlin's 25th anniversary as a guitar player — an event similarly rnarked by the recent Electric Guitarist album, which ...
Report by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
ONE NIGHT I AM standing outside the Jamaican pattie shop in Portobello Road partaking of the same when a car pulls up on the street ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
NELLIE YOUNG COMES A CROPPER ...
Penetration: Moving Targets (Virgin)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
THIS YEAR A LINE formed. At one end Penetration, and from there through Joy Division, The Mekons, The Slits, The Fall, The Passage, The Pop ...
Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones Dump On Rolling Stone
Report by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
THE CHANGES which the imaginary magazine depicted in Between The Lines goes through — from radical underground to counter-culture to hip capitalist establishment — is ...
Sid Vicious: Max's Kansas City, NYC
Live Review by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
ON AN unusually busy New York rock night, the attraction of an ex-Pistol was apparently sufficient to pack Max's out for a couple of sets ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
SKIP JAMES scares me. ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: Music Machine, Camden Town, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978
OCTOBER SEES the inevitable recognition of two of the greatest rock'n'roll performers of all time — Bette Midler and Wayne County who, even before Wayne ...
B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
IF ONLY B.B.King had let his fingers, and not his likeable but oversized ego, do the talking then I would have enjoyed his return to ...
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich: Dingwalls, Camden
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
HIPSTER PANTS held up with two-inch-wide white belts, op-art shirts with bloody great monstrous collars that hang down to armpit level and then button down ...
pragVEC: Another Strange, New And Enticing Pop Group
Profile and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
A NEW extended play record to enthuse about. A new band to sell to you. Their name is pragVEC; the four tracks they've recorded are ...
R. D. Laing: Vinyl Head Shrinker Tells Of Life Before Death…
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
R. D. LAING psychologist, psychiatrist, author, lecturer, institutional therapist and now rock star? ...
Red Krayola: Red Crayola: Hope & Anchor, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
AN EARLY psychedelic legend came to roost unexpectedly last weekend in the none-too-appropriate environs of the Hope and Anchor. ...
Rose Royce: Socio/Political Conscience? Waal, Ah'm Rilly Into Chutney
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
"SO HOWS about up at number two, we have the one and only Rose Royce with 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'...goodness gracious yes..." ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid and Nancy: Life In The Vicious Circle
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
SID VICIOUS (born John Simon Ritchie — though his mother's remarried name is Mrs. Ann Beverley) may hold the all-time record for building up an ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
Dr Feelgood: Sheffield City Hall ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Top Rank, Shefield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
Who, exactly, is gobbing on whom? ...
The Clash: Queens University, Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
THE LAST time The Clash tried to play The Ulster Hall a combination of big business insurance moguls and local bureaucratic bullshit caused the gig ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
The Pop Group/Nico/Linton Kwesi Johnson/Cabaret Voltaire: Electric Ballroom, London ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978
WEATHER REPORT are suffering an identity crisis which has completely mitigated the potential of Mr. Gone. Their unwillingness to pursue the avenues of progression opened ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978
POOP GO the wizened wastrels! The starry, clammy curtain rises once again, and here they are, still waiting. ...
Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978
A NIGHT distinguished for me by the worst support set I've ever heard and the most tuchus-licking tolerant audience ever assembled in one Vaudeville room. ...
Report by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978
W. C. FIELDS would have hated the "Be Stiff" tour. A sixteen year child star who toured with Mickey Rooney? A performing punk dwarf called ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978
THIRD ALBUMS generally mean that it's shut-up-or-get-cut-up time: when an act's original momentum has drained away and they've got to cover the distance from a ...
The Lurkers: Strange Daze In Sheffield (Or Maybe Halifax)
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978
SOMEONE MUST have been spreading lies about me, for without doing anything wrong I was told to write a feature about The Lurkers. The Man ...
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 28 October 1978
THIS YEAR'S Weather Report is twice as nice as last year's. And doubly dodgy. ...
Captain Beefheart: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
OUR FRIEND makes its long overdue appearance, a record of fragments that has a bewildered Beefheart crawling out of the messes of '74/'75 and trying ...
The Undertones: Crash Course in Corruption with The Undertones
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
Their record's bubbling under......so why aren't they bubbling over? ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
CABARET VOLTAIRE appeared first. A trio, I caught the final 20 minutes of their performance, and was fairly absorbed. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
JIMMY PURSEY'S Ulysses – a day in the life of 'a working class kid'. A shrug of the shoulders. ...
Status Quo: If You Can't Stand The Heat
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
WHAT IS beyond Status Quo, I often wonder? What is beyond tracks with titles such as 'I'm Givin' Up Worryin'', 'Gonna Teach You To Love ...
Steel Pulse: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
THE RAINBOW Theatre seemed a poor venue for Steel Pulse's Big London Gig, but reconsidering during this performance, it was probably second choice only to ...
The Clash: Black'n White Drop Outasite
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 4 November 1978
The Clash: Roxy Theatre, Harlesden ...
Report and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
BETHNAL, who by virtue of their multi-national background can't help accumulating 'political' overtones in these Rock Against Racism days, talk to PENNY REEL about the ...
George Thorogood & The Destroyers: Move It On Over
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
THE BOTTLENECK that ate Delaware returns to your hearts and turntables: no steps forward, no steps back. Move it On Over is this or any ...
Edwin Starr, Isaac Hayes: Isaac Hayes And Edwin Starr: Live In Manchester
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
Two men with but one single thought: Which way is up? ...
John Cooper Clarke: This Year's Esperanto
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
JOHN COOPER-CLARKE, the poet who came in from the cold ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
"YOU ARE not in touch with the modern world, sucker," hissed the obnoxious little voice in my ear. 'Today's kids don't give a flying one ...
Book Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
WHAT HAS rock and roll got to do with poetry? What is a poetess doing with rock and roll? What am I doing reading and ...
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
"Every night before I go to sleep/Find a ticket, win a lottery/Scoop the pearls up from the sea/Cash them in and..." ...
Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
Pop the Ubu ...
The Residents: Residents Leave Home
Report and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
Those of you who follow the regular propaganda turns of those San Mateo obscurantists, The Residents, will have noticed of late certain odd developments in ...
Roy Brown: Cheapest Price In Town
Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
ALTHOUGH AT 53 going on 25, Roy Brown is relatively young for an R&B star who first recorded just after the war, there's no getting ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
HOLY KRISHNA! His beneficence returns to the fold of lesser mortals for the annual Santana lesson, that quest whose purpose is boundless, ineffable. Wondrous Santana, ...
Santana: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
A THREE-NIGHT sell out for sluggish pop group Santana is apparently natural and predictable but seems entirely ludicrous. They function, they churn, they exist – ...
Steve Reich: Music For 18 Musicians
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
A MAJOR new work by Steve Reich, a 42-year-old composer and performer from New York. Music For 18 Musicians was conceived in May 1974 and ...
The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
White Punks On Rope ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
AN EVENING of Fast Product at which Saturday night anticipation could be discerned in the expectant chattering of the throng outside — no slowcoaches amongst ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 November 1978
MORE SO than anything else they've done, when Not Available's weirdness wears off, its "merry tunes" become an indelible stain on one's day-to-day existence. After ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Babylon By Bus
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
ALL THE points are easily made. You have your join-the-dots special Christmas present package. Bob Marley and The Wailers skank in and out the Western ...
Funkadelic, George Clinton: Funkadelic: The Noble Art of Rhythm'n'Biz
Profile and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
WARNER Brothers' New York Office on East 54th is only two blocks across and three up from the Taft Hotel on West 51st; close enough ...
Duane Eddy, Jerry Lee Lewis: Jerry Lee Lewis, Duane Eddy: Live in Margate
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
WHEN A promoter carts a journalist and photographer off to the opening night of a European tour he obviously wants to get a suitably rave ...
John Martyn: London School of Economics, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
YOU DON'T need me at all – you know what happened, what will happen. ...
Julie Covington: Julie Covington
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
MOVING BACK from stage to a studio, Ms Covington neatly avoids the cliches offered by the potentially drear and damaging Solo Album. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
IT'S GOOD to hear that Oregon's music remains pure and fresh despite the possible clumsy patronage of a large label. Using a number of combinations ...
Pere Ubu: Unique Ideas Lead To Prison
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
WE'S home, Huck!" The large, bulky frame squashed into the seat next to me delivers his quote from Mark Twain's fables of a more naive ...
The Cimarons, Sham 69: Sham 69 & The Cimarons: The West Country Invasion Starts Here
Report and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
IT WOULD appear that someone's got it in for Jimmy Pursey and Sham 69. You see they're planting stories in the press to the effect ...
The Cars: M'Cadillac's Goin' 'Bout 104
Interview by Toby Goldstein, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
THE CARS have picked up speed in America. Will they pick up here? TOBY GOLDSTEIN sends a few hand signals from New York. ...
Third World: Now That We've Found A Hit
Profile and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
BY JAMAICAN STANDARDS, Third World are pretty unique. Going against the run of the studio-dominated JA music scene, founder members guitarist Stephen "Cat" Coore and ...
X-Ray Spex: X-Ray-Spex: Germ Free Adolescents
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 November 1978
SMASH THE barriers and the truth shall make you free (as long as stocks last, anyway): barriers between humans and objects, between the natural (sic) ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
JEAN-PAUL Sartre took mescaline once, to prove to himself that he wasn't necessarily the institution people thought he was, and as a result became convinced ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Meet The Killer
Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Women, liquor, the devil and me JERRY LEE tells CLIFF WHITE a torrid tale ...
Pure Hell: Just Another Bunch Of Middle Class Kids With Silly Names And Spiky Haircuts: Pure Hell
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
"H-E-E-EYY..." Pure Hell drummer Spider Blaze tousles his Rita Hayworth red crop and slaps his right palm down on mine, giving me one of those ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Grrrrnrrhhhh!!! Repressed reviewer laments a bird and her bush ...
Lou Reed: Live – Take No Prisoners (Arista Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
AH, LOU, we meet again. How long it's been. Ah, of course, don't tell me – Rock 'n' Roll Heart, wasn't it? A right piece ...
Flying Lizards: Penseur in Patchy Light: David Cunningham…
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
is either a 3-time loser looking for a way out, OR......An entrepreneurial polymath looking for a way in. ...
Philip Rambow: Whatever Happened To Philip Rambow?
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Whatever happened to Philip Rambow? A year ago it finally seemed that his time was imminent. ...
Scritti Politti: Reflections On In(ter)dependence: Scritti Politti
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
MEET SCRITTI Politti: three or four young musicians (one is a floating member), and equally important, a large circle of close friends who provide help, ...
Robert A. Johnson: Got Mah Ego Workin'
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
When the Buffalo of Immodesty stomps the tender talent-plant 'neath its cloven heel, the result, as Confucius noted, is "rampant megabullshit, and I don't mean ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
IT IS surely not coincidental that now Island seem to have relegated Bob Marley and company to the status of lampoonery with joke titled albums ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Waits and measures ...
Bonzo Dog Band, Vivian Stanshall: Vivian Stanshall: Afloat!
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 25 November 1978
Yes, it's the tang of the salt spray in a Force 9 from Finisterre with regard to this one, hipmates; A rollicking tale which tells how Silver's parrot changed his ...
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
What, THEM again? Fraid so. No apologies... On The Road Fax by NICK KENT: Biro & Quiz ...
Howard Devoto, Magazine: Howard Devoto: Calm And Confusion
Interview by Paul Morley, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
WERE YOU a wimp at school?I wouldn't say I was a wimp. I think I did get bullied. ...
James Brown: OOOP! YAAA! UNNGH!
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
(That's right, this is a James Brown review.)James Brown: Odeon, Hammersmith ...
Boyfriends, The (US): The Boyfriends: Totley College, Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
TOTLEY TEACHERS Training College stuck out on the edge of Derbyshire gives The Boyfriends' gig there the atmosphere of a village hop, and it suits ...
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
THE CARS took the stage to a backing tape of revving engines, the principal mode of presentation for this Boston-based five piece. The house was ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Shakedown Street
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 December 1978
Sorry to interrupt your reverie, Jerome. But then, this far along, not much could. ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
THE INEVITABLE live double from Aerosmith rolls inexorably into the American "Christmas like a fat Thanksgiving turkey". ...
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
They came from Outer Akron...Their purpose Conquest.Their methods Unpleasant.This was...Spud Wars ...
Olivia Newton-John: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN'S last night of an eight-week trundle through Japan, Australia and Europe was pretty poor. ...
Public Image Ltd.: Public Image Ltd. (Virgin)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
"THE PUBLIC Image is Limited", or so claimed John Lydon in a recent interview with his customary flair for a good, splenetic quip. Well, so ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
Systems of resonance ...
The Shirts: Shirts Appeal – Loosen Your Choler
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
THE SHIRTS from Brooklyn reckon they've been mistreated. Right from the moment their name went on CBGB's lavatory wall. They are angry. But not beaten ...
The Subway Sect: War Poet of The Modern World
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
Old conceptions justifiedTradition stays in tuneYou make guitars talk informationThat tells you what to doThe lines that hit meAgain and againAfraid to take a strollOff ...
Todd Rundgren: Back To The Bars
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 9 December 1978
THE ONE obstacle between Todd Rundgren and a successful live album comes at the stage when he has to rely on other musicians. ...
Boomtown Rats: Today: Top Of The Pops, Tomorrow: The World
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 December 1978
The Day After: Top Of The Pops Again ...
Hawkwind, Robert Calvert: Hawklords: Leisure-Wear Of The Timelords
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 December 1978
Actually, BOB CALVERT'S mystic dressing gown is not what this feature's about: what we have here is an appraisal of the new Hawkind, sorry, HAWKLORDS ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 December 1978
IF ROCK stars had the kind of union that insisted on overtime bans and frowned on over-productivity, George Clinton would undoubtedly be the subject of ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 16 December 1978
I WAS wearing headphones. My teeth were aching again, and the lump behind my left ear was still as bad as ever. All 16 of ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
DIPPING LUSTFULLY and deep into your public pocket, the simulated and soiled Gruppo Sportivo transparently dart from nursery rhyme tinsel to uncivilised sexual slang with ...
Ian Dury: New Challenge For Esperanto
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
JUST OUT of Holland, about ten miles from the Dutch/Belgian border, the coach pulls into the Flemish equivalent of a Motorway Chef. There's four hours ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: In Defense of Siouxsie and the Banshees
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
"Have a competition in the NME. In less than a hundred words, what do they get out of Siouxsie and the Banshees?" (Siouxsie Sioux) ...
Muddy Waters: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
FAST TALK/hard bargain: as Mr Muddy Waters was spending a few days of his 64th year in Great Britain in the faintly congruous role of ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
THE "MOTHERSHIP" arrives. Everybody gets on out of it and has a "party". And I dance. And slump. And dance and slump. ...
Public Image Ltd: Johnny's Immaculate Conception
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
Putting The Nation On The PiL ...
Singles in 1978: The Ones That Got Away
Overview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
1978 was a classic year for singles. But most of the best were released on small labels with little chance of airplay, erratic distribution, and ...
The Doors: The Morrison Legacy
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 23 December 1978
JIM MORRISON'S body may lie a-moulderin' in his grave but his soul goes marching on. ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1979
Are you ready for the fiiinal soluuuuuuuuuuuuuushun (oh yeah)? ...
Elvis Costello: Elvis' Armed Forces
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1979
ELVIS COSTELLO is Superman's fantasy of what Clark Kent should have been. He is Buddy Holly reincarnated as an axe-murderer. He is a nasty Woody ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1979
ROCK AND ROLL survives on an illusion of dynamism built upon critical inertia, upon endlessly repeated truths such as the oft-heard oppositions of 'old/new wave' ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Live at The Rainbow, London
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 1979
SO LET'S suspend time and disbelief for a moment and stare through the haze at the West Coast's longest running institution called The Grateful Dead. ...
Elvis Costello And The Attractions: with Richard Hell and the Voidoids
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
WELCOME TO to the working week, seven nights of Elvis Costello at London's Dominion Theatre, virtually opposite the location of the Elvis musical.Will the real ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
IN The Devil Finds Work, James Baldwin opined that white people's hatred of blacks is based on terror, while black people's hatred of whites is ...
Marvin Gaye: Here, My Dear (Tamla Motown)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
IF THE LANGUAGE is clearly familiar, the filling clear, the concept perhaps a little cloying then at least, at length, the soul is back to ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
ON THE FIRST day of Christmas bondage bretheren and neon siteren children of the Rainbow pace Aswad left their parents' turkey tables en ...
Richard Hell: Who Says It's Good To Be Alive?
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
To Hell and back (it's located on a houseboat near Cheyne Walk)... in which the head Voidoid expounds on life in manner both humorous and ...
Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: Roky Erickson: Darkness at the edge of your mind...
Profile by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
...and other remembrances of psychedelic times past and future. ROKY ERICKSON, the Martian Van Morrison, will be visiting your town in "person" next month with ...
The Clash: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
LIKE THE few other rock bands that occasionally verge on genius such at The Rolling Stones and the original Roxy Music The Clash ...
Gang of Four, The Jam: The Jam, Gang of Four: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 January 1979
DOZING AT the back of the lower layer of the multi-tiered Music Machine I couldn't help wondering what it is to be charming, chillingly nostalgic ...
Burning Spear: Social Living (1 Stop)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
Majestic, Mysterious: Burning Spear's Celestial Music Shimmers On ...
Generation X: All The Young Dudes
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
GLEAN WHAT you will from the shapes of things that came to pass during 1978, but one commodity that was rejected with an almighty vengeance ...
Israel Vibration: The Same Song (Top Ranking)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
CURRENT CULT item on the local reggae scene, this debut album from the Israel Vibration trio augurs well for Jamaican music in 1979, with an ...
Jimmy Cliff: Give Thanx (Warner Bros)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
THIS RETURN to commercial visibility from the fated Mr Cliff has been well-received in certain corners, but unfortunately seems little more than a muddled, embarrassing ...
Joy Division, The Passage, Spherical Objects: New Stirrings On The North-West Frontier
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
The Underground sticks its Collective head overground to explain how the rest of the world went wrong. Please fasten your safety helmets now. Words: PAUL ...
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
EACH YEAR, when the popularity polls roll around, way down in the best vocalist section we can find Bowie, Dylan and even Cornwall whilst my ...
Throbbing Gristle: D.O.A. (The Third And Final Report Of Throbbing Gristle) (Industrial Records)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 January 1979
P. Orridge Bowls A Grisly Throb — P. Enman Ducks ...
Charles Mingus: Charlie Mingus: April 22, 1922 — Jan 5, 1979
Obituary by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 January 1979
SOME TIME back a 'friend' borrowed a large number of my jazz albums — and sold them. All I can say is that the rip-off ...
Marvin Gaye: Stand Up For Your Rights, My Brothers: Marvin Gaye’s Here, My Dear
Report and Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 January 1979
WHILE TOURING Britain last September, the Temptations were not shy about slagging off their former record company, Motown. Numerous quotes from my interview with the ...
The Runaways: And Now…The Runaways (Mercury)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 20 January 1979
THE TERMS are at once familiar and bizarre, charged with meaning and strangely vacuous: 'street,' 'action,' 'hungry and hot,' 'rock 'n' roll,' 'teenage,' 'weekend,' 'queen.' ...
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
THERE WERE so many good singles last year that when it came to deciding what I thought were the best 45s to show out, I ...
Elvis Costello: Elvis Army Is Here To Stay
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
CHAPERONED in the back of a hire car, taking in the sights, partaking in entertaining chit-chat about the industry with fellow passengers, I shouldn't feel ...
Overview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
Say hello to the schoolgirl revolution and the shortest cut to cleaning up in UK reggae. And ya thought reggae was all about guns, ganga, ...
Rock Mortality: They Gave Their Souls For Rock 'n Roll
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
THE WRITER can eventually put down his pen, close the book and turn on the TV. The actor can take off his makeup and go ...
The Pointer Sisters: Pointers To The Future
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 January 1979
NOSTALGIA, so the old song hath it, ain't what it used ta be. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 February 1979
JOE JACKSON is a contender: he's fast, tough and he doesn't mess around. At a time when the orthodox powers-that-be in the rock business are ...
Kevin Coyne: Music Of A Different Coyne
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 February 1979
And my message to the people Is don't tie me to the steeple Don't put me with the stocks and in your market square. ...
McGuinn, Clark & Hillman: McGuinn, Clark and Hillman: McGuinn, Clark & Hillman
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1979
IF WATCHING someone you once admired attempting to be inspired is the most pathetic sight imaginable, as some bloke maintained in last week's ish, then ...
Joe Jackson: Crisp. In A Huge In America Sort Of Way
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979
THE HANDS spell nerves: balled into fists and rammed into the pockets of the pinstripe jacket. The elbows jerk and the knees twitch, the face ...
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979
Terms For An Industry In The '80s... IAN PENMAN reports on the artistic and commercial concept of ROUGH TRADE, recorders, distributors and promoters of new ...
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979
ON WEDNESDAY, January 31, Sham 69 played their last ever gig. ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material (Rough Trade)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 10 February 1979
I WAS HARDLY expecting it but...even more so than Never Mind The Bollocks which turned out to be comedy much more so than ...
Cheap Trick: Live At The Budokan (Epic)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979
GIVE THE Nips their due when they latch on, they latch on fast, and in teeming multitudes, to boot. ...
Simple Minds: Strangers In A Strange Land
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979
SIMPLE MINDS were fidgety as they sat around the kitchen table, some of them exhaling long streams of cigarette smoke while the others rattle boiled ...
Village People: The Annals Of Disco
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979
DANNY BAKER tests the dancefloor action 1979 from uptown Manhattan to downtown Rotherhithe, interviews THE VILLAGE PEOPLE people, lays on a historical overview of Disco, ...
The Pretenders: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 February 1979
THE NEWS is already out all over town about this bunch; and while one can only reiterate all the raves (so far usurped principally by ...
Doll By Doll: How To Change The World In Ten Easy Stages
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1979
"For a long time now I have felt the Void but have refused to hurl myself into the Void.I have been as cowardly as everything ...
Dennis Brown: The Cool Runnings Of Dennis Brown
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 24 February 1979
Never far from reggae charts and hearts, Dennis Brown wakes up the UK's frozen airwaves. ...
The Stranglers: Live —X Certificate (United Artists)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 February 1979
THE OFFICIAL line on this enterprise is that it represents, in the words of one J.J. Burnel, "The end of an era…a compilation of the ...
Frank Zappa: Sheik Yerbouti (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
THE MODERN-day composer refuses to die and, sadly, so too does Frank Zappa. ...
Graham Parker: Journey To The Centre Of Your Spine
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
A CONCRETE BARN with a stage at one end: cables, cases, dust. A hyper-active dog in the grip of irresistible sexual forces is scooting around ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
RACE TODAY magazine/organisation, acknowledging the central importance of Manchester in the struggle of black people, launched their northern campaign with a fund raising "Creation For ...
The Inmates: City Rhythms and Jailhouse Blues
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
BILL HURLEY, lead singer with The Inmates, was definitely built for the job. Bill Hurley clocks in six foot solid from the ground, a hard ...
The Mekons: The Group Who Fell To Earth
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
THE MEKONS step down from the space ship of idealism and come face to face with Rock Reality. Can they and the cult of British ...
Van Morrison: Whitla Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
FOR THE WAR children of Belfast, Van Morrison's homecoming after 12 years was an emotional celebration, creating an atmosphere in the Whitla Hall equal to ...
Velvet Underground: 1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 March 1979
THE VELVETS, specifically Lou Reed – maybe even this 'invisible' live double – say more about rock'n'roll, its implications and complications, than anyone else. ...
Bad Company: Desolation Angels (Swansong)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
EVER TRIED shooting ducks in a barrel? It's almost as easy as doing the old aesthetic pistol-whip on Bad Company. It's so damned easy trashing ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
WOW!!! SHEER excellence!!! You weren't there? You are square!!! (you thought it was the other way round? You still living to those snobby chic guidelines? ...
Graham Parker and The Rumour: Live in Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
GRAHAM PARKER hasn't changed much the small guy with the high forehead sporting an Oxfam jacket, T-shirt, drainpipes and tinted specs but his ...
Roxy Music: Manifesto (Polydor)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
EXACTLY SEVEN years ago — March 1972 — something stirred in the basement at Command Studios. ...
The Tubes: Remote Control (A&M)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
YOU DIDN'T know Todd Rundgren had a new album out, did you? He has. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
THIS IS the diligently prepared and acutely-self conscious follow-up to that shaky first collection which naturally ended everyone's excited and premature self-congratulation over a singularly ...
Van Morrison: When Irish Eyes are Scowling
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 March 1979
"If you want me to sit here and talk about my emotions you've got to be out of your MIND!" ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: A Day Out At The Gun Court
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
SET IN maybe half an acre of ground, 56 Hope Road, Kingston 6 is a sprawling, wood-fronted, two-storey detached house, its flaking cream paint seeming ...
Chrome: Half Machine Lip Moves
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
THE TITLE OF Chrome's second album Alien Soundtracks perfectly describes one level on which their music can be taken: the evocation of a fantasy world ...
Graham Parker: Squeezing Out Sparks
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
WHEN YOU PLAY this album for perhaps the tenth time, when you return to 'You Can't Be Too Strong' and listen to that one song ...
Sparks: No. 1 In Heaven (Virgin)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
COME OUT, come out wherever you are! It safe now! Those critics'll love yez all again! ...
The Jam: Dies' Ist Der Modernische Welt
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
AND IN THE beginning there was darkness. Then, it has been written, the Mood formed the Pistols, Clash, Damned, Stranglers, Vibrators and the Jam and ...
The Only Ones: Something Slithery This Way Comes
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
THE DRESSING room at Hurrah's is buzzing with electricity reason being that inside this converted New York discotheque it's damn near as cold as ...
The Pretenders: Let's Pretend…
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
"ISN'T IT incredible, my dears, what some people will do when they get a hit? I'm appalled to hear that journalist-for-a-day Chrissie Hynde, lead singer ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 17 March 1979
WILL THESE people never learn? In the time-honoured Hollywood tradition of foisting ambitious super-sessioners upon that large portion of the American public bereft of a ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 March 1979
"I am totally into corruption." ...
Tom Robinson Band: Across Our Grey And Troubled Land
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 March 1979
HERE HE COMES now just-a-walkin' down the street. From street-level upwards: white plimsolls, faded levis, fawn sweater with the collar-points of a white shirt peeking ...
Magazine: Second-Hand Daylight
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979
"Whatever your feelings about Howard Devoto are, they're no doubt strong" – the opening salvo of the last feature penned on the subject in these ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 March 1979
AND THE STARS look very different today... For all practical rock purposes, we may as well own up that we are now living in the ...
Jean-Jacques Burnel: J.J. Burnel: Euroman Cometh (United Artists)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 7 April 1979
IT WAS THE 19th Century Italian poet Leopardi who put it best: "Great truths are discovered only by a faculty of reason in a condition ...
Lowell George: Thanks I'll Eat It Here (Warner Brothers)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 April 1979
THE REAL name of this album is 'Thank You! I'll Eat It Here!' which was the original name of Little Feat's Sailin' Shoes and applied, ...
Graham Parker And The Rumour: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 April 1979
WHILE NO ONE was looking, Graham Parker has nimbly and single-mindedly stepped through his inner tangles and finally balanced purpose with expression and also brought ...
Lou Reed: I Love It When You Talk Dirty
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 21 April 1979
WHY DOES SUCH A MAN LIVE? ...
Buzzcocks, Magazine: Howard Devoto: The Compleat Fatalist
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
LATE THURSDAY afternoon. I am angry, very angry, for reasons that form too personal a tale but revolve around a head-on collision with hysterical illogicality. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
WHAT WE have here is James Osterberg in control. What we have here is the cunning Osterberg using the sensual Iggy, isolating personal standards and ...
Kate Bush: The Palladium, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
TWO MEMORIES: recalled first are the days when rock and roll was swamped with failed classical pianists and violinists who knew that they could make ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
AH, THE BELLS, the bells…somehow I don't think this is what Victor Hugo had in mind all those years ago. However, what Slick Vic had ...
Robert Fripp: Exposure (Polydor)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
A LESSON IN priorities might have been as apt a title. For this, the first record bearing his own name, the idiosyncratic Mr. Fripp has ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979
THE POP GROUP. An enigmatic name. Not so much ironic as is often claimed, more plain cheeky. ...
M: Talkin' about POP MUZIK; Singin' about POP MUZIK; Gettin' rich offa POP MUZIK
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
ANDYGILLYPENNY takes dictation from M. ...
Misty In Roots: Misty: One more victim of the Southall riot
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
"The scale of the violence in Southall, where 340 were arrested and more than 40 people were injured, has ensured that whichever party wins the ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
POPOL VUH'S extended title for this soundtrack to Werner Herzog's remake of Nosferatu is 'On The Way To A Little Way'. That says a lot ...
Ted Nugent: The Nugent Interview
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
IT'S APPROACHING midnight, and in an empty, echoey dressing room, so bright it seems to have no ceiling, deep in the lifeless body of an ...
The Soft Boys: A Can Of Bees (Two Crabs)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
TAKE THE "mystery" out of rock'n'roll and you're left with an evaluation of current rock'n'roll that relies upon the recognition of traditional principles or objects. ...
The Undertones: The Undertones (Sire)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
"So you think you're so clever/you're never in doubt". ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: Things Your Mother Never Told You (Safari)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
THRASHING SUSPICIONS against all considered expectations, this is a mobile and intimidating masterpiece. ...
The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys (Fiction)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 12 May 1979
AAAH! MORE alert and anguished young men chalking up more sanctioned and sanctimonious marks. Do not applaud them. ...
The Ramones: Joey finally gets the girl
Report by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 12 May 1979
The Ramones' first feature film, Rock'n'Roll High School, had its world premier last week at a Texas drive-in. Will a touching tale of teen romance ...
Donna Summer: Bad Girls (Casablanca)
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979
I'M SITTING here, the music is actionably loud, the bass is hitting right into the back of my neck, squarebashing on the spot, and – ...
J. Geils Band: Return Of The Hard-Drivin' Man
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979
"I'm a creature of the night. I don't wake up till it gets dark. D'ja wanna drink?" PETER WOLF of the J. GEILS BAND is ...
Penetration in Five Easy Stages
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979
ONCE UPON a time there was an impetuous eight-year-old girl living in a dark Durham corner and influenced greatly by the fashionable doings of a ...
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: Roxy Music: Still Raining Still Posing
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979
SEVEN YEARS. Is it really that long a time? That short a time? Yes, it is indeed, and the fact that Roxy Music have actually ...
The Cure: A Demonstration Of Household Appliances
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 May 1979
THE OFFICES of Fiction Records are located a stone's throw from Willesden High Street — a handy five-minutes stroll from the tube station — sequestered ...
New Barbarians: A Tale Of Two Rock 'n' Roll Addicts
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 May 1979
AWWWWWW MAMA! I wanna tell ya 'bout Texas radio and the big beat. ...
Ronnie Wood: Ron Wood: Gimme Some Neck (CBS)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 May 1979
GOOD OLD Honest Ron Wood!! What a nice geezer, what a lad. Always a goofy smile with the everpresent Marlboro hanging from those humble lips, ...
The Undertones: The Reluctant Debutantes
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 26 May 1979
"When the group first started I suppose it's like a phase, y'know, ye want to be a fireman or ye want to be a policeman. ...
Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Ludwigshafen, Dusseldorf, Germany
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979
IMAGINE THE tattiest curtain material, maybe the type your gran's got covering an old sofa; a couple of awful patterns flung together to make a ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979
PERSONS FAMILIAR with Nick Lowe in his recent incarnation as cynical-old-Basher, the man who'll steal any lick that isn't nailed down, disguise himself as anything ...
Patti Smith: The Palladium, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979
SITTING ALONE on the side of the stage, Patti Smith intones a rap that mixes passages of 'Wave', her latest failed-mystic monologue, with protestations of ...
Ian Dury: The Ian Dury Interview
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979
"Beetroot juice and prune juice help the regular of the bowels...""If somebody's looking at me with rapture all over their face I want to throw ...
Dire Straits: A Poor Man's Guide To That First Million
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
ROY CARR gives DIRE STRAITS a lesson in market forces. But M. Knopfler Inc. need no telling. ...
Elvis Costello: Murder on the Liverpool Express
Report by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
SO THERE I was at Euston station, seated comforably in the 1st class compartment waiting for the Inter City to speed me to my destination ...
Nina Hagen: The Euro Woman Cometh
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
THE LOBBY OF Blake's Hotel in Kensington is a hive of useless activity. As I walk through the open glass doors with the just-so scrolling ...
Judy Nylon, Penetration: Penetration, Judy Nylon: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
PAULINE KEEPS having her sentences completed for her. She'll say, "This is our current single in England, it's called..." and someone in the audience will ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Cocktails for Kerouac and an appointment with the Hype Machine
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
ABOUT THE crassest tag anyone has tried to hang on Rickie Lee Jones is that she’s "the female Tom Waits". It is also the kind ...
The B-52s: Hot Pants Cold Sweat And A Brand New Beehive Hair Do
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
"Y'AHL WANT gumbo?" Kate Pierson peers around the kitchen door, tea-cloth slung across a sunburnt shoulder. Her deep southern accent tells us ahl that her ...
The Who: The Kids Are Alright (Polydor)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
"The whole thing about rock and roll dynamism, in many ways, is the fact that if it does slow down, if it does start to ...
Tubeway Army: Looking Through Gary Numan's Eyes
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
THE LIST went something like: 2.00pm – Jackie, 2.30pm – My Guy, 3.15pm – Patches, 4.00pm – Record Mirror, 4.45pm – Smash Hits, 5.30pm – ...
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Max's Kansas City, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
THE HEARTBREAKERS have abandoned the conceit of billing each of their now regular appearances at Max's as a 'farewell' gig and it looks a safe ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
COME ON, let's talk about girls. Let's talk about Lofgren, the bruised heart. ...
Public Image Ltd.: The Odd Combo
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
Danny Baker goes on the PiS with PiL ...
Sylvester: Mighty Real (Fantasy)
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
Dead Duck? ...
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 16 June 1979
Look Out! The bogey men are coming… ...
James Chance, James White and The Blacks: James White and The Blacks: Off White (ZE)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979
JAMES CHANCE, alias James White, leader of The Contortions aka The Blacks, has been making something of a name for himself this past year or ...
James Chance, James White and The Blacks: James White and the Reds
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979
A comparative study (sort of) of aggressive American nihilism and French anarchists with beer cans. IAN PENMAN adjudicates on matters moral and philosophical. ...
McFadden and Whitehead: The Rise and Rise of McFadden, Whitehead and Ward (Anita)
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979
EVEN THE Johnny Pearson Orchestra on Top Of The Pops couldn't ruin a song as strong as 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now'. ...
Ted Nugent: State Of Shock (Epic)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979
Ted On Arrival ...
The Cramps: Tales Of American Gothick
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 23 June 1979
THE TITLE OF the film escapes me, but the scene itself has remained indelibly stained on my brainplate for all of nine years. A strange ...
Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones: Brian Jones: 28, February 1944 — 3 July, 1969
Retrospective by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
Ten Years after his death, a re-appraisal of the life and times of the Rolling Stone who was crushed by success ...
Blondie, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman: Crits fiddle while public burns...
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
Fripp, Eno and others debate the future of a species ...
Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
GOD KNOWS, you're at liberty to draw your own conclusions as to why Rust Never Sleeps is the masterpiece it so obviously is, but the ...
Nick Lowe, Rockpile: Nick Lowe: Whatever Gets You Through The Daze
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
I'VE LOST track of time, but Lew Lewis and Reformer are on stage at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion blowing base boogie that the Hemel Hempstead audience ...
KISS, Queen: Queen: Live Killers (EMI)/KISS: Dynasty (Casablanca)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
PROFESSIONAL ENTERTAINMENT! It's the best, it never quits, there's nothing like it. It's the real thing! It's sound and light and colour and spectacle to ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
ANYONE WITH even half an ear cocked to the dialogue that surrounds the music must have heard by now that they're living in some sort ...
The Clash: Yes It's Strummer In The City
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
HOT TOWN! Strummer in the city: walks into the Kings Road pub that serves as his temporary local while he's staying in Fulham dead on ...
The Pop Group: Idealists in Distress
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 June 1979
They are young. They are talented. They are committed. They are now without a record company. "So what seems to be the problem, boys?" asks ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979
DEMOCRACY IS A wonderful thing in theory, even if the practice is not always assured of success. And that self-same philosophical trait is a rare ...
Lowell George: Hard Rock Cafe, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979
LOWELL GEORGE didn't so much leave Little Feat as fade out of it, gradually reducing his writing for the group and his participation in the ...
Wire: Reluctant Rock Stars: A Nation In Crisis
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979
PAUL RAMBALI looks at the young people the Social Services have failed. The kids who must face the ever-present threat of Fame, the horror of ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979
THE CARS, Jesuit rock critics harangue, are the new wave at its most specious, manufactured and thus calculated to appease those ultra-reactionary brutes ruling the ...
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 July 1979
GIVE THE Yanks their due: when it comes down to being straight-ahead 'dunced out' almost beyond the realms of the hyper-crass, they take the old ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979
IT'S OUT of the blue and into the black. A place is left somewhere behind where the front pages of the daily newspapers comment hysterically ...
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979
JUST WHEN the year's vitality was threatening to be expunged by a non-stop parade of rehashed fashions, 'ordinary geezers' with French Riviera yachts and the ...
The B-52s, Fashiøn: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979
SUNDAY WAS hipper-than-hip night at the Lyceum, which meant that the girls plastered up their curls into various bouffant permutations and wore their tightest fitting ...
Bo Diddley, Ray Campi: This Here's The Review Of Bo Diddley
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979
Bo Diddley/Ray Campi And The Rockabilly Rebels/Whirlwind: Lyceum, London ...
Weather Report: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 14 July 1979
Driving with a devil in their tank ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
IF I WERE to tell you that a record you've probably never heard of was the album that David Bowie's been trying to make these ...
Red Crayola: "...THE IDEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ANY WORK AS A FUNCTION OF CONSUMER RELATIONS...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
...AS OPPOSED TO DEMOCRATIC ORGANISATIONAL IMPERATIVES; SECTIONAL MILITANCY AS OPPOSED TO PRIVATISED MILITANCY, OF WHICH YOU FIND A GREAT DEAL IN POP MUSIC — THE CRITICAL ...
Ry Cooder: Bop Till You Drop (Warners Import)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
RYLAND P. Cooder is a most reliable fellow. Ever since the days when he was laying down that stinging bottleneck guitar behind the likes of ...
Squeeze: Fun City Sweet Hearts
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
I'M JUST about to make the name change official; my new name is to be Paul Pop. You're the first to hear about it. ...
The Pretenders: Sheffield University
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
Duty Now For The Past? ...
The Residents: Nibbles! (Virgin)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
MEET THE Residents!!! ...
Van McCoy, Minnie Riperton Cut Down in Their Prime
Obituary by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 July 1979
WHEN LOWELL George died, a kind of half-hearted black joke about 'the season starting' was popular on many lips. In the brief space since his ...
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Heartbreakers Live at Max's Kansas City (Beggar's Banquet)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979
GOING TO have to make this one brief. Brief, because this wretched excuse for a live album is such a shameful affair that to dwell ...
B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters: Muddy Waters, BB King, Chuck Berry: Woke Up This Mornin'…
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979
...Blues Giants All Round My Bed. NICK KENT meets the Three Wise Men of the Blues. ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: Some Product: Carri On Sex Pistols (Virgin)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979
THIS IS getting silly. ...
Talking Heads: Les Talking Heads a la Carte
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 28 July 1979
THE SCENE: Paris, France, July 10. Bastille Day looms, Talking Heads and their 'guests' The B52s have just completed a mini-European jaunt minus Great Britain. ...
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 August 1979
THIS TIME I really feel entitled to smile. ...
Led Zeppelin: Smiling Men With Bad Reputations
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 August 1979
OF ALL THE old superfart bands it is certainly Led Zeppelin who have been and still are the most reviled by the New Wave. ...
Angelic Upstarts: Teenage Warning (Warner Brothers)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
NEWCASTLE'S Upstarts are already, for obvious and not so obvious reasons, being prepared by the vulture voyeurs as the successors to Sham. I'm not sure ...
Report by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
EVENTS LIKE KNEBWORTH, the promoter Freddy Bannister had wanly predicted in Saturday's Guardian, cannot continue for much longer. The reasons for the inevitable decline and ...
James Brown: The Original Disco Man (Polydor Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
THERE HE SITS, a sly grin splitting up his face to show a set of teeth worthy of a prize nag, his hair dixie-peached to ...
Joy Division: Take No Prisoners, Leave No Clues
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
LET ME DRAW BACK the curtains on a probably wet and no doubt freezing night last winter. A mid-week night of no special significance, save ...
Led Zeppelin: In Through The Out Door (Swansong)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
THREE LONG years has it been? Let's me see now. Ah, yes Presence, released in April 1976, was the last shot of new Led Zeppelin ...
Ry Cooder: Ry And Related Stuff
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
"Me and my wife, Went all over town, And everywhere we went, The people turned us down, Lord, in a bourgeois town, In a bourgeois ...
Taj Mahal: Recycling the Blues
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 August 1979
"I'm goin to the river goin to sit down on the ground/I'm goin to the river goin to sit down on the ground/And let the ...
Ian Dury: The Cuddly Cosy Comfort Of A Tame And Trusted Teddy
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
WELL, THAT'S OVER. No more Led Zeppelin front covers for a good while; no more wondering whether Mick would appear with the New Barbarians; no ...
Patti Smith: The Boarding House, San Francisco
Live Review by Michael Goldberg, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
THERE WAS more 'poetry' scrawled across the bathroom walls of the Boarding House than Patti Smith delivered during a two hour show there. Still, the ...
Talking Heads: Taking Heads: Fear Of Music (Sire)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
TOM WOLFE ONCE wrote a book called The Painted Word, a thin volume of accomplished iconoclasm. In it he traces the rise and rise of ...
The Mo-dettes: Fast, Loud, Pretty
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
MET THEM ON A Monday, the Coca Cola spilt over the tape machine, and my MRX2 Oxide 45 mins each side @ 1 7/8 i.p.s. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 August 1979
Something Like The Best ...
Al Green: The Record Mogul In The Sky
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
WHO CAN DENY that the Lord moves in mysterious ways? In this week of Mammon in hyperdrive – Quadrophenia, the rejuvenation of mods v. rockers ...
Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
THE RELATIONSHIP between rock and religion has always been fraught and filled with tension: back at its Southern rural roots, there was always a serious ...
Motorhead: Oy Lemmy, Is It True?
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
AH, the sheer classicism of the three-piece rock band. ...
Van Morrison: Into The Music (Mercury)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
CAN THIS BE coincidence? Three of rock's most vaunted troubadors choose the very same week to unveil their newest fare, their last of the spiritually ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
THE MIDDLE OF the evening and it's getting quite dim. The Who are playing a new song; at least, I take it to be a ...
Curtis Mayfield: Heartbeat (RSO)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
IT'S ALWAYS been my contention that Curtis Mayfield doesn't really sing but rather squeezes his voice out over a song. And because I'm a squeeze ...
Dr. Alimantado: Doctor Alimantado: King's Bread (Ital Sounds)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
Doc 'Tado I&I Presume ...
John Fahey: The Passage Of Time In Open G And Other Stories
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
A FEW WEEKS ago, in the middle of a full week for me and a nice Saturday for Shepherds Bush, I met John Fahey, who ...
The Police: The Long Yarn Of The Lore
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
ALONGSIDE THE habitually garish or else just plain boring film posters that currently besmear the walls of London, the advert for Quadrophenia stands out like ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
AS THE Slits sing-song: don't take it seriously. ...
Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine (Elektra)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 September 1979
Mr Verlaine Unwraps ...
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
IT'S EASY TO feel alienated by certain aspects of reggae, not the least of which is the idolatry afforded it by impressionable whites: 'Milky Bar ...
Cheap Trick: Wake Up, Rick – You're The First Superstar of the '80s
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
LET'S NOT mince words. The basic premise here is the why, wherefores and whatevers backing up the simple contention that within the next 12 months ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan’s Conversion: We Name the Guilty Men
Essay by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
Nothing guarantees more scorn in rocknroll circles than a man who gets religion. I mean, we pay these guys to visit hell and bring us ...
Gary Numan: The Pleasure Principle
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
AND PEOPLE seethe at the Golden Boy. Let's forget the threadbare rock'n'roll bitch that it's all been done before by 'proper' artists — Bowie this, ...
The Kinks: Low Budget (Arista)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
The Kinks and the 70s have not enjoyed the most harmonious of relationships. ...
The Selecter: They Still Bear The Skas
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
BLACK SHOES, bright socks, black shades, white shirt, black trilby, irridescent trousers a tad too short and chest-hugger jackets...Stepping down from the inter-city train to ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 8 September 1979
FOR MUCH of This Heat's album, it's difficult and at times impossible to decipher which instrument is playing what. This is some indication of their ...
James Brown: Get Up, I Feel Like Being A Rap Machine
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
JAMES BROWN is late for our appointment. But then it would almost be heresy on his part were he not a regal 45 minutes behind ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
The World's First Science Fiction Music FestivalWords: Ian Penman and Andy Gill. Pix: Kevin Cummins ...
Nils Lofgren: Rock 'n' Roll's Great Lost Hero
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
ONE: FINGERNAILSNILS LOFGREN is a small man with a lovely face. One chocolate brown eye is smaller, almost lazier, than the other; this gives his ...
Patti Smith: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
WEDNESDAY WAS an unusual day. ...
Pere Ubu: New Picnic Time (Chrysalis)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
PERE UBU is the type of band that enjoys banging its head against a concrete art-form – it makes an interesting sound and a crazy ...
James Brown: Sweat, Power And Expensive Perfume
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 September 1979
TALKIN' 'BOUT The Venue...and people, it's bad. There is no way that something the size of a small theatre can pretend to be an intimate ...
Blondie: Eat To The Beat (Chrysalis)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
BLONDES have more fun. They also sometimes sell more records. This puts our subject in a rather invidious position. ...
Cheap Trick: Dream Police (Epic)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
BRIEFLY, THIS is the fifth time in four years that Cheap Trick have vented their prodigious energies. Dream Police was made before Live At The Budokan made Cheap Trick ...
The Clash: Clash Take The Fifth
Report by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
WHEN THE CLASH is in Chicago, there's enough people there to suggest America is waking up, even if the band still fall the wrong side ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis Still Dead Shock
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
Drugs Probe — Doc Probe ...
Joan Armatrading: Steppin' Out (A&M)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
THE AUTHOR of the song is individualised out of all proportion in rock culture. The singer/songwriter subject is built up in such a way that ...
Judas Priest: Unleashed In The East (CBS)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
WHAT IS this thing called Judas Priest? A heavy metal band? Who says? If this is really Judas Priest live they'd be hard pushed to ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Night Of The Long Knives
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
IT'S IRONIC that Siouxsie and the Banshees' latest album bears the title Join Hands when half the group just ran away two dates into their ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: There Was I Waiting At The Church
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
NICK KENT feels the wrath of Siouxsie Sioux and Steve Severin ...
Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: The Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: Club 57, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
THIS IS AN interesting juxtaposition: Buzzcocks work on a high energy formula, a formula that works; Gang Of Four work away from formula they ...
The Crusaders: It's A Street Life In The Crusaders
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
IT'S THE MID-1950s in Houston, Texas, east of Galveston Bay and west of the River Colorado, and some of the local folks are having themselves ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
WIRE WERE from the very outset a conceptually intriguing collective, even though they bristled with a potential that was all too often offset by niggling ...
XTC, The Yachts: XTC/The Yachts: Sheffield
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979
THIS IS POP? THIS IS POP?? ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Live Review by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
"HOPE YOU like the new band." ...
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
THE MUSIC BIZ BLACK AMERICAN STYLE — DANNY BAKER NAMES THE FACES OF FACELESS DISCO ...
The Darts: One of these Men Is a Fitness Fanatic
Profile and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
ALONG A LONELY Somerset lane a man from West 68th St. Manhattan is making good time. Twelve miles behind him and eight to go, he ...
The Eagles: The Long Run (Asylum)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
THE DOMINANT rumour being touted around The Eagles' camp to explain the three year gap between Hotel California and The Long Run was, I recall, that this project was ...
The Police: Reggatta de Blanc (A&M)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
IF PEOPLE weren't so busy establishing joyless divisions of rock acceptability, creating slums of fashion and ha! credibility, then people wouldn't hesitate to ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979
THE LAST time I talked about the Slits was centred around a disorientating weekend in Liverpool at the beginning of this year — a shaky ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Springsteen Syndrome
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
Musicians United For Safe Energy: Madison Square Garden, NYC ...
Buzzcocks: Hey Mac Are You Some Kind Of Limey Pop Star?
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
SAT RANDOMLY around a small table are four young men each with dark hair. When they grin, their faces show they see things differently. ...
Gang of Four: Entertainment! (EMI)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
ENVELOPED AS we seem to be by such backward times, Gang Of Four could hardly have picked a more awkward moment to foist their collectivist ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
SUCCESS success success! (Does it matter?) ...
The Human League: Reproduction (Virgin)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
EVERY TV appearance Gary Numan makes must be like a dagger to the heart of The Human League, every radio-play a bit more salt in ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
I'M NOT altogether sure quite how to convey the magnitude of The Residents' achievement with Eskimo. What I am sure of is that it's without ...
The Kinks: The Rise And Decline Of The Kinks
Profile and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
A CUT PRICE PERSON IN A LOW BUDGET LAND ...
Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Toast
Profile and Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979
WITH TRINITY, Clint Eastwood, Prince Hammer, Jah Lion and Prince Far I here in London town it's like a DJ Jambo-r-r-r-r-r-ee and the chance to ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
Details: The Scene ...
Lene Lovich: A HIt Ms That Refuses To Fit
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
LENE LOVICH, five foot nothing of old lace, obscure ancestry and pigtails, is what in old showbiz parlance they call a trouper. She can take ...
Sister Sledge: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
Shrink-wrapped cabaret ...
Status Quo: Whatever You Want (Vertigo)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
"On again/No I never knew we could go on and on/They never thought we would be rockin' on/No we never thought we — could be ...
Television, Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine: Happiness Is A Guitar Called Fender...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 13 October 1979
...And how to make original rock & roll with it in the late '70s is your problem. It's also TOM VERLAINE'S ...
Boomtown Rats: The Fine Art Of Surfacing (Ensign)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
The Rat Who Would Walk On Water ...
Boston: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
GOAL! ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Mix Up (Rough Trade)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
WITH MIX UP, Cabaret Voltaire transcend being simply the blueprint for a genre the drummerless synthesizer trio and finally get down to business. ...
Chic: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
HAVING BEEN present at more disco live shows than any one mortal is entitled to or deserving of, I naturally feared the worst. ...
Fleetwood Mac: Tusk (Warner Brothers)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
ALMOST EVERYONE, barring the inevitable elitist bores blinkered by their own super-hipness, seemed to have a soft spot for Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. In late '77, ...
Kate Bush: "Wow, Wow, Wow, Amazing, Amazing, Ama—"
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
EMI: THREE LETTERS that have come to represent "the enemy" in rock'n'roll's war games. EMI House rambles like a country home with a thousand warrens ...
The Adverts: Cast Of Thousands
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
THE ADVERTS, with unforeseen stamina, have substantially matured since their early days. No longer can technical inadequacy or limited vocabulary be criticisms – just the ...
The Clash: The Fastest Gang In The West
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
DETAILS: THE FIFTH MEMBER Micky Gallagher turned up in Boston. Four or five dates into the Clash itinerary and The Blockheads' jumpy Irish keyboardist slips ...
The Specials: Specials (Two Tone)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
YOU JUST can't shake the tunes out of your head, can't stop beating your feet to the heat as The Specials' unique excitement surges through ...
XTC: Making Plans for Andy Colin Terry and Dave
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 October 1979
"I FEEL GREAT antagonism towards the press we've all too often received. They always seem to end up never actually talking to you, they just ...
Madness: One Step Beyond (Stiff)
Review by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 27 October 1979
Blue Feat ...
Annette Peacock: The Perfect Release (Aura)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
ANNETTE PEACOCK is, I am reliably informed, very well thought of in bohemian circles. This is unsurprising, the surprise being only that her work is ...
Aspects of Superpop: It Will Stand
Retrospective by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
The Minit label of New Orleans flourished during the period 1960 to 1962 and consolidated one of the cornerstones of the Superpop era. Allen Toussaint ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
FILED SIDE by side, those titles read like the bookends of a wasted decade. In their predictably loud, plain language they seem to say that ...
Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
THURSDAY NIGHT at the Hammersmith Odeon demonstrated Neil Young's recent lyrical contention that "The King is gone but he's not forgotten": The Boomtown Rats utilised ...
The Jam: The Revolution Will Start When Paul Weller Has Supped His Pint
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
"I WOULDN'T say I'm a very articulate person, but I seem to be able to articulate when I write lyrics..." ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Damn The Torpedoes (Backstreet)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 November 1979
IT'S BEEN a good two years since Tom's last sortie into the vinyl jungle, but even then You're Gonna Get It! was released to widespread critical apathy. ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Apollo Theatre, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 10 November 1979
BOB MARLEY had to change his approach. He had a virtual patent in the international arena on the stance of the mad-shaman reggae icon, the ...
Dolly Mixture: Sugary Sweets Can Cause Youth Decay
Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 10 November 1979
Baaa! Baaa! Baaa! We are poor little lambs who have gone astray. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 November 1979
BEFORE WE get started on the music... ...
The Jam: Setting Sons (Polydor)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 10 November 1979
CHANGE. IT'S something Paul Weller wrote about on 'To Be Someone', that sour story on All Mod Cons about the kid who wanted to be famous and ...
Wilson Pickett: Land Of A Thousand Libels
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 November 1979
IN GUY PEELAERT'S Rock Dreams tome of some six autumns back, one of the artist's strongest slices of visualized popular music imagery went under the ...
The Who: The Ace Face’s Forgotten Story: Pete Meaden
Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 17 November 1979
Im the face babyIs that clear?Im the faceIf you want it.All the others are third-class tickets by me babyIs that clear? Pete Meaden for the ...
Mink DeVille, Willy DeVille: Willy DeVille: Sacked!
Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 November 1979
Wille Deville in "services no longer required" shock! ...
Madness: Nice Band, Shame About The Fans
Report and Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979
Deanne Pearson puts the cat among the pigeons and scotches some nasty rumours. ...
Neil Young: Live Rust (Reprise)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979
"My, my, hey hey, rock and roll is here to stay/Hey hey, my my, rock and roll can never die." ...
The Pop Group, Scritti Politti: University Of London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 24 November 1979
THE TRADITION of the angry young idealist, full of righteous fervour, self-righteous condescension towards those at odds with his or her volatile beliefs, and a ...
Annette Peacock: A British Rail Breakfast With The Artbreak Kid
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
TIMING: a while ago someone asked Bob Geldof — famous vocalist and composer with the extremely well-known Boomtown Rats pop group — for his definition ...
Fleetwood Mac: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
YOU ENTER the stream of bodies pouring through the portholes of Madison Square Garden. You get caught up in the tide. Into the awesome space ...
George Clinton: Mutiny On The Mothership — Uncle Jam Wants Out
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
Drummer Jerome Brailey and Horny Hornsman Fred Wesley have already quit Funkadelic – and now George Clinton is giving up live performances. Richard Grabel reports ...
Pink Floyd: The Wall (Harvest)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
FOREMEN OF the apocalypse Pink Floyd are still alive, four lost men in a popular music eclipse. ...
The Jam, The Vapors: Apollo Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
FIRST NIGHT out on tour: welcome back to another edition of So Who Really Is The Best Group In The World? Down in Manchester Apollo ...
Tom Waits: The Skid Row Drunk Goes Legit: Tom Waits live in New York
Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
BECAUSE of circumstances too dumb to relate here and now, I had never seen Tom Waits doing a live show, unless, of course you count ...
The Skids: A Loser's Quest For Survival
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 December 1979
"I'm going to lose. It's like admitting defeat before I start. But I'm going to do as much as possible in that period before I ...
Randy Newman: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
RANDY NEWMAN was wandering around backstage at the Dominion gazing disconsolately down. "Why doesn't anyone like my ELO song?" he kept asking no one in ...
Randy Newman: Standing Up For The Small Man
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
THERE ARE hotels and there are hotels. And then there are hotels like Claridge's, an elegant art deco reminder of the pre-war age of luxury ...
Robert Palmer: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
THAT THE Odeon was full for two nights running leads me to think that Robert Palmer's followers form some kind of secret society. I don't ...
Overview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
DANNY BAKER checks out the singles charts. ...
The Beat: Don't Call Me Ska Face
Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
"It's just The Beat having a Punky Reggae party," says Deanne Pearson of the latest 2-Tone tornadoes. 'Check' them out... ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
ADAM AND The Ants and Throbbing Gristle are shadowy extremes, lurking in dark corners, lethargically scratching through their overscrubbed private parts, grinning sweetly at anyone ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 December 1979
EYES RIGHT! Talking Heads are playing the Electric Ballroom tonight, and clearly visible above all the twitching cerebella is one head, as instantly noticeable as ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 December 1979
"...the wit of the city's urchins is as sharp as the finest conversation of the rural lord; the vulgar speech of the street arabs is ...
The Selecter, The Specials: The Specials, The Selecter: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 15 December 1979
TWO TOP FIVE two-tone bands in one night. The message comes through loud and clear: rude bwoy can't fail. ...
Dire Straits: Whitla Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
IN THE foyer they flog T-shirts, programmes and all the paraphernalia of a rock band's promotional department bar embossed wellingtons and inflatable underwear. Rumours that ...
The Clash: Guy Stevens: “There Are Only Two Phil Spectors In The World And I Am One Of Them”
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
Selected tableaux from The Guy Stevens Story. ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
THERE'S NO tradition of ska being popular in America. Millie Small and Desmond Dekker each had one novelty hit a piece, and that's it. But ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
LIVERPOOL'S Lime Street station opens onto a typically drab cityscape. ...
Talking Heads: Talking Head First
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
A HIRE CAR draws up at an address in Soho, and three members of Talking Heads troop into the Cine-Lingual building, Berwick Street. ...
Tim Buckley: The Fantastic Voyage of a Starsailor
Retrospective by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 December 1979
"I'm as puzzled as the newborn child I'm as riddled as the tide Should I stand amid the breakers Or should I die with death my bride? Come hear ...
U2/Soul Boys: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1980
TWO NEWCOMERS playing in NW6 either side of the Xmas go slow. Plenty of gaps in the gathering for the U2 show, but of the ...
George Jones: My Very Special Guests (Epic)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
A VETERAN OF over 50 albums, second cousin to the Nashville addiction, cheap booze, paid dues and bad blues, George Jones continues his flirtations with ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
It could only be cold comfort to them, but this isnt the first time rock n roll has played a distant part in the lives ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
FIRST THE vital question — has marriage cheered up our ever-ailing heroine and caused her to cease spilling teardrops on the Steinway? On the evidence ...
Guide by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
"Progress in the physical and mechanical sciences determines a progress in art." — Carlos Chavez, 1957 ...
James Chance & the Contortions: The Contortions: Buy The Contortions (Ze Records)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
LIGHTBULBS FLASH dutifully o'er our heads, signifying but an insufficient brightness. We go sleepily about our business. Flashbulbs slash daily at our eyes, fulfilling narcissism. ...
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
JUST ABOVE my typewriter on the mantlepiece is an eye-catching tube of 10 orange flavoured effervescent tablets. Each tablet contains 1g orange flavoured concentrated Vitamin ...
The Ramones: End Of The Century (Sire)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
1-9-9-9 Phil 'N' Da Brudders Do Just Fine ...
John Cale: Sabotage/Live (Spy Import)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
THE COVER of this, his first album in almost five years, shows John Cale wearing the only sensible accessories for the true cold war ...
Millie Jackson: Live And Uncensored
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
A COUPLE OF NIGHTS back I was re-discovering Millie Jackson's Caught Up/Still Caught Up albums and wallowing in the ecstasy of what arguably were the ...
Pink Military: Post-Modernist Pop Music
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
HOW WAS IT in Liverpool last year? "Liverpool has been great! It really has. All these ace bands coming through. A lot of the best ...
Overview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
POMP THE trouble with synthesisers is actually playing them, accepting their status as sound-generators and starting from scratch. Mechanical keyboards were included in early synth ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
West Coast comeback shock ...
The Pretenders: Pretenders (Real Records)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
The pop games people play ...
The Bodysnatchers, The Selecter: The Selecter, The Bodysnatchers: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
THE LAST thing I heard in 1979 and the first thing I heard in 1980 were rocksteady ska rhythms from two bands connected with what ...
The Slits: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 January 1980
ANOTHER American debut of another new British band at Hurrah's. But this is New Year's Eve and the ticket is 25 bucks probably a ...
M: The International Motel Conspiracy
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 19 January 1980
Deep inside the National Gallery two 'moles' talk of music, muzik, muzak, and other aspects of modern man... DANNY BAKER meets ROBIN SCOTT of M. ...
Mikey Dread: Who's The Dread At The Hub Of Dub? Michael Campbell
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 19 January 1980
"Zzzzzz-z-z-z pheeeww zzzzz-z-z-z pheeeeww zzzzzzzzzz-z-z-z" "Wake up Jonathan, wake up!!" "Cho 'lef me nuh, can't you see I man waan sleep?" "Wake up nuh man, ...
The Pretenders: Only A Hobo Only A Star
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 26 January 1980
THE PRETENDERS are number one, top of the pops. But where there's 'Brass' there's sadness and Chrissie Hynde regrets some of the changes and new ...
Utopia: Adventures In Utopia (Bearsville)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 26 January 1980
The no longer implacable but apparently un-stoppable Todd Rundgren releases his first blow to the forward aspirations of the new decade, a concept album. But ...
Bobby Rush: Rush Hour (Philly International Import)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980
WITH A FEW honourable exceptions, the satin sounds of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's branded Philadelphia International label usually leave this writer's mojo idling. But ...
The Durutti Column: the Emaciated Line Between Art and Ambience
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980
Max Bell spends a day at the Factory with The Durutti Column ...
The Flying Lizards: The Flying Lizards (Virgin)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 February 1980
CHEWING ON a typically hilarious John Cage memoir, digesting the Formalist perfection, the Formalist splendour, I realise that absolutely nothing is demonstrated beyond the demonstration ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 February 1980
Are Japan just a bunch of pretty boy remnants of glamrock. Or do they know something that the rest of rock 'n' roll is yet ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Get Happy!! (F-Beat)
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 16 February 1980
ON AN otherwise typical day late last October, Elvis Costello strolled through the door of Londons Rock On record shop in Camden Town, the oldies ...
Joy Division: University Of London, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 February 1980
I DIDN'T KNOW which way to turn. In every corner of the second floor of the anonymous university building there seemed to be some group ...
The Beat, Laurel Aitken: The Old (Rude) Boy Network: The Return Of Laurel Aitken
Profile by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 1 March 1980
SUNDAY NIGHT at the Lyceum and Laurel Aitken, the 'high priest of reggae' (remember that one, boot boys?) the king of Jamaican blues, whose musical ...
Elvis Costello: Eivis Costello and the Attractions: Pavilion, West Runton
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 8 March 1980
Fly me I'm Elvis! ...
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 8 March 1980
THEY BOP, they hop, they bounce like rampaging 'roos. They sing songs bearing titles as profound as 'She's My Baby, She's My Girl' and 'Do ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Call Tom Petty The New Springsteen And He'll Cut You!
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
THE PICCADILLY Hotel in Manchester is an anonymous modern structure slipped neatly inside a multi-storey car park — an injection of glass and concrete at ...
Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Camden Town Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
A LITTLE South African night music; Dollar Brand — or Abdullah Ibrahim as he now prefers — and two 50 minute sets of solo piano, ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
Suddenly everything's gone only rock'n'roll again. Punk, mod, ska, HM – it's the same old escape route in a different make of limo. Down in ...
The Feelies: The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
Boys simply don't come more next door then the Feelies, four model citizens of Haledon, New Jersey. Richard Grabel takes an outing to the home ...
The Knack: …But The Little Girls Understand
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
When the little girls do understand, you boys have had it ...
The Knack: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
And they brought their own audience too ...
The Pop Group, The Slits: The Slits, The Pop Group: Roll On, Sartre's Marbles!!
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 March 1980
THE SLITS: 'In The Beginning There Was Rhythm'/THE POP GROUP: 'Where There's A Will There's A Way' (Rough Trade) ...
U2 Can Make it in the Rock Business
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 March 1980
"BUT CAN YOU trust it?!" Bono, the insurgent, irrepressible singer for Dublin quartet U2, finishes making a hard point using a typically animated gesture. I ...
U2, The Virgin Prunes: U2, Berlin, Virgin Prunes: Acklam Hall, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 March 1980
ITS ENERGY spent, its citizens content to lapse into style, to consume and give tacit consent, its insatiable media meanwhile ever needing fresh supplies, London ...
Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 29 March 1980
Exploited for the last two decades as dumb but pretty decorations in rock, some girls now demand and deserve musical respect — but some girls ...
Battle Of The Sound Systems: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 5 April 1980
PERSONALLY, I have seen more wonderful sound system contests playing out of a freezing November evening at the Stratford Municipal Hall. ...
Ian Hunter: Welcome To The Club
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 April 1980
THIS IS a double live album and as such is prone to all the problems that such vinyl is heir. Problem (1): the cover is ...
Sister Sledge: We Are Family (Entertainment)
Report by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 5 April 1980
Greatest dancer: DANNY BAKER ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980
THE 1980 FACTORY ACT ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: Conversations With Pete
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980
On an up with britain's longest serving honest man of rock ...
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980
MONDAY AT Wembley. Contemporary country night, give or take a few lower-order stetson-tilters. ...
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 26 April 1980
BASSIST LLOYD Parks carries a superior band of musicians to these shores on every occasion of his visit. As leader of Skin, Flesh & Bones ...
Pete Townshend: Empty Glass (Atco)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 26 April 1980
WHAT IS the trouble with these song and dance men who have had their day but won't admit it? They get above themselves, as Parsons ...
Sugar Minott: Youthman Promotion
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 26 April 1980
Sugar Minott leads JA's younger generation forwards. ...
Devo: Freedom Of Choice (Virgin)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980
Some of us out here are still Devo ...
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980
The hit factory calls in the new technology ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980
NOBODY EXPECTS Public Image Limited to sell massive amounts of vinyl to the American public. So to see the "Sold Out" sign on the Palladium ...
The Beat: I Just Can't Stop It (Go-Feet)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980
Are you ready for post-2-Tonism? ...
The Police: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 14 June 1980
Rock Law... ...
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 June 1980
Following a more-than-rigorous analysis of the last Slits/Pop Group single, the twin terrors of Rough Trade challenged Ian Penman to a verbal showdown. This is his ...
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980
THE FACTORY roadshow has taken to bringing their own clown to put on between acts, his name's Kevin Hewick and he attacks his dopey revelations ...
Fleetwood Mac: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980
SAT IN THE Grand Tier South of Wembley Arena it's hard not to feel both a hardening and softening of the old cultural corpus. One's ...
The Clash, Holly & the Italians: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 June 1980
Myth Man In The Hammersmith Palais ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley and the Wailers: Uprising (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 5 July 1980
"But even without the forceful pressures of the slaves, the slave system was collapsing surreptitiously from within..."(The Caribbean: Franklin W Knight: Oxford University Press) ...
Public Image Ltd: Corporation Executive Report to Shareholders
Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 5 July 1980
PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED and America hardly seemed made for each other. Yet having successfully defied Britain's star caste systems and ugly myth makers, earlier this ...
Graham Parker, The Rumour: Graham Parker: Going Down On The Up Escalator
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1980
Nick Kent investigates the rise and abrupt fall of Graham Parker And The Rumour's commercial success and smells a rat. ...
The Human League: LADIES, GENTS, ANDROIDS, MUTANTS & BIOTRONS A BIG HAND For The Human League
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 July 1980
THE HUMAN LEAGUE ADVENTURE IS JUST BEGINNING. The first slide appears on the top left-hand screen. It is rapidly flanked by another: A LONG TIME AGO IN ...
Lou Reed: Growing Up In Public (Arista)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 12 July 1980
GROWING UP IN PUBLIC finally spells out what Lou Reed's records since 1976's Coney Island Baby have been murmuring in varying dissonances: that the inspiration ...
Joy Division: Closer (Factory)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980
Closer to the edge ...
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980
Bassist with Arnie Prole's Blues Band! Founding member of John Cooper Clarke's Curious Yellows! Close friend of Eric the Ferret! Producer of Spiral Scratch, Jilted ...
Brian Eno: Into The Spirit World
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
The White Man's Grave Look to Africa ...
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
JIVE OF THE JADED ...
Misty In Roots: Live At The Counter-Eurovision ‘79
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
IT SEEMS POINTLESS to divorce Misty's music from their well-known context as Southall youth organisers whose People Unite self-help organisation was badly damaged by the ...
Vic Godard: So, What is the Matter, Boy?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
After all, two singles in three years isn't exactly prolific... and when you do get an album out you don't even like it. Vivien ...
The Kinks: One For The Road (Arista)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
WITH ITS predecessor Low Budget having finally catapulted The Kinks into the American Top Ten after what seems a lifetime of cult status, what could ...
The Pop Group: We Are Time (Y/Rough Trade)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 26 July 1980
THIS COULD have been a great record. On paper, it seemed to be a handful of The Pop Group's strongest suits. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: The I Three: The 3 Wise Is
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 9 August 1980
VIVIEN GOLDMAN checks out the Rastafarian way of feminism with the I Three ...
Pink Floyd: The Wall, Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 16 August 1980
Brick by Brick, Nick Kent demolishes Pink Floyd's The Wall at Earls Court ...
The Associates: The Affectionate Punch
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 August 1980
RUMOURS have been dripping down from Scotland about a diverse horde of determined post Skids/S. Minds/Scars groups all ready to shift our attention. Positive Noise, ...
Pere Ubu: The Art of Walking (Rough Trade)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 30 August 1980
1. PERE UBU IS haywire, rudimentary, and patiently documentary. It operates on a yield of snared and shared rhythms, on symptoms that have been stitched ...
Roky Erickson: The Creature With the Atomized Brain, or I Talked With A Zombie
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 30 August 1980
Are you ready for the Thirteenth Floor Elevators revival? Roky Erickson, cult and occult figure from the swirling mists of psyechedelia, takes time out from ...
A Certain Ratio: Failed CSE Rock!
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
WE LEAVE the grubby Hulme human hutch where some members of A Certain Ratio live. The view from this particular section of hutches is not ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
AH, THE shimmering dust-free corridors, the pleasure machines, the limitless possibilities opened up by microtechnology, the disturbing effects of cybernetic leisure upon the fragile human ...
Report by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
AS LUCK would have it, my plane ticket to New York City's JFK Airport is open and coincides with the two major jawing topics obsessing ...
Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons: Return of the Maltese Falcon
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
THE OTHER WEEK top Oz band Jo Jo Zep And The Falcons broke the house record at Hammersmith's Clarendon Hotel when they played their first ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
WHY 'CLUES'? I mean to say, Robert old chap, it's not as if there's some burning question to all this despite the wacky covershot of ...
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
Bowled over by a Skid ...
The Fleshtones: Pleasures of the Flesh
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 6 September 1980
THE FLESHTONES have the spirit that has always moved great pop music. They have the raw enthusiasm, the exuberance, the slight touch of madness. They ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Night Of The Locusts
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
THE GOLDEN AGE of hotrod and dragster racing is over but the USA is still littered with its mythology. One such relic is Lebanon Valley ...
Ultravox: Forever And Ever Ultravox
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
WHEN GARY NUMAN was talking to the press every day of the week, unsurely basking in the cold sunshine of a sudden fame, a lot ...
Gillan, Tygers of Pan Tang: Gillan: Glory Road; Tygers Of Pan Tang: Wild Cat
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
IN OTHER music papers, Heavy Metal has been irresponsibly ghettoised. Melody Maker, Sounds, Record Mirror all have their HM specialists who drily serve a facile, ...
Secret Affair: Behind Closed Doors
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
THOUGH MOD never got as far as its second summer, it served Secret Affair's purpose. Seeing the movement coming, Ian Page used its momentum to ...
Simple Minds: Empires and Dance
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
I'M DANCING as fast as I can! Empires And Dance, an LP of terror-songs, vigilance and vanity, starts with 'I Travel', one of the great ...
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 13 September 1980
XTC'S FOURTH outing, called, for no apparent reason, Black Sea, greets the reviewer like nothing so much as a bowl of Frosties on a wet ...
Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band: Doc At The Radar Station
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
IN THE Beefheart Universe, you see everything that you see in other places, but it always seems different. ...
David Bowie: Scary Monsters (RCA)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
LEARNING to live with somebody's depression: the man in the clown suit stops running, finds self in back-against-wall situation, attempts to deal with same. Scary ...
Chic, Diana Ross: DIANA stop DIANA stop DIANA stop DIANA
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
THE DPRESS CONFERENCE versus YOUR POCKET ...
Live Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
AWWWRIGHT LONDON!! ARE YA STARTING TO SWEAT?! ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
The squalor show goes on ...
T. Rex: The Unobtainable T.Rex
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
AND SO, it appears, we are on the brink of a new T.Rex faith. Well, as one who defended the Bolanian right at school in ...
Marc Bolan, Tyrannosaurus Rex: The NME Consumers' Guide To Marc Bolan, part 1
Retrospective by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
INDEPENDENT TELEVISION are currently repeating five shows from the three year old Marc series. Marc Bolan was star in and presenter of a pop show ...
The B-52s: The Guide to Cult Status with those Wild! Wacky! B-52’s!
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
The B-52s are a "clever" jokey dance combo. Before they achieved their current commercial success, they were a gang of pals hanging around in Athens, ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
GONE WITH THE WINDMILLS ...
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
BUBBLEGUM'S BACK and it sounds wonderful. In contemporary terms the Skids are to The Clash and the post-modernists what Sweet were to Slade and Bowie: ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
YOU REMEMBER the scene from Hollywood: overnight the lovable brat grows up into the most compelling person in the room. Suddenly – you're beautiful! ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980
XTC ARE BITING their nails backstage of an open air gig at a soccer ground in the Madrid suburbs the equivalent of an English ...
Dead Kennedys, UK Subs: Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables; UK Subs: Crash Course
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
SPOT THE DIFFERENCEStudy these two pictures carefully. At first sight they may seem identical, but there are at least twelve small but significant differences between ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: A Case Of The Shakes
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
YOU HAVE to admit that Dr Feelgood know their own measure – no kowtowing to trend from this lot. Would you believe this record was ...
Delta 5, Echo & The Bunnymen, U2: Echo & Bunnymen, U2, Delta 5: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN dwell in the magical land between life and art that is the territory of great rock'n'roll. Making music alone isn't enough ...
Gregory Isaacs: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
TAKE ANY moderate gathering of citizens intent on peaceable pursuit and out comes the Babylon in force. I am growing altogether more and more disgruntled ...
Phil Spector, Ronnie Spector: 'I Wasn't Even a Housewife': Ronnie Spector's true confessions
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
SHE WAS supposed to be promoting her album, but Ronnie Spectors first solo album isnt the kind of thing thats about to stop the world ...
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
VETERAN JAMAICAN singer Jimmy Cliff finally achieved international status for his leading role in the seminal reggae film The Harder They Come in the early ...
Joni Mitchell: Shadows and Light
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
LIKE, A Rolling Stone picnic or something more in touch with these headachey contemporary days? ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
THE RECENT correspondent to Gasbag who used Czechoslovakia's Plastic People as a stick with which to beat NME's supposed ignorance of domestic repression was himself ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: The NME Consumers' Guide To Marc Bolan, part 2: The Rise And Fall Of Bolanmania
Retrospective by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
BOLAN WENT electric and it was deemed, astoundingly, that he'd 'sold out'. For wanting to reach young people with vibrant pop music at a time ...
The Associates: Boys Keep Scoring
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
THERE'S SOMETHING a little odd about Billy Mackenzie. When he was younger, he says, his friends used to think that he was crazy. Mental. ...
The Specials: Stop The Tour, I Want To Get Off
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 27 September 1980
IN ST AUSTELL, Cornwall, it is only a few minutes since the pubs have opened for Sunday lunchtime. The red-faced moustachioed police sergeant and the ...
Black Uhuru: Last Exit to Brooklyn
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Brooklyn is definitely a dread neighbourhood. A neighbourhood of brownstone buildings and trees, Selassies Herbal Groceries store and the Cool Runnings Candy Store. ...
Elvis Costello, The Stray Cats: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Smile Elvis, you're in a frontlash situation ...
Josef K: Four shadows in search of a sunny day
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Paul Morley talks to Josef K, a soul group who define the alienation effect, it says here. ...
Led Zeppelin: Bonzo's Last Bash – Is It The End For Zeppelin Too?
Report by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
EARLY LAST Thursday afternoon Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones went up to one of the guest bedrooms in Jimmy Page's £900,000 Windsor house, where ...
Madness: The Mad Hatter's TV Party
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
THE TV PARTY ...
Orange Juice: The Sneer That Says Wish You Were Here
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
THERE'S SOMEONE knocking on my door. A loud rap. I'm woken up with a start. I open the door. ...
Rico Rodriguez, The Specials, Eddie "Tan-Tan" Thornton: Rico Rocks Tout Soul
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Big day for JA precludes Specials occasion ...
Simple Minds: Travel Broadens Simple Minds
Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
ONCE YOU get onto the European mainland, it's hard not to be infected by the virulent strain of fatalism sweeping the continent. En route to ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
Cross-over cupboard love ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Kilimanjaro
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 4 October 1980
OF COURSE putting four singles on an LP is cheating, even if two are re-done. And the cover's pretty bad as well. But if you're ...
A Certain Ratio, New Order: Hurrah, New York NY
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
Factory whistle blows in New York ...
Au Pairs: Every Home Should Have Four
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
"THE TROUBLE with conversations like this," declares Pete, nodding sagely, knitting his eyebrows, as he refers to the complex peculiarities of a pop group who ...
Cabaret Voltaire, Eric Random, Take It: Clarendon Hotel, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
IN CABARET Voltaire's live spectaculars, the valuable process of disorientation begins with the uncompromising drumbeat that fires the music. No matter if you've seen them ...
Comsat Angels: Miracle Workers
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
"MILKY WAY the gig you can do between tours!" Steve Fellows, singer, guitarist and lyricist with The Comsat Angels is right. There's very little ...
Joe Jackson Band: Beat Crazy (A&M)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
WITH SOME albums, constructive criticism's more a case of wishful thinking. With others, you just don't bother. ...
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
MY STORY — BY KURTIS BLOWAs rapped to Richard Grabel ...
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
Gavin Martin has been NME's Belfast correspondent for the past three years. When, earlier this year, he announced his intention of moving to London, we ...
The Ruts: Ruts: Grin And Bear It (Virgin)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
AT THEIR best The Ruts embodied the virtues of second division punk without resorting to the Bash Street antics of third generation comics like the ...
The Ramones: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
"Despair of nothing you would attain, Unwearied diligence your point will gain!" Men Who Have Risen, John Hogg, 1847. ...
The Raybeats: Danceteria, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
Smooth surfers of the dance floor ...
Tom Waits: Heartattack & Vine (Asylum/WEA)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
American stars and bars ...
Toots & The Maytals: Toots And The Maytals: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
Toots Comes Home To Roots ...
Colin Newman: A-Z (Beggars Banquet)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980
AFTER THE flawed experimentalism of Gilbert and Lewis's Dome and Cupol projects, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Colin Newman's first solo outing ...
Fela Kuti: The Rascal Republic Takes On The World
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980
FELA ANIKULAPO-KOUTI PLANS TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA IN 1983. HE'S ALREADY AFRICA'S MOST POPULAR MUSICIAN, WITH OVER 100 LPs TO HIS CREDIT. HE ALSO HAS ...
The Pretenders: The Benefits Of Hynde Sight
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980
Perched on the edge of a bleak Bronte-like heath overlooking Bradford is the hotel in which The Pretenders are staying. In the forecourt, next to ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 October 1980
THE PASSAGE have been a part-time group, on an interminably unfashionable label, whose agitating, pent-up seven inches have disappeared into the nowhere. With the disquieting ...
Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel: Chaz Jankel: Is There Life After Blockheadism?
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
When Chaz Jankel left The Blockheads last year, Kosmo Vinyl described him as "a brave lad who's going to come a cropper." But instead of ...
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
ANY GROUP can only pack so much stuff. The stuff that oils and inspires their moves, greases songs, a magic stuff that flows through a ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
"Being poor is not because money doesn’t exist and being rich doesn’t mean you know everything. But in America, art has more to do with ...
Poly Styrene: Poly Unsaturates
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
Dazed and crumpled in the tumble-drier of fame. Poly Styrene has now ironed out the creases of her frayed psyche. Is she still hung-up? Is ...
Talking Heads: Remain In Light
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
THE DESIRE to (re)discover the African continent has been burning deep in the bowels of curious imagination ever since the New York Herald packed Mr ...
Toyah Wilcox: The Girl Who Would Be King
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
When Toyah Willcox talks, it's like a time-bomb ticking over...and Toyah's time gets closer every second. So what does make Toyah tick? Paul Morley sounds ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 October 1980
I LOVE U2. I worry about U2. Hearing their debut single 'Out Of Control' and seeing them play in Ireland, I fell for their undismayed ...
Captain Beefheart: Tales Of Transmutation From The Mojave Magic Man
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 1 November 1980
"GOD-DAMN THAT BEAT!" Don Van Vliet slams out a foursquare tattoo on the dashboard of his blue Volvo estate. "That mama heartbeat. That bom...bom...bom! Why ...
Stevie Wonder: Hotter Than July (Motown)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 November 1980
Blastin' back. Hello roots, bye bye geraniums ...
The Skids: Schizophrenia On Skid Row
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 November 1980
"I've no desire to push myself into being a media figure. I'm quite happy with my cameras and my wife and my guitars."– Stuart Adamson ...
Talking Heads: Free Your Ass And Your Head Will Follow
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
Doctor Byrne discovers Africa and funk but makes the natives restless ...
Robert Palmer: The Deb's Delight Takes FRIGHT!
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
THREE TIMES I got out of my warm bath to answer the telephone. The first call was a few seconds of silence and down. The ...
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
ROCK'S FAVOURITE SITUATION COMEDY RETURNS TO YOUR PAGES AND STAGES. SCRIPT: PAUL MORLEY ...
Bush Tetras: The Bush Tetras: Outsiders in a Sexual Jungle
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 8 November 1980
Meet the Bush Tetras They're a New York rhythm and paranoia band. ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 November 1980
THIS COULD BE a starkly calculated cash in on the seamier, dreamier trends and tendencies of these our favourite post-punk days. Certainly its approach to ...
Profile and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
"To try to write love is to confront the muck of language: that region of hysteria where language is both too much and too little, ...
Public Image Ltd: Image Publique S.A.: Paris Au Printemps (Virgin)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
Lydon says he hates live albums. Paris Au Printemps – PAP – the best of two nights recorded in Paris this spring, is a consumer ...
Killing Joke: The Killing Of Brother Paul
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
IF I HAD heard how Jaz had let Youth know that I'd arrived, I wouldn't have bothered with the interview. Photographer Ray Stevenson told me ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
SOME TIME ago. Neil Young produced American Stars And Bars originally intended as a concept album which would offer one set of songs about ...
Linx: There's a Brand New Dance Going Around... FUNKIN' FOR BRITANNICA — Get Down & Stay Up
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 15 November 1980
Hi there! I'm Chris Hill, main man and DJ to the sweating legions of British funkateers. NME have asked me to introduce this piece by DANNY BAKER, ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
IT WAS late in the '30s when New York cemented its claim as America's most energetic and insistent symbol of urban eroticism and urbane careerism. ...
Bruce Springsteen: Los Angeles Sports Arena, California
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
IT'S EASY to see why the girls go so much on him. You got the excitable adolescent of 'Rosalita', 'Crush On You' – hey hey ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Welcome To The Bunnyhouse
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
WHEN ECHO And The Bunnymen end their British tour with a date at Liverpool University, the Mad Hatter photographer (Joe Stevens) and I travel up ...
Ian Dury: Oi! Oi! Anchors Aweigh
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
Ian Dury And The Blockheads: Hope & Anchor, London ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Double Fantasy (Geffen)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
IN THE cocoon, something stirs. John Lennon – one of the people who used to be in The Beatles, a group reckoned to be hot ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Men Of Mystery And Imagination
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
ANDY McCLUSKEY and I are the last two of the Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark party left in the Edinburgh hotel bar. ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 22 November 1980
THE COVER to this, the seventh Steely Dan album (discounting the Greatest Hits compilation), features a painting or anaglyph of a dancing couple of presumably ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 November 1980
After the breakdown of his marriage, John Martyn spent seven months on a complete bender, but the result of that desperation was his finest album for years. Nick Kent ...
Spandau Ballet: Talking Threads: Spandau Ballet
Profile and Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 29 November 1980
Five young men from Islington make a short story shorter about the ballet-hoo surrounding the group most likely to – Spandau Ballet. ...
Cabaret Voltaire: The Heart and Soul of Cabaret Voltaire
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 29 November 1980
CATCH A TRAIN into the dark depths of the North again. Flee the wonderland. A million miles away from London town, the conditioning centre where ...
Bow Wow Wow: > C•30 > C•60 > C•Shanty Go!
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 6 December 1980
Max Bell charts an old sea dog's a blinga a blanga a bippity bop ...
Fad Gadget: Art of work but not redundant
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 6 December 1980
Fad Gadget's Fireside Favourites A doleful tale of a sweet and sickly apocalypse ...
Angelic Upstarts, Jimmy Pursey: Jimmy Pursey: The Cockney Kid Is Innocent
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 December 1980
So who are you gonna be today then, Jim? The new Messiah or the little boy lost? Robespierre or the Urban Spaceman? An all-round good ...
Method Actors, Pylon: Pylon, the Method Actors: The Post Bouffant Bop
Interview by Roy Carr, Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 6 December 1980
Athens, Georgia, apres the B-52's: still weird, but definitely not wacky ...
Grace Jones: The State Of Grace
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 December 1980
GRACE JONES. Grace Jones is a nice lady who loves Japanese food. But how does the name Grace Jones figure in your code book? ...
Ian Dury: How Not To Get Lumbered
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 December 1980
IT'S DARK and it's cold and it's raining: a wind with a grudge against warm flesh knifes through the clothing and the matted thing behind ...
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1980
OK, OK, they're a jolly prolific bunch always about to give their audience more than their money's worth, but Christ, let's not mince words ...
ABC, Essential Bop, Restricted Code: Bristol Bop! Glasgow Pop! It's As Easy As ABC!
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980
LEMON SUCKING refers to the practice of sucking in the cheeks to affect the 'rock'n'roll' wasted look. Chewing, or neck bending, refers, I would suppose, ...
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980
"I MADE my first money at a medicine show. I didn't know there were such things except in movies or in films until I was ...
The Slits: And Lo, "Three Wise Slits Take Their Temple To The West"
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 December 1980
GAMES ON TRAINS ...
Alan Vega: Collision Drive (Celluloid)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1981
AS THE mercurial Jukebox Babe starts to makes its steady impact as a 12-inch, here is an even grittier reinterpretation of The Great American Rock ...
B.B. King: There Must Be A Better World Somewhere
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1981
IN 1966, B.B. King put out a live album entitled Blues Is King, and as far as the major U.S. labels are concerned ...
James Chance: James White & the Contortions: Second Chance (PVC)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1981
IT ALL depends how deranged you are to start with. James Chance – née White, née Black – makes impossibly futile, dead music, fit only ...
Meat Loaf: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1981
THEY'VE ASKED me to make this as short as the Loaf in question is large – but theres a painful amount to be said. The ...
Eric Random: Random Holds His Own
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 1981
ERIC RANDOM concerts these days aren't the personal health hazards they once were when he, Pete Shelley and assorted Mancunians used to kick up an ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Maurice White: How the Black Man Bleached his Soul…
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, January 1981
... or how Earth, Wind & Fire guru Maurice White deserted Memphis to achieve Nirvana in Hollywood. ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, January 1981
IN NEW YORK CITY it is the coldest day of the winter. Later that night the temperature drops to zero degrees Fahrenheit. The woollen-enshrouded Sting ...
Bob Dylan: Getting in Touch with Christ (You Know It Ain’t Easy)
Interview by Steve Turner, New Musical Express, 3 January 1981
BECAUSE HE DIDN'T preach in between numbers during his recent West Coast concerts and because he sang Like A Rolling Stone and The Times They ...
The B-52s: The B-52’s: Hair Today Gone Tomorrow?
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 3 January 1981
The Bouffants That Broke The Box Office: A Boffo Success Story by Cynthia Rose ...
The Police: Tooting Bec, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 3 January 1981
JUST BECAUSE The Police have played in India is no reason to turn their Tooting Bec tent concert into a simulacrum of the Black Hole ...
Burning Spear: The Venue, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
I CAN REMEMBER literally crying with feeling at only one concert, and that was Burning Spear at the Rainbow in '78. That kind of high ...
Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts; Where There's Smoke (Motown)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
Waiting for a Miracle: NICK KENT reappraises the latest works of the doyen of '60s soul, SMOKEY ROBINSON ...
Nick Kent, The Subterraneans: The Almost Legendary Nick Kent Story
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
The modest (if a mite incestuous) tale of the celebrated NME writer who is now on the threshold of becoming a bona fide rock star ...
The Fall: The Wit And Wisdom Of Mark Smith
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
DID YOU KNOW?That Andy Gill discovered all these pearls of wisdom – and more – while talking to The Fall. ...
Mikey Dread: The Dread Man Tells His Tale
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 17 January 1981
From radio star to toaster to production and recording star, Mikey Dread Campbell is still well in control ...
Bunny Wailer: Original Bunnyman Echoes His Roots: Bunny Sings The Wailers
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 17 January 1981
AS TO WHY Bunny Wailer has chosen this moment to come down from the hills and ransack the files of old Wailers material well, ...
Dennis Bovell's Dub Band: Commonwealth Institute, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 January 1981
"DUB," SAID Dennis Bovell, dubmaster, "you just — do it. Spontaneous. That's the effect I wanted to create onstage." ...
Aswad, Linton Kwesi Johnson: Aswad/Linton Kwesi Johnson/New Regulars: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 January 1981
MONDAY NIGHT in the Palais: forward and upful all the way. Aswad's 'Warrior Charge' as featured in Babylon and Brinsley Forde's performance in the principal ...
Duran Duran: Just Fine And Dandy
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 31 January 1981
THE NAME of Birmingham group Duran Duran has no connection with Japanese covers of Chiffons songs. ...
The Belle Stars: Rock Garden, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 31 January 1981
THE BELLE Stars are five-sevenths of the former Bodysnatchers: Stella, Penny, Judy, Sarah-Jane and Miranda. The new girls in the key places taken by founding ...
Jim Carroll: The Jim Carroll Band: Catholic Boy (Atco)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 31 January 1981
BLOND, FLESHLY-FACED and 30 years old, Jim Carroll was slated for status as a rock poet back in '71. Meant to be the other half ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 7 February 1981
SATURDAY NIGHT ended at seven o'clock on Sunday morning with one last bottle of Veuve Cliquot and Sunday began at four in the afternoon with ...
Marvin Gaye: In Our Lifetime (Motown)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 7 February 1981
SOMEHOW ONE forgives the sermonising in Marvin Gaye that irritates in other soul stars. Visually he fits the bill he might almost be the ...
Elvis Costello, Squeeze: the Palladium, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
WHAT DO Squeeze value? Professionalism. Tightness. Songs of classic construction. Entertainment. Making the little girls smile and yell. ...
Joy Division, New Order: New Order: Heaven, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
THE HAUNTING OF HEAVEN ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
SPACE INVADERS STYLEEEE! In every arcade throughout the land, the youth just shake that mechanical hand, they like to see the meteors shatter, they just ...
The Congos: Heart Of The Congos (Go-Feet)
Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
ONE OF THE seminal reggae albums of the late 70s, Heart Of The Congos has been available in this country on pre-release since early 1978, ...
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
A FETISH night out! A visit to the new school of modern music — art, avant garde and all those words. No doubt fancy terms ...
U2: Kings of the Celtic Fringe
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 14 February 1981
BONO VOX, a.k.a. Paul Houston, the frontman and driving force behind U2 is huddled in the back of a small van, wrapped in a fur ...
Jah Shaka: Hail Brethren And Sistren: A Big Big Sound System Splashdown
Special Feature by Paul Bradshaw, Vivien Goldman, Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 21 February 1981
WHERE REGGAE really begins — in tune to the sound system. Here is the heart of the music: groups of youth, each with their different philosophies, ...
Burning Spear: The Spear Guide to Higher Stepping
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
Burning Spear on tour. In the dressing room at the Birmingham Odeon, certain thick-set members of Spear's Burning Band mutter that they want to kill ...
Bush Tetras: Taking Liberties from New York, Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
BUSH TETRAS will be a New York legend. They steal/save/ARE the show. They pile disorientating meditative repetition upon sparse improvisation upon tangled rhythms upon inscrutable ...
Gang Of Four: Solid Gold (EMI)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
FINALLY GANG Of Four agree among themselves long enough to record a set of seven new songs, add on three already-released-in-some-other-form originals, come up with ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
SIOUXSIE AND The Banshees are now one of the great British bands. There is no way to conceive just how radically they have been transformed ...
Marvin Gaye: The New Age Metaphysics Of Marvin Gaye
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
Music, Love, Divinity, & The Shape Of Things To Come...The Motown Marvel feels The Force. ...
The Raybeats: Taking Liberties from New York, Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
THE RAYBEATS, uniformed and partly choreographed, the second on. Greeted by a small crowd huddled at the front of the seatless stalls, they are brave, ...
Musical Youth: Under-Age Culture Shock
Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
These kids have just done their first tour. Their average age is 11... Report: SHERYL GARRATT ...
Postmark: Austin, Texas — The Demise of the Armadillo and the Rise of Garagelend Punk
Report by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 7 March 1981
IF YOU PAID to survive The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and saw it as anything other than a blackly anarchic polemic in favour of vegetarianism, then ...
The Beach Boys: The Capitol Years (World Records)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 7 March 1981
LET'S NOT kick around the sand-dunes: this boxed set is, quite simply, the finest Beach Boys offering ever released. ...
Eurythmics: We're Not Tourists, We Live Here
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 7 March 1981
HUNCHED OVER scrambled eggs in his mother's airy flat, Dave Stewart looks more like the late John Lennon than the D'Artagnan-style dandy familiar from The ...
Public Image Ltd: Company Lore and Public Disorder: The PiL Memorandum
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 14 March 1981
WHILE ENGLAND GOES down the plughole, the firm of Lydon, Levene and Lee set up to prove that enterprise is not dead. They press boldly ...
The Stray Cats: Hot Cats & Lying Dogs!
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 14 March 1981
The Pressures And Pretence Of Popabilly Success ...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 March 1981
The remarkable Mr. Collins stays awake long enough to cure NICK KENT of his insomnia. ...
Dynasty, Millie Jackson: Millie Jackson/Dynasty: Apollo Victoria, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 21 March 1981
MILLIE JACKSON was back at last, with the most uncompromising sex show I've ever seen. The Apollo tends to be a haven for flabby executives ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Hard Promises (MCA)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 23 March 1981
WITH THE release of 'American Girl' back in '76, Tom Petty asserted that ability to articulate a native territory – both inherited and imagined – ...
Fela Kuti: Fela Anikulapo Kuti & Africa 70: Hippodrome, Paris
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 28 March 1981
FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI is probably the unlikeliest of candidates to win the dubious honour of being the Great African Dance's Bob Marley – popularizer to ...
Grateful Dead: What A Long Predictable Trip It's Become
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 March 1981
This Week The Grateful Dead trucked back into Britain. In America they're more successful than ever and even Jerry Garcia can't work out why. ...
Tom Waits: London, Victoria Apollo
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 28 March 1981
TOM WAITS, sad to say, has now joined the illustrious pantheon of artistes whose performances have driven me to sleep. Sad, because this is the ...
Tom Waits: The Beat Buff Speed Poet Home Booze Hayseed
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 28 March 1981
Or: the ten-piece Tom Waits jigsaw puzzle. As manufactured by Ian Penman ...
Material: When Is A Band Not A Band?
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 4 April 1981
When it's Material, who are sort of several New York bands who are always sort of coming and going in all sorts of wonderful ways. ...
Pere Ubu: 390 Degrees Of Simulated Stereo
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 4 April 1981
SUBTITLED Ubu Live: Volume One, this LP contains recordings made by the Ubu of Modern Dance days between May 1976 and March 1979 in Cleveland, ...
Michael Jackson, The Jacksons: The Jacksons: The Great Greenland Mystery
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 April 1981
For years, scientists have been baffled by The Great Greenland Mystery. What is it that makes Greenland the only territory on earth where The Jacksons ...
Culture, Far Image: Friars, Aylesbury
Live Review by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981
BRINGING CULTURE TO THE MASSES ...
Bush Tetras, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu: Gang Of Four, Pere Ubu, Bush Tetras: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981
FOUR BETTER OR WORSE? ...
James Brown: Prisoner Of Love Meets The Prisoners Of Hate
Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981
"Those black kids ain't ever seen a black president and they won't ever see one. This country is no better off than it was ...
Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Germs, X: LA Punk
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 April 1981
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA is always preceded by its own legend. There is no way you can avoid that legend if you grew up with the price ...
John Cale: Rock's Honourable Psychotic
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 18 April 1981
Welsh-American wizard John Cale and Stratham scribe Paul Rambali look over their shoulders at each other and talk history and paranoia. ...
Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom / Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 April 1981
THE REAPPEARANCE of Robert Wyatt's two Virgin albums (1974-5 vintage), now in a double package, is as welcome as a spring day after a relentless ...
UB40: UB4O: Unfortunately, We Were At The Woolwich
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 18 April 1981
UB4O: Woolwich Odeon, London ...
Velvet Underground: The Lost History of the Velvet Underground: An interview with Sterling Morrison
Retrospective and Interview by Mary Harron, New Musical Express, 25 April 1981
THE VELVET Underground were the first avant-garde rock band, and the greatest. ...
Dolly Mixture: These Are The Dollies Who Mixed It With The Macho Music Biz And Lost
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981
Cynthia Rose meets some '80s girls who've suffered rock sexploitation. ...
Girlschool: Black Leather at St Trinians
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981
GIRLSCHOOL FRENZY GRIPS THE COUNTRY AS ADOLESCENT BOYS DISCOVER THEIR VERY OWN ROCK'N'ROLL SEX SYMBOLS. PAUL MORLEY TAKES A MANLY LOOK AT THIS CRAZY PHENOMENON. ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981
Vivien Goldman meets Daniel Miller, the man who brought you The Silicon Teens, The Normal and Depeche Mode. Though only one of these exists ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981
Life in the League with only one haircut between them ...
Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: Mo Tucker
Interview by Mary Harron, New Musical Express, 2 May 1981
LIKE STERLING MORRISON, Maureen Tucker went in the opposite direction when she left the Velvet Underground in 1971. She moved back to Long Island, became ...
Chaka Khan: What'cha Gonna Do For Me (Warner Bros)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 9 May 1981
Chaka gotta lotta ...
Misty in Roots: Must It Be Total Destruction
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 9 May 1981
...brimstone, fire, death in a Sodom and Gomorrah?... Reasoning with Misty In Roots By Penny Reel ...
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
ABRACADABRA! ABC show up in London. Another banal crew of slight white boys clumsily revising their dance style for the sake of summer attention? A ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: A Personal Remembrance
Memoir by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
"I don't believe in death – neither in flesh nor in spirit..." ...
Report by Richard Grabel, Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
CHRIS SALEWICZ in London and RICHARD GRABEL in New York chronicle the events leading up to Monday's tragedy ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
CARL WILSON has been waiting years to do this. "I love to play good, straightforward rock'n'roll", he says, and since acid cured the Beach Boys ...
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
MR. DENNIS Brown is a distinctive voice in reggae this past decade and longer, and is regarded as such by all and sundry and many ...
Robert Fripp, The Lounge Lizards: Discipline, Lounge Lizards: Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
IN THE LOBBY OF THE LIZARD KINGS ...
Kraftwerk: Computer World (EMI)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
COMPUTER-WORLD is the first Kraftwerk LP for over three years, an inordinate period of silence for most groups, but no surprise in their case. Indeed, ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
IN WHICH we welcome back to these pages that perennial guest: the vexed question of white attitudes towards black music. More specifically, the expectations brought ...
Spandau Ballet: Spandaus Invade America!
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
Robin Hadley and his Merrie Men take Sherwood Forest futurism to a very small but extremely chic club in New York. RICHARD GRABEL joins the ...
Teddy Pendergrass: Attractive — Moi? Sexy — Moi?
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
Sex symbol Teddy Pendergrass shrugs off the impertinence of reporter Barney Hoskyns ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
FROM PUNK TO POMP? THE CURE PONDER THE PITFALLS OF FLOYD'S SOUND SYSTEM. CHRIS BOHN LISTENS FOR THE FLAWS ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 May 1981
LATE AGAIN, so I missed most of the Birthday Party — who I was looking forward to the most, as it happens. Theirs is the ...
Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 21 May 1981
AFTER A wait of nearly a quarter of an hour, I was admitted to the hotel room to find the subject of my journey loudly, ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 23 May 1981
Tolerance, Peace, Life ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Coconut Kid as Cruise Caruso: Kid Creole
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 23 May 1981
KID CREOLE And The Coconuts release their second long player, title Fresh Fruit In Foreign Places, in a couple of weeks' time. A 12-song 'concept ...
E.S.G.: ESG: No Guile or Wile, Just Wallop
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 23 May 1981
THESE DAYS, a lot of bands glorify the appearance of being what they are not. ...
Soft Cell: Would we soft-soap you about... Soft Cell
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 May 1981
(1) We Intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy end tearfulness. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley's Final Return Home
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981
King of Reggae laid to rest in Jamaica ...
Japan: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981
Heaven must have scent you ...
Funkadelic, Parliament: Parliament-Funkadelic: The Ritz, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981
P-FUNK DO FOR the modern funk show what The Grateful Dead did to the rock show in the late '60s. They alter the time frame ...
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981
THE WAY to tell how well a Beat gig is going is by Saxa's smile, and tonight he was grinning so wide the ends nearly ...
The Funky Four + 1, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: The Funky Four + 1: Rap, Rap, Rap
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981
Young South Bronx unwraps the rapping revolution ...
DAF: D.A.F.: The Venue, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
'ALLES IST Gut', for sure, ist gut: there's an almost imagistic pointedness to DAF's musical progressions, just simple sequencer patterns stripped bare of "musicianly" encumbrances ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
Make my funk the D-funkt ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
Mick Farren and Motorhead Lemmy, long time partners in slime and former Ladbroke rogues, meet up in a bar in Passaic, New Jersey, to discuss ...
Prince: Strutting With The New Soul Monarch
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
THIS FELLOW sitting across the table from me in an uptown Manhattan Holiday Inn room may be a Prince but he ain't no Charlie. ...
The Raincoats: Odyshape (Rough Trade)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
Revelations chapter II ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
THE CONCERT is billed as the Solar Galaxy of Stars, and it's no idle boast. ...
Special Feature by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 6 June 1981
THE DEATH of Bob Marley last month robbed reggae music of its foremost ambassador, the man who more than any had turned outside ears and ...
Kraftwerk: A Computer Date with a Showroom Dummy
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 13 June 1981
And we'll fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n auf der Autobahn — until big daddy takes our Volkswagen away. Chris Bohn and Anton Corbijn do the Spanish hustle with Kraftwerk ...
Motorhead: No Sleep Til Hammersmith (Bronze)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 June 1981
AXES ON their shoulders, blood on their palms, grease in their hair, gaps in their teeth, something or nothing on their mind, squeezing the universe ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 13 June 1981
HISTORY SHOWS us the horrible roster of agonising tortures which the human mind has devised in pursuit of the ultimate cautionary pain: bodies roasted over braziers, heads ...
The Birthday Party: Abbo — The Album
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 13 June 1981
WHEN THE Birthday Party were recording their Prayers On Fire LP back "home" in Melbourne, Split Enz were recording Waiata in the studio next door. ...
Pink Floyd: Another Pinkie Hogs The Limelight: Pink Floyd's The Wall: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
PART ONE ...
Crass, Poison Girls: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
JUST CRASS ...
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
The winner of NME's Flatter The Clash competition checks out the ramifications when an English band's world is at Bonds. ...
James Chance: Save The Last Chance For Me!
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
Sax and drugs and contorted soul – Ian Penman meets his hero in another instalment of conversations with James Chance. London 1981. ...
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
WHILE JAZZFUNK is fine late at night with the volume low, it's a strictly background sound to my ears, and so tedious live. Take Innervisions, ...
DJ Kane & the Millionaires, Toyah Willcox: Toyah, DJ Kane & the Millionaires: Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
A WALKING POSTER POSER ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
The worst thing about labels is their sticky side. But the next worst thing about them is that they attract flies, and that can put ...
Was (Not Was): A Subtle Fabrication Not of the Norm
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 20 June 1981
Imagine Vivien Goldmans surprise to discover that the brains behind Zes hottest American soul act are not black but two nice middle class Jewish boys. ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Long Day's Journey Into Oslo — Tales From A Norwegian Wood
Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 27 June 1981
MAX BELL TRAVELS TO NORWAY WITH THE BUNNYMEN ...
AC/DC, Blue Öyster Cult, Whitesnake: Fantasy Castle: Monsters of Rock!
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, July 1981
BARNEY HOSKYNS straps on his breastplate, girds his loins and takes his sword to the HM Monsters Of Rock joust at Castle Donington. ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Lee 'Scratch' Perry: Curse of the Vampires
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, July 1981
Legendary Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry raps and rants in New York. Richard Grabel listens to his method and madness. ...
David Bowie: Bowie For Breakfast: Angie Bowie’s Free Spirit
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
Davids golden years get shredded as Angie spills half baked beans. ...
Duran Duran: Duran Duran (EMI)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
D'RONE D'RONE ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole: He No Popi
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
And she no Olive Oyl but Vivien Goldman still meets August Darnell in New York City to learn about the Coconuts' brand new cha ...
Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen Forged Passports To A Promised Land
Comment by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
"What my band and I are about is a sense of responsibility. If you accept it, that makes you responsible for everything that happens. People ...
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 4 July 1981
Slicing through the funk fat: The Fatback Band: Tasty Jam (Spring); Cameo: Knights Of The Sound Table (Chocolate City); General Caine II: Get Down Attack ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 11 July 1981
It's been a long, long wait since the Fab Four from Forest Hills foolishly put their genius into the mono-maniacal hands of noted has-been Phil ...
The Congos: Fighting In The Congos
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 18 July 1981
ALTHOUGH Black Uhuru's Red will most probably come out top, Heart Of The Congos is definitely one of the finest reggae albums to be released ...
Iggy Pop: Iggy: Always a Sucker for a Good Party
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 18 July 1981
IGGY POP, American entertainer and war poet, has just issued an eleventh album, and the day we met he'd weathered ten promotional interviews. "So much ...
Sly & Robbie: The Reggaedelic Experience
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 July 1981
A.K.A. SLY 'N' ROBBIE, THE ALMOST LEGENDARY DREADLY RHYTHM TEAM BEHIND THE SOUND OF BLACK UHURU, GRACE JONES AND THEIR OWN TAXI LABEL. WORDS CHRIS ...
Duran Duran: Ice Cream the Body Electric!
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Teenybop takes a trite turn for the better. Paul Morley compares socks with DURAN DURAN ...
Grace Jones: In Between The Bumpers
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Chris Salewicz goes behind the public face of Grace to discover that in the tall, exotic frame of a former model there's a little girl ...
Miles Davis: Kool Jazz Festival, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Miles behind ...
The Cramps Guide to Teenage Monster Movies
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Movies nowadays are all high technology and no brains, no imagination. What do you call it when you do something real good and you didn't ...
Stimulin: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 August 1981
TO HAVE and het up! The sweat poured out of them! Stimulin aren't stupid, to put it wildly. Stimulin are no charity — see them, ...
Depeche Mode: Systems Muzak: Depeche Mode at The Venue, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 August 1981
THOSE ARBITERS of modern taste who would wish on you the indecencies of things like Spandau Ballet are generally the same people who can be ...
Wire: Document And Eyewitness At Notre Dame Hall And The Electric Ballroom (Rough Trade)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 1 August 1981
OUT OF SHEER perversity, it would seem, Wire stopped functioning 18 months ago. Going by their chronology of events we shouldn't have been surprised, as ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: The Daily Planet Revisited
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 August 1981
ARTHUR LEE, THE PSYCHO OF '60s PSYCHEDELIA AND FORMER LEADER OF LOVE, BREAKS HIS SILENCE TO KEEP A RARE APPOINTMENT ON PLANET EARTH ...
Ian Dury: Danny Baker presents Ian Dury: A Turn For The Verse
Report and Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 August 1981
"There's a cock-eyed yellow poodle to the North of Gongapooch There's a little hot cross bun that's turning green, There's a double jointed wop-wop ...
Dennis Bovell: Brain Damaged Goods
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 15 August 1981
THE FINAL, apocalyptic scenes of Franco Rosso's excellent Babylon are based on a 1976 police raid on Cricklewood's Carib Club during a sound system session ...
Aztec Camera, Josef K: Josef K, Aztec Camera: The Venue, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 15 August 1981
WHEN I entered The Venue, I expected to be bestowed with an endless soul. I wasn't, but I got a ticket instead. A choice of ...
8-Eyed Spy, Lydia Lunch: Lydia Lunch: Out To Lydia
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 15 August 1981
Richard Grabel lays on the red carpet treatment for his Lunch date ...
Grace Jones: The Savoy, New York NY
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 22 August 1981
THE FANFARE hardly pronounced itself...when out folds a larger-than-our-life toy monkey with a grass skirt on its bandy thighs and a big tin drum, swinging ...
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 22 August 1981
Rodgers & Hart... Rodgers & Hammerstein... Rodgers & Edwards... The new age directors of organised rhyme get a witness in DANNY BAKER. ...
Black Uhuru: Black Sounds Of Freedom The Wailing Souls: Firehouse Rock Toyan: How the West Was Won
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 29 August 1981
THE Greensleeves label, tucked under the concrete arm of the motorway at Hammersmith Roundabout, seems to still be carrying the swing – chart-wise too, now ...
Dead Or Alive, The Decorators: I.C.A., London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
I MISS The Room — put it down to the usual punctuality of the Jubilee Line. The Decorators are surprisingly palatable to the cool, coiffeured ...
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
THE SECOND day of the ICA Rock Week sees the immaculate combination of the Chefs, Tarzan 5 and Depeche Mode. The Chefs are high-grade Peelie ...
Gary Numan: Dance (Beggars Banquet)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
"These New Romantics are oh so boring I could swear I've been there once or twice before" ('Moral') ...
Robyn Hitchcock: Black Snake Diamond Role (Armageddon)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
THOSE OF us who never could see all that much of worth in Syd Barrett's music, either solo or with that group he used to ...
Simple Minds: Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call (Virgin)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
AFTER THREE LPs and a label switch, Simple Minds really should know better than to be persisting with an "innocents abroad" strategy. While they might ...
Black Roots, Stimulin: Stimulin, The People, Black Roots: ICA, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
STIMULIN ARE going to have to blow it pretty drastically if they are to avoid becoming massively popular in the near future. Last Sunday night ...
The Rolling Stones: Tattoo You (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 September 1981
HERE WE are! The Rolling Stones have made another album! Depeche Mode and Soft Cell join more established names like Duran Duran at the top ...
Altered Images, Modern English, The Event Group: Heaven, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 12 September 1981
ALTERED IMAGES at Heaven draws a crowd large enough to stretch a queue almost to Charing Cross station. Semi-dead pop stars gathering dust around the ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 12 September 1981
Chris Bohn investigates some strange happenings with Soft Cell and Top Of The Pops ...
Michael Jackson, The Jacksons: The Jacksons: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 September 1981
BEST FOOT FORWARD ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 12 September 1981
NOTWITHSTANDING a certain amount of nervous chuckling, Tom Verlaine seems a nice enough fellow as he sits with his feet up on the desk in ...
Beggar & Co: Work Till You're Muscle Bound
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 19 September 1981
Lloyd Bradley encounters Beggar & Co and discovers how they avoided flunking the funk. ...
Heaven 17: Penthouse and Pavement (BEF/Virgin)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 19 September 1981
YES, THERE'S plenty of use! Sometimes you can wonder why you're so enthalled by pop's maze: it would be easy to break out in that ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981
Taj Mahal, Desperadoes: Hammersmith Odeon, London WITH VIV Stanshall confining himself to introductions, we were given two personalisations of black music, and an expected ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash: Flash is Fast, Flash is Cool
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981
THE SOUTH BRONX lies just across a thin stretch of the Harlem River from Manhattan, but it could be worlds away. ...
Junior Giscombe: "Britfunk Saved Me from a Life of Crime!"
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981
TRUE CONFESSIONS TALK-IN WITH MAMA'S BOY JUNIOR GISCOMBE ...
Marianne Faithfull: Dangerous Acquaintances (Island)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981
FAST COMPANY, slow daze... Marianne Faithfull was once merely an incandescent 'inspiration' to the men and the merchandisers of rock. Now she has become one ...
The Hollies: Cheap Hollidaze in Your Own Back Catalogue
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981
THE 'CARRIE-ANNE' BOYS CARRY ON ...
John Martyn: Johnny Done Badly
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, October 1981
DRINKING CHAMPAGNE and orange juice, a belated present for his 33rd birthday two days previously, the bright-faced John Martyn flails every way about his end ...
The Clash: Clash Credibility Rule!
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
YES, IT'S TIME ONCE AGAIN TO REACH INSIDE THE NME CLOSET, BLOW THE DUST OFF THE OLD CLASH RULER, AND SEE HOW THE LADS ARE ...
Grateful Dead: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
IT MUST be a resurrection year if the San Franciscan pensioners come over twice to play. No danger of saturation for the faithful, though. Saturday ...
Sylvester: Too Hot To Sleep (Fantasy/Honey import)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
I COULD never really take Sylvester seriously, I had him filed away as an instantly disposable product of the confusion of the late Seventies. Now, ...
The Twinkle Brothers: It Dread, It Dread, It Dread But... It Gwine Dreada
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
THE RURAL RUNNINGS OF THE TWINKLE BROTHERS. LIFELONG COUNTRYMAN NORMAN GRANT TALKS TO PENNY REEL, COUNTRYMAN OF SIX WEEKS STANDING ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 10 October 1981
WHEN U2 first hit England in the twilight of 1980, a dull cry of relief rose up from rock's murky depths. U2 were "just what ...
Grace Jones: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
GRACE: UNFAVOURED ...
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
FEATURING: 'Ice Age', 'Walked In Line' and The Kill' (from '77 sessions), 'Glass' (from Factory Sampler) 'Exercise One' and The Sound Of Music' (John Peel sessions), ...
Laurie Anderson: Riverside Studio, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
PERFORMANCE HEART... ...
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
IT'S A CHILL, exposed night in New York City. The East Coast has only just recovered from a week of torrential rains, and winds sweeping ...
The Human League: Dare (Virgin)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
SURPRISE! ...the love of human MOR-als ...
The Slits: Return Of The Giant Slits (CBS)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 October 1981
SO SOMEONE else gives up their all to the beat of the drum. Bongos clump, shakers rattle and roll, the bright ching of bells and ...
ABC: A-Z Club, Bayswater, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
THE LEXICON OF LOVE ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
THESE BIENNIAL all-night Rockpalast bloat-ons are comically close to the idea of a festival mentality geared to Germanic efficiency: You vill be entertained! The groups ...
The Clash, Stimulin: The Clash and Stimulin at The Lyceum: The Parody Lingers On
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
THE PATH of Joe Strummer is, as we know, lined with well-intentioned, golden-hearted errors, and the first of tonight's was Stimulin, whose sound mix was ...
Was (Not Was): Mudd Club, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 24 October 1981
WAS CRAWL OUT THE WOODWORK ...
Mink DeVille: A Son-of-a-bitch Interview with Willy DeVillle
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981
Richard Cook gets threatened by a real life American rock 'n' roll star. "oh, there ain't nothing that I wouldn't doJust to walk that ...
The Fall: Anti-Social Workers: The Fall at North London Poly
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981
UNLIKE MOST other Angry Young Singers, usually by proxy, Mark E. Smith is not a rhetorician. He does not reduce the obscenities of the English ...
The Sound: From The Lion's Mouth
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981
THE SOUND'S second LP carries on where Jeopardy, their first, left off, with a search for contact or (non-religious) communion of some kind. It's a ...
Scritti Politti: Where Radical Meets Chic: Scritti Politti
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 October 1981
"SCRITTI POLITTI" – didn't you always wonder where their "political writings" were? I did. I always wondered whether their hearts were in their music or ...
Louis Moholo, Archie Shepp: Archie Shepp, Louis Moholo: Camden Jazz Week, the Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981
GET DOWN, SHEPP! ...
Carla Bley Band: Camden Jazz Week, the Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981
PERCHED AT the organ and squinting through her big spectacles at the music, Carla Bley faced the horn players in her group like some loopy ...
23 Skidoo, Defunkt: Defunkt, 23 Skidoo: The Venue, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981
Closer to the Bone ...
The Beat: Heartbeat & Strangelove
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 7 November 1981
Vivien Goldman witnesses the subversive pop of The Beat at work in New York against the nuclear age. ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Raise! (CBS)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 November 1981
RAISE HIGH THE COSMIC BOOTY ...
The Fall: Hip Priest: The Mark Smith Interview
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 November 1981
"WE WILL FALL," sang Iggy Stooge to the accompaniment of John Cale's viola, but he might have continued, "When we dead awaken..." ...
Prince: Controversy (Warner Bros)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 14 November 1981
SOME DAY MY PRINCE WILL COME... ...
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 November 1981
LES STRAY CHATS RENDEZVOUS WITH LES HELLS ANGELS. PAUL RAMBALI PUTS ON A TRANSFER TATTOO FOR A ROCKABILLY EXCURSION TO PARIS. ...
The Beat: Beat Drowning in Confusion
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 21 November 1981
A SHAKY YEAR for The Beat so far was compounded last week by a mix-up over their new single, 'Hit It'. The twelve-inch copy that ...
Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth, Wind and Fire: Living On A Met-Plane
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 21 November 1981
EARTH, WIND & FIRE'S MAURICE WHITE GETS METAPHYSICAL. BRINGING QUESTIONS OF HIS OWN DANNY BAKER ASKS: DO YOU BELIEVE MY FRIEND IN WHAT YOU CLAIM? ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 21 November 1981
Once upon a record there was a wonderful land where nothing nasty happened and sad beautiful boys lived... ...
The Ramones: The Thinking Men of Pop
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 21 November 1981
NO TEMPO FUGIT FOR THE FOUR RAMONES — JUST BUSINESS UNUSUAL AS USUAL "Four tickets to the Ray-mones is it, dear?" enquires the little lady ...
The Stray Cats: Gonna Ball (Arista)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 21 November 1981
FOR A trio so preoccupied with a style summed up in a quiff. The Stray Cats can make a pretty mean music. With tough-baby roller ...
James Blood Ulmer: Jazz Gets a Blood Transfusion: James Blood Ulmer
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 28 November 1981
JAMES BLOOD ULMER seemed faintly bemused by it all. Sat square in his little hotel chair like some Great Panjandrum surprised by a person of ...
The Outcasts: Culture Shock Rock!
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 November 1981
Barney Hoskyns and survives a night in Belfast with the town's longest surviving punk band, the Outcasts. ...
Why is This Man Hip But a Complete Failure?: Michael Zilkha and ZE Records
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 December 1981
Paul Rambali meets Mr. ZE, Michael Zilkha and learns how the music on his label has made him fashionable but broke. ...
Essay by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 19 December 1981
Overdressed twits taking Polaroids of one another in posey little clubs? Or the stern soapbox caterwauling of commentators who got themselves into a blue funk about everyone else's ...
Nico, Velvet Underground: In The Nico Time
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, Spring 1981
HEY-HO, is it really that time of the decade already? Once again Nico has surreptitiously floated into the public consciousness just when she was ...
The Only Ones, Original Mirrors: The Only Ones/Original Mirrors: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, Spring 1981
"YOU LITTLE London boys..." The last of this citys great rocknroll junkies is parting company with his other ones. One cant put your arms around ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, Summer 1981
WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE RAINBOW ...
Devo: New Traditionalists (Virgin)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1982
NOW THAT Jerry Casale has seen the Devo concept actually take root in the California psyche now that his theory of America has been ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1982
QUITE WHY Fear have created such a stir on the L.A. punk scene is far from apparent from this Record. Smarter they may be than ...
Kool And The Gang at the Apollo Theatre, London
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 1982
WHEN THE American Funk Band Of The Month comes to town it doesn't really matter who they are as long as they're on the Robbie ...
Stevie Wonder: Original Musiquarium I
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 1982
FOUR MONTHS late, four sides long, only four tracks new but fortunately containing enough sterling old stuff to make it a realistic proposition (economicswise) comes ...
Transistor Sisters: Alan Betrock's Girl Groups - The Story Of A Sound
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1982
"Conform to norm society; won't stand for impropriety; In the extreme of which you dream, you must always join the team . . . " ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1982
CAN I TELL you something? I don't want to depress you by dumping my current state of mind on you, but I feel really awful ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam's Xmas Antomime
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
Adam & The Ants: Theatre Royal, London ...
David Sylvian, Japan: David Sylvian: Melancholy Baby
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
MELANCHOLY PROPS up his head and whispers, half to himself and half to me... ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
Paul Morley meets the drunk white rabbit and a bully who looks in the mirror to ask why their narcissistic pop has suddenly been blessed with credibility ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Meanwhile, Back At The Feelgoods
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
MADE IT THROUGH another day and here we are! The students of the fair city of Leeds play host to the band that defined British ...
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
Tart, amoral, stupid, crass, vulgar… and nearly very famous ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 2 January 1982
THE LAST night of a residency can be many things: a blow-out, a piss-up, a tired release, a last lunge for the heights. I don't ...
Carroll Thompson: Simply, hopelessly in love...
Profile and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 9 January 1982
A post-Christmas Carroll by PENNY REEL ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 9 January 1982
AT THIS CRUCIAL moment in pop history, when everyone seems to be telling you that the ultimate cream of pop-soul is The Human League's slight ...
The Subway Sect: Subway Sect: Vic the Vague
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 January 1982
A PIECE ON VIC GODARD BY PAUL MORLEY SAUCILY ENTITLED VIC THE VAGUE. Paul says: "I wish to be referred to at the heading of this ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 January 1982
Small American journalists and stout American singers... we confront the issue most music papers shy away from. In the shadows of the city of Meatloaf, ...
A Certain Ratio: Sextet (Factory)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
THE A CERTAIN RATIO anatomy of melancholy breaks down to a curdling rattle of bones, distant whistles, a few whispered words and a trickle of ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
DO YOU believe in Adam Ant? ...
Bunny Wailer: Tribute (Solomonic import)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
"...and we know we shall win because we are confident of the victory of good over evil." ...
Fun Boy Three, The Specials: Fun Boy Three: Why?
Report by Fred Dellar, Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
FRED DELLAR and ANDREW TYLER report on the vicious race attack that put Lynval Golding in hospital ...
M: **Page D — Ready** International Language: Robin Scott
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
Chris Bohn hears some famous last words ...
Pete Shelley: Homosapien (Genetic)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 16 January 1982
SO LET'S consider the evolution of Pete Shelley from would be schoolboy glam pop poet, to starstruck love besotted voyager at the helm of the ...
Fad Gadget: Fadfoolery and Frank Confessions
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 23 January 1982
Paul Morley encounters Frank Tovey on the verge of failure, and Fad Gadget on the point of hysteria. So why is this a succesful combination? ...
James Brown: Twilight Of The Godfather
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 23 January 1982
APART FROM several Arsenal players, James Brown was my first hero. ...
The Virgin Prunes: Virgin Prunes: The Venue, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 23 January 1982
THE VIRGIN Prunes are Irish. This has got nothing whatsoever to do with the comically inept state of their performance art, but it might explain ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 30 January 1982
UNLIMITED COMPANY ...
Modern Romance: The Venue, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 January 1982
THERE WAS one thing that happened over the weekend that really made me realise just how deep down into the rotten scabby depths some people ...
New Order: North London Polytechnic, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 30 January 1982
CRIES AND WHISPERS ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 February 1982
AS GUN Clubs and Blasters abound and multiply from the original Slash stock of Xs and Flesh Eaters, the LA hard punk core gets back ...
Afrika Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy, Jazzy Jay: Bucking the Bronx with the B-Boys
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 6 February 1982
"B-BOYS, ARE you ready, are you ready, are you ready?" ...
The Four Tops: Four Tops Don't Walk Away Ever!
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 6 February 1982
MY FIRST TASTE of Motown music was many summers ago as I mulled away my school holidays in a sort of passive ignorance, more interested ...
Haircut 100: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 February 1982
One Hundred reasons to be cheerful ...
Simple Minds: Celebration (Arista)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 February 1982
DEAR JIM, ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 6 February 1982
The Stranglers: Hemel Hempstead PavilionAS A LIVE proposition, The Stranglers have eluded me until now. The exceptional crunch of this show made me wonder why. ...
Altered Images: The Altered State Of Pop Art
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 February 1982
Altered Images: Hammersmith Palais, London ...
J. Geils Band: Freeze Frame (EMI America)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 13 February 1982
THE AMERICAN rock show business appears to have discovered some uncanny knack of bringing wilderness-bound rock groups back into the limelight. No one could have ...
The B-52s: Mesopotamia (Island)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 February 1982
A BRIEF encounter between two of the most deceptively insidious forces in new American music David Byrne's irresistible art scalpel and The B-52's immovable ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: The Faith Healer
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 February 1982
"Good evening, boys and girls. My name is Harvey..." ...
Depeche Mode: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 February 1982
FAST FORWARD TO THE FUTURE! ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Echo And The Bunnymen: A Promise of Rock Re-Born
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 20 February 1982
THE DAY AFTER THIS venerable paper's hardcore readers have enjoyed their brief, communal moment of glory in the polls, all-round prize guys Echo And the ...
Can, Holger Czukay: Holger Czukay: Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 February 1982
AN AMBIENT tape is burring in the background. "I made a special cassette for a new kind of radio programme," explains Holger Czukay as we ...
Orange Juice: You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 20 February 1982
SOME PEOPLE are irritated by Orange Juice. Onstage, they're relaxed and unrehearsed, and execute their clear-cut sound with such disregard for criteria such as tightness, ...
A Certain Ratio, Maximum Joy: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
RATIONAL RATIO ...
Bo Diddley: University of East Anglia, Norwich
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
BO DIDDLEY, as we all know, spans a 27 year career permutating a single riff to a sole conclusion: he is Bo Diddley! ...
Thelonious Monk: Round Midnight: Thelonious Monk 1920-1982
Obituary by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
AFTER BEING in a coma following a stroke Thelonious Monk died last week, and jazz lost one of the most timeless giants, a pianist and ...
Killing Joke: The Hoax That Joke Built: Killing Joke
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
"There was a place that wasn't a place,There was a race that wasn't a race..." 'The Pandys Are Coming' ...
Theatre of Hate: Woodville Hall, Gravesend
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
LAST OF THE GREAT EAR-OS! ...
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 February 1982
"THEY WENT right through it. Took out every sock. Squeezed every tube of toothpaste. Then this guy says to me 'You – come with me. ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982
FOLLOWING IN the footsteps of Barbara Windsor, The Professionals' Martin Shaw and Crossroads' Benny Hawkins ABC are tonight making a Public Appearance at Sheffield's Top ...
David Bowie: Brechtfast In Bed
Report by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982
IN BAAL, DAVID Bowie finally shed his skin and played the part of someone else. ...
Lou Reed: Clean Living And Dirty Looks
Report by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982
FLANKED BY his wife Sylvia to his right and his management on his left, Lou Reed lords it over the press gathering from a sofa ...
Pigbag: Dr Heckle And Mr Jive (Y)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982
THE ACREAGE of cloth in Pigbag's collective trousers has been measured and, I'm afraid, found wanting. This is, apparently, an issue of some importance in ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
THERE NEEDS to be good reason for breaking up an outfit like The Specials, their heyday happened so fast, ended so soon and was tied ...
Gil Scott-Heron: The Homeland Is Where The Hatred Is
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
JUST ONE CHANGE of buses, and the sound stages of Century City, Ca., where platinum-plated cowboys bite the props department dust, are replaced by the ...
Graham Parker: Another Grey Area
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
OH, DEAR. Talk about unfortunate titles... ...
Haircut 100: Sunshine Superboy
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
I ASK NICHOLAS Heyward, the singer with Haircut 100, if he thinks that he is a lucky boy. He allows me a look so cheeky, ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
WHEN The Birthday Party last desecrated this tabernacle of modern nightlife, a generally sloppy show produced the intemperate engorgement of Drunk On The Pope's Blood, ...
Hamilton Bohannon, Slave: Slave, Bohannon: Palladium, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
HEAVENLY GAMES AND BODY HEAT ...
Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats: Enter The Drag
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
THE ASTOR CINEMA is an old style movie emporium painted in ugly pastel shades and shoddily decorated with the poor likenesses of Meryl Streep and ...
The Fall: These Fallish Things: Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
"Everyone gets too serious about The Fall."Mark E Smith, November 1981 ...
Suicide, Alan Vega: Viva Alan Vega!
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 13 March 1982
Still controversial, still reviled — and still unsuccessful, Alan Vega discusses life after Suicide, politics and rock. ...
Bauhaus: Breaking Down The Walls Of Art-Ache
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982
"When we heard that you were going to interview us, we came up with two possibilities: a, being physical violence, and b, being a reasoned ...
Earth Wind And Fire: Ecstasy At The Dawn Of Creation!
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982
Earth Wind And Fire: Wembley Arena, London ...
Spandau Ballet: Last Dance Of The New Romance: Spandau Ballet’s Diamond
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982
IT SEEMS like Spandau Ballet are having trouble, and they're not sure how to face up to it. The concept of Spandau has grown ...
Pigbag: Snouts 'n' Snails 'n'Pigbag Tales
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982
"WELL, I BEGAN with alto sax. Then I started playing more and more guitar and less sax; then I did more percussion because we ...
The Jam: Fair Deal, Brixton, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 20 March 1982
"See me walking around I'm the boy about town that you've heard of..." ...
Maze: A Funk-Lite Labyrinth: Maze
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
FRANKIE BEVERLYS eight-man Maze could have come to Europe at any time in the last two years and met with the same phenomenal response they ...
Blue Rondo A La Turk: Southgate Royalty, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
1/ WHAT IS not news is that I had a hell of a time. ...
Boomtown Rats: V Deep (Mercury)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
I HAVEN'T bothered with this group since the awful 'I Don't Like Mondays', which made me douse most of the fonder memories for minor excellences ...
Bow Wow Wow: Empire Ballroom, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
DANCING BLOW, 1-30! ...
The dB's: Sophisticated Jukebox Music
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
THE APPEARANCE OF The Great American Pop Band on these shores hasn't exactly caused a stampede to the nation's box offices. But the dB's are ...
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 27 March 1982
Van Morrison: The Dominion, London ...
Al Green: Higher Plane (Hi/PRT)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 3 April 1982
OH, HAPPY man...You can tell Al Green is truly saved from a quick glance at the cover, from the way his Daz-white shirt blue-airbrushes its ...
Dave Edmunds: "The Human League? Which Ones Are They?"
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 April 1982
"IT WAS a very weird thing that happened in 1954 or '55 or whenever it was. It was very special and I don't think I'll ...
Joan Jett: Whomping The Suckers With A Superball
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 10 April 1982
"IT'S SO HARD to even think of being famous, of having that responsibility. It's really weird, I mean me!! a rockstar! Hey, are ...
Rick James: Blowing Out Tinsel Town
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 10 April 1982
Not So Long Ago:THERE WAS a time when nearly everybody in the world owned a Motown record. Motown was like a baby's security blanket, warm, ...
Tom Browne: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 10 April 1982
SWEET THUNDER OF A JIVE JAZZ CAT ...
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 17 April 1982
The West Street Mob: The West Street Mob (Sugarhill) The Sequence: Sugarhill Presents (Sugarhill) The Sugarhill Gang: 8th Wonder (Sugarhill) Various Artists: Greatest Rap ...
Robert Palmer: Maybe It's Live (Island)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 April 1982
ROBERT PALMER'S roguish dilettantism will get the better of him one of these days. It might have been anticipated that the pre-set routines of a ...
Squeeze: The Crackerjack Days Are Over
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 April 1982
Squeeze's new LP is ready — and if last year's East Side Story is any indication, Sweets From A Stranger will be the best collection ...
Imagination: The Imagination Master Class
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 April 1982
LEEE: YOUR NAME'S Barney Rubble. How long have you been interviewing? A year? So you're young, a spring chicken?BH: Why, do I look well-seasoned? ...
Tina Turner: Past The Point Of No Returner
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 17 April 1982
Tina Turner: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Chic, D-Train, T-Connection: Palladium, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
FUNK ALWAYS has its conventions, routines and common signals. The difference between great funk and bad is in how they are applied. Funk needs a ...
Brian Eno, Talking Heads: Eno: The Soul Inside The Shades
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
Richard Grabel practises the pussyfoot with Brian Eno, the father of electronic pop. ...
James White and The Blacks: Danceteria, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
FLINGING THE FUNK IN YOUR FACE ...
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
AS A PERFORMER, Laurie Anderson is little short of phenomenal: a slight Chaplinesque figure, she's as much vaudeville as she is artist, in that she's ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
(LOVELY!) ALTHOUGH people are snobby about just about everything except disease, I can think of no one who is snobby about the great and not ...
Ry Cooder: The Slide Area (Warner Bros.)/The Border – Original Soundtrack (MCA)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
THE MORE things remain the same, the more they change: after more than a decade of recording as a featured artist, Ry Cooder has finally ...
The Residents: Mark Of The Mole and The Tunes Of Two Cities (Ralph)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
The Residents Going Underground ...
Todd Rundgren: Utopia in Woodstock: Todd Rundgren
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 April 1982
IF I AM THE LAST writer about pop music of any standing, Alfred G. Aronowitz was the first. He was matchmaking, twitching and joking from ...
Culture Club: The Boy's Own Club
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
PAUL MORLEY MEETS A BOY CALLED GEORGE — FORMER MODEL, BOW WOW WOW SINGER AND NOW FOUNDER OF A NEW MUSICAL EXPERIENCE, THE CULTURE CLUB. ...
Killing Joke: Revelations (EG)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
SO WHERE'S THE PUNCH LINE? ...
Miles Davis: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
I HADN'T EXPECTED too much. These are Miles Davis' Twilight years. There are younger and cooler cats to torch the way: Miles took the major ...
Paul McCartney: Tug of War (EMI)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
MACCA MAKES GOOD ALBUM — WELL, ALMOST ...
Steel Pulse: Steel Pulsing After All These Years
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
Lloyd Bradley takes the temperature of Handsworth's long distance dreads. ...
The Blasters: The Blasters (F-Beat)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
THE BLUSTERERS ...
Vic Godard, The Subway Sect: Vic Godard & the Subway Sect: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 May 1982
...
Iron Maiden: The Metal Masquerade
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 May 1982
THE UNSMILING but unthreatening Iron Maiden are being photographed in the bright white tiled shower room of a compact sports stadium in Offenbach, near Frankfurt ...
Ornette Coleman: Of Human Feelings (Antilles)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 8 May 1982
JUST ONE ORNETTO! ...
Robyn Hitchcock: Phantom of Psychedelia
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 8 May 1982
RICHARD COOK follows the Robyn Hitchcock guide to transport — physical, mechanical, mental and musical. ...
Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Taking The Mick Mick Mick Mick Mick
Report by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 8 May 1982
Andrew Tyler joins the Jagger press gang and finds the man won't fade away ...
Black Uhuru, The Police: The Police, Black Uhuru: Byrne Arena, East Rutherford NJ
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 8 May 1982
IT LOOKS intriguing from a distance, the Byrne Arena, glowing in the darkness of the New Jersey Meadowlands. But it starts to look scary as ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 May 1982
HEAVY METAL has one of the longer and more honourable traditions as a "musical influence" in rock, yet its recent renaissance is by and large ...
Flipper: Album Generic Flipper (Subterranean)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
DOLPHINS IN ROCK (PART 6) ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: The Rake's Progress
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
One singer sacked, bad vibes with the vibes player, a dodgy new LP, and a frankly suspect panama hat Richard Grabel battles through the ...
Lester Bangs: Ballad of a Loudhearted Man
Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
"Lester Bangs is the rock critic's rock critic, a man gifted verbally in much the same way that James Brown is gifted as a dancer. ...
Nick Lowe: The Man Who Tuned Up While The Falklands Burned
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
RICHARD COOK hears how Nick Lowe's "turned into Zager and Evans — busy making misses". ...
Stevie Wonder: Original Musiquarium I (Motown)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
A WONDER DOWN MEMORY LANE ...
The Associates: Sulk (Associates/WEA/Beggars Banquet etc.)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
BUTTERFLY BAWLS ...
The Blue Orchids: University of London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
PETE WYLIE travelled the length of greater England to see them, so why weren't you there? ...
Thomas Dolby: The Golden Age Of Wireless (Venice In Peril)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 May 1982
THE NOISE REDUCER ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 May 1982
Two of the original New York Dolls are in London. BARNEY HOSKYNS charts their destinies. ...
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 22 May 1982
WATER-WALKIN' ...
Art Ensemble Of Chicago: Urban Bushmen (ECM)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
BURNING BUSHMEN ...
Dead Or Alive: Return of the Alien
Interview by Paul Mathur, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
Mummy's boys beware — Pete Burns has resurrected Dead Or Alive and he's gunning for your chart positions. PAUL MATHUR reckons he's on target at ...
Defunkt: The Life and Death of Romance
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
Neo-realist funkt, anyone? Joe Bowie describes his big city reggae to Richard Cook. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
IN A SENSE, it doesn't really matter whether one thinks of Eric Clapton as the man whose pioneering plagiarism helped black artists ranging from B.B. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
ANYONE WHO is counting on Ji being our very own home-grown Off The Wall had better prepare for an anti-climax. That Junior (ne Giscombe) can ...
Funkapolitan: Shooting The Breeze
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
As Britfunk fly-guys Funkapolitan tool up for a chart assault, six-gun Barney Hoskyns runs them to ground in Notting Hill. ...
Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road (Y)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
HEAVEN UP HERE ...
The Clash: Up The Hill Backwards
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
HALF PAST ONE on Portobello Road. Past the chippy, opposite the bookshop, within earshot of a man with an amplified mouth-harp honking and scything through ...
Tom Verlaine: Words From the Front (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 May 1982
TOM VERLAINE is one of the last great rock musicians to come out of America; and the neglect he's suffered, after two brilliant records, is ...
B.B. King: Love Me Tender (MCA)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
"HE HAS one musical ambition as yet unfulfilled: to make a series of classic albums. These consist of one album with a big band, one ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland: Bobby Bland: The Best Of (MCA)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
FIRST time I've heard Bobby Bland and it's obvious – the man's a star. ...
Cabaret Voltaire: 2X45 (Rough Trade)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
WHAT IS least novel and perhaps least satisfying about the ascendancy of synthi-pop is its dependence on romantic humanist elements. Kraftwerk's love of ...
Joe Cocker: Sheffield Steel (Island)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
LIFE IN THE upper echelons of Island Records would currently seem to be taking on a pleasingly surreal texture. One can just imagine the dialogue: ...
John Cooper Clarke: Zip Style Method (Epic)
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
NO MADNESS IN THIS METHOD ...
Essay by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
NEW ORDER REVISED. BY PAUL MORLEY — WHO JUST COULDN'T RESIST THE... ...
Retrospective and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
THE BLUES speaks haltingly at first, haltingly and quietly in a darkened room. The curtains are drawn to shut out whatever passes for daylight during ...
The Rolling Stones: Still Life (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
STILL LIFELIKE, AFTER ALL... ...
Todd Rundgren: The Venue, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 June 1982
EVERYTHING YOU remember about rock music is secreted somewhere on some Todd Rundgren record. The synthetic flash, the bullet-browed machismo, the candywisp sentimentality, the filibuster's ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 6 June 1982
I miss Wire. I was always partial to the austere subversiveness, their brittle sense of editing, their hybrid of ghoulish chants and Byrdsy chiming. Though ...
23 Skidoo — Don't Play Funky For Me!
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
"You see, the people who constantly listen to pop have their ears degraded by wrong style and reiteration, senseless reiteration..."– Unity Mitford, taped on 'Porno ...
The Doors: Jim Morrison: An Hour For Magic
Book Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
"BY THE TIME he left for Paris in March of 1971", Jim Morrison: An Hour for Magic tells us, "the friends he could depend on ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS. ...
Rip Rig and Panic: Rip Rig & Panic
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
"OH NOOOO! Look at this one! Look at Springer's head!" ...
Ry Cooder: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
RY COODER spent the '70s with his shoulder to the grindstone and his heart in the right place delivering a series of albums which spanned ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 June 1982
Various Artists: Lost Soul, Vols. 1-3 (Epic, import) ...
Herbie Hancock: Herbie Goes Lite-weight
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 19 June 1982
NOW LOOK — I am not a purist. it doesnt bother me that Herbie Hancock effectively quit the most testing areas of jazz for fusion, ...
Rip Rig and Panic: Rip Rig & Panic: I Am Cold (Virgin)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 19 June 1982
RIP, RIG & PANIC definitely ARE a manifestation of something obscene: music as an expression of HEALTH. Like the kind of swarthy boor who practises ...
Television, Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine: The Venue, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 19 June 1982
WE YOUNG Rimbauds came for diamond spears and the licks of an icepick and went away with a few mangy cardboard boxes. I hope that ...
Obituary by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
ART PEPPER, one of the true greats of modern jazz saxophone, died from a cerebral haemorrhage last week, three months short of his 57th birthday. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
TWO SOUL products from the mainstream, one of which, The Poet, has been on import since last year, the other being the latest album from ...
Retrospective by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
Proto-punk, pure pop and other bites and scratches. Richard Cook assesses the career and impact of "the worlds first modern pop group". 1 April ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
DAZED AND sweltering in the blazing afternoon sun thousands of young Dutch people make their way around the edge of the huge Feyenoord Stadium. ...
Joe Jackson: Night And Day (A&M)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
JACKSON IS the kind of nice guy people admire rather than warm to. He has the right sort of moves and an unimpeachable humanitarian streak; ...
Laurie Anderson: Adelphi Theatre, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
FIRSTLY, OF course, Laurie Anderson is a woman. ...
Randy Crawford, Roberta Flack: Randy Crawford: Windsong (WEA)/Roberta Flack: Im The One (Atlantic)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
ALAS FOR these voices: they are neither souls crying in a wilderness of sorrow, nor the sensuous claimants of a pathway to the inner sanctum ...
The Exploited: Troops Of Tomorrow
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982
APART FROM its marvellous cover, which depicts "an Escape From New York vision of a desolated city where punk can express its essential nature of ...
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
The Black Uhuru dilemma — they're hard, but is their militancy also a weakness? ...
Elvis Costello: Imperial Bedroom (F-Beat)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
ONE THING Elvis Costello has never learnt is good manners. I don't want to go to Chelsea! I don't want to be a goody-goody ! ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Kevin Rowland: A Folk Hero Of The '80s
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
THE RAIN POURS down and the traffic piles up along London's Notting Hill Gate as Kevin Rowland and myself make our way through the grey ...
Pete Townshend: All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
HERE IS Pete Townshend: born again. And again, and again, and again, and again... ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
LOVE'S THEME, YOUR MAGIC SPELL IS EVERYWHERE ...
The Rolling Stones: Tiers Are Not Enough
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
The Rolling Stones: Wembley Stadium, London ...
ABC, Buggles, Dollar, Yes: Trevor Horn: Clever Trevor!
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
TREVOR HORN IS A ROARING SUCCESS. HE WAS BUGGLES, PLAYED WITH YES, GAVE DOLLAR THEIR HITS AND HAS NOW PRODUCED ABC AND THEIR DEBUT LP, ...
X: Under The Big Black Sun (Elektra)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 3 July 1982
X ARE a southern Californian punk-style foursome who, since their debut album Los Angeles, have done everything within their power to show that they are ...
Ornette Coleman: On Human Feeling
Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 10 July 1982
Ornette Coleman's harmolodics brought about the musical change of the century. After his New York comeback last year, the legendary tenor man talked to Vivien ...
Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club: Quiet Americans in Paris
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 July 1982
Will Talking Heads survive? Is the family in jeopardy? What is this bastard offspring Tom Tom Club? ...
The Clash: Three Convictions on the Road From Hell
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 July 1982
The Clash: Fair Deal, Brixton, London ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 July 1982
VIVIEN GOLDMAN takes a trip around the WORLD OF MUSIC AND DANCE and discovers that even the beauty of ethnic cultures can be a victim ...
Jackson Browne: Ramblin’ on Empty
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 31 July 1982
RICHARD COOK meets JACKSON BROWNE, the California dreamer who spends his time being sensitive especially when he gets heckled. Post-Woodstock ...
Essay by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 31 July 1982
IS EVERYTHING AS wonderful as it seems in the current reiteration of the Song? ...
Larry Graham: The Sly Sound Of Success
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 7 August 1982
THE SOFA is sumptuous, the clothes casual; Larry Graham sits swathed in both, the epitome of affluent black America. We're in a hospitality suite in ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 7 August 1982
Last week the legendary SUN RA, who claims to come from the planet Saturn, beamed down to earth to play two sell-out concerts at London's ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982
"You know who I've been digging a lot lately, not as a performer but as a singer? Lene Lovich. I really dig her music." Iggy ...
The Raincoats: Raincoats Off The Peg
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982
IF ORDER is considered the new subversion, then what becomes of the untidy old subversives? They're redefined as anachronisms, treated affectionately as museum pieces or ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 August 1982
TIME FOR another recharge from my choice in chutzpah-driven indies: Neil Lets Get This Party Started Coopers Reach Out International Records (ROIR). Former booking agent ...
Aswad: Stepping Across the Front Line
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 21 August 1982
Lloyd Bradley finds out why Britain's foremost reggae rockers still aren't satisfied. ...
The Go-Betweens: The Gentle Three-Headed Monster
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 21 August 1982
Treading carefully among the Go-Betweens these Aussies bite! ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 28 August 1982
I'D JUST been thinking about Haircut 100 — lovely boys, polite as can be — making cheerful, playful music. But I'd had enough of candy, ...
Rod Stewart: Britt Ekland: True Britt
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 28 August 1982
WHAT BUT the magic of cassette (and the greed of the Decca Corp) could possibly bring you "True" Britt Ekland, Svedish accent und all, whispering ...
Wynton Marsalis: Darting Into the Stratosphere
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 28 August 1982
Teenage trumpet major WYNTON MARSALIS lights up another admirer ...
Joe Tex: Ain't Gonna Bump No More
Obituary by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 28 August 1982
Soul legend Tex is dead ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: H2O (RCA)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, September 1982
DARYL HALL and John Oates are potentially a formidable partnership. 'I Can't Go For That' was the slickest snappiest ditty the wrong side of the ...
The Damned: Strawberries (Polydor)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, September 1982
YOU DIDN'T really think they'd gone, did you? After all, it's only four years since their 'farewell' gig, and looking at Jimmy Pursey's Hams 69 ...
Billy Idol Is A Star: live at the Stone, San Francisco
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
"BILLY IDOL IS A STAR": a startling revelation that emerged at The Stone in San Francisco last week. Sure, it's yer old Billy alright, but ...
Gregory Isaacs: Night Nurse (Island)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
IT'S SINGULAR how Gregory Isaac releases a better number of tunes as good as 'Night Nurse' over the past decade and longer, and as good ...
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
I LIVE WITH THE constant nagging worry that my house will soon burn down. ...
Meat Puppets: Meat Puppets (SST/Thermidor)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
PHOENIX, ARIZONA may or may not be the baking asshole of the universe, but one thing is certain: music of this almost otherworldly nature could ...
Scritti Politti: Songs To Remember (Rough Trade)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
HERE IT IS: Scritti Politti's greatest hits. Let me assure you that this isn't a problem (I like albums with lots of singles on) and ...
Scritti Politti: Natty Design Or Grand Illusion?
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
THE WEEKEND before our final confrontation, Scritti Politti's Green went shopping for clothes for his debut Top Of The Pops appearance, its confirmation depending on ...
The Four Tops: One More Mountain (Casablanca)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
WHEN MARVIN Gaye recorded What's Going On in the early '70s it was part of an important transition for the Motown label, its mixture of ...
Report by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 September 1982
The New African Music, part one: "More difficult to cage than reggae. It leaps and sprawls... It can go on and on because nobody wants ...
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band: Ice Cream For Crow (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 September 1982
THE TIME has come and gone for Captain Beefheart to evade the confines of 'criticism'. If we posit Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals ...
Captain Sensible, Gary Numan: Gary Numan: I, Assassin/Captain Sensible: Women And Captains First
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1982
A PAIR OF FUNSTERS from the charts: Sensible in his new role as the nation's favourite lovable loony and Numan in his old one as ...
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 11 September 1982
KATE BUSH LPs are not the kind of thing duels are fought over up in the NME office, so when a hopeful-looking Andy Gill handed ...
Peter Gabriel: Four (Charisma)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 11 September 1982
DEEP IN the heart of England something stirs..."Smash the radio/No outside voices here / Smash the watch / Cannot tear the day to shreds / ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Moving Target (Arista)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 September 1982
GIL SCOTT-HERON is one of the most quietly effective performers currently working in popular music: his cool, firm underplaying makes the listener want to move ...
John Cale: Music For A New Society (Island)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 September 1982
A STRONGER, loving world... The fulcrum of John Cale's work is its granite paradox, a loathsome ugliness garbed in the colours of rhapsody. Cale's abiding ...
Report by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 September 1982
The New African Music: part two. Continuing our musical trek... to Mombassa, where we meet Mazembe — the voice of Kenya, and discover the talk ...
Arthur Baker, Rockers Revenge: Rockers Revenge: The Big Bang Theory
Report and Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 18 September 1982
Or... how a crate of records fell onto producer Arthur Baker's head and created a new jazz music and the beginning of Rockers Revenge ...
Simple Minds: New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 September 1982
ONETHIS RECORD is something of a glow. Whatever your preference you will find it memorable and instructive. Find its qualities and fix your place. Be ...
Steve Beresford: Everywhere Man: Steve Beresford
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
You name it, Beresford had done it. He'd played bass, played piano, played trumpet...he'd composed music, improvised music, organised music, he'd written about the damn ...
Pere Ubu: Song Of The Bailing Man (Rough Trade)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
SONGS OF THE BORING MEN ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: Forever Now (CBS)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
ONCE UPON a time, the Psychedelic Furs were everyone's epitome of the vulgarity and pretence of rock music. ...
Sylvester: Woofers And Tweeters
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
HAD I BEEN expecting some shimmering trans-sexual diva to sweep into the room like a hostess into her salon, the rotund, maternal figure who welcomed ...
The Beat, Fleetwood Mac: The US Festival: Us & Them
Report by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 25 September 1982
That Woz the Fest that Woz! Barney Hoskyns takes a bite of the rotten Apple and hangs his head in despair ...
Live Review by Graham K. Smith, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
FALLEN IDOL ...
Kool and the Gang: Kool & The Gang: As One (De-Lite)
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
GANG FARE BORE ...
Neil Young: A Bad Case Of The Shakes…
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
Neil Young: Birmingham NEC ...
Orange Juice: From A Postcard To A Postage Stamp
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
HATE WITHOUT wanting to sound faddish about such a thing is once more where the heart is. ...
Survivor: Progress and Survive: Survivor
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
THE NEW ETHIC of survival in America, with its Survivalists and all, is enabling rock groups to get to the top by singing about what ...
Genesis, Peter Gabriel: Rhythm Of The Pete
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
After the ambitious WOMAD Festival, the bailiffs cometh and PETER GABRIEL has decided to get himself out of hock even if it means a ...
Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society: Mandance (Antilles)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
LOOKING FOR CLUES ...
Billy Childish, The Milkshakes: Shake Some Action! The Milkshakes
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
Cynthia Rose gets all shook up with the Milkshakes, as Wild Billy Childish puts the froth on the garageland daydream. ...
Southern Death Cult: The Last Tribe
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 October 1982
Post punk comes the last tribe, SOUTHERN DEATH CULT, a Bradford group who attack the centralisation of media and political power in London. PAUL MORLEY ...
Aretha Franklin: Telephone Hang-Ups
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
Aretha Franklin keeps LLOYD BRADLEY hanging on the transatlantic telephone — the new Duchess of Disco fails to 'Jump To It'... ...
DAF: Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft: Fur Immer (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
ONCE AGAIN we're suspended in that intangible vacuum, between idea and realisation, between the bursting theory and grey actuality of DAF. ...
The Associates, Billy Mackenzie: Disassociate!: The Associates
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
THE WHIPPETS have pissed on the carpet of Chris Parry's Office. Billy Mackenzie grins, a little wickedly; there's a nice little stain that should be ...
Dollar: Wimbledon Theatre, London
Live Review by Graham K. Smith, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
WHAT DO YOU GET IF YOU CROSS VAL DOONICAN WITH PAUL MORLEY? ...
Neil Young: When Does a Dinosaur Cut Off Its Tail?
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
"I don't know if I can be classed as a contemporary songwriter. I'm like a dinosaur with a large tail I'm so big I ...
The The: The Definitive Article
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
THE THE? An agitated stutter? No, the definitive article, boasts The one and only The Matt Johnson with a cheeky, if none too convincing grin. ...
The Time: What Time Is It? (WEA)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 9 October 1982
TIME IT WAS AND WHAT A TIME IT WAS ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 October 1982
God's a Creole No Kidding! ...
The Gun Club: The Venue, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 October 1982
IF YOU'VE ever heard Charley Patton's 'Mississippi Boll Weavil Blues' then you'll be aware of the kind of high lonesome wail that blows through the ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Brunel University, Middlesex
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 16 October 1982
TEARS ARE NOT ENOUGH ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 October 1982
AHEM. WHERE were we? Steely Dan go out on the worst album of their entire career, Walter Becker gets involved in one of those stupidly ...
Buzzcocks: Flag Of Convenience: a C.H.A.I.N. R.E.A.C.T.I.O.N.
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 23 October 1982
Is there life after Buzzcocks? Steve Diggle and John Maher are trying again. After the passive disintegration of Buzzcocks in the spring of 1981, the ...
Kate Bush: "My music sophisticated? I'd rather you said that than turdlike!"
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 23 October 1982
A modern, multi-media, adult-orientated entertainer or a wild and wuthering heroine who's been dreaming since a brilliant start to her career......Richard Cook plays Heathcliff to ...
Bauhaus, David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust: From Bowie To Bauhaus… The Key To Decades Conceits
Essay by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 23 October 1982
So you've seen Bauhaus performing 'Ziggy Stardust' on TV and you still don't believe in reincarnation? Ziggy, who entered the material world via David Bowie, ...
Michael (Mikey) Smith, Mutabaruka, Oku Onuora: Dub Poets Of The Eighties
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 30 October 1982
Jamaica '82: the DJs rule the nation's charts and hearts but alternative voices are making themselves heard in the roots poetry of artists like MUTABARUKA and MICHAEL SMITH. PAUL ...
John Martyn: Sunday's Child Tame 'n' Tired
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 30 October 1982
John Martyn: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees: A Kiss in The Dreamhouse (Polydor)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 6 November 1982
IT'S RARE for a group to make their fourth LP and still be provocative, still be interested in themselves, let alone break any substantially new ...
Cocteau Twins: The Cocteau Twins: Fun From Falkirk - Fat Chance?
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 6 November 1982
FRIDAY night is cardboard-box-kicking night. ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 November 1982
A TOWN IS CHRONIC because we are fated to revisit it time and time again. A chronic town might also be a carny town, jammed ...
Blondie: Animal House: Chris Stein, Blondie, and Animal Records
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 13 November 1982
MUSICIAN/PHOTOGRAPHER Chris Stein has spent the last four years becoming what some Americans consider "a compulsive over-achiever", and others call 'an enthusiast'. ...
Eddy Grant: Killer On The Rampage
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 13 November 1982
HE'S A very admirable figure, is Eddy Grant; he's got the whole business sussed, sewn up, he really has. Each year he releases a few ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: Bedroom Politics — the Acceptable Sound of Young America
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 November 1982
THEY DON'T get up when I come in, but then despite their slight physical stature Daryl Hall and John Oates are big men now. After ...
James Blood Ulmer: Black Rock (CBS)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 November 1982
BLACK AND BLOOD! ...
Millie Jackson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 13 November 1982
VOICE: robust and versatile, unique among name entertainers for its dynamic revitalisation of R&B and soul intonations of yesteryear. Humour: sardonic, self-deprecating, ego-crushing, uplifting; more ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 November 1982
I JUST played Buddy Holly's version of 'Rip It Up' to remind me, although Edwyn Collins gives the impression he is unfamiliar with such iconography. ...
Black Flag in the California Scum
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 20 November 1982
WHEN BLACK FLAG came to England last winter, they felt more than the ice and snow – they felt the cold studs on leather jackets, ...
Jah Wobble: Invader of the Lost Art
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 November 1982
Richard Cook meets the musical Nomad Jah Wobble who has now found the Arab in himself but not stardom. "I'll never be a big pop ...
Malcolm McLaren: The Man Who Ran Into Ideas
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 20 November 1982
"I'M AN artist, I am. I always was and I always will be." ...
Musical Youth: Youth Of Today (MCA)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 20 November 1982
AND SO in the wake of a government that's introduced the repressive British nationality bill, caused Britian to become involved in her first war since ...
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 20 November 1982
The Go-Go's: Lyceum, London ...
Can, Holger Czukay, Irmin Schmidt, Neu!: A Trance In Tatters: Krautrock und Beyond
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 November 1982
Can: Delay 1968 (Spoon); Holger Czukay: Canaxis (Spoon); Irmin Schmidt: Filmmusik Vol 2 (Spoon); Neu!: Black Forest Gateau (Cherry Red) ...
Eric Burdon: Rocco The Rockist
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 November 1982
IN THE final frame of Comeback, rock hero Rocco is shot dead as he leaves a Berlin stage, which is to begin at the end ...
Joni Mitchell: Wild Things Run Fast
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 27 November 1982
A YEAR before her 40th birthday, the great romantic of rock music undoes her locket once more. Three years have passed since Mingus and ...
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 27 November 1982
"Only the mice and the great ones are happy when I arrive." ...
A Certain Ratio: I'd Like To See You Again (Factory)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
I REALLY wanted to love the new A Certain Ratio LP. After countless plays I've accepted it's not going to click the way I'd hoped. ...
Abba: The Singles, The First Ten Years (Epic)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
HOW TO do everything, and how to do nearly everything right. In the rack of Christmas compilations everything else is a non-starter beside this one. ...
Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall's Law
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
ELVIS COSTELLO LOVES HIM... BUT NOBODY ELSE HAS EVER HEARD OF HIM! WE BRING YOU MARSHALL CRENSHAW – THE MOST ANONYMOUS NAME IN POP. SNAP: ...
Michael Jackson: Thriller (Epic)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
ALMOST FOUR years ago Michael Jackson (ably assisted and abetted by producer Quincy Jones) unleashed the scorching fury of Off The Wall. It was the ...
The Birthday Party, The Virgin Prunes: The Birthday Party/The Virgin Prunes: Ace Cinema, Brixton
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 4 December 1982
WITH CHANNEL 4's cameras peering over their shoulders, both sets of Wild Men of Pop felt a little inhibited. Mindful of television's cold, reducing stare, ...
Funkadelic, George Clinton: George Clinton: Computer Games (Capitol)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 11 December 1982
A GEORGE Clinton solo album? Not a bit of it. Right down to Pedro Bell's quirkily barbed sleeve artwork, this is a Funkadelic record. The ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 December 1982
THAT THERE is no appreciable difference between 'We're Gonna Groove' from 1969 and 'Wearing And Tearing' from 1978 – the opening and closing tracks in ...
Marvin Gaye: Mr Midnight In The City Of Angels
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 11 December 1982
DON'T WALK along Sunset Boulevard, otherwise you'll end up as part of the freakshow on the sidewalk rather than a spectator at The Last Great ...
Television: The Blow Up (ROIR)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 11 December 1982
BACK IN the mid-'70s then-rock journalist Patti Smith penned the following valentine to Tom Verlaine's Television: "Boycott rock and roll on TV – who wants ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 December 1982
Various: Rapped Uptight (Sugarhill) ...
Donna Summer: From Sex Goddess to Superwoman
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 18 December 1982
Donna Summer, once the siren of the G-spot, has grown up to become a wholesome American woman with a religious conscience. Now she's searching for ...
ABC: The Power of the Imagination
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 25 December 1982
MARTIN FRY, a shy but conspicuous grammar school boy from Bramall, Stockport, shuffles into the bookshop where I sell second hand records. He buys the ...
Yellowman: Meet The Years Most Unlikely Sex Symbol
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 25 December 1982
"I THINK I know what's coming..." ...
Maria Muldaur: Ave Maria (And Three Hosannas!): Maria Muldaur at Ronnie Scott’s, London
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 1983
FIVE YEARS ago New Years Eve, I watched Maria Muldaur seize a packed house at the closing of the gigantic Armadillo World Headquarters – last ...
Gladys Knight And The Pips: Visions
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1983
SEEMS LIKE everyone is going Solar. Light to the touch but good to the bone, it's the radio sound of now. The perfect pop-soul marriage, ...
Howard Devoto, Magazine: Howard Devoto: Jerky Versions Of The Dream (Virgin)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1983
I NEVER CARED much for Magazine. They were a group without a style, or at least a group whose style consisted in a profound lack. ...
John Hiatt: Riding With The King
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1983
SOMETIMES I think nuthin iz new in this old rock music, and every time it seems I have to turn to John Hiatt to shake ...
Sisters of Mercy: Razor Shock: Sisters of Mercy
Report and Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 1983
HOW ODD this all looks, reflected in the opaque black lenses of Wayne Hussey's absolutely Ian Hunter shades. ...
The Meteors, The Morells: The Meteors: Wreckin’ Crew (I-D); The Morells: Shake And Push (Borrowed)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 1983
LIKE THE bourbon and Benzedrine which fuelled it, rockabilly never really fades from popularity despite its repressive formula, but it often seems to suffer the ...
The Ramones: Subterranean Jungle (Sire)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 1983
THE RAMONES have been responsible for two truly great albums (The Ramones and Rocket to Russia) and they have yet to produce a single longplayer ...
The Residents: George & James (Korova)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1983
IT WOULD appear that the San Mateo four can't think of a way to end the Mole Trilogy they began in 1981. Instead, they've launched ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 January 1983
HOW TO follow The Birthday Party's The Bad Seed with Neil Young's Trans? How to link the electronic transmigration of Neil Young with the last ...
Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band: The Distance (Capitol)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 8 January 1983
THE RECENT US chart successes of Springsteen, Geils and relative newcomer John Cougar demonstrates that American worship of the great god Raaack 'n' Rawl continues ...
Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget: Ace Cinema, Brixton
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 8 January 1983
SOME OF the many moods of Mute were on show tonight. Label mates Depeche Mode and Fad Gadget would appear to be polar opposites, but ...
The Passions, Stiff Little Fingers: Stiff Little Fingers, The Passions: Ace Cinema, Brixton, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 8 January 1983
GUNG-HO-HUM ...
The Human League: Phil Oakey's Five Minute Plan
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 January 1983
WHEN PHIL Oakey was a hospital porter, people used to be dying all around him, and he somehow became immune. It didn't upset him more ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
THE BLAND PLAYED ON ...
Report by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
"OH GAWD! Can anyone tell me the way to London Wail?"The fat flustered city gent looks like he's been stuck in the middle of the ...
George Clinton: The Return Of Doctor Funkenstein
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
Two years ago, George Clinton was freeing the galactic ass at the head of an unparalleled funk troupe – Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy Collins, Sly Stone, ...
Soft Cell: The Art Of Falling Apart
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
YOUTH IS skin deep in a sleep... and out of work. Some pop stars accept this and let it go, some drone in statistics. Other ...
The Fall: The Curse Of The Fall
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
THIS IS SPLENDID Fall country. From the bricked ugliness of the Victorian railway buildings the crawl of streets pitters up slopes, entwines a town centre ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 January 1983
THE PAUL MORLEY PROFILES — NUMBER FOUR IN A SERIES OF FOUR... Dieter Meier is an international traveller and eccentric, a performance artist and ...
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 18 January 1983
NEITHER RARE nor particularly well done, the latest Bowie collection of alternative cuts, outtakes, live run throughs, flipsides and flops is hardly likely to endear ...
Donald Fagen: A Nightfly Up Against The Wall
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
RICHARD COOK meets the urbane spokesman of cool, DONALD FAGEN who, for 14 years, partnered Walter Becker in Steely Dan. A celebrated eccentric, Fagen is ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Porcupine (Korova)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
PERHAPS IT WAS inevitable, even decreed in some heaven up "there". Maybe its just the third time unlucky. But if Porcupine isnt good it isnt ...
Imagination: The Glam Gladiators Fight Back
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
AT THE BOTTOM end of London's Marylebone Road, going towards the station, you pass numerous beauty salons, the type of establishment that's emerged in many ...
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
Joe Jackson: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Laughing Clowns: Laughing Clowns (Red Flame)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
"YOU SHAKE your head, you can't believe..." ...
Dennis Bovell, Matumbi: The Dennis Bovell Dub Band; Matumbi: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
DUB AT THE BLACKBOARD ...
The Gladiators: Commonwealth Institute, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
THE INSTITUTE repays a visit. A central space enclosing stage and with surrounding access on tiered levels subdivided into small areas pertinent to the respective ...
Frank Zappa: Zap It To ‘Em, Frank!
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 January 1983
Frank Zappa/London Symphony Orchestra: Barbican Centre, London ...
Adele Bertei: Vortex — The Motion Picture Soundtrack (Neutral)
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
NOIR HEAT ...
Arthur Alexander: A Shot Of Rhythm And Soul (Ace)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
THIS IS a welcome and important collection bringing together for the first time on one LP all the famous and not so famous songs recorded ...
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
King Sunny Ade and his African Beats: Lyceum, London ...
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
Nico: The Venue, London ...
Randy Newman: Laughter in Paradise
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
Punk, people, performing and parenthood – Randy Newman talked about his life, work and hates to Richard Cook ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
TWO CREWS, two solo artistes, SOS and Skyy occupy the amorphous middle ground between Clinton and Kool — no coke psychosis on the one hand, ...
Soft Cell: Tawdry Latenight Weepies
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
IMITATION OF life or bigger than life?When Marc Almond and David Ball breeze into their record company's press office for this meeting, they're immediately swept ...
Frank Chickens: Ain't No One Here But Frank Chickens
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
Kasuko, Kasumi and Noriko cabaret's Japanese Mafia. ...
Black Sabbath: Live Evil (Vertigo)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
THE ORIGINAL BLACK Sabbath was a primal slum punk band, a scummy brummie leather-and-crucifix reaction to middle-class flower power. Now they're just another Stateside stadium ...
Luther Vandross: Bland, Dull and Vandross
Profile and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
LUTHER VANDROSS' world could be cut out from the pages of Jackie magazine. ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Echo and Bunnymen: Per Omnia Scallia Scalliorum
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
Echo and Bunnymen: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Einstürzende Neubauten: Let's Hear It For The Untergang Show
Profile and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
"The destructive character is cheerful," boast Berlin's new cold stars Einstürzende Neubauten (Collapsing New Buildings) who have armed themselves with road drills, sledgehammers and axes ...
Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
WHEN ANNIE LENNOX and Dave Stewart opened for Roxy's 'comeback' as two-fifths of The Tourists, I thought there was definitely something there, but I never ...
James Blood Ulmer: The Bottom Line, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
DEMOLITION BLUES ...
The Belle Stars: The Belle Stars (Stiff)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
WOMEN IN ROCK a further note. It must be hard being a Belle Star. Not only do you have to squeeze your soles inside ...
The Birthday Party: The Bad Seed EP
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
"IF, LOVING a woman more than anything in the world, or anticipating the possibility of such a love, one were suddenly to see her chained ...
The Gap Band: Star Spangled & Starry-Eyed
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 February 1983
Gavin Martin meets The Gap Band, three of America's fortunate sons who just want to party and make people happy. ...
Prince Charles & The City Beat Band: Big Bad Prince Charles
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
Richard Grabel comes face-to-face with a studied image of comic-book cool steaming off the streets of New York. ...
The Commodores: Commodores: Foil Wrapped Turkeys
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
The Commodores: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Earth, Wind & Fire: Powerlight (CBS)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
I SAY, let's not groove tonight. Sometimes Earth, Wind & Fire get down on a groove and flashily mess it around. Sometimes they just lie ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
SHE IS trapped in a vortex of conflicting emotion, torn between loss, desire and anger; left at home, alone, hanging on the telephone. ...
Pat Benatar: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
LIKE THE rest of the full house on Friday night, I was actually looking forward to seeing Pat Benatar, despite our previous encounters on vinyl. ...
23 Skidoo, Pigbag: Pigbag: Lend An Ear (Y)/23 Skidoo: The Culling Is Coming (Operating Twilight)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
BOTH OF these docile records stand or fall as assemblages: their creators propose to be organisers of sound, something more than itinerant pop musicians. ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
IT'S ALREADY well known how the great Casting Director in the sky limited women to a few suffocating roles in American popular culture: the mother ...
Syl Johnson: Ms Fine Brown Frame (Erect/Import)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 12 February 1983
FINE BROWN FATBACK FRAME ...
John Cale: A Stronger Music to Die In: John Cale’s New Society
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 19 February 1983
"The great Welsh singer, pianist, guitarist, composer and arranger, who in 1967 was responsible for the most significant structural change in rock since Elvis's Sun ...
Linda Ronstadt: Confessions of an LA Bunnywoman
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 19 February 1983
IN THE MOUNTAIN of scorn heaped on the Los Angeles musical community, nobody has been maligned more than Linda Ronstadt. The vapid esteem she was ...
Sex Gang Children, Southern Death Cult: Positive Punk: Blood And Roses
Overview by Richard North, New Musical Express, 19 February 1983
PART ONE "Don't dream it, be it." — Rocky Horror Show ...
Ric Ocasek : Richard Ocasek: Beatitude
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 19 February 1983
WITH THE Human League's American success, Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' now the longest-lasting single in the history of Billboard's Hot Hundred, and MTV deluging the ...
Angry Samoans: Back From Samoa (Bad Trip — US import)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 26 February 1983
SPLUTTER, SPLATTER SEX SHOCK HORROR ...
Luther Vandross: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 26 February 1983
LUTHER KING! ...
The Minutemen: Minutemen: What Makes A Man Start Fires? (SST)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 26 February 1983
GETTING BETTER BY THE MINUTE ...
Rockers Revenge: The Harder They Fall
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 26 February 1983
ROCKERS REVENGE FIND THEMSELVES WALKING OUT OF SUNSHINE WITH THEIR COVER VERSION OF 'THE HARDER THEY COME'. PAOLO HEWITT GETS HIS REVENGE IN NEW YORK ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 February 1983
"If people come along expecting the world from U2 then they're gonna get it. I'm not afraid we won't be able to give it to ...
Amazulu: Daughters of the Nation
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
So what's an (almost) all girl reggae combo from London with a fake African name doing singing about Egypt? Lloyd Bradley finds out. ...
Fun Boy Three: Funboy Fundamentals
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
PAOLO HEWITT GETS DOWN TO SOME SERIOUS REASONING WITH THE FUN BOY THREE AND CONCLUDES THE FUN'S NO FAKE AND THE CONCERN'S NO CON. ...
Julie London: Cry Me A Cult Figure
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
ONCE THERE was a girl, a bass and a guitar. Together they made a record called 'Cry Me A River', which turned the singer into ...
Laurie Anderson: The Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
IF YOU expected an overview of American civilization from the vantage point of a New York City loft, you would have got both more and ...
Marianne Faithfull: Child's Adventure (Island)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
THE NEOPSYCHE portrayed in the skirmishes related here is quite that which an unprejudiced layman – having perhaps some passing memory of tears gone by ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark: Dazzle Ships (Virgin)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
THIS IS Radio Bohn calling, bringing you news of a bloodless mutiny aboard the good ship Dazzle, which has put the helm in the hands ...
Rank and File: Rank & File: Sundown (Slash Records)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
RANK & FILE are a rather unusual four-piece: a Commie punk country band who've accrued a national reputation in America with record speed. Mind you, ...
Spandau Ballet: True (Chrysalis)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 March 1983
I CAN'T see Spandau Ballet when I play this LP. I can't see their forced smiles, their indelible pretty boy we-are-and-can-be-a-part-of-the-pop-parade smiles, their Top Of ...
The Stray Cats: Cat People: The Stray Cats take Florida
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 March 1983
IF HE'D LIVED, maybe Eddie Cochran would have been as big as the Stray Cats. ...
Divine: The First Lady of Filth
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 12 March 1983
Divine pits his 300lbs of solid glamour against Elizabeth Taylor, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. Don Watson referees. ...
Pete Townshend: The Unimportance Of Being Townshend
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 12 March 1983
BEFORE I begin my latest erratic arrangement I must state my position, of which I'm certain. I have never thought that if Peter Townshend cut ...
Tears for Fears: The Hurting (Mercury)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 12 March 1983
THE STORY so far...Roland and Curt are two everyday morose ex Joy Division fans. Sullen, sad and ashen faced they do not feel a part ...
Blancmange: Stuck In The Mould
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
Paolo Hewitt attempts to cultivate a taste for Blancmange but finds their electronic packet mix still leaves him cold... but not freezing. ...
Eurythmics, Eddi Reader: Eurythmics: Haçienda, Manchester
Live Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
THE CHOIR are one of those support acts guaranteed never to outshine the headliners; a Playwright For Today's idea of a Top Rock Band. Strident, ...
Weather Report: High Wind In Birdland: Weather Report's Procession
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
I DON'T BELIEVE IT, but they've done it again. Just when it seemed that the tuneless roar of last year's Weather Report had permanently iced ...
Lou Reed: Legendary Hearts (RCA)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
What made The Blue Mask Lou Reeds watershed album was his choice of musicians, a new wave super-set of them Fernando Saunders on bass, ...
Pink Floyd: Over The Wall And Into The Dumper: Pink Floyd's The Final Cut
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
LIKE THE poor damned Tommies that haunt his mind, Roger Waters' writing has been blown to hell. Although The Final Cut is "performed by Pink ...
Ronald Shannon Jackson: Breaking the Dance Code
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
Richard Cook unscrambles the music of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society — a muzak so mean it could make an everyday breakfast in America quake... ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: The Altar'd Boys: Echo and the Bunnymen
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 19 March 1983
The beleagured King Rock is on its discredited throne again, and Echo And The Bunnymen rule supreme. RICHARD COOK finds them holding court in ...
Black Flag: Everything Went Black (SST)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983
HERE WE GO GATHERING NUTS IN L.A. ...
Gil Evans: Still Smiling After All These Years
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983
Gil Evans is 71-years-old and a prominent jazz arranger who during his 35 year career has worked with Miles Davis and Hendrix. Richard Cook meets ...
Madonna: In Time with the Perfect Beat
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983
THE WEEK Madonna arrived in London was the same week that the winter we thought had forgotten us called in. In circumstances like this, most ...
Marine Girls: Lazy Ways (Cherry Red)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983
YO HO HO IT'S THE NEW SENSITIVITY ...
The Birthday Party: The Sound and The Fury
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983
Reared under the hothouse conditions of Melbourne, London and Berlin, The Birthday Party's bad seed has finally blossomed into a magnificent demon flower. On one ...
The Go-Betweens: Before Hollywood (Rough Trade)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 26 March 1983
ABSOLUTELY SWEET BETWEENS ...
Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 2 April 1983
PASSING THE BUCK ...
Carroll Thompson: First Lady of Lovers Rock
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 2 April 1983
SHERYL GARRATT FINDS OUT JUST WHAT MAKES CARROLL THOMPSON'S WORLD GO ROUND ...
Dolly Parton: In Gloss We Trust: Dolly Parton at the Dominion, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 2 April 1983
HOWEVER MUCH YOU take righteous liberal umbrage at the mass of contradictions Dolly Parton presents, you lose. As surely as the lonely waifs and ...
Prince: A Second Coming Thru Purple Haze
Report by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 2 April 1983
A MONTH ago, in Minneapolis, mecca of absence, I had time on my hands all over my body, actually to consider the idea ...
The Ramones: Ramones: Subterranean Jungle
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 2 April 1983
THE RAMONES have been responsible for two truly great albums (Ramones and Rocket to Russia) and they've yet to produce a single longplayer that couldn't ...
Joan Armatrading: Front Door Woman
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
DO YOU believe in romance? ...
Marillion: Bournemouth Winter Gardens
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
THIS HAPPY breed came to town with Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy emblazoned on the back of their jackets. Patches, denim and undyed hair were ...
The Go-Betweens, Orange Juice: Orange Juice/The Go Betweens: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
THERE COMES a time in every upwardly mobile popster's career when he/she is faced with the almost inevitable prospect of playing the Lyceum. The ...
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
Maniac cab driver Chris Bohn takes you on a ride to the terminal zone with the New Zealand / Chinese alliance called SPK ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 9 April 1983
THE LATEST trio of ROIR cassettes expands the label's category of historical documentation – a division which offers some excuse for the fact that Reachout ...
14 Karat Soul: Fridge, Brixton, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
SUBLIMENESS ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
"Put on your red shoes and dance the blues to the song they're playing on the radio..." ...
David Bowie: Merry Christmas Mr Bowie
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
I: The Missing YearsDavid Bowie's new film, The Hunger, opens not with the focus fixed firmly on the star but with a cameo sequence of ...
New Edition: Editions Of Youth
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
HERE'S SOMETHING that can't miss. Five young and cute boys (ages 14 and 15) who can sing and dance, including one outstanding lead singer whose ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
Cynthia Rose Gabbas on the blower to the punk with subterranean Ramone (SIC!) blues. ...
Pete Shelley: Let Your Fingers Do The Talking
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
PETE SHELLEY STRIKES UP A DIALOGUE OF HIS OWN ON THE LINE TO MARTIN RUSHENT'S COUNTRY STUDIOS. RICHARD COOK PLAYS TELEPHONE OPERATOR AND LISTENS IN. ...
Prince: Radio City Music Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
SEX BEAT ...
Matchbox, Tammy Wynette: Tammy Wynette: Wembley Conference Centre, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
DANG MA POONS!* * Lit: Make mine a whiskey sour and a marriage on the rocks. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983
I MUST applaud the mysterious Tony D for his live review of The Barracudas (12/2/83) the gig excited me in exactly the same way. ...
Culture Club: The Culture Vultures Gather
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 30 April 1983
THE YOUNG girl walks hesitantly through the foyer of the Dominion Theatre; amidst all the colour and excitement she strikes an uncertain, rather nervous figure. ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 30 April 1983
ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES In The Dark are a triumph of packaging over content. The same principle that determines the lavishly striking sleeves by Peter Saville extends ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 30 April 1983
WHEN HE gets up in the morning his muscles ache and his emotions are strange, far off, unrecognisable things, but the fine jets of water ...
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983
LIFE IS A BANANADRAMA FOR THIS BUNCH OF GIRLS. LLOYD BRADLEY UNZIPS A SOB STORY. ...
Coati Mundi: The Former 12 Year Old Genius (Virgin)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983
MUNDI BLOODY MUNDI ...
The Gun Club: For Hire: The Gun Club
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983
Last year Jeffery Lee Pierce was a chronic depressive and a shithead full of venom. But since then he's sorted out his personal life, and ...
Heaven 17: The Luxury Gap (Virgin)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983
A Luxury You Can't Afford ...
Miles Davis: London, Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983
MILES RUNS the voodoo down down down ... and here I am, somewhere way up in the high heights of the Odeon (gee I hate ...
Rip Rig and Panic: Rip Rig & Panic: Rip Rig It Up And Start Again
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 7 May 1983
Their commercial failure was rigged, but they didn't panic. Now Don Watson discovers Rip Rig & Panic's new attitude. ...
The Creatures: All Creatures Great and Small
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 14 May 1983
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE BANSHEES AND WHO ARE THE CREATURES? WELL, THE WATERMARKS ARE SIMILAR WITH IMAGES OF THE DIABOLIC, THE FANTASTIC AND THE ...
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 14 May 1983
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY SALUTES THE MAN WHO ELECTRIFIED THE BLUES AND PUT THE RHYTHM INTO ROCK'N'ROLL ...
The Smiths: Crisp songs and salted lyrics
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 14 May 1983
WHY CHOOSE a name like The Smiths? "It's a very stray kind of name, very timeless," explained the colourful Mancunian Morrissey, who gives words and ...
Arthur Baker, John "Jellybean" Benitez: Burn This Disco Out
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 21 May 1983
THE BEST DISCO IN NEW YORK IS THE FUNHOUSE WHERE SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER IS ENJOYING A RENAISSANCE WITH AMERICA'S TEENAGERS. RICHARD GRABEL INVESTIGATES THE NEW ...
Prince Charles & the City Beat Band: The Venue, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 21 May 1983
CHARLES FLAUNTISM — FUNK OR FAKE? YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY PAOLO HEWITT ...
Xmal Deutschland: Fetisch (4 AD)
Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 21 May 1983
GERMAN GOTHIC ...
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 May 1983
David Bowie: Brussels Voorst National, Belgium ...
The Police: Junger than Stingtime: The Police's Synchronicity
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, June 1983
THE POLICE are much like Gods to their pop universe, not only in their worship rating but in their omnipotent attitude to their work. They ...
Marvin Gaye: Radio City Music Hall, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 4 June 1983
THERE IS a video tape circulating around Black Rock (CBS corporate headquarters) that is a five-minute demonstration of Marvin Gaye's pure genius. It records a ...
Motorhead: Another Perfect Day (Bronze)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 June 1983
THE SPIRIT of this group was probably born in a flop single made Screaming Lord Sutch in 1964. It was called Jack The Ripper, and ...
Nico/1919: Brixton Ace, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 4 June 1983
ALL'S BEEN quiet on the Killing Joke front for quite a while now, and it was only a matter of time before someone else got ...
Robert Wyatt: When The Boat Comes In
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 June 1983
Well, Robert Wyatt's boat has certainly come in with the surprise success of his single 'Shipbuilding' on its re-release. In this interview Richard Cook talks ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 4 June 1983
Today's environment a dizzying mélange of neon, advertisement, slum detritus and 'junk culture' has fascinated artists and poets since the 1950s. But not ...
The Go-Betweens: King's College, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 4 June 1983
DON WATSON SEES THE GLINT ON THE EDGE OF THE GO-BEES' POP KNIFE ...
Indeep: Last Night A DJ Saved My Life (Sound Of New York)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 11 June 1983
IN AT THE DEEP END TOO SOON? ...
King Sunny Ade and his African Beats: Synchro System (Island)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 June 1983
IN A THREADBARE year for outstanding pop records, Synchro System is something to set excitement aflame – a torch song for the powers of rhythm. ...
Kajagoogoo: Puppy Love In The Plasma-Glow: Kajagoogoo at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 June 1983
AS PHENOMENA GO, Kajagoogoo seem like the nastiest end of a train that starts in Boy George's inspirational and self-sufficient glamour and ends in the ...
Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues (Sire)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 June 1983
DAVID BYRNE is a man with a moon in his throat, is an intellect nervously filling out a fool's cap and greasepaint, is the writer ...
Angry Samoans: The Angry Brigade: Angry Samoans
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 11 June 1983
ONE OF the singular charms of Back From Samoa by L.A.'s Angry Samoans is that it's over before you even realise you've put it on ...
Glenn Branca: Riverside Studios, London
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 18 June 1983
ACCORDING TO his UK press release, Glenn Branca's work "demands (and always receives) superlatives". Hyperbole would be more accurate, but given the avalanche of attention ...
Nick Cave, Exene Cervenka, Lydia Lunch: Lydia Lunch: Listen with Lydia
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 18 June 1983
Settle back in your couch and listen to Lydia Lunch — former New York No Wave sewer queen, would-be agony aunt, chanteuse, the Bette Midler ...
Ray Charles: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 18 June 1983
RESPECT, WE CAME to the massive Hall and paid respect to the blind man who helped shape black music, lived a life of (partly self-inflicted) ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 18 June 1983
A sense of humour? Clubs, parties and late nights? Five months to write 'Bad Boys'? What is with these WHAM! guys? PAOLO HEWITT steps into ...
Rickie Lee Jones: American Pirate On The Rocks: Rickie Lee Jones
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
On a rare visit from her new home in France, Rickie Lee Jones lays down her cutlass and beret to discuss the songwriter's art, dissect ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: So Proud — The Moral Standard of Soul
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
Regarded by many people as the first conscience of American Black music, CURTIS MAYFIELD's illustrious career now spans 20 years — from being a teenager ...
David Bowie: Milton Keynes Bowl
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
WHO'S PUSHING back there, someone shouts, as another poor girl falls to her knees, tangled up inside blue breathless bodies. Probably Bowie — today's turn, ...
Killing Joke: Fire Dances (EG)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
AT LAST, the return of the Joke of the Wild Frontier... ...
King Sunny Ade and his African Beats: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
THERE'S ONLY one thing wrong with King Sunny Ade And His African Beats: they make nearly everything else sound drab and mean-spirited. But that malaise ...
Stephen Stills: Crazy After All These Years
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
MR STILLS and I are watching a video of some playing by Crosby, Stills And Nash. The composer leans back in his chair, a whisky ...
The Isley Brothers: Between the Sheets (Epic)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
SOME SOUL groups have their own continuum. If a senior vocal unit like The Temptations has to suffer a producer's — and hence a popular ...
The Members: Going West (Albion)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
ONCE UPON a time I thought The Members fell between the stools of The Clash and The Boomtown Rats. Little has changed, except you ...
The Residents: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
EPIC MOLES ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Taxi To The Terminal Zone
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
"The way I see it is capitalism's a sponge consider yourself to squeeze it. Squeeze it while it's here, be prepared to pick up ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
FEW THINGS in this amorphous and inchoate universe are so perfect as Im So Proud or Womans Got Soul – or very nearly any of ...
Diana Ross, Donna Summer: Donna Summer: She Works Hard For The Money/Diana Ross: Ross
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
DONNA SUMMER has adopted a succession of irresistible role models the sex Goddess of Moroder's sensual motorik disco, the modern day Cinderella of 'Once ...
James Blood Ulmer: Brixton Ace, London
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
Sound and loving fury from Blood, ambling aimlessly about the stage, like a giant teddy bear whos somehow laid his paws on a guitar. Big, ...
George Benson: Kingsize Benson
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
So just how did this work a day guitarist called GEORGE BENSON sidestep the critical vitriol of the jazz and soul purists to become one ...
Sisters of Mercy: Sisters Under The Scales: The Reptile House EP
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
DEEP IN the woods a funeral is swinging ... ...
The Blasters: Non-Fiction (Slash)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 16 July 1983
OVER THE past three years, white American musics been getting a real recharge from several California couples: John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X, Chip ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 July 1983
A FEW years ago, B.B. King let it be known that there were three albums that he had always wanted to record: one album of ...
New Order: When There's No More Room in Hell: New Order Prowl the New York Streets
Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 23 July 1983
In the three years since they emerged from the shadow of Joy Division, New Order have become the world's leading and most wilfully independent group. ...
Yellowman: Pickett's Lock, Edmonton, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 23 July 1983
...
Richard Thompson: Hand Of Kindness
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 30 July 1983
From a maker of acclaimed albums, something that is more of the same, as dependable as any itching in the heart, toothache, telephone bill: it ...
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 30 July 1983
25 years on the dancefloor, Tamla Motown is still the black music label. In the '60s, their motto was 'The Sound Of Young America' — then hard ...
Einsturzende Neubauten: Acklam Hall, Notting Hill
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, August 1983
IT IS THE professed aim of Einsturzende Neubauten to exhaust music, to drain it until it implodes into a single catastrophic moment. This, however, is ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, August 1983
SIMPLY FOR not being Kevin Rowland or Paul Weller or Martin Fry, Paul Young fully deserves his Number One. And 'Wherever' is more than a ...
Chaka Khan, Mtume: 44th Street Pier, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
Chaka Works The Crowd But Doesn't Wear The Crown ...
Marc Almond: Give This Man An Oscar: The Wilde Side of Marc Almond
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
MARC ALMOND is very screwed up about being a pop star, which is what comes of hanging around Nick Cave and Genesis P. Orridge. ...
Herbie Hancock: Herbie Rides Again!
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
So how come a 43-year-old muso who's worked with Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis has only just cut his first scratching record? Doesn't he know ...
Lita Ford: Out for Blood (Phonogram)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
LADY ROCKERS who hurl the epithet "sweet thang" at their listeners do everything for me that over-friendly taxi drivers accomplish — or Chrissie Hynde live ...
Louis Jordan: Going For The Long Jump!
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
The last of the swingers, the first of the rockers, altoist Louis Jordan's influence stretches through BB King and David Bowie to the '80s jive ...
New Model Army: Great Hall, Bradford
Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
BRADFORD IS a city of dead mills, lousy poets, psychopaths and pigeons. There's a lot of shit about, including a thick morass of cotton wool-gobbed ...
Review by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 6 August 1983
Of Mice and Yellowmen ...
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 August 1983
YES MI FRIEND, mi good friend, them set me free again... ...
Gasper Lawal Band: Cricketers, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 13 August 1983
IN THE TROPICAL heatwave of Afro-beat addiction it is unjust that Gasper Lawal should remain in the shade. ...
The Cramps: Zip Guns In The Junkyard!
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 13 August 1983
GEEK MAGGOT BINGO IS THE film that trade Bible Variety characterised a "one geek, few maggots and no bingo". A lot they know! ...
The Pogues: Mahone Ranger's Handbook
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 13 August 1983
GAVIN MARTIN meets the punks who turned to Irish folk music and became the Pogues with the brogue ...
The Armoury Show, Virginia Astley: Armoury Show/Eyeless In Gaza/Virginia Astley: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
RICHARD JOBSON had expected a handful to turn up tonight and thus was pleasantly surprised by a near – capacity crowd who were so indulgent, ...
Bad Brains: Rock For Light (Abstract)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
BAD BRAINS are an idea bursting full-tilt from a terminally fevered cortex. Rock For Light is the attempted rationalising of the notion, and it so ...
Carmel: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
CARMEL IDOLISES Edith Piaf, and Serge Clerc's sleeve for 'Bad Day' depicts her as a transatlantic chanteuse crooning those midnight blue notes for Rive Gauche ...
Killing Joke: He Man and All That Jaz: Killing Joke
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
AND JUST when you thought the laughter had died down, Killing Joke are back. 1983 sees a new LP, Fire Dances not only their ...
Jackson Browne: Lawyers In Love (Asylum)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
JACKSON BROWNE is beginning to remind me of Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome or Missing: a secure and successful man provoked into action traitorous ...
MC5: Babes In Arms (ROIR cassette)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
IDEALLY VLADIMIR Mayakovsky should be sitting down to this review, because never before or since has there been a band quite like the MC5 – ...
Neil Young: Everybody's Rockin (Geffen)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
AT LEAST Neil Young has yet resisted rejoining Crosby, Stills and Nash, although this foray into rockabilly pastiche is hardly much less regressive than that. ...
The Cimarons, Winston Reedy: Winston Reedy: Reedy Steady Go
Profile and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
GIVEN ALL antecedents the renaissance of Winston Reedy during the past 18 months is a remarkable tale of the prodigal. ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 20 August 1983
TEXAN WEIRD BEARDS REVEAL THE FACE OF MODERN METAL. RICHARD GRABEL FINDS THAT HIRSUTE IS CUTE AND HAIR AIN'T SQUARE. ...
Depeche Mode: Construction Time Again (Mute)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
"LOTS OF surprises in store/This isnt a party/Its a whole lot more," sings Dave Gahan in More Than A Party. Its a song from Construction ...
Michael (Mikey) Smith: Dub Poet Michael Smith Murdered
Report by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
MICHAEL SMITH, Jamaica's foremost dub poet, was murdered last week, stoned to death by thugs suspected of being activists from the ruling Jamaica Labour Party ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
OUTSIDE IN the wide tree lined avenue the birds are singing and the sun is shining. Inside, Katie Kissoon – relaxed and ra ...
Larry Levan, Peech Boys: Peech Boys: Muscle Peech Party
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
Paolo Hewitt checks for the Peech Boys' Console Companions Larry Levan and Michael "Mafia" Benedictus. ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: Texas Flood (Epic)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
DAVID BOWIE didn't discover Stevie Ray, the power blues specialist who by the sound of this solo LP was sorely tempered on Bowie's tepid Let's ...
Talking Heads: All Mouth and Trousers!
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
TALKING HEADS ARE BURNING DOWN THE MOTIONS AND BEING WILLINGLY DRAGGED INTO THE ROCK MACHINE. A TONGUE-TIED DAVID BYRNE SQUEAKS UP FOR HIMSELF. BARNEY HOSKYNS ...
The Clark Sisters: Is The Lord Bored With Disco?
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
GOD MUST be tired of pop music. The most popular female gospel act in America, Detroit's Clark Sisters, have the first gospel record in a ...
Van Morrison: Odeon, Birmingham
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, September 1983
I LOST VAN Morrison's wavelength on the album of the same name, and my feelings about the last four are decidedly mixed. This misanthropic mystic ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
FOR THOSE about to cry "Oh No Not AC/DC", I refute you. I'm really sorry about this, but they've made some fine records and remain ...
Level 42: Standing In The Light (Polydor)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
BRITFUNK... THERE'S a lot of it about. From the half-Bakered whine of 'AEIOU' to the anonymous disaster that is David Grant, these isles are responsible ...
Aswad, Neneh Cherry, Rip Rig and Panic: Notting Hill Carnival '83
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
CARNIVALS ARE crucial — all the best cultures have 'em. But the world has a way of perverting the simplest pleasures, and since 76, Carnival ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
R.E.M., LIKE THE B-52's, come from Athens, Georgia, but it must be the other side of town. Where the Bs are flamboyant, emblazoning their borrowed ...
Simple Minds: Taking Kerr of Business
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
SIMPLE MINDS: on the banks of a new gold dream? Or simply wet? DON WATSON fathoms it out with Jim Kerr ...
The Mekons: Hot Club, Brixton, London
Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
NÜE VAVE! ...
The Stray Cats: Rant 'n Rave (Arista)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
THAT BRIAN Setzer and his Stray Cats set out to become the perfectly sculpted and exquisitely meaningless rockstar icons of their dreams could never be ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
"I'D JUST love somebody to do an interview or review that had naff all to do with politics..." ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 3 September 1983
I DON'T THINK "England" means very much to me any more, although I do have some sympathy with Andy Partridge's particular affection for a country, ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
HIPPITY HOP! ...
Suicide, Alan Vega: Alan Vega: '77 Suicide Strip
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
A VEGA PERSPECTIVE ON GHOST RIDERS, KUNG-FU COWBOYS, AYLER WAILERS AND LIFE AFTER SUICIDE. ...
Big Jay McNeely, Young Jessie, Chuck Higgins, Willie Egan: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
I DOUBT WHETHER I am sufficiently qualified to pronounce on the merits or otherwise of the foregoing concert, considering I involve a substantial proportion of ...
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
THESE DAYS the barricades are thinly manned. Back in '79 Rock was Against Everything and The Gang Of 4 provided a soundtrack of surgical firepower ...
James White and The Blacks: James White: James White's Flaming Demonics (ZE)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
A PALER SHADE OF WHITE ...
Kid Creole & the Coconuts: Doppelganger (Ze/Island)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
BETWEEN OFF The Coast Of Me and Doppelganger lies an interval of only three years, yet already the odyssey of Kid Creole's search for his ...
Rick Springfield: Are You Ready To Rick?
Profile and Interview by Annene Kaye, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
"All my girlfriends talk about is, like, how it would be to meet Rick and y'know, they talk about making out with him and stuff... ...
The Associates, Billy Mackenzie: Spoilt Brat, Silly Prat Or Visionary Genius?: Billy Mackenzie
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
ONLY A YEAR AGO The Associates seemed to have the world at their feet; with three hit singles behind them and their first tour in ...
The Stray Cats: Stray Cats: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
BACK FROM the fruited plains of America, where their wide wardrobe selection and the videos which enshrine it have snatched the preteen population from the ...
The Fleshtones: Hexbreaker! (IRS)
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
RESOLUTELY UNFASHIONABLE, the stalwart Fleshtones keep making their good-time party records and getting better at it each time out. ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
BARNEY HOSKYNS GOES BARMY OVER THE MUSAK MONSTER AT BLENHEIM. ...
The Cult: Death Cult: Trinity Hall, Bristol
Live Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
OH QUEL CULT! ...
Dennis Brown: The Prophet Rides High
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
WITH THREE singles constantly bubbling in the reggae charts, and The Prophet Rides Again riding high in the soul charts as well as being the ...
Gary Numan: Warriors (Beggars Banquet)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
NUMAN — OLD HAT... ...
Culture Club, Helen Terry: Helen Terry: Hellenic Culture
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
CULTURE CLUB'S 'BOLSHIE' MEMBER — HELEN TERRY — LETS RIP ...
John Hiatt: Half Moon, Putney, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
FOR THE SECOND time in a matter of weeks this body-choked backroom played host to a mislaid American master. In John Hiatts territory he has ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
A KICK IN THE NUTS ...
The Shangri-Las: Leaders of the Teen Beat
Retrospective by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
Remember (walkin' in the sand) with the Shangri-Las ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
This LP — Lofgren's first since 81 — sails off on a gritty, catchy duet with Edgar Winter, then slides into a loner ballad ('Into ...
Slim Gaillard: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
FOR ABOUT the tenth time that evening, Slim Gaillard spotted a camera pointing in his direction and stopped a song mid-way to pose. "Yes, I'm ...
Talking Heads: Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, Queens NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
THE ESSENTIAL Talking Heads identity has always had David Byrne as its focus, no matter how much he may theorize about creating some sort of ...
Michael Jackson: The Boy Who Would Fly: Michael Jackson
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
I'VE BEEN feeling strange about Michael Jackson since I was 11 years old. I remember lying in bed with a transistor radio the size ...
The Mighty Clouds of Joy: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
SANCTIFIED! ...
UB40: Labour Of Love (DEP International)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
DREAD DREAD WHINE... ...
Bette Midler: No Frills (Atlantic)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
OK, FORGET the drip through the roof. Forget the mortgage and the DHSS snoop halfway through the letterbox. Imagine a night out on the town ...
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
POCKET BILLIARDS ...
The Pogues: Pogue Mahone: Bull And Gate, Kentish Town, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
AT THE delightful Bull And Gate public house in Kentish Town, Pogue Mahone played their usual blisteringly wonderful set. Containing some of the most evil-looking ...
Rick James: Cold Blooded (Motown)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
IN THE freak funk stakes, high-livin’ devil-may-care Rick James rates as a bit of a clown. As you’ll know if you caught his Rockpalast TV ...
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
SIX MONTHS ago Stevie Ray Vaughan couldn't have sold out a telephone box east of the Azores. Now, a comfortably full Venue has gathered to ...
The Gymslips: Smelly Socks And Belches
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
GIRLS! FEEL FEEBLE? LISTLESS? FIGHT ANOREXIA THE RENEES' WAY! THE GYMSLIPS explain the benefits of pie 'n' mash to MAT SNOW. ...
Graham Parker: Tired and Feathered: Graham Parker - The Real Macaw
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
IT WOULD BE very tempting to take a withering look at this LPs horribly punning title and matching sleeve, and crack an equally feeble witticism ...
Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones (Island)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
NOW, BEFORE I step before you again to review some music, and then have to face an old familiar tune (videlicet: guilty of obscurantism), I ...
Memoir by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 September 1983
The story so far... We are about to meet SUSANDRA MINSKY, who could be described as August Darnell's first wife, although they never did get ...
Culture Club: Brighton Centre, Brighton
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
IF EVER there's a tune crying out to symbolise the genius of Culture Club, it's the final encore of tonight's set, an uplifting, clapalong version ...
Gang of Four: Four Get Out Their Trees
Interview by Annene Kaye, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
ANNENE KAYE opens a branch account with the GANG OF FOUR. ...
Ian Dury: Too Much Noddy Business
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
WHERE HAS IAN DURY BEEN FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS, AND WHY HAS HIS LONG-AWAITED NEW LP, 40,000 WEEKS HOLIDAY BEEN DELAYED UNTIL JANUARY? GAVIN ...
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
LAZY MADONNA ...
Paul Young: How to Make a Mint by Being Ordinary
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
Just six months ago Paul Young was a struggling British soul boy, hacking out a living. But with the sudden success of 'Wherever I Lay ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
TWO STRANGELY jarring acts from Rough Trade, one increasingly abstruse, t'other ever more open, engaging. ...
Violent Femmes: Haçienda, Manchester
Live Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN, 90 miles north of Chicago. Famous... for bad beer... over there... and over here. Not so famous over here for the Violent Femmes. ...
Art Of Noise: a Spanner in the Works
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
ART OF NOISE IS THE FIRST RELEASE ON TREVOR HORN'S AND PAUL MORLEY'S ZANG TUUM TUMB LABEL. NOT DISCO. NOT POP. YET NOT UNTUNEFUL. CHRIS ...
Culture Club: Colour By Numbers (Virgin)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
TOP OF THE LOOKING CLASS ...
The Everly Brothers: Devoted: The Everly Brothers at the Royal Albert Hall
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
THERE'S THIS certain tension which exists between the Everly Brothers that is the genius of their music. It's as if the lyrics of such as ...
Elvis Costello: Master Blaster
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
WHEN IT COMES TO SOUL, THIS MAN BEATS ALL YOUR WELLERS AND ROWLANDS HANDS DOWN — BUT FOR ELVIS COSTELLO PASSION HAS NEVER BEEN JUST ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
Stroud Green Road is one of London's more depressing thoroughfares. Noisy, dirty and deprived, it looks as if the buildings which line this lead-perfumed thruway ...
Fad Gadget, Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie & the Banshees, Fad Gadget: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
YOU MAY BE A NIHILIST BUT YOU AIN'T NO F*@!KIN' ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
MOTOWN HAPPENING AGAIN ...
The Three Johns: Johnnies Be Bad
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
Blarney Haskyns Shoots The Apeshit With The Evolutionary Creators Of 'Men Like Monkeys' ...
War: Life (Is So Strange) (RCA)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 8 October 1983
THERE IS a shroud of controversy over this release. Rumour was that the group were far from satisfied with it, didn't want it put out ...
Interview by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 15 October 1983
Kate Bush has moulded herself in an icon of pop erotica — so much that suburban couples claim her breasts stimulate their love making. Yet ...
Strawberry Switchblade: ICA, London
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 15 October 1983
THE ECLECTIC confines of the ICA's well-organised Pop-Goes-The-Easel Week once again played host to developing talent. In amongst the unlikely mixture of intellectual behemoths and ...
Eek-A-Mouse: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
UNEEK! ...
Lionel Richie: Can't Slow Down (Motown)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
LIONISING LIONEL ...
The The: Soul Mining (Some Bizzare)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
DIGGING FOR VICTORY ...
Was (Not Was): Back Come the Freaks
Interview by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
Was (Not Was)'s major problem was that they could never sing. Their voices would always come out sounding freaky. To overcome this they've brought in ...
Gary Numan: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 29 October 1983
BARBIE'S BOYFRIEND IN BONDAGE GEAR ...
The Dils, Rank and File: Life After Punk: Rank and File
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 29 October 1983
Rank and Files Founders Chip and Tony Kinman walked out on hardcore punk stardom to take up their "white trash influences in country music. ...
Waylon Jennings: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 October 1983
'Nylon' Jennings Sings Silky Jus' For You ...
Wham!: What Simon Says: Simon Napier-Bell
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 October 1983
MODESTY, TACT AND DISCRETION ARE NOT THE QUALITIES OF '60s POP ENTREPRENEUR SIMON NAPIER-BELL. BARNEY HOSKYNS FINDS OUT WHAT ARE. ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, November 1983
IF YE Smythes are anything to go by, rock's set-piece quartet of voice and guitar, bass and drums is making a decided comeback. Witnessing R.E.M.'s ...
Oliver Cheatham, Madonna: Cheek to Cheatham: Madonna/Oliver Cheatham
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
FROM CHIC TO STREET: BARNEY HOSKYNS FINDS OUT HOW FAR MADONNA AND OLIVER CHEATHAM HAVE MOTORED SINCE QUITTING DETROIT VIA THE DANCE STUDIOS OF NEW ...
Paul McCartney: Pipes Of Peace (Parlophone)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
CONTRARY TO current feeling here at the NME and elsewhere, I personally nurture no antagonism towards Paul McCartney, nor regard him with any of my ...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
ANDY GILL talks to avant composer, soundtrack svengali and arty type PHILIP GLASS, and finds that life as one of the most pervasive musical influences ...
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
TAKE R.E.M. POP VITAMINS FOR A HEALTHY MUSICAL DIET! ...
The The: Working In The The The Soul Mine
Interview by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
MUCH CONFUSION SURROUNDS THE NAME OF MATT JOHNSON. LEYLA SANAI DOES SOME UNSCRAMBLING. ...
Wham!: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
HEY, SUCKER — welcome to the George Michael Show... ...
Quando Quango: When To Quando And When To Quango
Profile and Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
MANCHESTER'S HONKY TONKIN' DISCO EXPORT ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 5 November 1983
AS A WARM-UP – or should I say boil-up – bash for an imminent global over-haul, the three cosmic-hillbilly stooges of ZZ Top last week ...
Was (Not Was): Was Not Was: Born To Laugh At Tornadoes (Geffen)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 6 November 1983
AMERICA HAS been dressed by improper minds. Corralling the year's important American records – Swordfishtrombones, Girl At Her Volcano, Burlap And Satin and Born To ...
The Fleshtones, The Plimsouls: Trash on Delivery: The Plimsouls and The Fleshtones
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 November 1983
EVERYONE VISITS the 60s, but who brings anything back? Who brings them up to date? LAs Plimsouls do. ...
Obituary by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 November 1983
BARNEY BUBBLES — who, sadly, took his own life last week — was every bit as influential as those creative performers for whom he designed ...
Fela Kuti: He Who Has A Quiver In His Underpants
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 26 November 1983
Fela Kuti — also known as He Who Has Death In His Quiver (and a shiver in his Y-fronts) — last week descended on London ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker: The Shotgun Sherriff Rides Again
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 November 1983
A Motown soul veteran for all seasons, Junior Walker has taken his sax appeal from small American clubs in the '50s to the heart of ...
The Go-Betweens: Up From Down Under
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 November 1983
HOW TOUCHINGLY ENGLISH this all is. Outside in the late autumn Notting Hill Gate landscape shoppers shuffle through the leaves, surprised at the novelty of ...
The Police: Princes of the City
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, December 1983
PRINCES OF THE City. There's nothing like an American stadium show to make you feel small and alone. ...
John Martyn: Philentropy (Body Swerve)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 3 December 1983
THERE ARE those – and they are many in today's athletic Popular-hypertrophic music field – who can impress a vocal line upon a certain heavily ...
Cocteau Twins: The Cocteau Twins: Twindrops Keep Falling On My Head
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 10 December 1983
Robin and Elizabeth are the Cocteau Twins. They live together in London's Muswell Hill and have created an enormously successful musical partnership. PAUL MORLEY attempts ...
Husker Du, Omega Tribe: Omega Tribe: No Love Lost (Corpus Cristi)/Hüsker Dü: Metal Circus (SST)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 17 December 1983
"People talk about anarchy / and taking up a fight / Well I'm afraid of hings like that / I lock my doors at night" ...
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 24 December 1983
Prince or showgirl? Paul Morley tussles with Marilyn on a soft sofa and wonders if the seduction of pop has a more explicit meaning. ...
Cocteau Twins: Head Over Heels (4AD)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, Fall 1983
THE COCTEAU TWINS are innocents aboard the jolly roger of "positive-punk" specimens, blushing songbirds amidst the mascara'd goth macaws of Gene Loves Jezebel and Xmal ...
D.O.A. - Megadecibel Minstrels
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1984
BY MY RECKONING, Vancouver's D.O.A. is the best hard rock band in the world. I say this on the basis of their many excellent ...
Fad Gadget: Grok! Fad Gadget at the Lyceum, London
Live Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 1984
NOW THAT Martial Law has been declared in rock by such jail guitar banner-waving bores as U2, Big Country and The Alarm, Fad Gadgets appropriation ...
Otis Redding: Otis Blue (Atco)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1984
AS WITH SUCH iconic records as Forever Changes and Anthem Of The Sun, time has eroded the stature of Otis Blue. ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1984
IT HAS to be said that this plumpish, carrot-mopped bloke stomping around like a kid in a playpen hardly looks the part of STAR. And ...
T Bone Burnett: Trap Door and Behind The Trap Door
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1984
THIS LONG TALL TEXAN is a perplexing, sometimes infuriating contributor to the annals of rockin' psychology. As a maverick composer and player to various courts ...
The Flamin' Groovies, The Ramones: The Flamin' Groovies and The Ramones: London Roundhouse
Retrospective by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1984
AS SPRING turned into the long, hot summer of '76, the '60s in the bloated shape of the Rolling Stones self-parodied itself up its own ...
The Kinks: Kinks, Kinda Kinks, The Kinks Kontroversy and Face To Face
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1984
NOT THAT any of this is actually important, but the kurrent kinks reissue programme abounds with small ironies. ...
The Style Council: Cardiff, St. David’s Hall
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 1984
FIRST OFF, SOME striking things. The man who used to specialise in doing soul songs really badly is now fond of doing funk standards reasonably ...
Viv Broughton: Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound (Blandford Press)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1984
ITS ONLY TOO easy to take that vicarious pleasure in the religious antics of folk who are not of one's own race, nationality or (non-) ...
Aztec Camera: I'm Gonna Live Forever
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 7 January 1984
SCARCE ON the ground these past months, Roddy Frame is the new Boy Wonder, a precocious 19 year old currently calling all the shots. ...
The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson: Dennis Wilson
Obituary by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 7 January 1984
THE OFTEN tempestuous career of Dennis Wilson ended last Wednesday, when the Beach Boys drummer drowned in the waters of LA's Marina del Rey. ...
T Bone Burnett: T-Bone Steak, Rattle and Roll
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 7 January 1984
November 21. A cool, inky evening in Fort Worth, Texas – the kind of town where a lonesome moan from the Mystery Train still pierces ...
The Police: Nottingham City Hall
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 7 January 1984
RICHARD COOKS extraordinary vision of The Police (NME, 2nd Dec.) prompts one to reconsider the profound difference between The Police – those awful sing-a-long-a-suicides So ...
The Who, The Yardbirds: The Who, Yardbirds books
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 January 1984
Before I Get Old: The Story Of The Who by Dave Marsh Yardbirds by John Platt, Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty ...
Tina Turner: The Venue, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 7 January 1984
SWEAT! ...
Alexis Korner: Blues For Mr Korner
Obituary by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
BOB FISHER, who worked with Alexis Komer on a TV history of rock, pays tribute to the man who was the chief architect of British ...
Billy Bragg: Big Ben vs Little Billy
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
AFTER NEARLY two years of playing the relentless troubadour all around this curious, fragmented isle, Billy Bragg and his guitar are starting to get noticed. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bunny Wailer: Bunny Wailer: The Bright Soul of the Blackheart Man
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
From his boyhood friendship with Bob Marley and the foundation of The Wailers, to a solo career that's produced a wealth of inspired (and under-rated) music, BUNNY WAILER remains ...
Einsturzende Neubauten: Driller Thriller
Report by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
METAL MARAUDERS IN THE MALL ...
Fela Kuti: Resurrection Shuffle
Report by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
ABOUT 200 PEOPLE turned out last weekend at the Country Club in North London, for a benefit to prevent its closure. Entertainment was provided by ...
Hüsker Dü: Iron Tamers: Hüsker Dü send out distress signals
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
HÜSKER DÜ, signed to Black Flag’s SST label, are one of America’s mightiest hardcore trios. From Minneapolis, aching heart of the Midwest, they’ve sent out ...
John Hiatt: Riding With The King (Geffen)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
KING JOHN, ASSUREDLY ...
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT... ...
Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society: Barbecue Dog (Antilles)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
GOOD ROASTIN' TONIGHT ...
Live Review by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
...THE POWER... THE GLORY... THE RED HARRINGTON!!! ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
IT'S ALMOST like standing with my stilettoes planted on the very threshold of Club Yes. ...
George Clinton: You Shouldn't Nuf Bit Fish (Capitol)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
WHATEVER faults there may be in George Clinton's music, a limited horizon is not one of them. ...
Grand Mixer D.ST: A Cut-Up Above The Rest
Profile and Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
PAUL BRADSHAW ASKS GRAND MIXER D.ST HOW TO BE MIXED-UP AND SUCCESSFUL ...
Bernard Fowler, Grand Mixer D.ST, Herbie Hancock: Herbie Hancock: The Venue, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
HOLLERIN' SOME HEAVY URBAN SHIT! ...
James Blood Ulmer: Odyssey (CBS)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
WITH THE unprecedented challenges of his earlier records taken up by nobody, and with his own position of fringe acclaim at a nebulous standstill, Blood ...
Luther Vandross: Busy Body (Epic)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
MY DADDY warned me about fellers like Luther Vandross. He gave me, rest his soul, two sage sayings: "Never run after a bus or a ...
Madness: Adventures in Madonia
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
With Mike Barson' departure from Madness are Camden's finest now fast approaching the pop parody stakes? or will a three day trip to Poland, fighting ...
The Sex Pistols: Nancy Spungen: If You Knew Nancy…
Book Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
IF ANYTHING CAN PUT THE LID on the Romeo and Juliet myth that has enshrined Nancy Spungen in the post-punk hagiography, it will be a ...
Quiet Riot: Cum On Feel The Boize
Report and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
"CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE!! GURLS RAAACK YOUR BOIZE!! WE'LL GET WILD WILD WILD!!!" ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
REM's presence as a genuine group staunchly committed to rock's most crucial attitude, this being the simple desire to play a little honest loud-hearted music ...
Soft Cell: Farewell My Lovely!
Report and Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 21 January 1984
Don Watson witnesses Soft Cell's glorious farewell concert and listens to Marc Almond kiss 'n' tell about his future plans to travel the world. ...
Aswad: Conquering Lions Of The Concrete Jungle
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
IF REGGAE is dying, how curious that my interest in it is just coming to life. Years of comparative indifference (and ignorance) pass and suddenly ...
Billy Idol: Rebel Yell (Chrysalis)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
WHOOPS! ...
Holger Hiller: Poltergeist In The Machine
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
Hiller's alive to the music of sound. Holger, a genial Hamburger, has spent the years since leaving Palais Schaumburg completing a remarkable LP of Dada ...
Johnny Thunders: Hurt Me (New Rose)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
PAIN! ...
Nina Simone: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
NINA SIMONE finishes another song, totters to the front of the stage and stands, fixing the audience with a gaze that's as intent as it ...
John Cale: Rebel Without a Sanity Clause: John Cale’s Caribbean Sunset (Ze/Island)
Review by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 28 January 1984
HARDBOILED GOING on soft-headed, John Cale as chronicler of the man of action invariably topples over into drunken, unremitting and participatory relish of the deeds ...
Dr John: The Brightest Smile In Town (Demon)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
THERE WAS an interview with Mick Jagger in some magazine or other recently in which the ageing plutocrat titteringly told of how Dr John had ...
Obituary by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
WHAT DO YOU think of it so far: 1984? No, neither do I. ...
James Brown: Roots Of A Revolution
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
YAAAOOWWW . . . Witchaw bad self! A few years ago Polydor issued a deluxe double album commemorating the first 21 years of James Brown's ...
Millie Jackson: E.S.P. (Extra Sexual Persuasion) (Spring)
Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
I RESPECT Millie Jackson the way I respect a hooker who succeeds in booting out her pimp and buys a computer to do the accounts ...
Nina Simone: Diary Of A Princess Noir
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
GAVIN MARTIN DELVES IN BETWEEN THE SHEETS WITH NINA SIMONE – A SOULFUL PUSSYCAT WHO PRETENDS SHE'S AN ANGRY TIGRESS ...
The Smiths: These Disarming Men: The Smiths
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 4 February 1984
"...the touching and bewitching songs that open hearts and purses. Art. Great Art." – Jean Genet, Funeral Rites ...
Millie Jackson: How To Talk Dirty and Influence People
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 February 1984
WHAT'S HAPPENED to the great soul singers? ...
Orange Juice: Bridge on the River Clyde
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 11 February 1984
Sour grapes over The Smiths? Sound of Young Scotland four years late? Juicy new tunes squeezed? EDWYN COLLINS unzips his lip! Purple prose: MAT SNOW. ...
Simple Minds: Sparkle In The Rain
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 11 February 1984
Give The Kerr A Bono ...
Womack and Womack: Love Wars (WEA)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 11 February 1984
"ABSENCE MAKES the heart grow fonder", sing Cecil (brother of Bobby) and Linda (daughter of Sam Cooke) at the start of their epic 'Love Wars' ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono: We Are Only One
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 February 1984
How does the widow of John Lennon face up to a world that won't leave her husband's memory alone, three years after his death? In ...
Julian Cope: World Shut Your Mouth (Mercury)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 18 February 1984
I FEAR WE might shut our collective gob for the rest of time and we still wouldnt get a good Julian Cope album. I didnt ...
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 18 February 1984
GROWING UP in public (a further instalment). ...
Subbed Culture: The Meaning of Bile
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 18 February 1984
Should the rock press only reflect what's happening, or has it the power to make things happen? With the proliferation of teen pop glossies, which ...
Essay by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 February 1984
PAUL MORLEY, the man who took FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD to Number One, takes a long day's journey into night where he wonders whether he ...
ABC, Sex Pistols, Ultravox: Julian Temple: From a Dandy to a Rogue
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 19 February 1984
PORTRAIT OF THE CAMBRIDGE FOP AS FILM MAKER Julian Temple, a Cambridge history graduate, was rescued from the National Film School, by The Great Rock ...
Burning Spear: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
BURNING! ...
Kool and the Gang: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
KOOL AND his men personify the exhilarated and bloodless heart of pop-soul. For some reason they are always celebrating: they stand us up for the ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
I'M TOLD Madness are in decline, and for someone who found 'Grey Day' and 'House Of Fun, to be the only tracks he wanted to ...
The Clash: Pop Will Die... And Rebel Rock Will Rule
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
"YOU DON'T TREAT your enemies better than you treat your friends." ...
The Gun Club: The Birth, The Death, The Ghost (ABC)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
BLOOD, BOOZE, and Host: midway through a mess of ‘Preachin’ The Blues’ on this sub-bootleg memento of pre-Fire Of Love Gun Club, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, ...
The Smiths: The Smiths (Rough Trade)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 25 February 1984
"And if you must go to work tomorrow Well, if I were you I wouldn't bother" ('Still Ill') ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 3 March 1984
SHAKA ALL OVER ...
Laurie Anderson: Mister Heartbreak (WEA)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 3 March 1984
Somewhere Over Gravity's Rainbow ...
Whitesnake: Just A Load of Old Cobras
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 3 March 1984
DAVID COVERDALE, the professional peacock of puerile penile dementia rock has landed. ...
Dr. John: A Shot of Rhythm 'n' Snooze
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
BACK IN New Orleans in the '50s, when he was one of the few white people involved in one of the last great watersheds in ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
"WHAT THE HELL else have I got but that spell?" roars John Cale onstage in a performance of Leaving It Up To You. ...
Millie Jackson: Dominion, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
WHY IS this woman not in the movies? ...
Orange Juice: Texas Fever (Polydor)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
TO MAKE things clear from the start, Texas Fever arouses an excitement I thought I may be in danger of forgetting, at least in connection ...
George Clinton: P-Funk Allstars: Urban Dancefloor Guerillas (Epic Import)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
P-FECTION! ...
Scritti Politti: Say A Little Prayer For Green
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
DEEP END, feet first. Is it true you're Mr Paranoid? ...
Van Morrison: Live At The Grand Opera House Belfast (Mercury)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
AS SOMEONE not over-exposed to Van Morrison's music, this is an extremely useful record. It acts both as a good compilation album (all the songs ...
Josey Wales, Yellowman: Yellowman versus Josey Wales: Two Giants Clash (Greensleeves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 March 1984
EGOS ON TOAST ...
Prefab Sprout: Couldn’t Bear To Be Precious: Prefab Sprout
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
THE BOY'S a natural born charmer. ...
Hot Chocolate: All Because The Lady Loves Hot Chocolate
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
FRESH FROM his evening shower and now only half an hour away from facing 2,000 of his most ardent supporters, Errol Brown, a white towel ...
Johnny Osbourne: The Musical Chopper
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
I AM USHERED into Johnny Osbourne's dressing room just as he is winding down an interview with someone else. "Exactly how old are you anyway?" ...
Scott Walker: Climate Of Hunter
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
So this is how he reappears... with a genuinely astonishing collection of the most terminal songs ever written. ...
Scott Walker: The Original God-Like Genius
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
"I LIKE to watch people throw darts." ...
The Style Council: Cafe Bleu (Polydor)
Review by Hector Cook, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
ME AND my ever-changing moods. One minute I hear 'Strength Of Your Nature' and think Paul Weller's cracked it, next I'm hearing some snippet of ...
Womack and Womack: Love Warriors
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 17 March 1984
IT SHOULD really be no surprise that Cecil and Linda Womack's Love Wars LP is the most compulsive and acclaimed soul outing since the Marvin ...
Bobby Womack: The Poet II (Beverly Glen import)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
AN OLD-FASHIONED man in the midst of a booming, disordered black music, Bobby Womack's journeyman career comes to a glorious peak with The Poet II. ...
Carmel: The Drum Is Everything (London)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
CARMEL KNOWLEDGE ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
Manchester trio Carmel claim the press hyped them into early cult status — as hangers-on in the torch song zone. Meanwhile, they have embarked on ...
Gil Scott-Heron, John Cooper Clarke: Gil Scott-Heron/John Cooper Clarke: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
SCOTT-HERON OF THE ANTARCTIC ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Beam Me Up (Scotty)
Interview by Lynden Barber, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
HIS BEARD a jungle of burnt spaghetti and his clothes an apparent assortment of ill-fitting jumble bargains, Gil Scott-Heron cuts a less than (shall we ...
The Weather Girls: Fat Is Where It's At
Profile and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
TWO TONS of fun, indeed! ...
Tune In If You Rankin': Night Of The Living Dread
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
A ROOFTOP RENDEZVOUS WITH THE DREAD BROADCASTING CORPORATION ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984
TO SAY that Black Flag's Damaged was the punk LP of 1981, is tantamount to (if I may be allowed to lapse for a moment ...
Frank Chickens: Enter The Ninja
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984
"HAVE YOU read Winnie The Pooh?", asks Kazuko Hohki. I admit I have. "And Mary Poppins? And The Borrowers?." Kazuko, one half of Frank Chickens, ...
Hugh Masekela: Blazing In The Bush
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984
AT A TIME when Western attention is once more turned on the evil and cunning of the South African government, it couldn't be more appropriate ...
Jeffrey Daniel, Shalamar: Jeffrey Daniels: Popping Off The Rails
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984
Is Jeffrey Daniels on the right track? Gavin Martin has his doubts when he finds out that the king of the body poppers has been ...
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984
Smacked Bottoms ...
Marvin Gaye: Death Of A Midnight Lover – A Tribute To A Trouble Man
Obituary by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 7 April 1984
The romantic spirit of rising young black America in the '60s, Marvin Gaye evolved into a radical voice testifying pleasure and protest. A brilliant artist, ...
Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw: Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones: Identikit Pop
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 April 1984
And the mediocre shall inherit the earth... Or at least the charts. RICHARD COOK fits out the faceless folk of pop. ...
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 7 April 1984
BACK IN THE STUDIO WITH DENNIS BOVELL AND THE DUB BAND, BLACKBEARD IS HUNGRY TO PLAY, PAUL BRADSHAW READY TO LISTEN ...
Barrington Levy: Electric Ballroom, Camden, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984
DEADLEE! ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984
MOST EVERY year now Ms Jamesetta Hawkins – Etta to you – will at the behest of Dingwalls Boss (Goodman, that is) fly over ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984
HE LOOKS tired now, as if all that time spent playing, writing and dreaming up words and sound had finally drained him of life and ...
Marvin Gaye: Into the City of Angels
Report by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984
GAYE FUNERAL REPORT • FATHER CHARGED ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984
BARNEY HOSKYNS dials a late night dateline to RICK JAMES at Motown's LA offices. ...
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 14 April 1984
Hip-hop? Hell no, go-go! RICHARD GRABEL keeps up with TROUBLE FUNK, grand masters of the D.C. sound. ...
R.E.M.: American Paradise Regained: R.E.M.’s Reckoning
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
WHEN I HEAR word plangent I reach for my applause button. Which is why Reckoning and its predecessor, last years Murmur, confirm R.E.M. as ...
Charlie Parker: Bird on Verve Vols 1-8
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
RETURNING TO Parker, after any kind of sabbatical, is electrifying. The memory always recalls the timbre of that cutting wall, that matchless tone; what can ...
Dennis Brown: Mr Brown Enters The Promised Land
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
JAMAICA'S WARMEST VOICE AIMS FOR GLOBAL HEIGHTS! SEAN O'HAGAN ROOTS! ...
Elvis Costello: 10 Bloody Marys And 10 How's Your Fathers
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
10 AND 10 is 20 postaged stamps of the left-out-of-mainstream Costello: mislaid or temporarily missing 'B'-side moves, free 45s that got lost on the Press, ...
Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five: Venue, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
IT'S DODGY! ...
Jason & The Scorchers: Jason and the Scorchers: Fervor
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
EVEN ALLOWING for the Women's Wear Daily pop-corn which often passes as critical comparison in rock I can't help but loathe this catchall term "cowpunk". ...
R.E.M.: Four Guys Bucking For The Sainthood
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
"THERE'S TWO SCHOOLS OF MUSICIANS" argues guitarist Peter Buck. "One just digs playing and is in it for fun, the other wants to get rich ...
Eek-A-Mouse, Yellowman: Yellowman: King (CBS); Eek A Mouse: Mouseketeer (Greensleeves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
AIN'T NUTHIN' BUT A MOUSE PARTY ...
Bananarama: Mean Streaks and True Confessions
Interview by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 28 April 1984
WHACKING THROUGH the poster-rack at Woolworths. Staring back at the faces of the semi-famous packaged like slabs of bacon. ...
Marillion: Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back Into The Water
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 April 1984
Along comes megajaws FISH, big fry with heavy rockers Marillion in search off "a clash off the titans"...in other words, a confrontation with NME. Shy, ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 28 April 1984
"Jamaica jus' an island in the Caribbean, and Jamaica produce a lotta champion, like Bob Marley and I Yellowman." — 'Jamaica Nice' ...
Obituary by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
Richard Cook pays tribute to the man whose Kansas City swing band conquered the world a jazz aristocrat for 50 years. ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Ocean Rain (Korova)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
IS IT possible to hear Echo And The Bunnymen anymore for all the noise? ...
B.B. King: King B Stings: B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
A GIANT of a man and a giant of the post-war blues boom, B.B. King is the figure most prominently placed to express the essential ...
Meat Puppets: Meat Puppets II (SST)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
WHAT I know abot ol' time country music could be written on the back of a gnat's fart, but I ain't so pixillated (yes you ...
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
Suddenly it really is Deutschland, Deutschland Über Alles. As the whole world turns Teuton, BIBA KOPF meets NENA, the queen of German high street pop. ...
Jason & The Scorchers: Rhinestone Ploughboys: Jason and the Scorchers
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
Blues, country and heavy metal!...Can this really be the lethal cocktail that has gained The Scorchers Nashville respectability? CYNTHIA ROSE settles down to a ...
Richard H. Kirk: Sound Tracked
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
IT DOESN'T take too long to suss that Richard Kirk's medium is The Image – here's a man who's ill at ease with The Word. ...
Roger Waters: The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking (Harvest)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 May 1984
THERE IS a latent longing in many an English mega-rock star to become an intellectual seer, to splash garish helpings of philosophy and instructive comments ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Legend
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
ONE STRANGE THING. Naturally, we group Bob Marley with Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Dennis Brown, Michael Jackson: black music-makers with the stature of giants. Yet ...
Holger Czukay: The Lunatic Has Taken Over The Asylum
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
"WHEN I WAS 39 it was a very special year for me," reminisces Holger Czukay. ...
Lloyd Cole: What's All The Commotion About?
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
LLOYD, I asked, are you in love? ...
The Birthday Party, Nick Cave: Nick Cave: If This Is Heaven I'm Bailing Out
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
THE ENIGMA of The Birthday Party, like that of Kaspar Hauser, begins with grunts in the darkness and ends in murder. ...
The Blue Nile: I Can See For Niles
Profile and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
BECAUSE DELICACY and good manners are so disgustingly commonplace in today's pop, it's hard to spot something deeper and more diverse when it comes cloaked ...
The Human League: Hysteria (Virgin)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
THIS IS what you've got when you haven't got style: no more masks to hide behind. ...
Sonic Youth: This Savage Breed: Sonic Youth: Kill Your Idols (Zensor, German Import)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 12 May 1984
"KILL YOUR IDOLS/With Sonic Death" — scrawled across the label and screamed across the searing noise, the statement of intent on the latest release by ...
Cameo: She's Strange (Casablanca Phonogram Import)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 19 May 1984
Blackmon's Burden ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Malice Through The Looking Glass: Psychedelic Furs: Mirror Moves (CBS)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 19 May 1984
THE RETURN of the underdogs. Castigated, laughed at… they flew to New York, where Butler quit drinking, attacked the museli bowl and kissed his girlfriend. ...
Nick Cave: From Her To Eternity (Mute)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 19 May 1984
NICK CAVE'S From Her To Eternity is one of the greatest rock albums ever made. Now read on... ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 19 May 1984
WEIRD HOW male listeners have to go through this whole process of Coming To Terms with the GoGos' musically simplistic, sentimentally sophisticated hybrid of high ...
Was (Not Was): Was Not Was: That Was The Freak That Was
Interview by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 19 May 1984
O Dialectic, says the philosopher, when he notices that perhaps the true philosophy laughs at philosophy. ...
Run-DMC: It's Like That, Is It?: Run DMC: Danceteria, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 26 May 1984
RAP'S STILL going strong, because all of what has to be said has not yet been said. Street kids have got to get over, and ...
Dead Or Alive: Pete Burns: Confessions Of A Former Dickhead
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 26 May 1984
PETE BURNS bares flesh like he's got plenty to spare. Some claim he has, but far be it from me to say it. ...
The Cure: Top Cat He's Intellectual
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 26 May 1984
CATERPILLAR, lovecat, fatcat, catamite, catatonia it was a mean word-association game I played on the way to meet Robert Smith of The Cure. ...
Black Flag: Wheel Me Out Flagging!: Black Flag: Marquee, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 26 May 1984
"SEARCH AND DESTROY" is the tattoo emblazoned across the sweat-rivuleted, hawser-taut shoulders of Henry Rollins. ...
Youssou N'Dour: Youssou N’dour Et Le Super Etoile De Dakar: London Venue
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 26 May 1984
SINCE I BOUGHT Etoile de Dakar’s Thiapathioly LP two years ago, the band have become ‘Super’ and the lead singer has achieved star status, making ...
Working Week: Hot News for Cool Cats!
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, August 1984
As a new jazz scene begins to blow hot, SIMON BOOTH and LARRY STABBINS get hip with PAOLO HEWITT, rappin' about their new musical adventure ...
Alison Moyet: Ode To An Invisible Man
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
ALISON IS waiting for me outside her publicist's office. ...
Bruce Springsteen: Born In The USA (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
IN BRUCE Springsteen's 1984, America the original big country where dreams stay with you has contracted; it is now a very small country ...
Change: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
AT SOUL/FUNK celebrations like this it's a temptation to review the audience whose performance, in the service of adulation, is as spectacular as that of ...
David Sylvian: Brilliant Trees (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
ANY WHO expect David Sylvian's sheaf of essays to present wafery, neutral music must be confounded by the diversity and strength of Brilliant Trees. This ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Echo and the Bunnymen: Warren Peace
Report and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
NOTHING IS REAL ...
Elvis Costello: Goodbye Cruel World (F-Beat)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
"WHY MUST I be so lonely...?" ...
Everything But The Girl: Eden (Blanco Y Negro)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
CONCEIVED IN the bedroom (as was much great music) Eden has been hermetically sealed so none of its sensitivity should leak out in transit, and ...
John Mellencamp: John Cougar Mellencamp: Radio City Music Hall, New York
Live Review by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
JOHN COUGAR Mellencamp has a big old heart and one helluva nerve. First he has his buddy (and band hairdresser) warm up the crowd with ...
Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
QUO: A NATION MOURNS ...
Miles Davis: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
BLOWIN' HOT AND COOL ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
THE PROBLEM with major league soul is not a lack of 'good' music. What has been lost is the ability, possibly the desire, to make ...
Public Image Ltd.: This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get (Virgin)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
DEAR JOHN, the big kiss off: ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Hyaena (Wonderland/Polydor)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
THE NIGHT Siouxsie wore her hyaena suit and made mischief of one kind and another God called her "Wild Thing!" and she threatened to engulf ...
Smiley Culture, Papa Levi, Asher Senator: Smiley Culture, Papa Levi and Asher Senator: Three Baad DJ
Profile and Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
A NEW GENERATION OF BLACK BRITISH TOASTERS ARE SETTING THE PACE OF REGGAE RUNNINGS. SMILEY CULTURE, PAPA LEVI AND ASHER SENATOR TALK IN DOUBLE TIME TO PAUL BRADSHAW. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
NO-ONE SHOULD be too surprised that Victory is not a triumph. What's happened to the Jackson household since young Wacko came of age would screw ...
The Special AKA: In the Studio (2 Tone)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 4 August 1984
MOST LISTENERS who would snap up In the Studio own the majority of it already, as singles or B-sides. And with the release of its ...
23 Skidoo, Shriekback: 23 Skidoo: Urban Gamelan; Shriekback: Jam Science
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
I DON'T KNOW whether it was the film of African boys being circumcised or the self-important and gimmicky drone that accompanied it, but back in ...
Billy Idol: Whatever Happened To Bloated Rock Stars
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
THERE WAS a time when the idea of Billy Idol one day becoming a megaplatinum punk-rock superstar would have made me choke on my nutburger. ...
Bronski Beat: St James Church, Piccadilly, London
Live Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
THE BRONSKIS have a knack of being roped in to playing unconventional venues but they always manage to cut through the atmosphere. ...
David Sylvian, Japan: David Sylvian: Journeys Into The Interior
Profile and Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
FOR ONE who seems so still David Sylvian is constantly on the move. ...
Davitt Sigerson: Falling In Love Again (Ze Records)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
I'M HAPPY to announce this is The Worst Record I've Ever Listened To, not so ecstatic to say that it's on Ze Records, the reason ...
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
JUMBO NUTBURGERS! ...
Report by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
This summer an 82 year-old former boxer, shoeshine boy and burlesque costumier from Brooklyn died in Los Angeles. His name was Nudie Cohen and he ...
Peter Hammill: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
A SCHOLAR comes out of his cell. Peter Hammill's art has been obsessively documented by records but less so by performance. This solo show looked ...
Sade: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
THE SOHO Brasserie nightly fêtes a love-in of the young, hip and would-be photographed who are busy even now recreating the good times myth of ...
The Jacksons: Meadowlands Stadium, New Jersey
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
SCARCELY HAD I touched down Stateside last week when I found myself bound in a bus for Meadowlands in a humid pocket of endless, endlessly ...
The Last Poets: The Last Poets (Celluloid)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
THEY CAME, SORE... ...
The Membranes: 1 in 12 Club, Bradford
Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
BULLSHIT DETECTOR! ...
The Pogues: For A Few Ciders More
Interview by David Quantick, Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
A TABLE littered with the debris of an early evening's drinking, three Pogues attempt to justify their existence. ...
The Waterboys: Scott Yet Another God Like Genius
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
"I SOMETIMES thought that in the old days the young men of the tribe would want to grow up to be great warriors. In our ...
William Bell: Do Right Man (Charly)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
YOU DON'T Miss Your Water was only the fifth single on Stax. That was 1961, and pipe-smoking William Bell was there not only to see ...
Sly & the Family Stone, Bobby Womack: Bobby Womack, Sly Stone: Beacon Theatre, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
SOUL SONIC FORCE ...
Dr. John, The Meters: Dr. John/The Meters: I Been Hoodood
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
THERE ARE GROOVES and there are grooves: that which is laid down by the Meters is definitely one of the latter. ...
Evan Parker: Riverside Studios, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
I'VE WITNESSED dozens of Parker's improvisations and learned something on each occasion from this complex work. The singular applies, for every time he plays alone ...
Heaven 17: Three Steps To Heaven
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
INITIATION ...
James "Blood" Ulmer: James Blood Ulmer: the Venue, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
HIGHLY STRUNG ...
Test Dept.: Beating The Retreat (Some Bizzare)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
THE WORK of Test Dept and this is work, for sure, not playing is inextricably cabled to a rhetoric of 'action'. ...
Box, The (UK): The Box: Great Moments In Big Slam (Go! Discs)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
WHEN THE old DVA clocked out in late '82, the name went one way, the spirit the other. While the new DVA went on to ...
The Special AKA: 26,732 Hours In The Studio with Jerry Dammers
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
JERRY DAMMERS didn't have much sleep last night. Well into the small hours of the morning he'd been labouring over a hot Hammond organ in ...
Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground (Slash/London)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
MILWAUKEE IS Dullsville by any other name, so little wonder that the three superbuskers who comprise The Violent Femmes munch upon the tastiest feast Americana ...
Big Mama Thornton: Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton 1926-1984
Obituary by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 18 August 1984
ONE OF the founding careers in rock and roll ended on Wednesday, July 25, when a heart attack took the life of Willie Mae ‘Big ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
JUST OCCASIONALLY Robert Wyatt gets elbowed off my turntable in favour of something a little more...lycanthropic. Something to transport me away from the pristine confines ...
Obituary by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
ESTHER PHILLIPS died on 7 August. I read this somewhere in the small print of a national newspaper. "LOS ANGELES Blues and jazz singer ...
King Kurt: Oh, You Pretty Things!
Interview by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
Someone's mother is a friend of these enemies of the people, KING KURT. SUSAN WILLIAMS asks — is beauty vital to pop success? (And she ...
Fred Maher, Robert Quine: Robert Quine and Fred Maher: Basic (Editions EG)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
NOT LONG ago, someone asked me if the 'EG' in EG Records stood for Egghead and I foolishly told them no. Now Egghead Records have ...
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
FOR THE way she sang words and music, the way she interposed herself in the lyric, the way she could swing a line and stay ...
Sheila Chandra: Quiet! (Indipop)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
A STAR IN 384 TAKES ...
Angel Corpus Christi, Suicide: Suicide, Angel Corpus Christi: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
BACK FROM THE DEAD ...
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
FAR TOO STEADY TEDDY ...
The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: George Robey, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
'JUST LIKE Eddie', 'Whiskey In The Jar', 'A Boy Named Sue', 'Rawhide', 'The Green Fields Of France'... is it, dear reader, one of your witty ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 25 August 1984
I WAS A TEENAGE GRISTLEBURGER! Trampled underfoot: BARNEY HOSKYNS and MAT SNOW. ...
Apollonia, Morris Day, Prince: Purple Rain; starring: Prince, Morris Day, Apollonia (Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
So just whose tongue is in whose cheek! ...
Shriekback: Beyond Care, Thank God: Shriekback
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
Are Shriekbacks polyrhythms just polytechnic or is their dance stance entrancing? ...
Cristina: Sleep It Off (Ze Records)
Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
ZE DROP A Z... ...
Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade (SST double — US import)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
ZEN AND THE ART OF GOING ULTRANOVA! ...
Afrika Bambaataa, James Brown: James Brown (and Afrika Bambaataa): Sex Machine Today
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
WHAT DO you think of when you think of James Brown? A stretcher case raddled with emotional pain dragging himself back from endless encores of ...
Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Lizzy Mercier Descloux (CBS)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
LIZ — BACK AND BOUNCY ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
PETER HAMMILL is one of our stranger voyagers. Alone at a piano last month, he put most of the music we cover to shame. He ...
Report by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
Earlier this year, BARNEY HOSKYNS visited Prague to find out if Czechoslovakia's heavily repressed rock scene could have any effect on loosening the European blocs. ...
Rank and File: Long Gone Dead (London/Slash)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
AN LP FILED PAST ME... ...
Tom Verlaine: The Foolish Heart of Tom Verlaine
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
TALKING WITH Tom Verlaine, as legend has it, is one of the less entertaining or productive options available to the interested party. A teeth-pulling exercise. ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
IN 1976 TOM Miller aka Verlaine ended a published poem with the line "I shall contrive an envy so strong that its object will disappear". ...
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
IT WAS 1977. Remember? All those big guitar noises? And the number of indie labels could be counted on the ears of Vincent Van Gogh? ...
Spinal Tap: This Is Spinal Tap
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Director: Rob Reiner; Starring: Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer ...
10,000 Maniacs: 10,000 tensions relieved!!
Interview by David A. Keeps, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
DAVID KEEPS finds 10,000 MANIACS happy at home. ...
Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
A LONG TIME ago, Dollar Brand recorded an album called African Space Programme: the cover's landscape interpreted space as being something which is not up ...
Essay by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
IAN PENMAN goes over the top, typewriter at the ready, and asks, Can one speak of the state of pop without protecting the interests of ...
Marc Almond: Revenge Of The Sleazebag
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
AS LONDON swelters, there's one back alley in Soho's underarm narrow enough to escape the sun's onslaught. Damp and dingy it seems to seep moisture ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Nobody could have told me how Robert Wyatt's cover of Cuban pop star Pop star Pablo Milan´es' 'Yolanda' was going to capture my ear more ...
Spinal Tap: The Spinal Solution
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Cynthia Rose shares a wake-up cuppa with Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel and David St Hubbins, the unlikely rockers who made it from New York back ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Living Room, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
ATTIRED IN the standard tatty black outfits and tatty black haircuts of today's young folk, The Jesus And Mary Chain play their tatty white music ...
Wah!: The Mighty Wah!: Waaaugh!
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
WHAM! The door opens and it's Wah! The mighty WAH! There he is! ...
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
RUN! THIS can't be happening! The headlights of the car bearing down on Greg Ginn and Bill Stevenson capture two slack-jawed faces, stark with astonishment, ...
Rick James: Reflections (Motown)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
ACCEPTING THE press stereotype of Rick James as a total prat whose releases served only as excuses for another dig, I completely ignored the man ...
Robert Cray Band: Bad Influence (Demon)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
LOOKS LIKE a blues album, but this is some of the tightest, earthiest soul music of the '80s. A beautiful record, originally out on the ...
Stevie Wonder: The Woman In Red (Motown)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
SO HERE'S a new Stevie Wonder album, but not THE new Stevie Wonder album, the one we've stopped holding our breath for (makes Aswad and ...
The Clark Sisters: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
WE WATCHED two of London's larger choirs and remained cold. Mattie Moss Clark, the sister's mama and musical director of the huge Church of God ...
The Durutti Column: Riverside Studios, London
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
SIXTY FOOT up in the Riverside gantry, amongst the clutter of microphones, lights, and soundmen, we witness the return of The Durutti Column. A grand ...
Davitt Sigerson: AOR? Write On! An Interview with Davitt Sigerson
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
DAVITT SIGERSON insists he isn’t smarting from the NME review which described Falling In Love Again as ‘The Worst Record I’ve Ever Heard." ...
Culture Club: Boy George: It's An Odd Boy Who Doesn't Like Sport #1
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
"Where can you find pleasure?/Search the world for treasure?/Learn science technology?/Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true?/On the land or on ...
Donna Summer: Cats Without Claws (Warner Bros)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
LOOKING DARKLY into her TV's eyes and chastizing it as media plasma, Donna sings of its ruptured picture: "From the next apartment we hear music/Bleeding ...
Frank Sinatra: Songs For Young Lovers and other Capitol reissues
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
BECAUSE SINATRA has lasted so long, has outlived his own legend – to the point where he can make a record with Quincy Jones and ...
Report by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
Go-go's got a godfather and a group in every area!! RICHARD GRABEL goes ga-ga in Washington as he uncovers the biggest show in those suburbs. ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Lee Perry: Presents Megaton Dub 2 (Seven Leaves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
PUT THIS IN YOUR PIPE, COCK! ...
The Blow Monkeys: Wag Club, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
69 RED BABOONS ...
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
SLAG! ...
Adele Bertei, Culture Club: Adele Bertei: Contorted Into Culture
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
This is ADELE BERTEI, the new one in that Club. DON WATSON files the scoop. ...
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
RARELY IS the 'singer-songwriter' allowed any natural patience to heed the rushing waters of emotion and experience; and in the current singer-songwriter boom, it seems ...
The Blow Monkeys: Blow Monkeys: Do The Atom Drum Bop
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
I KNOW the dismay and disgust with pop music is getting a mite predictable round these parts, but it does seem that new nadirs are ...
Bobby Womack: Something Special (Liberty/EMI)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
ONE OF soul music's great iconclasts, recently repopularised and rediscovered with his two Poet sets, Bobby Womack's marvellous legacy from the late '60s and early ...
Culture Club: Boy George: It's An Odd Boy Who Doesn't Like Sport #2
Interview by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
LAST WEEK Boy George recalled his earliest memories and the slow dawning on him that he was apart from his contemporaries in many ways. ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
IT MIGHT be foolish to conjecture on which are David Bowie's public and which are his private records. ...
David Bowie: Sermon From The Savoy
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
When David Bowie recently visited Britain he agreed to do one official interview with NMEs Charles Shaar Murray. In this exclusive story he gives ...
Heaven 17: How Men Are (Virgin)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
YOU KNOW the pokerwork proverb in every chippy/cab firm/newsagent in the country: "You don't have to be mad to work here…but it helps!" ...
Live Review by Susan Williams, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
HEY HEY WE'RE THE CRAPEES!!! ...
The Minutemen: Double Nickels On The Dime (SST double — US import)
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 29 September 1984
60 SECONDS THAT EMOTION ...
Rickie Lee Jones: The Magazine (Warner Bros)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, October 1984
For song, as sung by you, is ... notWooing of something finally attained.Far other is the breath of real singing.An aimless breath. A stirring in ...
10,000 Maniacs: Marquee, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
LOONIES FROZE MY BIRD-BATH!!! ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
YEARS AGO when Bobby Womack bought his raw but stylised music to this same venue it was more a case of disintegration than any cause ...
Bobby Womack: The Last Great Soul Man
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
Who's that stepping briefly into the limo – and life of – Bobby Womack? Why, it's blushing Barney Hoskyns, who, in the next 5,000 words, ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
ANCIENT BEAT journalist and hippie doyen Ralph J. Gleason, who could be a daft old coot at the best of times, got it completely wrong ...
Depeche Mode: Modeahead? Uh-Uh… But How Do You Rate The Review, Lads?
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward (Mute) ...
Microdisney: Half Moon, Herne Hill, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
ZIT HITS! ...
The Roots Radics: Roots Radics: Cheque It! (please!!)
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
The ROOTS RADICS — the session trio — talk about run (how they never seem to run into any pay) All ears, SEAN O'HAGAN ...
The Cult: The Cultivation Of A Better Noise
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
The tribal panavisuals of The Cult have rallied hordes. But CYNTHIA ROSE discovered the true extension chords lurking in the minds behind the war-paint. DEREK ...
The Mekons: Living Room, London
Live Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
IS THIS the way to say goodbye? The last night at the Living Room, proprietor moving on to greater things, hopefully (water-bombs in Tottenham?!?), the ...
Screaming Blue Messiahs: The Screaming Blue Messiahs, Rhythmic Itch: Rock Garden, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
WHAT A grotty emporium is the Rock Garden! What does the name conjure up but images of a pile of stones where there should be ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 October 1984
THEY DONT MAKE metal mutants like they used to. Whilst WASP obviously consider themselves the baddest muthas to walk this earth, many of their audience ...
Derek Bailey: The Guy Who Found The Lost Chord
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984
The guitarist DEREK BAILEY has been one of the leaders of improvised music for 20 years. As a generation of guitar heroes has come and ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984
WHETHER one wishes to take into account the possible home truths gleaned from 'rumour' or not the tittle-tattle here centring on contentions of marital ...
Microdisney: Paul Mathur discovers that in Microdisney... everybody is, well, um, relatively ok!...
Interview by Paul Mathur, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984
IF JAMES Joyce had been in a pop group, he would have been in Microdisney. That is, if he'd come over from Cork to spend ...
Report by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984
ARMED WITH arc-welders, paint sprays, sculpture gear, drills and various other odd-bod instruments, metallic industrialists SPK were due to take the ICA stage last Thursday ...
The Go-Betweens: Money Can't Buy You Love
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984
THERE'S NOTHING quite like a love affair to shake you out of an autopilot trance and put you back in touch with your feelings; feelings ...
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 13 October 1984
The first year of ZTT has been a spectacular success, with Frankie Goes To Hollywood singles 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes' becoming respectively the fourth and ...
Ben E. King: Here Comes The Night
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 October 1984
WHEN, IN 1967, Ben E King asks What Is Soul?, the answer is properly Ben E King himself, although not on What Is Soul?! And ...
Johnny Mathis: Play Misty For Me
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 20 October 1984
JOHNNY MATHIS stands still long enough to move PENNY REEL at the Hammersmith Odeon. ...
The Cars, Ric Ocasek: The Cars that ate America
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 October 1984
AND NOW THEY'RE GAS-GUZZLING UP OUR OWN CHARTS. BUT TOP DRIVER RIC OCASEK IS MORE THAN JUST THE CARS' MAN IN THE FRONT SEAT — ...
Screaming Blue Messiahs: The Screaming Blue Messiahs: Second Coming?
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 20 October 1984
Well not really. But while DAVID QUANTICK screams about the BLUE MESSIAHS, they relate a re-discovery of Captain Beefheart, Hank Williams and... America. ...
Laurie Anderson: Missus Heartbreak
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 27 October 1984
CYNTHIA ROSE lends an ear to a jetlagged LAURIE ANDERSON and hears the call of the riled from a multi-media star whose fame has induced ...
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 27 October 1984
WHAT, WITHOUT wandering, is here? A company move, accompanying live movie (directed by Jonathan Demme), a record – another live LP, so soon? Where's the ...
Profile and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 27 October 1984
People don't believe them when they claim to have been around four years. Can DAVID QUANTICK quantify the Curse of the HIGSONS to reveal the ...
Tom Verlaine: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 October 1984
WHY-OH-WHY has it consistently appeared to be solely rock critics plus these terribly self-absorbed young chaps who currently populate Britain's new ruling (middle) class of ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 27 October 1984
EARLIER THIS year one of rock's newest messiahs U2's Bono appeared onstage alongside one of its oldest, Bob Dylan at an outdoor Dublin festival in ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, November 1984
MARY CHRISTINE BROCKERT is a tiny white California gal who makes big, beautiful black music. Her speciality is exuberantly sassy and happy music for the ...
Art Of Noise: (Who's Afraid Of?) The Art Of Noise! (ZTT)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
FIRST: A disclaimer. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone at NME wished ZTT well. I regarded ABC as one of the more horrible aspects of ...
The Fall: Before and after the Fall
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
"I THINK the difference is in the mechanical sounds of our time. Like the sound of the airplane in the '40s was a rmoooooaaaahhhhhhhh sound ...
Clint Eastwood & General Saint: White Bread Toasters
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
Wha 'appen to give Clint Eastwood & General Saint so much chart action? Sean O'Hagan asks is this a sell-out or are they just starting ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Pastels: Creation Records: Lions In Our Own Garden
Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
BRUCE DESSAU rustles the roster of London's pop-punk indie, CREATION RECORDS ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasure Dome
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
IT IS, of course, brilliant. And nothing more so than the last glittering shards, the final breaths taken in this pleasure dome. ...
Janet Kay: Do Actors Sing Better Lovers?
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
JANET KAY comes offstage to talk to PAUL BRADSHAW ...
Smiley Culture: Single of the Week — Smiley Culture: 'Police Officer' (Fashion)
Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
SINGLE OF THE WEEK ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Three Johns, Islington, London
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 3 November 1984
HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SEING... ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984
AS THE blue dawn pours in through the shutters, Alison Moyet stares from the cover of her first solo LP with a look that immediately ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984
SUNDAY, 'ROUND about lunchtime, and Jimi Bronski is scurrying around his small council flat in a vain attempt to clean up the mess. I stand ...
The Ramones: Too Tough To Die (Sire, import)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984
AS THE legendary Nick Kent once remarked of the Stones, The Ramones don't do, they simply are, monsieur, even if they can't get a UK ...
The Ramones: Now I Wanna Play My Five-Iron!!
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984
It had to happen. The hardcore epidemic sweeping America has re-inspired punk godparents the Ramones to make a GENUINE BREAKTHROUGH ALBUM more original (and more ...
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984
THE MOST boring band in the world. There can now be no question of U2 avoiding such a title. There may be groups equally as ...
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 10 November 1984
LET'S START with Barry White. Now there was a man that I loathed. At the height of his success, I used to watch his videos ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Rock With The Digital Cavemen
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
AS ONE Voltaire remarks, it's good weather for journalism: weary skies stuffed with rainclouds over Sheffield and its hills. After London the gentle pace of ...
Duran Duran: Arena (Parlophone)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
AND THE APHIDS CRIED/THROUGH THE DRIFTING HAZE/"NAFF LP, LADS!" ...
Eurythmics: 1984: For The Love of Big Brother (Virgin)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
WAR IS Peace, Freedom Is Slavery, Ignorance Is Strength and this soundtrack LP with the logo of Radford's 1984 on its cover is not the ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
It's hip-hop in the barber's shop, it's the FORCE MD's!! The scourge of other buskers on the Staten Island ferry jam down with SIMON WITTER. ...
ZZ Top: The Cats' Whiskers: Down Home with Z.Z. Top
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
HOUSTON, OCTOBER: THE MONSOON SEASON in this blandly corporate boomtown. I descend through hot storms over a chrome metropolis built on flat sand and oil ...
Madonna: Virgin On The Ridiculous: Madonna: Like A Virgin (Sire)
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 17 November 1984
WATCHING A TALENT as genuine and grounded as that of Cyndi Lauper pull off those pop Partonisms necessitated by the nature of today's marketplace is ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George and the War On Pop
Essay by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, December 1984
2003 note: I dont know about this: "this" being the original 2,000 words I handed in at the very last minute to a poor, frazzled ...
Diamanda Galás: Diamanda Galás (Metalanguage)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984
PEOPLE KEEP bursting in looking pained, which must have something to do with this record. Admittedly at a distance it could be mistaken for a ...
Everything But The Girl: Take The Melancholy Strain
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984
PUT SIMPLY, I wanted more than just a musical chit chat. ...
Japan: Exorcising Ghosts (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984
THIS WAS, after all, one of the stranger groups of musicians who went the route of pop's long march. ...
Prince & The Revolution: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit
Live Review by Bill Holdship, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984
IT TOOK The Star over 55 minutes to make his grand entrance following new paramour Sheila E's rhythmically exciting but lightweight opening set. The lights ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 1 December 1984
NOT EVEN the New York cool that infests a group like The Force MD's can prevent the obvious excitement that sweeps through them as Sylvester ...
The Everly Brothers: Roger White: Walk Right Back The Everly Brothers (Plexus Books)
Book Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 6 December 1984
THANKFULLY THIS is not as I had feared yet another yawn-provoking paste-up job, fashioned merely to cash in on the Everlys recent reunion tour, ...
Talking Heads: Cents and Sensibility: Talking Heads
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 8 December 1984
You may find yourself...the leader of a rock band (of sorts)! ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Vile Evil From East Kilbride!
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 8 December 1984
NEIL TAYLOR suffers a collision with THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, a smash'n'grab gang from Scotland who're terrifying audiences and dopey record biz types everywhere. ...
Depeche Mode: Deconstruction Time Again
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 20 December 1984
You thought they were prissy pinkos. But no! They drink, talk to girls, wear leather mini-skirts! Don Watson walks tall with Depeche Mode, the new ...
Essay by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 December 1984
TO ANYONE who wasn't born in the USA, America is still defined by the clutter of images it sends us: television, cinema, music, cars, fast ...
Live Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 22 December 1984
WHEN, EXACTLY, did this creature stop aspiring to be like Bo Diddley, and want to turn into Barbara Streisand? ...
John Martyn: Tha Man Who Put The Sap In Sapphire
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 December 1984
COSMIC JOHN MARTYN at the Dominion a fortnight ago was the first time Id seen this beer-swilling beat hippie since I snuck in the back ...
The Smiths: Morrissey A Suitable Case For Treatment
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 22 December 1984
THE RECORDING of the new Smiths LP has been one of the season's better kept secrets. ...
Van Halen: Monsters of Rock, Castle Donington
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, Summer 1984
I'D BEST COME clean, 'fess up that the Edward Van Halen Four were the sole reason I schlepped up to this denim'n'leather version of Dante's ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1985
HE CAME to paaaarteee, and he came to prove it all night. ...
George Clinton: Some Of My Best Jokes Are Friends (Capitol)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1985
IF THERE'S nothing more pathetic than an ageing crazy person, then why is George Clinton still able to make music as passionate, ...
John Fogerty: Centerfield (Warner Bros.)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1985
TIME STANDS still in Fogertyville. Its ten years since the old Creedence leader made a record and nothing much has changed. Theres a few syndrums ...
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 1985
THE LONG Ryders, Lone Justice, Blasters and the rest? Forget em! Sir Doug has returned to show these punks how good "rock and roll from ...
Retrospective by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1985
AS SPRING turned into the long, hot summer of '76, the '60s in the bloated shape of The Rolling Stones self-parodied itself up its own ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1985
Cameo: Nottingham Rock City ...
Josey Wales: Josey "The Colonel" Wales: No Way No Better Than Yard (Greensleeves)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
WHEN IT comes to yard style repartee — hard, fast and brutal lyrics bouncing off equally persuasive riddlms — Josey Wales has staked a place ...
Malcolm McLaren: Fans (Charisma)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
THERE'S NO BIZET LIKE SHOW BIZET ...
The Triffids: Roses, Knives, Dead Bodies
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
MAT SNOW hails the twisted poetry of THE TRIFFIDS while the rest of us wonder — do all the great new bands come from Australia, ...
Thomas Mapfumo: The Lion of Zimbabwe
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
Inspiration to freedom fighters and creator of the Zimbabwean sound, THOMAS MAPFUMO is ready to conquer the world. VIVIEN GOLDMAN talks to Africa's Bob Marley. ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
OEDIPUS — SING TO YOUR MUM ...
Overview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 January 1985
From the raw to the pure, from the sublime to the meticulous — BARNEY HOSKYNS sings the praises of 24 of music's most glorious voices. ...
The Sid Presley Experience: Going Cold Turkey with the Sid Presley Experience
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 19 January 1985
Why reheat Cold Turkey? BARNEY HOSKYNS TALKS TO THE SID PRESLEY EXPERIENCE about their protest against council block smack. ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 19 January 1985
Or, great headlines revisited. PAOLO HEWITT puts IMAGINATION in his typewriter and asks — are they on the way out? ...
Slim Gaillard: Voutie O Roonie O Scoodilaroosimoe
Interview by Paul Bradshaw, New Musical Express, 19 January 1985
THE HILARIOUS hallucinatory view of consumer America that sprang from the songs of dashing young 'fashion play' Slim Gaillard earned him national notoriety during the ...
Frank Chickens: Why did the chickens cross the globe
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 26 January 1985
To get to Milton Keynes! Cath Carroll finds out that fact is stranger than fiction and how canaries relate to chickens. ...
If It Don't Go, It Ain't Go-Go!
Report by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 2 February 1985
IT'S RARE FOR AN excellent musical style to remain unknown for long, yet Washington's Go-Go scene has done just that despite us running Richard Grabel's ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 2 February 1985
NAME: Smiley Culture CHARGE: Dread Bodily Harm SENTENCE: A Spell in the Charts REPORT: Sean O'Hagan ...
The Neville Brothers: A Tiptoe Through The Tchipitoulas
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 2 February 1985
Fame has never courted the NEVILLE BROTHERS, but RICHARD GRABEL is pleased to report that the veteran culcha soulsters are at last getting their due. ...
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985
MINED LIKE A SEWER ...
Evan Parker: The Magnificent Evan
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985
The siren song of the saxophone — Evan Parker's been looking into this mystery for 20 years. The master of free music talks to Richard ...
Leonard Cohen: Various Positions (CBS)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985
VATICAN 69 ...
The Replacements: Howling Trade Winds From Minneapolis
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985
The Replacements tell how the wonderful world of pop has saved them from gutters! crime! Sympathetic hearing, Richard Grabel. ...
Barrington Levy: The Mellow Canary
Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
Here comes Barrington Levy... Penny Reel listens to the sense and sensibility, trials and tribulations of a man on the verge of international stardom. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Jesus & Mary Chain: Chapter, Verse and Worse
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
Nine months in the making, the far from immaculately conceived Jesus And Mary Chain, from Glasgow, have alternately been heralded as new messiahs or dismissed ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: Chapter, Verse And Worse
Profile and Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
I: BLAST! ...
The Ramones: Ain’t No Stoppin’ The Cretins From Boppin’!
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
ONE! Joey...TWO! Dee Dee... FREE! Mat... FOUR! Barney... THE RAMONES revisited in a teenage tag-match ‘tween two of the scuzziest pairs of sneakers in the ...
Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: VU
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 16 February 1985
"IF YOU PLAY the albums chronologically they cover the growth of us as people from her to there, and in there is a tale for ...
David Johansen: Sweet Revenge (10 Records)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 23 February 1985
BUSTER POINDEXTER WHERE ARE YOU? ...
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 23 February 1985
"No, I don't have any sensational stories to tell. And I don't have anything to say about drugs." ...
Jason & The Scorchers: Lost And Found (EMI America)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 23 February 1985
We're sorry, but the headline has to be...PHEW! WHAT A SCORCHER! ...
Junior Giscombe: Junior Showtime
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 23 February 1985
Now's the time lor Junior to put up or shut up. Having sold himself two years ago as the nice black kid from Streatham, he ...
Report and Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 23 February 1985
CATH CARROLL tweaks the growing muscles of Ludus' LINDER and learns about the joy of weight training for women. ...
Run-DMC, Whodini: Run-D.M.C.: King Of Rock (Profile/Island); Whodini: Escape (Jive)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 23 February 1985
DMC: DMX + HM = OTT! ...
The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: Noose On The Loose
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 2 March 1985
A FEW YEARS BACK, if someone had told me that an English pop group would record Eric Bogie's 'The Green Fields Of France', that it ...
Gene Loves Jezebel, The Ramones: The Ramones/Gene Love Jezebel/Restless: Lyceum, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 2 March 1985
HALF OF WESTERN CIVILISATION is here tonight; there are men in the toilet talking about Black Sabbath, there are Gary Holton and Rat Scabies and ...
The Tremeloes: Brian Poole And The Tremeloes: Stoke Newington Town Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 9 March 1985
DRESSED DASHINGLY in a detergent white jerkin, black shirt and slim black slacks, wearing a white knitted tie and white plimsolls, black belt and black ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 9 March 1985
THESE ARE fast times that we live in, something that dawned upon Hüsker Dü long before New Day Rising glimpsed the light. ...
James, The Smiths: Meaty Marr-Might Sandwich: The Smiths/James: Brixton Ace, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 March 1985
JAMES ARE POISED on the cusp of something that might be new, that's certainly afloat with ideas. It was too short a set to say, ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 9 March 1985
Run DMC are two New Yorkers who set their raps to a raw rock backdrop and talked their way up the charts. Paolo Hewitt meets the ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Jesus And Mary Chain! A Riot
Report by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 16 March 1985
Neil Taylor witnesses yet more violence at a Jesus And Mary Chain concert. ...
Bobby Day, Larry Williams, Little Richard: Little Richard/Larry Williams/Bobby Day albums
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 March 1985
Little Richard, Heres Little Richard (Ace)Little Richard: Little Richard Volume 2 (Ace)Little Richard: The Fabulous Little Richard (Ace)Larry Williams: Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Ace)Bobby Day: The ...
Report and Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 16 March 1985
Has he let the bouquet slip through his fingers? Richard Cook sees Marilyn's stage debut turn into disaster in New York and talks to the ...
Fela Kuti: Army Arrangement (Celluloid)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 18 March 1985
WITH MORE more pep in his step, and Bill Laswell by his side, Fela is back, up for the downstroke. Yes, that's Fela Anikulapo Kuti, ...
Little Richard: The King and Queen of Rock 'n' Roll
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 23 March 1985
YOU CATCH sight of him across the Hilton's gaudy foyer, an ordinary enough black man in track-suit top, tuxedo pants, and matted wet-look coiffure. ...
Obituary by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 23 March 1985
ROCK LOST another legendary face-moulder on 9 March, when Robert "Bumps" Blackwell died at his home in Hacienda Heights, near LA. ...
Tina Turner: Tina Foiled! Tina Turner: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 23 March 1985
SOMEHOW, WHEN THAT first inevitable round of thunderous applause erupted and Tina Turner stood there, bathing in a lone spotlight, you couldn't help but feel ...
Luther Vandross: The Night I Fell In Love
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 30 March 1985
[2004 note: It makes me wince to look back and see my jejune critical self dismissing The Other Side of the World as "tediously soupy". ...
Redds And The Boys: Groovin' To A Go Go
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 30 March 1985
CHUCK BERRY boogied on his finger, wiped it on the wall, and outraged America's upright citizens. ...
Boyd Rice, Frank Tovey, Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth/Frank Tovey & Boyd Rice
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, New Musical Express, 30 March 1985
AAAAH! CATHARSIS time again! ...
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 30 March 1985
SAINT PATRICK'S NIGHT the occasion and The Pogues the attraction; in a very large room, the world congregates. Crowds a mile wide inside the lavatories ...
Luther Vandross: Labours Of Love Made Easy
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 April 1985
LUTHER VANDROSS used to sing jingles for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now he licks his voice round painful love lyrics. PAOLO HEWITT hears his confessions about ...
Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire: Philip Bailey: Labours of Love Made Easy
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 April 1985
PHILIP BAILEY used to sing with Earth Wind And Fire. Now he's teamed up alongside Phil Collins to reach Number One with 'Easy Lover'. SIMON ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 13 April 1985
"HALLO HAHMMERSMITH...we are U2!" Holly say. Some say, ha ha, very funny; I say, many a true word spoken in jest. ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 13 April 1985
THE LAST POETS were the first rappers — the voice of ghetto anger and fiery jazzoetry. Their "exile" over, they're back with a new LP ...
Coil: The Soil And Spoil Tactics Of Coil
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 20 April 1985
WHEN YOU'RE up to your nose in shit, goes the Spaghetti wisdom, keep your mouth shut. ...
Eddie Cochran: The 25th Anniversary Album
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 20 April 1985
He was a tough-looking man, hefty square shoulders above turned-up sleeves and keg fists; the voice was an Oklahoman baritone that could hiccough with determination ...
The Judds: Of Mums & Grammys: The Judds
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 20 April 1985
Part deep country and part cosmopolitan, this mom and daughter team have lived a Cinderella story which stood even Nashville on its ear. Now, No ...
Gram Parsons: We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning
Retrospective by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 21 April 1985
"Death is a warm cloak. An old friend. I regard death as something that comes up on a roulette wheel every once in a while."Gram ...
Alton Ellis: Skabeana in Soho: Alton Ellis at Gossips, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 27 April 1985
ROCKING STEADILY to the dogged rhythms of Studio One spiced with ska, the crowd tonight are in appreciative mood to welcome Alton Ellis onstage, where ...
Augustus Pablo: The Kitchen, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
PIPING HOT! ...
Bryan Adams: Canada Bry On The Rocks!: Bryan Adams: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
IT IS WITH some horror that one realises that Bryan Adams had chosen to call his current LP Reckless. Implied tributes to Go-Discs' second most ...
Helen & the Horns: Helen & the Horns (Rockin' Ray)
Review by Leyla Sanai, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
THE DISC THAT MADE 1,000 YAWNS ...
Modern Romance: Burn it! (RCA)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
WASN'T THERE once some bloke in Modern Romance who said "I'm mean/I'm clean/I'm Geoffrey Deane"? Absolutely great stuff, and so it's with great regret that ...
New Model Army: Marquee, London
Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
FROM THE AUDIENCE (predominantly young, male, long-haired and rather ugly) to the band (older, male, longhaired and rather ugly) there is the kind of mutual ...
Prince: Around the World in a Day
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
The Return Of The Acid Reign ...
Richard Thompson: Across A Crowded Room (Polydor)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
DICK GETS DULL ...
The Fat Boys: Wag Club, London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 4 May 1985
PLUMP IT UP! ...
Paul Hardcastle: Leytonstone Now!
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 11 May 1985
Paul Hardcastle was watching a TV show on Vietnam when he learned that the average age of American soldiers who fought there was just 19. Now ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 11 May 1985
I SUPPOSE its a good time for these sons of America to renew their acquaintance with these shores ("Hi, shores!"), since every other denizen of ...
Elvis Costello: A Man Called Uncle: Elvis Costello
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 18 May 1985
What is the Elvis Seal Of Approval worth? Mat Snow asks for a few words of wisdom from pops Uncle Brian. ...
Lone Justice: A Tale Of The New West
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 18 May 1985
EIGHT YEARS on and it's official — we are no longer bored with the USA. ...
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
Just when you thought it was safe to watch Top Of The Pops again... along comes the monumental DIVINE, determined to get his own back ...
Husker Dü: Camden Palace, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
If they played like they looked, Husker Dus music would be a slobbering mastodon rock without grace or curves or beauty. But from these angry ...
Jason & The Scorchers: Jason And The Scorchers: Blazing Saddles
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
"SEE, UP to this point this record, this tour I fought with the fact that I was 'a rock and roll singer'. ...
Bronski Beat, The Communards: Jimmy Somerville: The Age of Dissent
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
In his first major interview since quitting pop stardom with Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville talks candidly to Paolo Hewitt about the political dilemmas success brings, ...
Tom Waits: Marlowe Of The Ivories
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
DID HIS wife die in the fire? ...
Madonna: Virgin Pruned!: Madonna: Convention Center, Dallas
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
MULTI-MEDIA SUCCESS has made Madonna America's first generic pop star — and her first foray into live performance brought forth a capacity house of young ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, June 1985
THE TWO singers, a tall fresh-faced Welshman and a soft spoken bleary-eyed Mancunian, felt trapped. ...
Barrington Levy: Top Rank, Brighton
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
INSIDE THE Barrington Levy coach to Brighton everything is bubbling. Bubbler plays dominoes with Bassie and Bertie. Benson makes short work of a box of ...
Eek-A-Mouse: Eek A Mouse: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
EVERYTHING ABOUT The Eek is a little weird: his name, his height (6' 6"), his dress sense and, of course, his unique vocal style. One ...
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
POOR RICK has never been taken very seriously - a self-obsessed prima-donna of sophistifunk, as lascivious as Richard Pryors ear-screwing monkey. But the slick Dick ...
That Petrol Emotion: Thames Polytechnic, Woolwich
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
PUMP IT UP! ...
Robyn Hitchcock, Rain Parade: The Rain Parade, Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians: Clarendon, London
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 June 1985
SOAK IT UP! ...
Double Dee & Steinski: Masters Of Mixed Fortunes
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 8 June 1985
2009 NOTE: hip hop, humour and catholic taste collided in a cloud of mad skills on Double Dee & Steinski's mastermixes. ...
Husker Dü: The Thrash Aesthetic
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 8 June 1985
IN ONE OF HER more perceptive Time Out columns recently La Burchill took a hefty sideswipe at the video popsters' incessant flirtation with outsiderdom – ...
Robert Plant: Percy Pulls It Off !
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 8 June 1985
Yes, the one-time wild man of rock Robert Percy Plant in "interesting solo album" shock! And now he tells it like it is, jumps to ...
The Beach Boys: The Beach Boys (Caribou)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 12 June 1985
ON THE back cover Brian Wilson looks genuinely happy, his eyes are clear, his smile is contented one. To some degree the music echoes this ...
John Coltrane, Miles Davis: Miles Davis: You’re Under Arrest (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985
THIS YEAR, Miles Davis is 59 years old. However, if its round numbers that appeal to you, its worth mentioning that 1985 marks the 40th ...
R.E.M.: Fables Of The Reconstruction/Reconstruction Of The Fables (MCA)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985
SOPPY FABLES ...
Scritti Politti: Cupid & Psyche 85 (Virgin)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985
A BUNCH of words such as can be found on the new Scritti Politti album: heart, her, girl, baby, word, reason, love, boy, hurt, sugar, ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985
Sonny Rollins: Dominion Theatre, London ...
Womack and Womack: Womack & Womack: Radio M.U.S.C. Man (Elektra)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 15 June 1985
YOU'LL BE hearing a lot of this on the wireless in the coming weeks if the Womack scam pays off. Radio M.U.S.C. Man "salutes all ...
Maxi Priest: The Mini Rise Of Maxi Priest
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 20 June 1985
Hot shot of Lovers Rock and inventor of "new vogue reggae", MAXI PRIEST is poised to breakthrough to pop success. SEAN O'HAGAN joins the priesthood. ...
Ashford & Simpson: Ashford and Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
THE WORD 'classy' perfectly sums up this show. As in superior, stylish, staid and conservative. The A&S seal of musical quality guaranteed a packed Odeon, ...
Grace Jones: Bond Age Woman: Grace Jones
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
First only a face, then an image, a singer and now a film actress, GRACE JONES has always been A Star. RICHARD COOK interviews her ...
U2: Flags And Penance: U2'S American Dream
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
IT IS SOME WAY into a U2 set at the vast Veterans' Coliseum in Hartford, Connecticut, and the place is strewn and bedecked with the ...
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
WORLDLY RAPPING HOODS ...
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
TWICE I see this group in a couple of weeks and both times I wind up more exhausted than exhilarated. Lone Justice are trying so ...
Marc Almond: Fridge, Brixton, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 22 June 1985
BREL OF ST. MARC! ...
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 29 June 1985
"Slim was a builder, soul singer, and a very good entertainer, and Im so sorry, Im so sorry, Slim had to leave us, leave us ...
Crime & The City Solution: Crime Wave: Crime And The City Solution
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 6 July 1985
From the fragments of The Birthday Party comes a new resurrection called CRIME AND THE CITY SOLUTION. BIBA KOPF finds them in sore need of ...
Jack Kerouac: Hit The Road, Jack: A Man Called Kerouac
Retrospective by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 6 July 1985
AMERICAN RHAPSODISTS come thick and fast, frenziedly spurtspraying words across the broad continental canvas by way of leaving traces, eager to fill in every dingly ...
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 July 1985
THOUGH NOT a patch on their four subsequent albums, Autobahn has enormous historical significance as the album that introduced the world to Kraftwerk, one of ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant: Metamorphosis of a Narc
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 13 July 1985
"I DON'T THINK I'm an intelligent person. But I think I have a common sense that allows me to have an instinct about what people ...
Bruce Springsteen: At Wembley Stadium
Live Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 13 July 1985
I HAVE seen the future cast as a rock'n'roll song. I do not much like what I see: Bruce Springsteen everywhere confirmed as the way ...
Miles Davis: Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 13 July 1985
The man with the horn, MILES DAVIS, whose silvery trumpet lines have embellished jazz for 40 years, is back in action with a new band ...
Duke Ellington: Duke 56/62 Volume One ; Duke 56/62 Volume Two ; Featuring Paul Gonsalves and more
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 July 1985
...
Miles Davis: Still Miles, Time After Time
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 July 1985
Richard Cook takes two Davis records, a quarter-century apart, into custody. ...
Bob Geldof: Life After Live Aid? Keeping Pop's Conscience In Focus
Comment by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 20 July 1985
Can Live Aid really be more than a cosmetic exercise, a massive sop to the conscience of the West, or at best a temporary solution ...
Bob Geldof: Live Aid: Transmission Of Mercy
Comment by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 20 July 1985
JUST ABOUT the time that the 70,000 in the centre of the mediarena were filing, as instructed, towards the exits, I was emerging from the ...
Black Flag: 9.30 Club, Washington DC
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 27 July 1985
THE INTENSE energy with which they maliciously rioted across the grooves of Damaged inevitably doomed them to an early burn out, and tonight's show was ...
Mathilde Santing: Singing Against The Current
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 27 July 1985
Dutch vocalist MATHILDE SANTING's new LP Water Under The Bridge could bring her career into full flood but she's in no hurry as BIBA KOPF ...
Manu Dibango: Montreux Jazz Festival, Casino de Montreux
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
IN MUCH the same way that reggae ultimately required the charismatic presence of Bob Marley to give it international focus, the Modern Music of Africa ...
Miles Davis: Montreux Jazz Festival, Casino de Montreux
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
DADDY COOL! ...
Nico: "Watch Out, The World's Behind You"
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
From the mists of time steps a pale, haggard figure with a handful of memories and a single like a photo of the '50s. NICO, ...
Rubén Blades: Casino de Montreux, Montreux, Switzerland
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
FLASHING BLADES! ...
Johnny Copeland, Stevie Ray Vaughan: Stevie Ray Vaughan: Montreux Jazz Festival, Casino de Montreux
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
AS WITH limpid Blue Eyes there's always a ready-made market for or'nery-looking electric guitar slingers. The sight of devotees in the audience holding aloft large ...
The Associates, Mathilde Santing: St. James' Church, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
ALTAR EGOS ...
Bodines,The, Primal Scream: The Bodines/Primal Scream: Young, Loud & Snotty
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
Times up! NEIL TAYLOR puts his typewriter where his gripes are and pleads on behalf of new, young punk-rock style groups (like PRIMAL SCREAM and ...
The Nightingales, The Riotous Hues: System, Liverpool
Live Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
GALE WARNING ...
James, Wire: Wire, James: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 3 August 1985
SPARKLY JAMES HARVEST ...
Madness: A Serious Case Of Madness
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 10 August 1985
No longer just Nutty Boys, MADNESS have grown into troubled and doubting pop commentators on the English way of life. DON WATSON traces the Four ...
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 10 August 1985
CAMEO? Not funk? ("When you think of funk you think of guys who don't take baths...") SIMON WITTER learns the art of staying a cult ...
Shriekback: Pearls Before Spine: Shriekback: Embassy, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 10 August 1985
WHENEVER I used to hear the name Shriekback, my imagination would immediately thrust out a picture of Kalahari bushmen bedecked in Walkmans. ...
Al Green: The Pre-Godlike Genius Of Green
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 10 August 1985
Let's Stay Together (Hi)I'm Still In Love With You (Hi)Call Me (Hi)Precious Lord (Hi) ...
Review and Interview by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 24 August 1985
Amanda Lear, ex-model, disco star and androgynous friend of the famous, has revealed all about her 15-year dalliance with Surrealist painter, Salvador Dali. Jane Solanas ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexy's Midnight Runners: Don't Stand Me Down (Mercury)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
YOU'D THINK three years silence might have dimmed the man's burning rage, but no, Kevin Rowland is back with a resharpened axe to grind. Chapter ...
Doug Sahm: It's The Sahm Old Song
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
DOUG SAHM, Tex Mex rocker from San Antonio to Stockholm, is still fighting fit at 40. GAVIN MARTIN hears the secrets of his rock'n'roll survival. ...
The Hoodoo Gurus: Hoodoo Gurus: Coogee Bay Hotel, Sydney
Live Review by Lynden Barber, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
GURUS MISSILES ...
Alton Ellis, Prince Lincoln Thompson & the Royal Rasses: Notting Hill Carnival: Calypso Factor
Report by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
Hustling herbman NICK COLEMAN ventured into the red-striped fog and filed this emotional report on the frenzied Notting Hill Carnival. ...
Primal Scream, The Tractors: Mardis Gras, Liverpool
Live Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
THE TRACTORS apologise. Too much to drink. Something about an unprofessional performance. No need! Ooop in St Helens, agricultural machinery is apparently fuelled by lager. ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
Always the bridesmaid, blushing MAT SNOW skips down the aisle to the positive noise of THE JUNE BRIDES. Will this bunch of boy scouts save ...
Einstürzende Neubauten: Heaven, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985
COLLAPSING NEW Virus Spreaders, Volcanoes Still Active, Last Few Day's Sounds capers — Einstürzende Neubaten: more than all this. Whispering in Heaven brings you closer ...
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985
I WAS going to sign this piece off, "Once more Hüsker Dü prove themselves to be the most primally exciting group on the surface of ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: No Sinner Like An Old 'Un
Interview by Jim Sullivan, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985
Not for JERRY LEE LEWIS the cosy trail from rocker to rocking chair. Last year a rollercoaster life and career hit a new low when ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: Unchained Melody
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985
Fourth single and an LP coming up? Surely THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN aren't becoming veterans? DON WATSON chronicles the rise of the best bit ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Uncle Sam's Revenge: Red Hot Chili Peppers at London’s Dingwalls
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985
FROM THAT catastrophe-fraught fusion chamber where funk meets guitar noise comes the world’s most crazily perfect punk-funk band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tonight Husker ...
Bobby Womack: Live at the Dallas Arcadia
Live Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
"BLACK MUSIC is being broken down. It's no longer black music. This is not a discussion or argument...what I'm saying is that it's a reaffirmation ...
David Byrne: Music For The Knee Plays (EMI)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
KNEE JERK! ...
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
Diana by J. Randy Taraborrelli TALKING TO Gerri Hirshey a couple of years back, Diana Ross explained (in language not gleaned from Motown's etiquette ...
Kate Bush: Hounds Of Love (EMI)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
KRUFTS ORIGINAL! ...
Marc Almond: Mother Hen In Love
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
MARC ALMOND drops an egg or two on fame, success, romance, and the little "chicks" who dog his sequinned tootsie-steps. CATH CARROLL adds them up. ...
Steve Wright: Radio Ga-Gagging
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
Mister Angry from Bradford, STEVEN WELLS, paints a colourful portrait of hip, sensitive Radio One DJ STEVE WRIGHT. ...
The June Brides: There Are Eight Million Stories... (Pink)
Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
JUNES BUSTING OUT ALL OVER ...
The Waterboys: This Is The Sea (Ensign)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 21 September 1985
GOING DOWN FOR THE THIRD TIME ...
Bobby Womack: The Great Provider
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 28 September 1985
"They call me a living legend/But I'm just a soldier who's been left behind/And now my heart can't take it/My feet won't make it/I'm the ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red, White & Blue: The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 28 September 1985
2004 note: In August 1985 I got a phone call from George Clinton, saying that the P-Funk All-Stars show at Hammersmith Odeon that weekend had ...
The Neats, The Replacements: The Replacements, the Neats: Irving Plaza, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 28 September 1985
YUM YUM! ...
Colonel Abrams: A Taste of 'Trapped'
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 5 October 1985
COLONEL ABRAMS wishes to make it clear that he's not affiliated to any fast-chicken enterprises. SIMON WITTER's verdict: ear-lickin' good! ...
Suzanne Vega: Vaguely Seeking Suzanne
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 October 1985
I'D NEVER BEEN to a coffee-shop in New York's Greenwich Village before, but the Paradise was just as I'd imagined such a place to be ...
The Waterboys: Big Sound Authority
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 5 October 1985
Mike Scott is definitely Trying To Tell Us Something, and he doesn't believe in whispering. With THE WATERBOYS' third album out, DAVID QUANTICK tries to ...
Interview by Bill Prince, New Musical Express, 12 October 1985
"I just love beautiful things..." BILL PRINCE interrogates Lawrence on the immortal carvings and primitive future of FELT. ...
Millie Jackson: Caught Up /Still Caught Up
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 12 October 1985
MILLIE JACKSON is an astonishingly powerful and resourceful singer. It is easy to overlook her immense vocal skills particularly in the light of her current ...
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 12 October 1985
NICE PEOPLE wear their hearts on their sleeves. The soiled souls peopling Tom Waits' songs have theirs tattooed on their arms. His cast of characters ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 19 October 1985
"I told you I was sick" ...
Alex Chilton: London, Mean Fiddler
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
ALEX CHILTON one-time Box Top, Big Star, Cramps producer, etc. is possibly rocks greatest cult hero. Like many, Ive been aware of this ...
Art Blakey, Horace Silver: Blue Note Records: The Rolls Royce of Jazz
Retrospective by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
For 30 years the Blue Note label was the premier outlet for jazz. Now its catalogue is being made available again. ROY CARR breathes a ...
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
I'VE GIVEN THIS some thought. Let's suppose – and it's not a weak notion – that four groups bond together the one significant play in ...
J.G. Ballard: Closely Observed Trains
Profile and Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
He never listens to music but he inspired the writing of 'Warm Leatherette' and Magazine's 'Motorcade', his trilogy of Crash, High Rise and Concrete Island ...
Tom Waits: Reigning Hats And Dogs: Tom Waits at the Dominion, London
Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
COME INSIDE, the finger beckons and the man with the stubble breaks out a grin and leans in your direction... ...
Stevo: The Man Whose Head Exploded
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
If you can't please yourself, you can't please your soul cries STEVO, head of happy family Some Bizzare. MAT SNOW, our man in black with ...
Butthole Surfers: The Butthole Surfers: Beach Bums
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 October 1985
Taller than Jesus, ferociously noisy, militantly gay and quite probably off their trolleys, THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS are coming to get ya, ready or not. Blubbering ...
Brilliant: The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 2 November 1985
Former fuzzy funk mess BRILLIANT have slimmed down to rake in the acclaim. MAT SNOW dips his ears in their direction and finds himself occasionally ...
Dee C Lee, The Style Council, Wham!: Dee C. Lee: Lady Day
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 2 November 1985
"Glamorous ex-model", Style Councillor and new single girl, DEE C. LEE talks to CATH CARROLL. ...
Grace Jones: Slave To The Rhythm (ZTT)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 2 November 1985
THE SCENE: An unwashed and impolitely dazed Paul Morley stumbles into the ZTT offices one day. "But Trevor, the people are hungry for imagination, stimulation, ...
Trouble Funk: Professors Of Funk
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 2 November 1985
IN WASHINGTON DC, a city that has its fair share of fast-buck entrepreneurs and exploitable kids, Trouble Funk's understanding of the music machine marks them ...
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985
NEW ORDER'S ethereal movement away from Division and denial, through temptation and confusion, has finally arrived at the classical creations of Low-Life and the emotional ...
Richard Lloyd, Television: Richard Lloyd: The Well-Tempered Guitarist
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985
When RICHARD LLOYD turned off the Television, he switched to drug and alcohol abuse. A nervous breakdown followed... RICHARD GRABEL hears how the new Field ...
Stanley Jordan: Have Fingers, Will Fly!
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985
When STANLEY JORDAN straps on his guitar, he can play rhythm, lead and the other fiddley bits all at once! PAOLO HEWITT, disbelief in his ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985
MORGAN KHAN is the financial wizard behind the phenomenally successful Street Sounds label, whose panache at marketing soul has helped to transform the Top 50. ...
Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew: Show Stoppers
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 30 November 1985
A show? Well, DOUG E. FRESH and The Get Fresh Crew ain't got the energy to do much more than nod off in the company ...
Pere Ubu: Terminal Tower: An Archival Collection (Rough Trade)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 30 November 1985
BY 1975, THINGS had begun to look a little pale around the Rock'n'Roll gills (no relation); had begun to fade away, in fact. ...
Robert Wyatt: Old Rottenhat (Rough Trade)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 30 November 1985
CAN POLITICS and music mix? Are songs about matters commonly deemed to belong in the political sphere not really songs at all, but rather singing ...
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 December 1985
LAST WEEK we lost Big Joe Turner: he died in California at the age of 74 after decades of contributions to the popular music of ...
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 14 December 1985
CARMEL are back in business and strangely grown-up, claims CATH CARROLL. ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: Tough Cookies
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 14 December 1985
"Next week will solve all your problems/But now, fish fingers all in a line/The Milk bottles stand empty/Stay glued to your TV Set." (Ex-Lion ...
Alan Hull: Hull's Teeth: An Interview with Alan Hull
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 December 1985
HARD TIMES on Tyneside. So what's new, pussycats? There's snow storms, there's no jobs (30% unemployment), and worst of all, the by-election bigwigs – Brittan, ...
Fine Young Cannibals: Wedged Down The Throat: Fine Young Cannibals
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 December 1985
ONE OF THE truly Great Bores Of Today is the "politicised" pop star who remarks that what was really bad about the riots (or whatever) ...
Stevie Wonder: Ever Decreasing Circles
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 21 December 1985
Is STEVIE WONDER's giant talent exhausted or just sleeping? GAVIN MARTIN seeks the truth, but finds the man cocooned from the nitty gritty by an ...
Falco: Brahms, Lizst and… Falco?
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1986
"Sophisticated" schmuck FALCO keeps the bottle from his lips just long enough to entertain Simon Witter, who (heh, heh) understands these Austrian insults.... ...
ZZ Top: David Sinclair: Tres Hombres - The Story Of ZZ Top
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1986
YOUR HUMBLE reviewer is quoted in Tres Hombres as stating that ZZ Top are "the only hip boogie band in the entire universe", and it's ...
Dusty Springfield: Dusty In Memphis
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1986
ONE OF THE pleasures of the recent rerun series of Ready Steady Go Starring The Dave Clark Five was the opportunity to be reminded that ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1986
WE WENT to Heaven, and it looked like the Bronx. Wall-to-wall black B-boys, hoods, whistles, and two unprettified lads doing their thing against a tinsel-rain ...
The Soul Stirrers: Various Artists: Father And Sons (Spirit Feel)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1986
IF YOU'VE any interest in gospel music at all, this should be an essential purchase. Compiled by Anthony Heilbut, author of seminal tome The ...
Colonel Abrams: Finger Lickin' God
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 4 January 1986
Is Colonel Abrams trapped in the black ghetto of religion and air conditioned fame or is he a genuine soul crusader? Paolo Hewitt meets the man ...
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 4 January 1986
BOXING CLEVER ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 4 January 1986
HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, Los Angeles, may well be the freakiest street in the Western World. ...
Twisted Sister: Come Out And Play (Atlantic)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 4 January 1986
THE FILM Spinal Tap so brilliantly nailed the HM ritual (as if it wasn't funny enough anyway) that it has been impossible to view purveyors ...
Debbie Harry and Andy Warhol: Parallel Lives
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 11 January 1986
FRANK TALK WITH DEBBIE ...
The Beastie Boys, Slayer: Def Jam Records: Men Or Beasties?
Report and Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 11 January 1986
IN CRUMPLED, jeans, trainers and an AC/DC T-shirt Rick Rubin represents the current hippest record company in New York, Def Jam Records. ...
Frankie Paul: Ripe Mango (Blacker Dread)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 11 January 1986
OF THE GLUT of fine new singers to have emerged from the Jamaican dancehall sound during the past few years, Frankie Paul is probably the ...
The Replacements: Hits From The Sticks
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 11 January 1986
"THEY TRY to teach you everything they think you should know and none of the things you want to know. There wasn't a class on ...
Tommy Tate: Singing For The Soul Of It
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 11 January 1986
BARNEY HOSKYNS meets Mississippi soulman TOMMY TATE, whose 'What gives You The Right' is one of the "Sweetest, saddest black pop records of all time". ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
Can RED WEDGE kick new life into old Labour? Will our lovable lefty pop heroes transform Kinnock's party into a stylish outfit prepared for government? ...
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
RUSH PRODUCTIONS, an organization with the best intentions, conceived this event to be a celebration of the success of the film Krush Groove and of the consolidation ...
Mayo Thompson: Corky's Debt To His Father (Glass)
Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
APPARENTLY THIS "legendary" and rare LP was first released in Texas in 1972 with only 500 pressed. Hats off to Glass for resurrecting it. One ...
The Bloodfire Posse: Are You Ready? (Synergy)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
POSSE POSES ...
The Winans: The Divine Music Of Protest…
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
SIMON WITTER has a new calling to spread the word about THE WINANS, a hot Gospel sound that just won't let go. ...
Zapp: The New Zapp IV U (Warner Brothers)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
SAPS ...
Barry Manilow: Conan The Pipe Cleaner: Barry Manilow with Anthea From Cheshire: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 25 January 1986
A STRANGE BLEND of a thousand perfumes wafts its way across the aisles, but further back by the souvenir stalls there is a much stronger ...
The Pastels: Suck On The Pastels
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 25 January 1986
Five singles old and The Pastels aren't as funny as Lloyd Cole. Nonplussed NEIL TAYLOR wonders why. ...
Punk: I Fought The Biz And The Biz Won (How We Got Here From There)
Overview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1 February 1986
PUNK: IT MADE OUR DAY...It's been ten bleak winters since...well, we look back in hunger at the years youth reclaimed rock and for a while ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1 February 1986
SCENES OF decay and destruction: cracked streets, derelict warehouses, disused railways, a forsaken synagogue and – cloaked by walls of racist graffiti – the burnt-out ...
John Lydon, Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: This Is What You Get
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
THIS IS the beginning of an interview with the John Lydon who has drunk seven cans of Red Stripe lager, after breakfasting on oysters. ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
THE WEST Coast News Dateline 2030 AD: ...
Punk and Reggae: Rip Bam Bam Bye Yeah
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
"Black and white, unite and fight" was the call; The Clash sang of 'Police And Thieves', Johnny Rotten found he was 'Born For A Purpose'. ...
Ruby Turner: Jewel In The Crown
Profile and Interview by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
IT MIGHT be late to break nationally but in this man's town at least Ruby Turner's beefy update of 'If You're Ready (Come Go With ...
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
TONIGHT WILL be one of Wet Wet Wet's last gigs before they step from cultdom's pastel spotlight into the full glare of major-league pop-stardom. Only ...
Interview by Bill Prince, New Musical Express, 15 February 1986
THE EARLIEST known sighting of Charlie Sexton in the British music press occurred almost exactly two years ago when a frothing live review from Dallas-based ...
Simply Red: Punk in Manchester: Oh, How We Laughed
Essay by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 15 February 1986
BE OFF with you! Little Red, it is said, is not happy at the hollow allegations that suggest he has 'sold out' by leaping from ...
Patti Smith, Television: Punk in New York: Blitzkreig Bop
Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 15 February 1986
"And one fine morning she turns on a New York-station / And doesn't believe what she hears at all / She started dancing to that ...
B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf: Various Artists Sun Records: The Blues Years 1950 — 1956
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 February 1986
"The blues is a chair, not a design for a chair, or a better chair… it is the first chair. It is a chair for ...
Annette Peacock: Colour Tails: Annette Peacock: I Have No Feelings (Ironic)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 20 February 1986
NOTHING YOU CAN pin down here. Nothing you safely stick a label on and file for easy access. ...
Charlie Sexton: Pictures For Pleasure
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 February 1986
WHAT THE world needs now, as I'm sure you'll all agree, is a whippy 17-year-old Texan rock'n'roller with leather-sheathed buttocks waggling provocatively like two pigeon ...
Elvis Costello: King Of America
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 February 1986
IN BROCADE and jewelled crown, Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus stares out from the sleeve of King Of America, his beard and spectacles framing an unsmiling ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: An English Werewolf in London
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 February 1986
WHAT BECOMES a legend most? So exactly how I'd imagined it was the scene that I wouldn't have dared make it up. Before we enter, ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees: The Howling
Retrospective by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 22 February 1986
SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES: "a great whirlpool of noise, pulling the future down." Many moons later DON WATSON recalls the dawn of the great Sioux ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 22 February 1986
THE CRAMPS' rampant gurning and soft-focus sleaze has been shaped into an institution of sorts. Transcending and fusing tribal instincts – goth's dumb brooding and ...
Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum: Irving Plaza, New York
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 1 March 1986
SOUL ASYLUM are lean, scrappy, hungry. they play with a determination to make their mark quickly. They play to win. ...
Cheap Trick, Mötley Crüe: Mötley Crüe, Cheap Trick: Odeon, Birmingham
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 1 March 1986
CHILLY WILLIES AND THE RED HOT PECKERS ...
We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It: Big Fuzz From The Jungle
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 1 March 1986
We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It. What more can you say? Neil Taylor gets a word or two in edgeways. ...
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 8 March 1986
ONLY A HEARTLESS bastard would knock old John. I mean. 20 years of love-drugged poetry, dedicated to ideal earth mothers, cossetted in an Arcadian atmosphere ...
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Starry-Eyed & Laughing
Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 March 1986
YOU FIND yourself reading about them...It's been a long day, and it isn't over yet. The two juiciest members of Sigue Sigue Sputnik pronounced ...
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 8 March 1986
"The ultimate manifestation of power and authority is torture and rape" the SWANS take it from there, to the ear of BIBA KOPF ...
The Bangles: Manic Impressives
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 8 March 1986
"VICKI ALWAYS tells me that I always used to sit in, the back of the car, a big Buick station wagon, when I was three ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 15 March 1986
A WORKING-CLASS hero is something to be; it gets more difficult by the day. Under a Government that puts Profit and Progress before People (don't ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 15 March 1986
"I'D LIKE TO put a disclaimer in at this point: Mat Snow is using very long word and drawing us into an academic discussion of ...
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 15 March 1986
AHA! IT's the most reviled band in the world!Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Reading were not a marriage made in Heaven. When one is the subject ...
Audrey Hall: Dance Hall Revolution
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 22 March 1986
"WE'VE HEARD what the men can do, it's time to hear the women. You can't keep us in the background for ever. There are loads ...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 March 1986
Soaraway Sun scribe GARRY BUSHELL finds himself on the other side of the fantastic fact-finding fence. STEVEN 'Scoop' WELLS digs a grave. ...
Prince: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 22 March 1986
GET A load of this guy. Five-foot-two in high heels, his tight black toreador pants stretch up to a fraction above his crack, hence a ...
The Pogues: The Sweet Smell Of Success
Report by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 28 March 1986
TODAY THE WORLD, TOMORROW THE WORLD ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: System Club, Liverpool
Live Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
WARNING: PACEMAKERS TO BE SHOWN ...
Psychic TV: National Club, Kilburn, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
THIS IS THE STORY OF GENESIS P, HE'S THE BLOKE IN PSYHIC TV. ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
WHAT IS the sound of a Swan in love? ...
The Pogues: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
NO SLEEP AT HAMMERSMITH! ...
The Rolling Stones: Dirty Work
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
IN THE 1970s, The Rolling Stones were a distinctly unlovely proposition: fronted by a jet-setter and a junkie and churning out a series of tedious ...
Violent Femmes: Dangerous Visions
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 29 March 1986
The VIOLENT FEMMES are, in deed, weird fish. Bagpipers, Bolan and Wild Billy Burroughs all seem to stagger blindly into their orbit. ANDY GILL herein ...
Culture Club: From Luxury to Heartache
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 April 1986
TODAY'S SHY, retiring George is to be found downgraded to the top-left quarter of a scrupulously democratic sleeve photograph. Nobody smiles. We are no longer ...
The Nightingales: Nightingales: We Spit In Your Gravy
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 5 April 1986
So say the reanimated NIGHTINGALES, who've found a new lease of life — on the fiddle. NEIL TAYLOR hears about country life and the strings ...
Art Blakey, Courtney Pine: Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
BLAKEY'S ZERO-degrees activity is so blazingly exciting that it transforms everything round it, even when he's laying out completely. And these Messengers, mob-handed in suits ...
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
BLAKEY'S ZERO-degrees activity is so blazingly exciting that it transforms everything round it, even when he's laying out completely. And these Messengers, mob-handed in suits ...
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
A PRE-RAPHAELITE beauty sweeps through trailing fronds and hothouse blooms... ...
George Jones: Wembley Arena Country Festival, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
THE GREATEST "NO SHOW" ON EARTH ...
Prince: Parade (Original Soundtrack - Under The Cherry Moon)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
I TOOK 'Kiss' as a signal that we were being ushered back into the compressed, airtight funkworld of Dirty Mind. Didn't flip over the song ...
Johnny Cash: The Johnny Cash Show: Country Festival, Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986
THE PILL POPPIN' POPE OF POP ...
Funkadelic, George Clinton: George Clinton: Fried Brains To Go
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
"GEORGE WILL be with you in a minute, he's just playing with a raygun." (Clintonesque PR person). ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
WHEN THE wheels of celebrity are set in motion the limousine windows are tainted; bystanders can see in but the star is blinded to life ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and The Banshees: How Many LPs Is It Now? "Fifteen, Love."
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
Have SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES successfully lobbed another one over the net or are they finally out of deuce? DAVID QUANTICK engages in a love ...
Sweet Honey in the Rock: Sting in the Tale
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
SEAN O'HAGAN makes a journey to the land of SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK where heavenly voices have their say. ...
Test Dept.: Freedom is Frightening
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
On the abandoned building sites of Britain, a new life is stirring. TEST DEPT. sound the charge on scrap metal and bugle, waging a war ...
Anita Baker: Mouthful of Rapture
Interview by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
ANITA BAKER is the soul voice of the '80s. NICK COLEMAN rings LA to chat about her new LP Rapture. ...
David Thomas, Pere Ubu: David Thomas: Monster Walks The Winter Lake
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
DAVID THOMAS sees things differently. He sings things differently too. Sometimes he sees/sings things like a child, other times like a Martian. Often he'll submerge ...
Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
IF IT'S careening kick-start country, a whisky wise distillation of old forms you need, come round here. Boisterous fiddle, the pound and pounce of six-string ...
It's Immaterial: Driving Force
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
In the past IT'S IMMATERIAL have lived up to their name only too well. Now, as their new single hits the charts, they reveal to ...
James Brown at Wembley Arena: Back And Proud
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
IT'S A tribute to the unbelievable power of James Brown's music that it has always managed to overwhelm our reservations about this dodgiest of superstars. ...
Rosanne Cash: Blues From The Pink Bedroom
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
ROSANNE CASH'S latest LP Rhythm And Romance lays bare both her turbulent marriage and a lengthy struggle with drug abuse. GAVIN MARTIN meets the woman ...
Sam Cooke: The Man And His Music
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
I SUPPOSE any Sam Cooke record is a gift from God, even an LP which fundamentally belies its title in the way this album does. ...
Velvet Underground: Oh God, Not The Bloody Velvets Again!
Report by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
Fingers on the "Record" button… Rock's most name-dropped group, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND have finally arrived in the high brow world of The South Bank Show. ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 3 May 1986
It's point and counterpoint in this bout of champions; in the camel pen, bile scribbler JULIE BURCHILL, defending her high-profile prose against the red trunks ...
Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground Boxed Set (Polydor)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 3 May 1986
WHEN POP-JOURNALISTS say "classic", we mean a record that well still be playing in ten years. Marketing sharpies, however, have a far surer handle on ...
Screaming Blue Messiahs: Gun-Shy
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 10 May 1986
THE COVER of The Screaming Blue Messiahs' first mini-album/EP Good And Gone captures their music perfectly: a posse of WW2 Grumman fighters cruising above the ...
That Petrol Emotion: The Petrol Emotion: Oil On Troubled Waters
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 May 1986
WHAT'S IN A NAME?(1) ...
Interview by Bill Black, New Musical Express, 10 May 1986
Tenth album time finds the RAMONES in a curiously pro-Bonzo mood and talking of solo projects. BILL BLACK adjusts his hearing suitably... ...
Aurra, Slave: Aurra: Mix 'N' Match
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 17 May 1986
AURRA have left their days of Slavery and hit the charts with 'You And Me Tonight'. SIMON WITTER takes off the raps. ...
Suzanne Vega: A Darker Shade Of Pale
Interview by Bill Prince, New Musical Express, 17 May 1986
WHO ARE the Dark People? We're told with typically elliptical detatchment by The Face that they're young Italian fatalists, spotted at parties in Turin and ...
The Band of Holy Joy: Band Of Holy Joy: The Big Ship Sails
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 24 May 1986
AND SO the shock of the new continues to give way to the celebration of the old. ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 24 May 1986
FIVE STAR are one of Britain's most successful chart acts, but their Dad still keeps them firmly in line. PAOLO HEWITT meets the stars who ...
The Ramones: Ramones: Animal Boy
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 24 May 1986
THERE ARE but two reactions to a Ramones record. When it mumbles something like 'I Need Psychiatric Treatment', as they do here, you will either ...
Youssou N'Dour: Voix d'Afrique
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 31 May 1986
2005 note: My very first full-length music piece for NME? I so much wish Youssou had not let himself be kidnapped by P.Gabriel. Marcello Carlin ...
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 7 June 1986
Go Go all gone? Washington DC all fini? Not on your Nelly, argues Simon Witter, Go Go guru of the King’s Roadeo. The deaths of ...
Laurie Anderson: More Blank Than Frank
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 7 June 1986
AS SHE confides to us in her live show, Laurie Anderson was a bird in a previous incarnation. ...
Pet Shop Boys: Suburban Stardom
Essay by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 7 June 1986
England swings to the yawning sound of the suburbs, where Dynasty kids dream of escape and fortune. DON WATSON reflects on the hit and myth ...
Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 June 1986
"AAAAAAAABBOTT!" – Lou Costello ...
Lovebug Starski: Nightmare On Beat St.
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 21 June 1986
SIMON WITTER goes to the house on the hill to see what's bugging LOVEBUG STARSKI but he can't get a fix on the man from ...
Sonic Youth: Noise: Sonic Youth
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 21 June 1986
SONIC YOUTH chortle to CATH CARROLL on the expressway to your hearts. ...
The Triffids: Born Sandy Devotional
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 21 June 1986
THE MID-'80s motto is that irony has gone mainstream. Self-confidence and hope for the future have evaporated in glittering, actressy despair, to be replaced by ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
MORE "BIG MUSIC". More heroics. Another call-to-arms for the down to earth drummers who landscape their adolescence via Bono, Jim Kerr, Mike Scott and Stuart ...
Blood On The Saddle: Hoedown At The O.K. Corral
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
GLENN MILLER was the first, I guess, and then there was Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Eight years later Otis Redding ...
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
MOST OF us are familiar with David Bowie from his role as Vendice Partners in the sparkling musical comedy Absolute Beginners, but how many I ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
"ALTHOUGH I AM honest, I will deal with an interview with the confidence of GEORGE MICHAEL, POP STAR. And the way I deal with people ...
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
POP WILL EAT ITSELF drink tea, say "GRRrrr!", play live sets atrocious enough to necessitate post-gig disguises, and make faces at the Mary Chain, Siouxsie ...
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
RENEWED ENTHUSIASM may have been the spur for Sting's world tour and mating with pedigree jazzers last year, but the release of this live double ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
CHERRELLE's dream of soul stardom has come true, thanks to the trans Atlantic success of 'Saturday Love'. PAOLO HEWITT tunes in and turns on. ...
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
THEY PICK dreams like they were pockets, these market research trained thieves, respray them in glitter and, even before the paint's properly dry, they're selling ...
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
EIGHTY-FIVE minutes of cassette, 68 of compact disc and no record – Heaven 17 continue the aspirations of the ironic yuppie with their Greatest Hits ...
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: Southside Johnny: Under The Rotting Boardwalk
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
Away from the air conditioned ivory towers of LA and NY, America's recession has thrown together pop and populous. Latest formal link is Jersey's Artists ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: Paint It Black
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
"IT IS A bit of rock'n'roll cliche. I like it, but you are open to a slagging." ...
The Sonics: Here Are The Sonics
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
MUDDY WATERS, he said, "I'm smokin' TNT, I'm drinkin' dynamite/I hope some schoolboy will start a fight." Maybe Washington's The Sonics were the answer to ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 5 July 1986
"...walk straight and look the world right in the eye." Giant-sized babythings THE WOODENTOPS have given birth, at last, to their first bouncy, long-playing offspring. ...
Black Flag: My War (Continued)
Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
FRIDAY NIGHT at New York's Irving Plaza, filled to the rafters with punks letting their freak flags fly. Tattered, dazed and confused kids line the ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
"SO I'M HERE looking through an old picture frame/Waiting for a perfect view/I hope something special will come into my life/Another fine edition of you" ...
Primal Scream: St. Paul's Arts Centre, Oxford
Live Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
MORE MOMENTS to cherish: Primal Scream live in Oxford. The tremors and treasures of vulnerability; waking up and realising that life isn't all excitement and ...
Sandie Shaw: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
SHAW? POSITIVE! ...
The Band Of Holy Joy: Joy Of Man’s Desiring
Report by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
SOME DAY, absolutely nobody in Absolute Beginners said, there will rise up in Soho a band who will be coarse yet clear-sighted, hard but infinitely ...
The Beach Boys: Capitol reissues
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
NOW IS this poetry, or what? ...
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
RONNIE BARKER: "What's it all about, then? Life, I mean. What's it all about, eh?" Ronnie Corbett: "Something to do, I s'pose." ...
Zapp: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 12 July 1986
YOU'D EXPECT the diehards who shelled out and showed up to see Zapp, on one of London's culturally busiest weekends, to dance holes in The ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Word War Fighter
Report by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 19 July 1986
Prophet, poet and rap pioneer GIL SCOTT-HERON was calling for sanctions against South Africa a decade ago in his hit Johannesburg. Currently due to appear ...
Peter Guralnick: Sweet Soul Music
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 July 1986
FA-FA-FA-FA-FA-FAB ...
Run-DMC: RUN DMC: Raising Hell (Profile/London)
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 19 July 1986
A SEOUL diversion — RUN DMC coming up, fast food and sweet music ready to go. ...
Nick Cave, Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Screamin' Jay Hawkins: The Man Who Ate Nick Cave
Interview by Lynden Barber, New Musical Express, 19 July 1986
The bats screech, and inside a rockin' coffin, something stirs...up fly the nails and out pops SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS, longtime voodoo swamp beast back to ...
Boy George: From Culture Club To Vulture Club
Comment by Paolo Hewitt, Don Watson, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986
Boy George's romance with the Fleet Street scandal sheets came to an abrupt end when they turned on him in an hysterical anti-drugs campaign. But ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986
THIS WAS the big one, the final shoot-out, his last chance but... ...
Van Morrison: No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986
ALTHOUGH VAN Morrison has long since ceased to surprise, there have been enough scattered moments throughout his recent work to point to a singer content ...
Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction: This Is The Dawning Of The Age Of Hilarious
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 26 July 1986
Hot rats!! Twin overhead foxtailed speed machine and paranoiac ZODIAC MINDWARP wraps his twisted thoughtgear round the silver-tongued questioning of our psychedelic snake snake MAT ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
NICK COLEMAN catches his breath after his first encounter with sweet songstress ANITA BAKER, who wowed London crowds last weekend. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Strange Bedfellow
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
The Beach Boys are 25 years old and, to mark the occasion, that great white whale BRIAN WILSON has finally got up, cleaned up and ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
"Sorry Lionel, but right now, we're busy with The Human League..." To turn down a job with Mr Richie these days you'd have to be ...
Sigue Sigue Sputnik: Flaunt It
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
AS STUPID as they are, the British public can take a joke if you give them a punchline to go with it. They bought Malcolm ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
WE'RE HUDDLED together (2000 of us) in the home of heavy metal, witnessing the early disturbed sound of 'Bigmouth'. But thankfully they're just warming up; ...
Report and Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
The Vindaloo roadshow blitzes Britain with firm-hold hairspray, firm-hold Fuzzbox parents, lobbed bunnies and drape jackets. Entertaining FUZZBOX, THE NIGHTINGALES and TED CHIPPINGTON are the ...
Review and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 9 August 1986
NICK DRAKE was one of Britain's finest folksingers. Now Hannibal Records have re-released his complete works and included some previously unavailable songs. LEN BROWN ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 9 August 1986
"BIG? I WASN'T prepared for just how big Gwen Guthrie is. Unkempt too...hair straggly, dressed in just a white wraparound bathrobe, she's been bustled straight ...
Icicle Works: The Drips Who Turned To Rock
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 9 August 1986
Four years ago, ICICLE WORKS' hit single 'Love Is A Beautiful Colour' branded them as wimps. But now they're back, harder and happier, with the ...
Queen: Inside The Royal Family
Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 9 August 1986
David Quantick travels to Hungary as a representative of notorious bastard rock rag NME, and Queen pick up the tab! Not that they consent to ...
On-U Sound System, Adrian Sherwood, Tackhead: Adrian Sherwood: Ministry of Dub
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 August 1986
Producer ADRIAN SHERWOOD has spent a decade deconstructing and rebuilding music dubwise, from Ministry and New Age Steppers to Mark Stewart, Tack Head and Keith ...
Atlantic Records: Label Of 1,000 Dances
Essay by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 16 August 1986
ATLANTIC RECORDS was the supreme R&B label among many which flourished during the music's pre-eminence from shortly after the Second World War up to the ...
R.E.M.: Lifes Rich Pageant (IRS)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 16 August 1986
THE ONLY BAND that mutters, as an American commentator wittily described REM, are back, and not before time, too. The past few years have seen ...
David Sylvian: Blonde On Blonde
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 23 August 1986
TWO YOUNG men, once blond, face one another and indulge in the absurd activity of taking music seriously. "Almost too seriously," says David Sylvian. The ...
Everything But The Girl: Tracey Goes To Dollywood
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 23 August 1986
"Rob, our drummer, turned up to the first rehearsal with the idea we were vaguely bossa nova-ish. The first thing I said was, 'D'you like ...
Nick Cave: Prick Me Do I Not Bleed?
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 23 August 1986
AMONG NICK Cave's most prized possessions is a hardcover green book stuffed with press cuttings and private observations written in his painstakingly spidery hand. ...
Prince: The Flesh And The Soul
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 23 August 1986
Prince And The Revolution: Wembley Arena, London ...
Ozzy Osbourne: A Very Excessive Man
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 30 August 1986
The Road of Excess, said William Blake, leads to the Palace of Wisdom, but in OZZY OSBOURNE'S case it led to Castle Donington and endless ...
Art of Noise: The Big Kiss-Off: Art Of Noise: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 30 August 1986
THEIR TIME, like the strained smile on celibacy's face, is desperately short. Like the tame, trained, caged bear all their disregard is now marshmallow; their ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 30 August 1986
Welcome back Mr Contrary Bastard. Who else but the demonic MARK E SMITH would complete a mass anti-everything grumble with "Give me the Queen anyday"! ...
David Byrne, Talking Heads: David Byrne: A Talking Head's Guide To The Big Country
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
COMING SOON to a cinema near you is one of this year's funniest yet most thought-provoking films. It is called True Stories, and is a ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
THE THIRD person entered store after store, priced nothing, spoke no word, and looked at all objects with a wild and vacant stare – having ...
Dwight Yoakam: Kicking the Horseshit out of Nashville
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
Guitars, Cadillacs, and a needle nose cowboy boot up the ass of Nashville slush. DWIGHT YOAKAM bigmouths his way top Britain with the cuntry 'establishment' ...
Dwight Yoakam: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
AN IMPARTIAL lady friend had been clean bowled over the previous night at Dingwalls. This tall, lean Kentucky hunk may be coot-like beneath his hat ...
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
JAKI GRAHAM, Wolverhampton's wandering soul singer, meets CATH CARROLL across a coffee table. ...
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
DURING THE early/mid-'70s, Warner Brothers were the envy of their major corporate rivals for their unparalleled hip-act market-share. Partly, one suspects, for the way their ...
Notting Hill Carnival '86: Everybody Wet Wet Wet
Report by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO I back up on my first Carnival almost by accident. ...
George Clinton, Parliament: Parliament: Uncut Funk — The Bomb
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
GEORGE CLINTON is one of the great people of the 20th century. Probably you know this already. He took the funk legacy of James Brown ...
Roger Troutman, Zapp: The House Of Zapp
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
Ohio is a soul city, home of Bootsy, the Ohio Players and now the Troutman family alia the Human Body alias ZAPP. Mainman Roger tells ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
TIPPA IRIE, wide boy wonder and cultural chameleon, now finds himself torn between reggae's dub-swamped dance-halls and the glitterdome. SEAN O'HAGAN risks an ear in the rapid fire ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Rising Cramp
Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986
TOM ROBINSON enters stage left to add his musical and emotional weight to John Godber's Cramp. LEN BROWN meets the DJ, anti-coke campaigner and gay ...
Camper Van Beethoven: Ludwiggin' Out!
Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
WHAT'S A Camper Van Beethoven? Actually, I forgot to ask. But check what I heard when I asked about its role models. ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Blood And Chocolate (Imp)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
ONE DECADE and 11 albums into a brilliant career, pop's most persistent moniker-monger is still playing the name game: having buried Brother Coward and killed ...
Jean Carne: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
O, EXTRA JOY! ...
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
OF COURSE Paul Simon has always been blessed with a remarkable facility for penning eminently hummable melodies, but since the heyday of his association with ...
Steve Earle, George Strait: Steve Earle: Guitar Town (MCA); George Strait: #7 (MCA)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
FOLLOWING HOT on the heels of Mr Yoakam, here is another applicant for the position of '80s country-rock messiah. ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
SWAMP THINGS ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
HAS THE vocabulary been conceived, reduced or minimal enough to transmit the gravity or even sonority of those emotions laid bare on this, this, this ...
LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Schoolly D: Yo Boys: Boys Keep Killing
Report by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986
The pervasive sound of hip hop becomes punctuated by an altogether more sinister noise — the bark of hand-guns — as, on the streets of ...
Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer, The Pogues: A Fistful Of Pesetas
Report and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
In the badlands of Spain, a strange scenario... JOE STRUMMER is shooting everyone in sight, SHANE MACGOWAN has been killed, ELVIS COSTELLO is serving coffee... ...
Asha Bhosle: The Celluloid Singing Star
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
ASHA BHOSLE is India's best known singer of film soundtracks. CATH CARROLL meets the woman with 40 million record sales who began her career with ...
Farley "Jackmaster" Funk , Darryl Pandy: Darryl Pandy: Man About The House
Profile and Interview by Deanne Pearson, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
DARRYL PANDY, featured vocalist on Farley Jackmaster Funk's 'Love Can't Turn Around', greets me at his hotel room door, resplendent in shimmering midnight blue dressing ...
Miles Davis: Man of many colours
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
Miles to work with Prince? Maybe. Sinatra? Possibly. Wynton Marsalis? Splatch! Forty years on there's Tutu, and the hues and cries of MILES DAVIS — ...
My Bloody Valentine: Bull & Gate, London
Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
(AND PLEASURE-heads must burn...). So here they are in matching mop-tops and lurex star-trek jerkins, and here I am breaking myself on their urge for ...
The Human League: Flesh And Blood
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
Born to make mistakes? THE HUMAN LEAGUE, CLASS of '81 veterans, saved Phil Oakey from a life on the bins. Jon McCready talks to the ...
Billy Bragg: Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 27 September 1986
SUBTITLED 'THE difficult third album', this is Billy growing into a Big Boy. Decorating the sleeve with Mayakovsky's poem, Bragg takes seriously his role as ...
Overview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 27 September 1986
AFTER TWO false starts due to bad weather, the wide-eyed and jittery paratroopers swallowed their third load of benzedrines in three nights and flew off ...
New Order: Brotherhood (Factory)
Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 27 September 1986
ART OF THE STATE ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 September 1986
RUN LIKE HELL ...
The Mighty Lemon Drops: Happy Head
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 27 September 1986
THEY'VE GOT to give it to us now. They can't hold on anymore. The first of the Class of '86 to really go the distance, ...
Cameo: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 4 October 1986
DOCTOR MY EARS ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 4 October 1986
"I'M A real wild one." Iggy Pop, 1986. ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Orchestral Manouevres In The Dark: The Pacific Age
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 4 October 1986
OH TO put aside the racehorses, to forget Morley's G-Mex intro ("two rich bastards from LA") to ignore the cobalt-coated doughboys who adorn the inner ...
The Band Of Holy Joy: The Ship Sails Into Soho
Report and Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 4 October 1986
JOHNY BROWN was a soldier until they discovered he couldn't march in step with the others. ...
Augustus Pablo: Man from the Hills
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
For over a decade, and through the endless changes in the music's style, the melodica musings of AUGUSTUS PABLO have drifted across reggae, haughty and ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
WISE UP! ...
Felt: Forever Breathes The Lonely Word (Creation)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
...(ROCK IS dead?) I think we can do better than that. The thing about Felt (which was that they sounded like everyone else) hasn't changed. ...
Jackson Browne: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
A SUITABLY large number of Americans turn out to sample Jackson Browne's Californian confessional. Sunshine, bleeding hearts, airbrushed emotions, existentialist romances lost in the night ...
Jerry Butler: The Ice Man Cometh
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
JERRY BUTLER Chicago crooner, beer businessman and local politician meets cool SIMON WITTER ...
Review by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
"THE GORGEOUS thunk of BMW doors, Jacob, like electric windows' reptilian blink on buttocks clenched in bucket seats, are signals too malodrous to be dismissed ...
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
SO, THE last two, troubled decades of Miles Davis — from Voodoo to Tutu, from the blistering frustration of On The Corner to the comfortable ...
Smiley Culture: Tongue In Cheek (Polydor)
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
FROM CHRONICLING his days playing conkers at Tulse Hill Secondary School to running up against police officers Smiley has always been the charmer cheeking his ...
James Brown: Stay On The Scene Like An Answerin' Machine
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 18 October 1986
MARK SINKER talks to God alias JAMES BROWN on the great black telephone. ...
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
HERE THEY are again. Norway's finest and the group who cleaned up after the chart fragmentation of Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran, a-ha ...
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
THIS IS an ode to peroxide. Bottle Blonde spikes and matted hair. Gel by the ton. A sneer, a whiplash smile, a surly pout. The ...
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
THERE'S THIS big guy sitting two seats down the table from me at The Bottom Line in Greenwich Village, and he's blocking my view. ...
Curtis Mayfield: Piccadilly Theatre, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
PAUL WELLER knows his place. Despite meaning a lot of things to a lot of people, he was more than reluctant to share the stage ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Liverpool
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
WHAT DO you do when you've made a completely excessive double album which made history as highly moderate filler? How do you feel when everyone ...
Freddie McGregor: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
THAT FREDDIE McGregor has been the best and the most consistent reggae artist working in a traditional vein outside the strictures of the dancehall since ...
Girlschool: Nightmare At Maple Cross (GWR)
Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
WHEN THE metal messiah Lemmy recently stated on the radio that Heavy Metal was all about tunes, and that vocals, lyrics, and accessories were unimportant, ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
BACK IN the bleak wastes of the early ‘70s – when, of course, things were really no more bleak than they are now – there ...
Peter Case: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
CASE OF NERVES ...
Fela Kuti: The Great Pretender: Fela Kuti
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
So, who is this FELA KUTI? An African musician just out of jail and now threatening to run for President of Nigeria? A polygamist in ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
PRETENDERS LPs were always crap. Get Close is no exception. Having said that, though I have quite a bit of time for Chrissie Hynde, her ...
Whitney Houston: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
A TASTE OF ECSTASY ...
The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde: We Are All Prostitutes
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
"I CAN SIT down with someone who is shooting up heroin; I can talk to a woman who is about to have an abortion because ...
Cyndi Lauper: The Bop Don't Stop
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
THE BIG BOPPER was a huge slobbering lech, bursting out of his suit drooling ungodly lust. Squeezed into a phone booth he called Chantilly Lace, ...
Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Lester Bowie: Miles Davis Meets Donald Duck
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
LESTER BOWIE'S white lab coat and mischievous trumpet have fronted The Art Ensemble Of Chicago's ironic jazz, From The Roots To The Source's revivalist gospel ...
Lone Justice: Maria McKee: Sweet Heart Of The Radio
Report and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
So, what's it to be then? Is MARIA McKEE of LONE JUSTICE last year's pretty thing or next year's Queen of the airwaves? MAT SNOW ...
The Chords: Live At The Rainbow 1980 (Unicorn)
Review by Penny Reel, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
IT WAS QUITE laughable to see how pathetically misinformed were all parties concerned in the great mod revival swindle of 1980. But then it was ...
Live Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
IN THE FOOTSTEPS of such music-hall and variety greats as Tommy Trinder, Ted Ray and Jimmy Tarbuck, tonight The Smiths tread these venerable boards to ...
Trouble Funk: Say What! Live In London
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
JUST THE other night I achieved a tiny slice of immortality when radio-jock Andy Kershaw played a 1960s Texan garage nugget of which he knows ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1 November 1986
WHERE IS Tushmobile? On the basis of this show I'd guess it got lost somewhere in the mix. Lord knows I've waited to see ZZ ...
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Mad Bastards
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
WITH A LITTLE help from his friends, Frankie went to Number One. He found that Number One was more exciting than Hollywood ever could be. ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
SWEET HONEY IN THE R**K ...
Live Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
IT BEGINS with a word that sounds like BOING! The BOING! Triggers a controlled BOOM!, blanketed by a downbeat TSCHAK! In case you didn't catch ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
WHAT ARE WORDS WORTH? ...
Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy: Town And Country Club, London
Live Review by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
SOMETHING REMARKABLE would surely happen at this hallowed electric tabernacle. You could sense the impending presence of a, ahem, 'jazz' legend — his shadow leant ...
Nick Cave: Your Funeral…My Trial
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
MANSON KILLED a woman. Burroughs killed a woman. Nicholas Cave, performance artist, amoral Baal-like poet and tortured balladeer, sings of killing a woman. ...
Suicide: Camden Palace, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
A LITTLE hipper than they were when Clash fans bottled them a decade ago, the cult New York duo Suicide have reformed for some select ...
The Residents: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
VAUDE-VILE ...
The Residents: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
IF YOU often wondered what fate befalls ex-members of that most teenage of teenage groups, Menudo, don't. Their hearts are left in San Francisco where ...
The Weather Prophets: Diesel River
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 8 November 1986
I'M TOLD Diesel River is designed specifically for our teutonic friends. But considering that many of our "biggest record stores in the world" are hotching ...
Bruce Springsteen: Live/1975-85
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 November 1986
GAVIN MARTIN rummages through his pre-Christmas stocking and uncovers the heavyweight Broooce, a five-album set of Springsteen live, including mucho unreleased material. ...
Christy Moore: Ireland In An Acid Bath
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 November 1986
The magic of old Ireland meets burning political insight in the music of CHRISTY MOORE, former Planxty/Moving Heart mainstay turned extraordinary solo man. GAVIN MARTIN ...
Patti Labelle: Labelle Of The Ball
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 15 November 1986
"I LOVE Madonna. I do. I just don't like the way she stepped on my feet. We were at the American Music Awards, in the ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 22 November 1986
IT WAS Mark Smith of top pop group The Fall who, in a typical broadcast of dedicated anti-trendiness, announced that vegetarianism helped one leave the ...
Mantronix: Will Hip Hop Eat Itself?
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 22 November 1986
Where is it? New York city. How is it? Bloody hot in here. Why is it? Because MATRONIX, pure-steel technologists of studio and vox, have ...
Smiley Culture: Word Party, Y'all
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 November 1986
Rabbit on, SMILEY CULTURE! STEVEN WELLS ties tongues wiv the mouf movin' fast frew the language barriers. ...
Alexander O'Neal: Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
IT SEEMS TO be ladykiller month in the UK. Luther Vandross and Freddie Jackson both have releases, while big Alex O'Neal's 1985 Epic album is ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: Licensed To Ill (Def Jam)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
SLOW AND LOW AND SICK AND FAB ...
Bob Geldof: Deep In The Heart Of Nowhere
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
WELL, SAINT Bob, here we are again. Doubtless you're expecting a right royal slagging in these pages, but that's not what I want to do. ...
Camper Van Beethoven: Camper Van Beethoven (Rough Trade)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
CAMPER VAN Beethoven occupy the leftovers of Americana. Others have claimed the broader fields of country music and rock and punk, and the great subjects ...
China Crisis: What Price Paradise (Virgin)
Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
CHINA CRISIS are a polite band. Worried about jagged edges, loose chords and jarring vocals, they airbrush their songs with a vapid wash which makes ...
Elvis Costello: Royalty Theatre, London
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
HALFWAY THROUGH 'Watching The Detectives', there is a small fight. When it has been amicably concluded, the thin man in the Buddy Holly specs, striped ...
Holger Hiller: Oben Im Eck (Mute)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
A SAMPLER IS always back-to-back with an array of possibilities. At her/his index finger. The choices: to either steal in an indiscriminate manner without discretion ...
Jesse Johnson: "Prince Is An Asshole"
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
OF ALL THIS last decade's superstar black bands, which do you think has spawned the most solo success stories? The Jacksons? Earth Wind & Fire? ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
IT WAS almost as if they were trying too hard to convince themselves. With all the zip his curiously glum voice could muster, Suggs sings, ...
Throwing Muses: Grannie Takes A Trip
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 29 November 1986
MAT SNOW is much taken with THROWING MUSES a faith-healing four from Massachussets. ...
The Fall Play Hey! Luciani: Riverside Studios, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, December 1986
THERE'S A PLAY in every one of us, even Ernie Wise. And perhaps Mark E. Smith. In fact, most of the ingredients are here, maybe ...
Dexter Gordon: Bertrand Tavernier on Round Midnight
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986
THE DIRECTOR of Round Midnight is extremely un-Bebop in appearance. His supine bearing and serene features suggest a cross between Roland Barthes and Claude Chabrol, ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986
BOBBY WOMACK's second album for MCA sees him reunited with Chips Moman, the Memphis producer who has spent the last decade cutting country records in ...
LA Dream Team: California Dreamin'
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986
WHEN AN unknown band like The LA Dream Team put a single out on their own label, and 250,000 people buy it, they've got to ...
Michael McDonald: I Survived The Doobies
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986
ON THE FACE of it, Michael McDonald is the kind of West Coast AOR "artist" who has been reviled in NME circles since time ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 December 1986
"My life is like a joke but to me it isn't funny..." ('All I Want To Do') ...
Lindisfarne: Dance Your Life Away
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 13 December 1986
IT'S PHENOMENAL. Soon a whole city will be swinging together. Every Christmas, like clockwork, a bunch of hairy, balding middle-aged men take the stage and ...
Madonna: The Crucifixion Of A Junkyard Angel
Comment by Lucy O'Brien, John McCready, New Musical Express, 13 December 1986
Madonna: The Crucifixion Of A Junkyard Angel, part 1Lucy O'Brien ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 20 December 1986
His codpiece was banned from TOTP, his new single 'Candy' has been banned by Radio One, but LARRY BLACKMON has still led Cameo to the ...
The Band Of Holy Joy: The Loneliness Of The Late Night Drinker
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 20 December 1986
1986 was the year that Englishness made a comeback, and no one caught its multi-faceted moods of gloom and nostalgia better than THE BAND OF ...
The Housemartins: If You Love Jesus
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 20 December 1986
FOR GOD'S SAKE, stop and think. When Christmas Day first strikes again when you're reeling in the aisles, cock-eyed and carolling, desperate for a ...
Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Island)
Review by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, Summer 1986
WHEN SHE DIED I was still preoccupied with the politics of holey jeans and why the Ramones were the perfect emblem of the beast Modern ...
Percy Sledge: 501 Ways to Leave Your Lover
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
Percy Sledge: Town & Country Club, London ...
Husker Du: Warehouse: Songs And Stories (Warner Bros)
Review by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 1987
THERE ARE several reasons why Id like to backtrack a decade to my teenage years, but right now I can think of none better than ...
James Carr: At The Dark End Of The Street (Blue Side, import)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
"THE WORLD'S Greatest Soul Singer", boasts the cover of this magnificent album, and I ain't about to argue. In fact I have long regarded the ...
Johnny Adams: The Tan Nightingale (Charly)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
CHARLY FOLLOW-UP their 1978 reissue of Johnny's Heart And Soul album with a wider-ranging retrospective on the man also known as the Tan Canary. (Given ...
Aaron Neville, ZZ Hill: Stateside Booty: ZZ Hill, Aaron Neville, Jimmy Holiday and Early Motown
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
THE FLOOD of soul reissues and compilations continues with four more from the vaults of EMI's Stateside subsidiary. First off, an album of mid-period (early ...
The Neville Brothers: Treacherous - A History Of The Neville Brothers 1955-1985 (Rhino)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
WHAT a nice surprise: a double album of material from what is virtually a one-family history of New Orleans R&B, tastefully packaged and annotated by ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
SUBTITLED "Un Operachi Romantico In Two Acts", Frank's Wild Years is effectively the final part of a trilogy that began in 1983 with the extraordinary ...
Van Morrison: Live At Liverpool Empire.
Live Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 1987
"Didn’t I come to bring you a sense of wonder.Didn’t I come to lift your fiery vision brightDidn’t I come to bring you a sense ...
Christy Moore: Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, January 1987
WHILE OUR pubs become youth clubs (16-30s), where communication is broken by mindless muzak, and while our elders are alienated from our "social" lives, the ...
Faust: Return of a Legend: Munic & Elsewhere
Review by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, January 1987
MEPHISTO CALLING. Good news – Faust are back. Released from a devil's pact with silence, they're noisily celebrating the repossession of their souls. A new ...
The Durutti Column: Durutti Column: Valuable Passages (Factory)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 January 1987
SOMETIMES, WHEN you're kept rooted at one spot by something, you stay. None the more sure about what it was that pushed you there, yet ...
Muriel Gray: Don't Touch That Dial, Sassenach!
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 3 January 1987
Sick of Jools? Fed up with Paula? Well, the only saviour for you on The Tube must be MURIEL GRAY, who's now branching out into ...
Simple Minds: Jim Goes To Hollywood
Interview by Lynden Barber, New Musical Express, 3 January 1987
SIMPLE MINDS, and Jim Kerr in particular, always seem to be "out" when we phone... funny, that. But LYNDEN BARBER got a good connection, from ...
A Certain Ratio: Ten Years on the Factory Floor
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
Can you feel the 'force'? A CERTAIN RATIO's decade of inconsistent, meandering flight between trash and flashes of brilliance may well have come to an ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
300 nights a year, Lucille-loving BB KING is the world's premier blues ambassador, still carrying the standard for black heroes long gone. GAVIN MARTIN swings ...
Microdisney: Crooked Mile (Virgin)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
PLEASE EXCUSE my pretentiousness, but William Morris wrote in The Earthly Paradise: "Dreamer of dreams, born out of my time, why should I strive to ...
The Gap Band: Zibble Zibble Drivel
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
THE GAP BAND'S music-by-numerals approach to the dancefloor has brought them steady success in Britain, most recently with the single 'Big Fun'. SIMON WITTER probes ...
The Membranes: Love and Fury for Export
Report and Interview by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 10 January 1987
With the multinational dross-spreaders and the candyfloss radio stations celebrating another year with their boot-heel on the throat of popular music, THE MEMBRANES — godfathers ...
The Beastie Boys, Run-DMC: Beastie Boys: Ritz, New York NY
Live Review by Rob Tannenbaum, New Musical Express, 17 January 1987
BUILDING THE PERFECT JERKS! ...
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 17 January 1987
Before disco there was Philadelphia International Records, the Soul label of the '70s. Now it's been documented in a boxed set of albums. BARNEY HOSKYNS ...
Paul Johnson: Revelation from Paradise
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 January 1987
No one illustrates the depth and talent of UK soul more than PAUL JOHNSON, who's arrived at the doorstep to fame via gospel singing. Will ...
The Beastie Boys: Rap Around The Cock
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 January 1987
THE BEASTIE BOYS take a long, slow ride into the sewers of their minds, accompanied by a fascinated hack, one STEVEN WELLS. They do it ...
General Kane: Slamming The Crack
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 24 January 1987
Crack may have killed Applejack but GENERAL KANE leader Mitch McDowell won't touch the stuff: "I'm no saint, I've done a lot of things in ...
Van Morrison: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 24 January 1987
NOT UNREASONABLY I've always associated middle-aged corpulence and material over-indulgence with the death of desire to develop; we witness the long drawn-out demise of our ...
Elvis Costello And The Attractions at the Royal Albert Hall
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 31 January 1987
STEVEN THE computer programmer is in his element. In black and white stripes with red kipper tie, he's sweating, shaking and singing all the words ...
Double Dee & Steinski: Steinski: Remix the Apocalypse
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 31 January 1987
Turn it up! Crank up the bass! Take a break listening to crazy Cronkite's commentary of president Kennedy's assassination! Whizz-kid adman turned master-mixer STEINSKI — ...
The Style Council: Style Council: The Cost Of Loving (Polydor)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 February 1987
LISTEN TO the wordly-wise Cappuccino Kid: "...this affair of the heart, once it began, dispelled all the bitternenss I felt at the world, and gave ...
Billy Bragg's record collection
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 February 1987
A HARE-BRAINED afternoon in the warmest room and things are not quite what they seem. The bookshelves may be burdened with Mayakovsky and miner's lamps; ...
Megadeth: Deth Sells: Megadeth
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 14 February 1987
MEGADETH are the cream of the new Speed Metal crop. Deth squaddy Dave Mustaine discusses life in HMs fast lane with souped-up SIMON WITTER. ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 February 1987
ONLY COUNTRY, as glitzy and airbrushed as it’s become, could give us something as apple-pie downhome as a mother-daughter harmony duo. A Nashville fairy tale ...
Mick Karn: Dreams Of Reason Produce Monsters (Virgin)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 21 February 1987
MICK'S HIT upon hard times since the fall of Japan and his forgotten Titles. Perhaps the demise of the miscellaneous/multi-instrumentalist category in the Readers' Poll ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 28 February 1987
MARIA McKEE bites yer lugs. Sometimes it's a sensual experience; a shiver in the stirrup, a tickle on the lobe. Sometimes it's excruciating; the yelp ...
Mel & Kim: Shop Girls Of The World Unite!
Profile and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 28 February 1987
Out of the shops and into the charts come MEL AND KIM – friendly, forthright, but kept strictly in line by their manager. PAOLO HEWITT ...
Terence Trent D'Arby: Tel-star
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 28 February 1987
Plenty of others have made the same journey from gospel to soul, via boxing; rather fewer have taken detours through the Army of the Rhine ...
Tom Verlaine: Words from the Front
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 28 February 1987
TOM VERLAINE, the blank generation’s very own Neil Young, is sitting on the floor of a Phonogram press suite devouring a croissant. I’d expected someone ...
Julian Cope: Saint Julian (Island)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 March 1987
THERE HAVE been four Saint Julians. One, Julian of Toledo, persecuted the Jews; Julian the Hospitaller murdered his mum and dad by mistake; and three, ...
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 7 March 1987
"I pre-empted the Doctor Martens thing, you know." ...
Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen: Lenny and Jenny Sings Lenny
Interview by Biba Kopf, New Musical Express, 14 March 1987
A LEONARD COHEN song is the dark disaster that brings on the light. A slow and irresistible force, the rich laval flow of his voice ...
Report by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 14 March 1987
The only definite sighting of PERCY SLEDGE in recent weeks has been in the UK Top Ten. BARNEY HOSKYNS reviews the career of the elusive ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 14 March 1987
OUT OF LITTLE ACORNS... ...
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 March 1987
First and biggest! METALLICA stumbled across the secret of speed-metal and threw open the door for the hairy hordes that followed. In the process, they've ...
Slayer: To Hell And Back: Slayer
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 21 March 1987
Not all the old Heavy Metal cancers have been cured. SLAYER - erstwhile thashers, now adopted by the speed-metalists - have been forced to deal ...
The Weather Prophets: Singing In The Rain: The Weather Prophets
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 28 March 1987
Songs?! Poetry?!! Something's very wrong here; THE WEATHER PROPHETS are making a splash as a high profile rock band, but there's no mention of metal ...
Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers: Chuck Brown: Take The Money And Go-Go
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 April 1987
CHUCK BROWN'S in Britain to stick up the go-go scene with his pioneering blast of bum-pin'. But as SEAN O'HAGAN finds out, he didn't get ...
Paul Simon: The Boy in the Boycott
Report by Mark Sinker, Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 4 April 1987
Is PAUL SIMON "a genius and a loathsome coward"? Does the lack of anti-apartheid statements on Graceland amount to condonation of Botha's regime? Or has ...
Cookie Crew: The Cookie Crew: Bite This
Profile and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 11 April 1987
B-girls behave! THE COOKIE CREW call for unity on the homegrown hip-hop scene. LUCY O'BRIEN watches them clear the decks. ...
Paul Simon: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 18 April 1987
LET'S NOT beat about the bush. This is a celebration of black South African music with an anti-apartheid spirit mixed into its magic. And it ...
Hüsker Dü: Dü You Believe In Magic?
Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 25 April 1987
Hüsker Dü, major-label guys, zoom on with their finest LP yet and an affirmation of their world view. RICHARD GRABEL is still a true believer ...
Christy Moore: Unfinished Revolution (WEA)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, May 1987
SURELY CHRISTY Moore, the demi-god of Irish folk, can't have produced another masterpiece in the mould of Ride On and Ordinary Man? ...
Concrete Blonde: Concrete Blonde (IRS)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
CONCRETE BLONDE have pushed themselves up towards the sun from a long ugly crack in the sidewalk called Hollywood. They're a gangly looking weed, with ...
Curiosity Killed The Cat: Keep Your Distance (Phonogram)
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
BOREDOM: THE SCRATCH MIX ...
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
LABI SIFFRE is off his stool and back on the charts, singing against apartheid. LUCY O'BRIEN joins him on the fence. ...
Living In A Box: Boxing clever
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
They came from nowhere to take the Top Ten by storm. But who were the mystery men of LIVING IN A BOX? Were they black? ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
OK, SLAYER. So you're the world's top death-metal thrash outfit, and you're playing to thousands all over Britain. But now you must justify your appalling ...
Sly & Robbie: Rhythm Killers (Island)
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
BONDED BRILLIANCE ...
Suzanne Vega: Solitude Standing (A&M)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
SUZANNE VEGA's first album I found promising but irritating: the Joni/Rickie Lee persona presented with a knowing, sickly coyness. As a harbinger of the singer-songwriter ...
The Railway Children: Wigan's Chosen Few
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
As their LP chugs into the charts, THE RAILWAY CHILDREN appear to be on the fast-track for pop stardom. JOHN "Beeching" McCREADY however, reckons it's ...
Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 2 May 1987
THE QUESTION is: should there really be a question at all? Many people hold no truck with reformations; more often than not they tarnish precious ...
Overview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
The wit and wisdom of DEF JAM as captured in the NME. From Rick Rubin as hipster to Beastie Boys as Sex Zeppelin and beyond. ...
The Beastie Boys, Oran "Juice" Jones, Run-DMC, Slayer: Def Jam: Baaad Company
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
With their label gone mega, and even greater triumphs planned, Def Jam mainmen RICK RUBIN and RUSSELL SIMMONS currently combine the Midas touch with the ...
Happy Mondays: "Everything Else Is Foreign, Innit?"
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
HAPPY MONDAYS box ears as Factory's rhythm frenzy new boys. DELE FADELE is welcomed to their working week. ...
Shelleyan Orphan: Helleborine (Rough Trade)
Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
SHELLEYAN ORPHAN are composers Caroline Crawley and Jemaur Tayle, who both love classical instruments, and have a thing about the poet Shelley. ...
The Stupids: Stupidity Maketh The Men
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
Not dumb, maybe a little deaf by now...UK thrash stylists The Stupids step off their skatin wheels and entertain Cynthia Rose with tales of ordinary ...
That Petrol Emotion: Babble (Polydor)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
ROCK BEAST ROARS ...
The Blow Monkeys, Curtis Mayfield: Rejoice!
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
Surgery's open, and here's busy Doctor Robert of THE BLOW MONKEYS: banned by the BBC, co-singing with Chicago soul legend CURTIS MAYFIELD and activating with ...
The Replacements: Pleased To Meet Me (Sire)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987
THE WELCOME return of the world's most talented buncha winos. This time the noise that Minneapolis's finest are making sounds like a celebration of sorts. ...
Gaye Bykers On Acid: Camden Palace, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
THO' THEY dilly dally mightily with the inherently sloppy imagery of psychedelic flip-foppery, the Bykers are in reality as hard and as disciplined as a ...
Public Enemy: The Enemy Without
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
PUBLIC ENEMY are the latest hard rap attack from Def Jam's box of tricks, but very different from all that's gone before. Toting Uzi machine ...
Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
COLT 45 ...
Schoolly D: Saturday Night Jive
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
Yo! and pass the fun-size Mars Bars! Eating lemon sherbets instead of lead death, JOHN McCREADY asks cutting edge B-boy SCHOOLLY D how he got ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
Legends of world rhythm SLY & ROBBIE have responded to advances in all musics by making a technological masterpiece of an LP. SEAN O'HAGAN meets ...
The Proclaimers: Twin set and pearls
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987
Those sons of Auchtermuchty, THE PROCLAIMERS, charge their silver throats with LUCY O'BRIEN and identify the Scots pysche and climate that rumbles through their songs. ...
Chumbawamba, Class War, Conflict, Crass, Flux of Pink Indians: Anarcho-Punk: Veg Wedge
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 23 May 1987
With Crass, Poison Girls and Flux in either retirement or a state of change, and Conflict in trouble, the anarcho-punk movement is in tatters. STEVEN ...
Sweet Honey In The Rock: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 23 May 1987
VOX NECTAR ...
The Cradle, Easterhouse: The Cradle: The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 23 May 1987
Following the acrimonious break-up of Easterhouse last year, guitarist Ivor Perry has put together a less rigidly militant combo called THE CRADLE. LEN BROWN hears ...
The Mighty Lemon Drops: Drop in the ocean
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 23 May 1987
Last year THE MIGHTY LEMON DROPS crossed the Great Rubicon between indie cred and chart expectations. This year America beckons but there's still no sign ...
Deacon Blue: Light Macs: Deacon Blue: Raintown (CBS)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
RICKY ROSS— it's the type of name that must determine your destiny. Like Reed Richards: Reasonable Superhero or Bruno Brookes: Burly Deejay or Dickie Davies: ...
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
Woah, boy. This is LL COOL J, sitting behind the wheel of an automobile, sensing disrespect! Our man in the wraparounds and the probe-stick: DELE ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
Years of sweating his butt off for The G.F.O.S. James Brown have told on Mr Maceo. And now that his own MACEO AND THE MACKS ...
Randy Newman: Lonely At The Top (WEA)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
"Let's drop the big one..." ...
Sonic Youth: Sister (Blast First)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
FLOWERS IN THE DUSTBIN ...
The Lounge Lizards: No Pain For Cakes (Antllles)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
LURIE SAYS he's got stuff to make Tom Waits weep. And this collection, has a verve and nerve to justify his sly pride. Something to ...
The Cure: Two-Headed Monster: The Cure: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Fiction)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
HEAD FOR THE HILLS, it's the return of the double album! ...
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 30 May 1987
WITH THIS debut album Well Red, a pointy nosed white boy and a black Lovers rock-head, prove they're the best of Britain's fresh funky little ...
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 4 June 1987
Prince isn't a star, he's an event. And so is the release of his new double LP. Paolo Hewitt is let to the subterranean bunker ...
The Band of Holy Joy: "Bertolt Brecht, my arse!"
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
THE BAND OF HOLY JOY go to Tynemouth and back to say 'we're not a bunch of art poseurs, ta very much' Bag-man: LEN BROWN ...
David Bowie, Nona Hendryx: Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam, Holland
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
CACKY ACTOR ...
Davy DMX: Now the beat is dope
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
New York — urban hell special!: DAVY D, Run DMC/Beasties support star and longtime New York DJ, entertains DELE FADELE with a shot of drug ...
The Beastie Boys, Run-DMC: Run DMC, The Beastie Boys: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
FRIGGIN' AND SWIGGIN! ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
Riots greet U2 in Italy! Bono is bigger than Il Papa! Rock is not dead! Sean O'Hagan gets an audience with the holy man of ...
Whitney Houston: Whitney (Arista)
Review by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 6 June 1987
WHITNEY HAS been coached and coutured through the artistic school of MOR showbiz professionalism until, at 23-going-on-40, she has reached the height of airbrushed fantasy ...
The Replacements: Taking Out The Trash
Report and Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 13 June 1987
Yup, THE REPLACEMENTS, infamous Kiss fans cum tack rock merchants, have cleaned up and become, in their own words, a respectable "showband", with a brilliant ...
Jennifer Warnes, Leonard Cohen: Jennifer Warnes: Famous Blue Raincoat (RCA)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 20 June 1987
THE TOTAL exhumation and resurrection of Leonard Cohen gathers alarming pace. Here Jennifer Warnes, one-time backer to ole grumble guts, runs through nine of laff-a-lifetime-Len's ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 20 June 1987
2008 NOTE: It's a cruel irony that JM Silk now seem like a footnote in music history, given that they were the act that broke ...
Nona Hendryx: Let's get metaphysical
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 20 June 1987
NONA HENDRYX, ex of Labelle, has called her new LP Female Trouble — but LUCY O'BRIEN finds she's now a "big gun" having "big fun", ...
Sonic Youth: Super Sonic Sisterhood
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 20 June 1987
2005 note: Mostly what I read in this piece is what a fight it seemed to get anything said about "rock" in 1987, in the ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987
THINK OF Peter Green, trapped in his chosen career archetype, degenerating from world-famous pop-star blues-man to dirty old tramp terrorising Richmond. The bluesman-as-outlaw-loner takes its ...
Luther Vandross: Forever, For Always, For Love (Epic)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987
ON THE soft focus cover shot, the transformation is complete: Luther the beige mannequin with compulsory wet look is a world away from the roly ...
Martin Stephenson & The Daintees: Martin Stephenson and the Daintees: Town and Country Club, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987
PRESERVE US from Daintee girlies. They squeal, they stamp on my feet, they swoon "he's got lovely hands" about Stephenson's unremarkable mitts, and they feign ...
Trouble Funk: Trouble With Your Dancing Feet?
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987
TROUBLE FUNK are going where no go-go has gone before, to radio-land. JOHN McCREADY supports this funky plan. ...
The Associates, Yello: Yello: Shirley and Company
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987
2005 note: Easily my favourite NME piece. Kudos also to the sub who chose the original caption: "Helvetica Bold" ...
Felt: Poem Of The River (Creation)
Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 4 July 1987
THE MOST FASCINATING aspect of the band Felt is Lawrence's insatiable urge to constantly free-fall the perimeters of his creative ability. ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young And Crazy Horse: Life (Geffen)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 4 July 1987
YOU WON'T SEE Neil Young on the cover of your modern NME, but this album is worth a whole lot more than Suzanne Vega's entire ...
Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 4 July 1987
THE '70S DINOSAURS are dying out; either through lack of brain, excess of dosh or both. ...
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 10 July 1987
WITH HIS usual flourish of verbal arrogance, Terence Trent D'Arby has already proclaimed his LP the most outstanding debut of the '80s. Fine. The only ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 11 July 1987
IN NEW YORK, there's a war going on. Television ignores it, the papers don't speak of it. It's a war where most of the bloodshed ...
Trouble Funk: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 11 July 1987
SOME CLAIM Angel Dust is a one-way ticket to oblivion that brings out the random psycho in you. Forget it. These bona fide purveyors of ...
Stock Aitken Waterman: Money, Love And Fun
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 18 July 1987
Million-selling marketing men STOCK, AITKEN and WATERMAN wouldn't know a political point if one hit them on the head, but, boy, can they get a ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, August 1987
THE BOY Rakim has a helluva style on the mike. ...
The Christians: Rock On Commie: The Christians In East Berlin
Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1 August 1987
WHERE AM I? The hotel receptionist says, "Have a nice day". There's Gershwin muzak in the lift. There's Sade on the radio. There's no bugging ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1 August 1987
AND DARKNESS fell over all the earth. Well, only a teensyweensy bit of it actually, but it turned into the arse-end of Pandemonium. A plethora ...
Terence Trent D'Arby, Prince: Terence Trent D'Arby: Storm in a T-Shirt; Prince: Prince of Darkness
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 August 1987
"RACIST" D'ARBY T-SHIRT ROW... DEMONIC PRINCE IS "SATAN'S TOOL"... STEVEN WELLS INVESTIGATES ...
Wet Wet Wet: Scream! Scream! Scream!
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 8 August 1987
Lock up your pop-stars, Glasgow's daughters are on the rampage. Thankfully the police have got the situation under control. Wet Wet Wet may be trapped ...
Derrick May, Frankie Knuckles: Back To Jack
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 15 August 1987
2008 NOTE: One year after the big bang of house hype, I was back in Chicago to investigate the latest developments – among them Acid ...
New Order: Substance (Factory)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 15 August 1987
WE CHUCK words at New Order. Words like funereal and ethereal and classical and awesome. ...
Roxanne Shanté: The Queen Rocks On
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 15 August 1987
B-boys beware! ROXANNE SHANTÉ has returned from bambino bearing with a hit 'Have A Nice Day'. LUCY O'BRIEN meets the Queen Bee. ...
AR Kane: A Steak Knife In Your Ear
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 22 August 1987
2005 note: NME had become a prisoner of its late 70s success legitimising punk: terrified of being caught in the lee of whatever the "next ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 22 August 1987
IS MOMUS perverted, introspective, or just more candid than most? LEN BROWN meets the man whose songs are a poison heartache. ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987
THRASH TRASH ...
Crazyhead: Abbey Park Festival, Leicester
Live Review by Bob Stanley, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987
BEER CANS ahoy! It's festival time in Leicester and a decent sunny day has brought all the young dudes out of their houses. After a ...
Hothouse Flowers: Savoy, Limerick
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987
THE HOTHOUSE Flowers kinda live up to their name, burning bright one minute, descending into shiny plastic showbiz the next. The first thing they should ...
Madonna: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 29 August 1987
THE HORDES of topless Brooooce and Bono-philes who have come here before us have received nothing but the flabby hopes of two ugly old men ...
Alice Cooper, Status Quo, The Stranglers: Alice Cooper, The Stranglers, Status Quo: Reading Festival
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, September 1987
WELCOME TO my nightmare. "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It's been five years but it's good to be back. . . Awwwwwwright! . . . We f—kin' ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, David Quantick, New Musical Express, 5 September 1987
SPORTS DAY IN HELL ...
Johnny Cash: Peterborough Country Music Festival
Live Review by Bob Stanley, New Musical Express, 12 September 1987
THE WHOLE town seems to have been waiting for this moment all week... "Hello. I'm Johnny Cash." ...
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 12 September 1987
Michael Jackson doesn't live in the real world. I read my Sun and Star every day. I know that the boy from Gary, Indiana is ...
Stevie Wonder: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 12 September 1987
I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER! ...
The Smiths: Strangeways, Here We Come
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 12 September 1987
"MAN THAT is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery. He cometh up and is cut down ...
Einstürzende Neubauten, Showaddywaddy: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 19 September 1987
SAY WADD? ...
Einstürzende Neubauten: A Berlin of the Mind
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 September 1987
As EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN return from their two years of self-imposed exile, group-face Blixa Bargeld tells DELE FADELE why they remain the best burst on the ...
Live Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 19 September 1987
KICKSTART ME, JESUS ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 26 September 1987
ROCK HACKS aren't allowed near Bob. He's got no time for the press. In fact, someone who once met his grannie's dog-minder tells me Bob ...
Boogie Down Productions: Scott La Rock: Wasted in the Zoo
Interview by Frank Owen, New Musical Express, 26 September 1987
Less than a month ago, the Bronx rap supremo SCOTT LA ROCK was tragically shot dead in a street brawl, the very day he'd signed a ...
Terence Trent D'Arby: The G.I. Blues of Terence Trent D'Arby
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 26 September 1987
TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY reveals the dark side of his pre-pop star life: the army experience that nearly crushed him, and the realisation that a square ...
The Housemartins: The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death (Go! Discs)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 26 September 1987
A NATION waits, breath caught in the throat with tension; the world's most commercial political pop group has released a second album, and who can ...
The Oyster Band: Wide Blue Yonder (Cooking Vinyl)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 28 September 1987
ONCE UPON a time, admitting to a fondness for English folk was akin to confessing a savage case of crabs. Then came The Oyster Band, ...
Depeche Mode: Basildon Bondage: Depeche Mode: Music For The Masses (Mute)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 3 October 1987
PERSONALLY, I couldn't care less whether The Pet Shop Boys are gay or not. What I want to know is, are Depeche Mode perves? ...
On-U Sound System, Lee "Scratch" Perry: Lee Perry: Revenge Of The Totally Bananas
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 October 1987
Dub President LEE SCRATCH PERRY holds court with DELE FADELE, and predicts the apocalypse. ...
Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen: Tunnel Of Love (CBS)
Review by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
Tunnel Vision ...
Cameo: Empire Pool Wembley, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
TRAPPED BY THEIR UNDERPANTS ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B and Rakim: The Rap Payback
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
SEAN O'HAGAN chills out, cuts the ice and pumps it up with rap's sharpest rhythm-monger ERIC — "all the best music has a bad image" ...
Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: I Cry Alone
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
DAY-GLO PINK mini-dreads erupt from his scalp like antennae made of candyfloss. Iceberg blue eyes stare from cigarette ash skin. A smirk. A belch of ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Astoria, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
HITLER'S SEXY DAUGHTER ...
Public Enemy: Rebels With a Cause
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
They understand Malcolm X and they dig James Brown. Right now PUBLIC ENEMY are making all the noise and SEAN O'HAGAN is ready to take the rap. ...
The Bhundu Boys: Hip Hip Harare
Profile and Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987
The small man with the enormous moustache who examines passengers' bags for terrorist devices at the Air Ethiopia check-in desk has a problem. Every time ...
David Rudder: When the Hammer Falls
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 October 1987
Calypso is the music and voice of Trinidad and DAVID RUDDER looks set to give it international appeal. PAOLO HEWITT meets him. ...
Guns N' Roses: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 17 October 1987
"THIS SONG is my favourite," screams part-man-mostly-dog guitarist Slash, Guns N'Roses' mascot pimple. "It's for all you thrashers out there and it's dedicated to BLOW-jobs ...
The Stranglers: Fey Bikers On Azur
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 17 October 1987
THE PHONE RANG. It was the chief. "Be at the airport tomorrow morning. The Stranglers. Marseilles. Bikers' convention. JJ Burnel burning up the track on ...
The Sugarcubes, The Very Things: The Very Things/The Sugarcubes: Camden Workers Social Club, London
Live Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 17 October 1987
IT WAS A pretty respectable turnout considering that the Camden Workers Social Club is hardly a familiar location for gigs. ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 24 October 1987
GUNS 'N' ROSES get mad with BARBARA ELLEN ...
Pepsi & Shirlie: When Did You Last See George Michael's Trousers?
Interview by Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 24 October 1987
You've heard the phrase 'All mouth and no trousers' — but does it refer to George Michael and his vanishing keks? To Top Shoppers PEPSI ...
Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 24 October 1987
"WE CAN'T really play but were having ago. And we love music, thats why were having a go... our songs are just dead catchy tunes ...
Motorhead: Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Live Review by Ben Thompson, New Musical Express, 27 October 1987
"IF WE moved in next door to you your lawn would die" Lemmy once proclaimed gleefully. To a 12-year-old HM fan like myself, Motorhead always ...
Pepsi & Shirlie: All Right Now (Polydor)
Review by John McCready, New Musical Express, 31 October 1987
PEPSI AND SHIRLIE would like to be taken seriously, but their past is working against them — the fact that they once danced behind The ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 November 1987
SOFA, SO GOOOOOOD! ...
Report and Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 7 November 1987
After ten years in the shadow of New York Flash and Cool, Philadelphia is fast becoming the City of Brotherly Rap. A new generation of ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
SONGS HAVE become fragile. The things that held them together the value of the individual voice, the neat edges of recorded product are ...
Tom Waits: I Just Tell Stories For Money: Tom Waits
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
SOMETIMES YOU CAN get a pretty good idea about someone's music just by checking out their appearance. If clothes maketh the man, they also speak ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
This is a journey into sound. A journey into the hip-slanging, writ-wrangling, song-stealing, dub-dealing world of sampling. It is also fast becoming a journey to ...
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
JAPANESE TOURISTS frantically snapping photographs of each other is a recurring scenario common to the lobbies of Europe's grandest hotels. Today is different. Stepping from ...
The Beastie Boys: The Beastie Bit
Report by John McCready, New Musical Express, 21 November 1987
JOHN McCREADY on the Beastie Boys court case... ...
Mary Coughlan: Palladium, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, New Musical Express, 28 November 1987
WHEN YOU'VE swiftly established yourself as a cult singer of pretty impressive status there's only one direction you want to go, and that's mainstream. It's ...
Live Review by Frank Owen, New Musical Express, 28 November 1987
TEN YEARS ago, Cabaret Voltaire gave the appearance of being needed on the principal that today's avant-garde is tomorrow's ready-to-wear. These days there's nothing as ...
Roger Waters: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 5 December 1987
WELCOME TO the latest in Roger's line of grand political concepts, Radio KAOS. An ever proliferating network of seductive allusions, provocative hints, suggestive cross-references. ...
Krushed With The Reels Of Industry
Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, New Musical Express, 12 December 1987
As the East Midlands house of KRUSH arrests a nation with its jack-knife beat, BEN THOMPSON meets FON's latest sampling superstars. ...
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 12 December 1987
With A R Kane and Dinosaur Jr, Croydon noiseniks LOOP are busy reviving indie white rock fortunes. JACK BARRON asks how long before these bands ...
T-Coy: Union Jack: The British House Boom
Report by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 12 December 1987
If you thought House music was an imported irritation that would jack off as quickly as it came, your worst nightmare is about to become ...
Rick Astley: The Jimmy Tarbuck Syndrome
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 19 December 1987
Is 'When I Fall In Love' the vinyl voice of God? Or does it herald the golden age of the bathtub crooner? The apple of ...
Stock Aitken Waterman: Stock, Aitken and Waterman: Let the Kids Decide
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 19 December 1987
Messrs. STOCK, AITKEN AND WATERMAN were this year's answer to Swain and Jolley, only (surprise surprise) they don't see it that way. SEAN O'HAGAN hears ...
Kid'n Play : Kid'n Play: Rap Without The Crap!
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1988
Lean, mean and squeaky clean, the bullshit-free beats of Kid'n Play have earned them plenty of dubious accolades, from "the yuppies of rap" to "Salt'n'Pepa ...
Cowboy Junkies: Saddled With The Blues: Cowboy Junkies
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1988
JOHN WAYNE on smack? Is that what you expected and outfit who call themselves Cowboy Junkies to sound like? Wild country and western shoot-outs and ...
The Fall, Madness, The Smiths: England: Look Back In Anguish
Essay by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 2 January 1988
"Oh, grassy dale and lowland scene/Come see, come hear the English Scheme!" (The Fall)"You might sleep, but you will never dream/Oh, Manchester! So much to ...
Tony Terry: Forever Yours (Epic LP/cassette)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 2 January 1988
WONDER FULL ...
Arthur Baker, New Order: Arthur Baker: Legends of Arthur
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 9 January 1988
What do current chart hits by New Order and Wally Jump Junior have in common with a new House version of John Coltrane's masterpiece 'A ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 16 January 1988
NEPHI-PHLEGM ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Lust In Space: The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 16 January 1988
Stardate 88.Warp factor 10. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are preparing to pervert the planet, "hit it to hell in the bread-basket", and, er, do ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (EMI America Import LP only)
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 16 January 1988
EXPLODING PARTY PEPPERS ...
Pussy Galore: Total Hot Babe-dom
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 January 1988
"LAST NIGHT we were onstage, and it was like people were screaming and stuff, thrashing around – I don't know, it's like my initial reaction ...
Spoonie Gee: The Wag Club, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 30 January 1988
UNDER PLAIN RAPPING ...
Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, February 1988
"How could they do this to Oscar Wilde's grave?" Len Brown asks of Morrissey, but finds his genitals reduced to paperweights. (Oscar's that is...) ...
Jamie Principle: Acid House: New Acid Daze
Report and Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 6 February 1988
As our charts bulge with British House, so its big American brother trips off in a new direction. Spacier and racier, mesmeric and dis(c)oncerting – ...
Report by John McCready, New Musical Express, 6 February 1988
As our charts bulge with British House, so its big American brother trips off in a new direction. Spacier and racier, mesmeric and dis(c)oncerting ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
Sampled by such hombres as Cameo and B.A.D., and the creator of a bandolier of classic film themes, ENNIO MORRICONE is a master of his ...
Morrissey: Borne To Be Wilde - interview part 1
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
"WE HAVE a warrant here, Mr. Wilde, for your arrest on a charge of committing indecent acts." "Where shall I be taken?" "To Bow Street." ...
Paul Haig: European Sun (Les Disques Du Crepuscule LP/CD)
Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
PAUL HAIG has always been an annoying blur across the face of post-modernist consumer pop music. Splitting up one of the finest Morley-era guitar groups ...
Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance (Fontana)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
IF PUNK was an ugly kid's crazed revenge on old age, an obliterating mayhem, there were other ways the clogging and the arrested adolescence of ...
The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu: Who Killed The JAMs (JAMs LP only)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
MILKING THE MU MU ...
The Mighty Lemon Drops: World Without End (Chrysalis/Blue Guitar LP/cassette/CD)
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
WITHOUT BEING patronising I kind of feel sorry for this lot. Anybody who was fortunate enough to be involved in C86 — the 'movement' that ...
Woody Guthrie: Columbia River Collection
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
THE LEGEND dwarfs the artist. His tragic life, his hard times have somehow cast his potent roots music into the shadows; if you can lay ...
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 20 February 1988
When two tribes go to war... As the Great Frankie Case ends, MICHELE KIRSCH talks to the victorious HOLLY JOHNSON ...
Morrissey: Born to be Wilde - interview part 2
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 20 February 1988
"I THINK that very strong intelligent artists should dictate practically everything, but they don't. If we talk about Tiffany and Belinda Carlisle and the whole ...
Gladys Knight: All Our Love (MCA)
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 27 February 1988
SINCE WINNING the Ted Mack Amateur Hour TV show at the age of eight and picking up $2000 for her rendition of Nat 'King' Cole's ...
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, March 1988
PIXIES QUOTE The Fall (a mangled snatch of 'Stephen Song' in 'I'm Amazed'), so we can: "They pass my home at night/oh they are NOT ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 March 1988
ARISTA'S SWING Street hails the return of Bazza the jazzer. The man who once put more bums on the grass at Blenheim than Churchill had ...
Jean Carne: You're A Part Of Me (RCA LP/cassette/CD)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 5 March 1988
IT'S A SECRET inland sea, this late-nite soul: and Jean Carne's voice is an inlet in that sea, away from the wrong of the world. ...
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (CBS LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 5 March 1988
OSTENSIBLY LENNY has that kind of graceless seriousness which makes the more frivolous amongst us uncomfortable. He's been dismissed by a multitude as an old ...
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 5 March 1988
Madness are dead! Long live THE MADNESS. Without Woody and Bedders and Barson's ghost, the Mad Four – Suggs, Carl, Chris and Lee – charge ...
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, John McCready, New Musical Express, 12 March 1988
Cold Chillin' Records was started in 1986 by Tyrone Williams. As manager of Marley Marl — a 23 year old producer, writer, arranger, and renowned New ...
Nanci Griffith: Little Love Affairs
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 12 March 1988
SHE'S THE very picture of vulnerability. The little girl stands – bobby sox, blazer, hair-band, sprig of blue bonnets in hand – by the window, ...
The Trio Bulgarka: Never Mind The Balkans: The New Bulgaria
Report by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 12 March 1988
Not exactly Bananarama, perhaps, but 4AD's LE MYSTÈRE DES VOIX BULGARES and TRIO BULGARKA and other Bulgarian artists are shifting a surprising number of units ...
Prefab Sprout: From Langley Park To Memphis
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 12 March 1988
FROM THE raw-wrestling flesh of Swoon to the black-faced greasy bikedom of Steve McQueen, the sleeves of Sprout albums have refused to reveal or hint ...
Iron Maiden: Welcome To The Machine: Iron Maiden
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 12 March 1988
MUCH AS WE may laugh at the blustering antics of its ambassadors, HM is no joke. As a kind of musical Rollerball, exorcising taboos and ...
T'Pau: Crystal Tipps, Kicks to Kill
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 March 1988
All hail t'purveyors of t'power and t'glory that is T'PAU. STEVEN WELLS meets up with Caz Decker in Berlin. Swoon. ...
Voice Of The Beehive: Where Angels Fear to Tread
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 26 March 1988
Walking the earth, stalking the fringes of the chart, VOICE OF THE BEEHIVE go five rounds with a Beaujolais-addled BARBARA ELLEN on the set of ...
Tracy Chapman: Tracy Chapman (Elektra)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, April 1988
SHE COMES from the wilderness, as prophesised, with a voice like molasses, hair like an ink blot and a heartful of tears. She comes with ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Ultramagnetic MC's
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, April 1988
THE EXPLANATORY enthusiasm of New York's most impressive, left-field rap newcomers cuts the crisp late-winter air like a drum solo in a public library. ...
Profile and Interview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 2 April 1988
Rap moves fast. Blink and you'll miss a ship-full of 12-inch singles each one pointing in a dozen new directions. With almost ten years or ...
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 9 April 1988
DEEP JOY is in my heart that Aswad have had a giant hit single, a corking little pop reggae soul tune of some upliftingness. However, ...
Martin Stephenson & The Daintees: Gladsome Humour & Blue (Kitchenware/London)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 9 April 1988
STEPHENSON BUILDS bridges. Between love and hate, between cradle and grave, between folk and pop, between the past and the present. He surveys the world ...
Butthole Surfers: Riding The Shock Wave
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 16 April 1988
IN TEXAS, even daylight isn't ordinary. You can stay indoors and sleep, hide from the noon-time sun that way, but the overlit world outside is ...
Ofra Haza: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 16 April 1988
NOT A hip-hop victim in sight, and still Ofra Haza sold out the QEH. Israel's most successful pop star drew a crowd which consisted of ...
Rick Rubin: The Devil's Disciple
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 16 April 1988
Beelzebub or Midas? Def Jam supremo RICK RUBIN walks the fine line between brilliance and stupidity. JACK BARRON joins him on the tightrope and enters ...
Living Colour: Black Rock Coalition: Living Colour’s Vernon Reid
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 23 April 1988
2005 NOTE: This piece is a mess, though the underlying concept was good, and besides, the whole paper was a mess at this stage. I ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 23 April 1988
From presenting the only four nights a week show to play the Primitives next to Prince, JANICE LONG has felt the cold shoulder from the ...
James Blood Ulmer: Pied Bull, Islington, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 30 April 1988
DRUNK ON BLOOD ...
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 30 April 1988
LOVE AND BULLETS ...
Teena Marie: Naked To The World (Epic LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 April 1988
THE WILD white girl of Motown (rtd.) links up with Rick James again, and reminds us of a whole slew of things we were forgetting ...
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 30 April 1988
WHIPPED CREAM ON A BARBED WIRE PIE ...
Danielle Dax: University of London Union
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
DAX IN WAX ...
Derek B: Rapping for the Yankee Dollar?
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
DEREK B is Britain's first serious contender for the crown of international rap. JAMES BROWN bows to the boy from Bow but wonders whether the ...
Penelope Spheeris: Last of the Mohawkans
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
PENELOPE SPHEERIS is the West Coast punk auteur whose movies have traced the decline and fall of hard core culture. Dudes completes her trilogy of ...
The Men They Couldn’t Hang: The Men They Couldn't Hang: Hip Ahoy!
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
Shiver yer timbers and splice yer mainbrace! THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG have just spirited up their first long player Waiting For Bonaparte. LEN BROWN ...
The Primitives: International 2, Manchester
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
OH TRACEY Tracey, we drool in unison. How did we get here. From Morrissey's T-shirts to the foaming lips of Steve Wright, from the indie-ghetto ...
Bastard Kestrel, The Shamen: The Shamen, Bastard Kestrel: Notre Dame Hall, London
Live Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
HALF-SPEEDO half chuck-it-on-the-floor-jump-up-and-down-scarily-and-hope-that-something-happens, these Bastard Kestrels are the wedgeheads' dream answer to Cricklewood Broadway's grim surrounds: four youths down the local disco with but an ...
Thomas Dolby: Town And Country Club, London
Live Review by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
THOMAS DOLBY is a musical Fagin. In his top hat and gutter-sweeping coat he has to pick a pocket or two but has this small ...
Whitney Houston: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
THE MOMENT OF TRUTH, SORTA ...
KRS-One: KRS-1: Brixton Fridge, London
Live Review by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
DEAF NOT DEF ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
Already a star in her native Israel, OFRA HAZA has broken out of the 'world music' ghetto thanks to a sample of her remarkable voice ...
Prefab Sprout: Extracting the Michael
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
Though inspired by dreams of Wacko Jacko, PREFAB SPROUT'S mainman PADDY McALOON has little time lor most rock legends — Talking Heads and Bruce Springsteen ...
Prince: Lovesexy (Paisley Park)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
"The best pop music does not reflect events so much as it absorbs them".– Greil Marcus on Sly Stone's There's A Riot Goin' On ...
Live Review by The Legend!, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
RUSH ARE the present-day equivalent of Woking's own, the Jam. Sounds 'Readers' Poll Winners 1979, the very same year that our fave floppy-fringed trio walked ...
Report by Len Brown, David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 May 1988
The best-selling 12" of all time! Two million copies worldwide! Five years on from its original release (four spent in the Top 200), NEW ORDER'S ...
KRS-One: KRS-1: View From The Bridge
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988
KRS-1, tough turned thinker, raps for condoms and chillin' against crack and killin'. And yet he's seen toting a gun and posing a la Black ...
Public Enemy: Hummingbird, Birmingham
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988
DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! ...
Public Enemy: Too Black Too Strong
Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988
PUBLIC ENEMY — simply the most creative rappers around? Or a dangerous game with the politics of race? JAMES BROWN and JACK BARRON lay it ...
The Weather Prophets: Judges Juries & Horsemen (Creation)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 26 May 1988
WELCOME TO The Pete Astor Experience. ...
Soul Asylum: The Thin White Nose-Candy Line
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 28 May 1988
2005 note: I dont think I ever played one of their records ONCE in all the years since I interviewed them (haha a "sensible Clash" ...
Joni Mitchell: Idol Talk: Joni Mitchell
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 June 1988
"THE POET is the vainest of the vain, even before the ugliest of water buffalo doth he fan his tail." ...
Alexander O'Neal: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 11 June 1988
"GUESS WHAT? I went to see Alexander O'Neal at Wembley tonight. It was brilliant. The seat I'd bought was dead expensive. None of your rubbish. I ...
James Brown: I'm Real (Polydor)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 11 June 1988
HE ISN'T, of course. He's Mr James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, the Funky President, the Original Disco Man. He's a numbing backbeat tightened to ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 18 June 1988
As their debut LP floats in on a cloud of DREAMPOP A.R. KANE tuck SEAN O'HAGAN into beddy-byes and sing him to sleep. ...
Gary Glitter, The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu: The JAMS: Wizards of Scam
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 25 June 1988
While hundreds of hippies besieged Stonehenge, three mysterious cloaked figures slipped through the security net to pay their own strange homage to the Summer Solstice. ...
Bros: "Bros Not Dross" Shock: Bros: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 2 July 1988
WHAT IS IT about Bros? ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: The Motormouths Speed On!
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 2 July 1988
With the American music biz finally embracing hip hop, Eric B & Rakim – contract expired – have been able to cash in their uncompromised ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: Hate Male
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 2 July 1988
The Smiths were "like a life-support machine" to Morrissey. Without STEPHEN STREET – co-writer/producer of Viva Hate – it's conceivable that Les Miserable himself would ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 9 July 1988
FRIDAY NIGHT. Time to take in a show. Support the arts and all that, old bean. Arriving early at the Dominion Theatre the singer from ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 9 July 1988
SATURDAY NIGHT, time yet again to support the arts at the second gig of the weekend to support the ICA and celebrate its 40th birthday. ...
Pink Floyd: A Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 9 July 1988
No band has ever been simultaneously as popular and as hated as Pink Floyd. Their latest album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, has spawned three ...
Salt-N-Pepa: Salt 'N' Pepa: Scratching with Thatcher
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 9 July 1988
SALT 'N' PEPA and Spinderella, those crazy female purveyors of the street beat meet Mrs T for tea in Downing Street. STEVEN WELLS asked them ...
The Darling Buds, The Wonder Stuff: The Wonder Stuff, The Darling Buds: London University
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 9 July 1988
THE CHUNDER STUFF ...
Al Green: “I May Be From Another Planet…”: Al Green
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 16 July 1988
2005 note: I was in New Orleans in April/May 1988, filming items for German TV, when I heard that Al Green would be playing at ...
Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson: Techno: Don't Fear the Robot
Overview by John McCready, New Musical Express, 16 July 1988
TECHNO – a new Detroit sound vibration – is rocking the House of the future. John McCready checks out the credentials of the Third Wave ...
Beats Workin': Turn On, Drop Out
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 16 July 1988
Methylenedioxymetheamphetamine, aka Ecstasy has been described as a "love drug" and "a new age mind bender". Whatever, there is no doubting its effect on a ...
Electra, Paul Oakenfold: Electra: Age of Chants
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988
Club DJ makes record shock! PAOLO HEWITT talks to PAUL OAKENFOLD, the man behind ELECTRA'S 'Jibaro', about his faith in the new Balearic Beat. ...
JVC Force: Can you feel the force?
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988
Blasting the Bronx from their offshore base "Strong Island" come JVC FORCE, making hits but not taking any. MICHELE KIRSCH survives the barrage ...
Nico, The Velvet Underground: Nico: Last of the Bohemians
Obituary by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988
NICO, HIGH priestess of Teutonic angst, died in Ibiza last Monday night of a brain haemorrhage. She was found unconscious by the side of her ...
The Dinner Ladies, The Oyster Band: The Oyster Band and The Dinner Ladies: A Total Oyster Time?
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988
Is the New Wave of British Folk going anywhere, or is it just the old stuff tanked up and recut? ...
The Residents, Snakefinger: The Residents: The eyes of the Lord are upon us
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 30 July 1988
From eyeball lashing to Bible bashing THE RESIDENTS are back and inviting you to come spend a fright night at the opera with them. Their ...
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 6 August 1988
Is MOMUS (aka NICK CURRIE) a voyeur, ex-rent boy and semi necrophile? Or is he merely writing a rock'n'roll bad reputation for himself? DON WATSON ...
Prince & The Revolution: Camden Palace, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 6 August 1988
TWICE IN my life I've shouted "It's better than sex", and twice I've been wrong. First time I was chasin' Pop Rocks exploding candy with ...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 August 1988
Thrill to the Ultimate Confrontation as Teen Queen TIFFANY kills The Acne Ridden Rotter of T'Pennines STEVEN WELLS. Watch in horror as Swells is eaten ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave: The Needle And The Damage Done
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 13 August 1988
NICK CAVE – the voice of desperation; singer, writer, actor, junkie! JACK BARRON, branded by the Bad Seed a "filthy little prick", gets to grips ...
The Jungle Brothers: Burning Bright
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 13 August 1988
Fearing the worst JACK BARRON penetrated the steaming undergrowth of New York to reach THE JUNGLE BROTHERS and finds not red-eyed monsters but fresh-faced missionaries. ...
Scritti Politti: That Obscure Object of Desire
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988
THE MEPHISTO of sophisto, GREEN GARTSIDE, and his slightly cool vehicle SCRITTI POLITTI have once more pulled into view with their new single 'First Boy ...
Review by Martin Aston, New Musical Express, 20 August 1988
IF AMERICAN post-hardcore is the definitive mix of musical sour and sweet – sour, the sound of fractious guitars, melting, and sweet, the coils of ...
Report and Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 10 September 1988
2005 note: Collapse of post-comm Balkans into internecine war hinted at, kinda. Well, only if you read WAY between the lines I think. Another submerged ...
Ciccone Youth: Youth Programming (Bastards)
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 September 1988
THE LAST THING I remember before unconsciousness descended like a gun-butt to the head was Thurston Moore's evil grin and his instruction, "Relax, nothing bad ...
Billy Bragg: Workers Playtime (Go! Discs LP/Cassette/ CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
YOURS SINCERELY ...
Frank Sidebottom: 5/9/88! (In Tape Double LP/Cassette only)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
THE VERY existence of 5/9/88! is a triumph of art over antagonism. Like The Smiths at Strangeways… and The Beatles during Let It Be, Sidebottom's ...
Living Colour: Astoria, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
"IF YOU'RE black, it's OK to be two things, a crooner in a fairisle sweater or a bad ass B-Boy... look at the history of rock music, ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
CHILI TO GO ...
Live Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
THE THING about this alarming trend of 'rock comebacks' is that the term can mean anything from the return of a bankrupt geriatric to the ...
The Jungle Brothers: Zap Club, Brighton
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 17 September 1988
BUNGLE BROTHERS ...
Anthrax: State Of Euphoria (Island LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 24 September 1988
LAD TIMING ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Tender Prey (Mute LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 24 September 1988
LET US PREY ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 24 September 1988
New York's STETSASONIC are pushing forward the frontiers of rap, way beyond girls, cars and gold, into politics and social awareness. Definitely a Stet in ...
Harry Crews: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
TONIGHT — If past reports of her live shows are to be believed — Lydia Lunch is not quite herself. Nor is she alone. Harry ...
Henry Rollins: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
THE GRAND old illustrated man of US hardcore grips the stage with his toes and hangs ten. Henry Rollins has just rolled into town again ...
James: Strip-mine (Blanco Y Negro LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
THE FIRST thing to say is that this is not the LP that James are capable of. By today's standards certainly it's excellent, but it's ...
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
GOTH NIGHT in South London has brought out all the silly cowboy hats, floppy bandanas and Wayne Hussey lookalikes in full force. The crowds of ...
The Fall: Michael Clark & Company v The Fall — I Am Kurious, Oranj: Sadler's Wells, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
M.E.S. IN TUTU DRAW ...
EPMD, Stetsasonic: Stetsasonic, EPMD: International 2, Manchester
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
SONIC BOOM BOYS ...
Hugo Largo, That Petrol Emotion: That Petrol Emotion, Hugo Largo: Hummingbird, Birmingham
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
IF CRITICAL plaudits were big bucks then, whilst erstwhile chum Feargal busked for small change at Leicester Square, That Petrol Emotion would be laughing all ...
Tom Waits: Big Time (Island LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1 October 1988
START MAKING SENSE ...
Interview by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
"Bunny had fashioned a guitar out of a large sardine can with a bamboo stalk and electric wires. Another friend, Peter MacIntosh, obtained a real ...
Falco: Wiener Blut (WEA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
THE RELEASE of a new album from Austria's best-loved pop eccentric always sees me bid my beating heart be still, particularly when it's this unexpected. ...
Keith Richards: Talk Is Cheap (Virgin LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
CHEAP AND NASTY ...
Luther Vandross: Any Love (Epic LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
NO LOVE MACHINE ...
Michael Nyman: Drowning By Numbers (Virgin/Venture LP/ Cassette/CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
WE DON'T want to know about Michael Nyman, they said. We want to hear about genuinely talented people like Kylie Minogue and the Godfathers. Well ...
Todd Terry: Royal House: Can You Party? (Idlers Records Import LP Only)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
TERRY IS the 21-year-old enfant terrible of House, a sci-fi producer who has turned the rules of the game on their heads and left a ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 October 1988
"IT'S COLD outside" sang GARY NUMAN nine years ago during 'Are Friend's Electric''s wintery grip on the charts. None of Gaz's more recent attempts have ...
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 15 October 1988
LONDON BRIDGE is falling down, Big Ben has struck one minute to midnight and had his hand's burned. And all is not well in this ...
The Wedding Present: Town And Country Club, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 20 October 1988
DAVID GEDGE, six foot plus of gangly manhood in a vile paisley shirt, steps through the balloon infested stage and grabs the microphone with a ...
U2: 'In Ireland People Are Scared of Success...'
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 20 October 1988
THE FULFILLMENT of any U2 project will always set tongues a-wagging in Dublin. Aside from being one of the country's major industries, the quartet are ...
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 22 October 1988
So where do we go from here, matey? Acid guru PAUL OAKENFOLD talks to Paolo Hewitt ...
Pop Will Eat Itself: Brielport, Dienze, Belgium
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 October 1988
RAP OVER THE KNUCKLEHEADS ...
Pop Will Eat Itself, Public Enemy: Pop Will Eat Itself (and Public Enemy): Scrapping With Rap
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 29 October 1988
AS DEF JAM'S happy rap panto rolls through Europe, Pop Will Eat Itself and Public Enemy are getting on fine. Unfortunately the hordes of Belgian ...
Derek B, Pop Will Eat Itself, Public Enemy: Pop Will Eat Itself: Scrapping With Rap
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 29 October 1988
As DEF JAM'S happy rap panto rolls through Europe POP WILL EAT ITSELF and PUBLIC ENEMY are getting on fine. Unfortunately the hordes of Belgian ...
The Fall: I Am Kurious Oranj (Beggars Banquet)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 29 October 1988
"When I was at the Witch Trials of the 20th Century, they said: 'You are white crap. You are an aesthetic anesthetic. Your repetition will ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 5 November 1988
TODD TERRY, the name if not the face of 1988, is possibly the ultimate producer, refusing to become a performer or even enter a "proper" ...
Kate Bush: Down At The Old Bul and Bush
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 12 November 1988
Kate Bush and Yanka Rupkina sit on a bean-bag couch and sing to me, Bulgarian style; Rupkina bleating high and joyous above Bush's harmony. ...
Tom Tom Club: The Borderline, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 12 November 1988
TINA WEYMOUTH has been fidgeting behind a bass guitar for 11 years, just waiting for a chance to shake her long blonde hair about like ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 17 November 1988
Does PHIL COLLINS keep up the tradition and slot into the file alongside Ringo and Keith Moon tub-thumpers and "silly" actors both? LEN BROWN ...
Acid Crackdown: Get Right Off One Chummy
Report by Paolo Hewitt, Sean O'Hagan, Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 November 1988
With the hysteria now reaching fever pitch and questions being asked in the (non-Acid) House, NME calls a time out to assess the damage in the tab-mad ...
Acid Crackdown: Sunrise III, Greenwich
Report by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 19 November 1988
2003 note: Sunrise III, which took place in November 1988 on an industrial wasteland that would later house the Dome, was a pivotal event in ...
The Dave Howard Singers, Spacemen 3: Spacemen 3, The Dave Howard Singers: University of London Union
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 November 1988
THE PROBLEM with most purveyors of ersatz electronic soul is they invariably forget the random element while building citadels of software perfect pop. Dave Howard ...
Kym Mazelle And The Post-Acid World Of DEEP HOUSE
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 26 November 1988
With Acid House — the music not the lifestyle — being phased out after a summer of madness, what's next for the turntable terrors? Deep House, ...
T'Pau: Springsteen in a Split Skirt
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 26 November 1988
Still reeling from 15 rounds with Steven Wells, T'Pau's Carol Decker now faces the ultimate challenge — five Bimbo-detecting questions posed by Gimlet-eyed airhead-hater BARBARA ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 December 1988
After spells in the hyper-trendy but hit-starved Rip Rig And Panic and Float Up CP, NENEH CHERRY is about to burst into the charts with ...
Pussy Galore: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 December 1988
FORGET THE conveyor-belt mentality and face up to the facts: using the latest fancy gadgets and accoutrements doesn't automatically make you contemporary or a late ...
Yazz: The Benetton Skeleton Gets It On
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 3 December 1988
Who is this seaweed munching ex-clothes-horse YAZZ person? And why am I covered in bark? asks STEVEN WELLS. ...
Bomb The Bass: The Hawth Centre, Crawley
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 10 December 1988
PUMP UP THE CONCEPT ...
Marshall Jefferson: Let's Get Spiritual – Deep House
Report by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 10 December 1988
As House approaches its third birthday, and the classical club sound of Deep House and Garage Music asserts itself on Acid-fatigued dancefloors, SIMON WITTER reports ...
My Bloody Valentine: Dream Demons
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 December 1988
THE JOURNALIST, immobilized by a massive student demonstration in Central London, is late. A couple of miles up the road in a Kentish Town bar ...
Cardiacs: The Cardiacs: Town and Country Club, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 December 1988
THIS THING IS out of control. A twiddly organ introduction induces mass hysteria amongst the huge Cardiacs cult following, a bizarre range of pigtailed princesses ...
The Cold Crush Brothers: Cold Crush Brothers: Troopers (B-Boy/Westside LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 17 December 1988
SQUASHED OFF in the opposite direction are the Brothers. While hip hop in general is surfing on a newfound musical sophistication, with crews like The ...
K.T. Oslin: This Woman (RCA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 17 December 1988
FOR THE lack of money pretensions, K.T. Oslin and her band of devout followers is, collectively, a good thing. Slightly overrated, certainly overproduced, but never ...
Pussy Galore: Paw Little Rich Kids
Interview by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 17 December 1988
Using horrendous production and brattish titles PUSSY GALORE are fast and thrashing on the heels of The Buttholes and Sonic Youth. DON WATSON (clenched fists) ...
Rick Astley: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 24 December 1988
IS RICK merely a driplet of festering pus oozing from a seeping SAW inflicted on the slashed side of the crucified pop-christ by the very ...
Bon Jovi: Yankee Noodle Dandies: Bon Jovi
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 24 December 1988
HE'S ONLY NINE months older than me, but last year Jon Bongiovi - a 26-year-old American of Sicilian extraction - made more money than you ...
Earth Wind and Fire: Elemental: Earth Wind & Fire
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, Fall 1988
Monarchs of mind expansion and celestial 70s grooving, EW&F were the world's biggest pre-Wacko black superstars. Now they're back, as a 'people band', with a ...
Chaka Khan: Life Is A Dance - The Remix Project (Warner Brothers)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 1989
THIS ALBUM IS simply staggering, as magnificent in finished form as its conception is bizarre. Imagine, if you will, the highlights of a singer's career ...
Dusty Springfield: Scandal In The Wind: Dusty Springfield
Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 1989
As the sex-in-high-places Profumo Scandal returns to this nation's screens, Dusty Springfield (with the Pet Shop Boys) brings us the single soundtrack. Len Brown met ...
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 7 January 1989
And the kids keep dying. Armed with only a Sony Walkman and a pen, PAOLO HEWITT goes looking for the solution to Rap's vicious side, ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 January 1989
AT THE DAWN OF 1989 I'm confronted by Guy House Of Love Chadwick, Andrea Darling Bud and Miles Wonder Stuff. The first, an anorexic Brian ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 14 January 1989
As a columnist for Billboard and The Village Voice, Nelson George has been America's most incisive commentator on the changing face of black music culture. ...
Jane's Addiction: On Tender Hooks: Jane’s Addiction
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 14 January 1989
From beneath the bloated carcass of LA rawk crawl Jane's Addiction, kissing to be clever and determined to prove that Metal can be different. Simon ...
Diamanda Galás: Sometimes Words Are Not Enough: Diamanda Galás: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 January 1989
SELF-CENSORSHIP destroys our richest dreams before they're executed. Just as redneck hysteria is the last refuge of the foul-mouthed scoundrel, so does restraint cast doubts ...
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 21 January 1989
WAS SITTING BULL a Hunkpapa or an Oglala Sioux? And how come one of these two strands of the Sioux nation has emerged as a ...
Jane's Addiction: ICA Rock Week, ICA London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 28 January 1989
ABSENCE DULLS the memory of just how wrong the ICA is as a rock venue. It's not a matter of artsiness — give me designer ...
Jean-Paul Gaultier: Club Couture
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 28 January 1989
After years of being afforded the status of pop star in his native France, fashion designer JEAN-PAUL GAULTIER has gone and done it his way ...
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 28 January 1989
OVER THE PAST 12 months Universal City the five square miles of North Hollywood dominated by the MCA/Universal studios has yielded a crop ...
Sheena Easton: The Prime of Miss Sheena Easton
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 28 January 1989
A star in the States and yet either a twee girlie singer or second-string Prince collaborator in her home country, SHEENA EASTON, courtesy of that ...
Bryan Ferry: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 February 1989
SENT TO review a man who looks like the squinting lion out of Banana Splits, who sings like a garrotted donkey and dresses like a total ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 4 February 1989
Spurning the sampler and the radio-friendly fast buck, Chicago's TEN CITY are committed to rekindling the spirit of classic soul. With 'That's The Way Love ...
Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead: Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead: Dylan and The Dead
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
THIS COULD be a marriage made in heaven or hell, depending on which side of the critical fence you might be sitting. The majority of ...
Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians: the New Marquee, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
DAY DREAM RELIEVER ...
Fine Young Cannibals: The Raw And The Cooked (London LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
WHERE'S THE BEEF? ...
Ice-T and the Rhyme Syndicate: The Pink Toothbrush, Rayleigh
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
GUNS AND BOZOS ...
Tone Loc, Young MC: Lip-Smacking LA: Delicious Vinyl
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
New Yorkers, the creators of hip hop, have never been receptive to outside beats, and in the past only the Philly scene has given them ...
The Lilac Time, Love and Money: Love and Money, the Lilac Time: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
I'M ASHAMED of myself, as usual. For having missed the tea-time set by Andy Pawlak — the post-Sprout troubadour who feeds ice cream to rattlesnakes ...
Ministry: The Land Of Rape And Honey (Sire LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
BRIAN JOURGENSEN and Paul Barker, the men from Ministry, work together in a world of seemingly self inflicted pain and torture. A ceaseless metal-machine beat ...
Souled American: Fe (Rough Trade)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
STILL TRAPPED in the much-vaunted US grassroots revival's clutches, Souled American are floudering. It's no surprise that the search for authenticity petered out, as the ...
The Wolfhounds: Drummonds, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
BJÖRK E SMITH! The manic mongrel fronting the Wolfhounds resembles the offspring of some furtive Fall/Sugarcubes coupling, as he squeaks and stomps through jagged jumping-jack-flash ...
Voice Of The Beehive: Marquee, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 February 1989
PRIVATE PARTY, gargantuan guest list, a friendly farewell full of in-jokes for in-people. On the eve of their US tour, the Beehives bid bye-bye to ...
Elvis Costello: And So To Bedlam
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 18 February 1989
If 'you're nobody 'til everybody thinks you're a bastard' then, logically, the universal acclaim received by ELVIS COSTELLO's Spike LP must make him one of ...
Marshall Jefferson: Marshall Lore
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 18 February 1989
Over the last three years, former post office worker MARSHALL JEFFERSON's work as producer, writer and arranger, has resulted in some of the best House ...
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 18 February 1989
MAMA'S FROCK is straight out of the best little top shop whorehouse in Texas. Daughter goes for a more conservative tailored black suit. Mama could ...
Throwing Muses: Portsmouth Polytechnic
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 February 1989
BIG PAPA GIRL ROCKERS ...
Dusty Springfield: Scandal In The Wind
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 25 February 1989
"IT'S AMAZING when you consider how many people have croaked. Looking back at some of those old Ready Steady Go! Shows, 'Jesus, she's croaked, where's ...
Elvis Costello: Spike (Warners)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 25 February 1989
THE DOUR, BEARDED man wearing a crown who stared out from a record sleeve three years ago was an unhappy monarch. An emperor in new ...
Interview by James Brown, Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 25 February 1989
For its second pop summit of the year, NME lent SEAN O'HAGAN and JAMES BROWN £10 each to buy SHANE MACGOWAN, MARK E SMITH and ...
Buckwheat Zydeco: The Gospel Accordion To Buckwheat
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 4 March 1989
Down in New Orleans SIMON WITTER met squeeze-boxer Stanley 'Buckwheat' Duval ...
The Beastie Boys, Slayer: Def Jam: Def On The Rocks?
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 11 March 1989
Formerly the most formidable crossover label in existence, DEF JAM has been out of the limelight since a split in the ranks saw Rick Rubin ...
Nick Drake: Deja Vu: Nick Drake
Retrospective by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 11 March 1989
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 11 March 1989
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" ...
Papa Wemba: Papa's Got a Brand New Wardrobe: Papa Wemba
Profile and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 11 March 1989
Film-star, superhero, total poseur, Zairean PAPA WEMBA brings his brand of designer World Beat to town, with a swish of posh cloth and a creak ...
Profile and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 11 March 1989
Here PAOLO HEWITT gets on the Voice Beat with SMITH & MIGHTY and SOUL II SOUL. ...
The Style Council: The Singular Adventures Of The Style Council: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (Polydor)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 11 March 1989
THE COVER OF The Style Council's most blatantly angry single, 'Walls Come Tumbling Down', bears not a picture of rioting or the Prime Minister on ...
De La Soul: Three Feet High And Rising (Big Life LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 18 March 1989
ARE YOU ready for Martian hip-hop? Can you handle the new nutty boys of rap, the maddest, baddest bunch on the block? Can you imagine ...
Adult Net, The , The Bluebells, The Smiths: I Was A Juvenile Axe-Attacker: Craig Gannon
Retrospective and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 18 March 1989
From THE SMITHS to THE ADULT NET, THE BLUEBELLS to THE COLOURFIELD and not forgetting AZTEC CAMERA… CRAIG GANNON has played with them all, and ...
The The: The Boy Looked at Johnny
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 25 March 1989
"Johnny (Marr) probably understands what I'm doing more than anybody else I've ever known. It's been an absolute revelation, melodically we're like twins..." So says ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, April 1989
THAT LITTLE MONKEY with the halo hot-wired to its tiny skull – the central image for both the Pixies' latest single and this, their second ...
De La Soul: Soul Deep High and Rising
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 1 April 1989
They're Public Enemy's favourite band and their debut LP 3 Feet High And Rising is the world's first psychedelic Rap album mixing Day-Glo, Disney, dance ...
The Jungle Brothers: Pure Righteousness
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 1 April 1989
Can the creators of powerful positive Afro-rap THE JUNGLE BROTHERS also be true believers of Islamic fundamentalist, black separatist Louis Farrakhan? SEAN O'HAGAN explores the ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 8 April 1989
First grabbing the world's ears with their remix of Eric B And Rakims 'Paid In Full' the COLDCUT crew of Matt Black and Jonathan Moore ...
Kym Mazelle, Ten City: Ten City, Kym Mazelle: Town and Country Club, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 April 1989
KISS IT BETTER ...
A Guy Called Gerald: Voodoo Guru
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 15 April 1989
Despite the praise heaped on A GUY CALLED GERALD'S hypnotic first single, 'Voodoo Ray', nothing much seemed to happen. Then the single hit the clubs ...
Band of Susans: Love Agenda (Blast First LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 15 April 1989
AS DOYENS of the New York post-everything underground scene and inheritors of the glistening mantle once worn by Television, Band Of Susans never clutch at ...
N.W.A: NWA: Straight Outta Compton (Ruthless import LP)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 15 April 1989
COMPTON DOES not sound like the kind of area you want to move to. Judging by this LP, most of its inhabitants seem to bear ...
The Triffids: The Day Of The Triffids
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 April 1989
WINDING ITS WAY down the Swan River to the Indian Ocean, Perth is the sort of paradise most of us only get to dream of. ...
Gerald Alston: Jazz-Soul-Funk Weekender: Cala Gran Holiday Park, Fleetwood
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 22 April 1989
BLACKPOOL HALLUCINATIONS ...
Stevie Wonder: Breaking The Square Circle
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 22 April 1989
Perhaps the most innovative musician of the '70s, STEVIE WONDER has enjoyed mixed fortunes in the '80s, dividing his time between duets with Dionne Warwick ...
The Pixies: Talking With The Animals
Interview by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 22 April 1989
Some weird shit here, fans, as THE PIXIES attempt to explain themselves and their new album to our elflike HELEN MEAD. ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 29 April 1989
JUST-ICE is not a man to cross, for a start he carries a gun and his favourite role model is The Godfather. SEAN O'HAGAN took ...
The Stone Roses: Stone Roses: Stone Roses (Silvertone)
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 29 April 1989
THIS IS Rain Parade at ease after the storm. This is Dream Syndicate going through a recurring nightmare. This is an aural Big Mac laced ...
Cookie Crew: The Cookie Crew: Kooky Crew
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 29 April 1989
South London's finest female rappers THE COOKIE CREW walk proud and talk tough, threatening such pillars of the Establishment as 'Fatch' and DLT in their ...
Big Daddy Kane: Raw Like Sushi
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
Christened The Grasshopper Of Rap for his black belt lyrics, Big Daddy Kane is a hero to rap's hard core followers. With hits for Roxanne ...
James Brown, Bobby Byrd: Bobby Byrd: Rare Byrd
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
Over the years, BOBBY BYRD has been an integral part of JAMES BROWN'S career. PAOLO HEWITT spoke to him about his hot-and-cold relationship with the ...
Bonnie Raitt: Nick Of Time (Capitol LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
NICK OF Time, the LA slide blues songstress' 10th album, is a peach and a half. Ripened to perfection through years of cultivation. There is ...
Review by Chris Roberts, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
ROBERT SMITH reckons Disintegration isn't a miserable record at all. "At all," he says. Right. Meanwhile Van Gogh says Starry Night was a cartoon, Francis ...
Todd Terry, T La Rock: Fridge, Brixton, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
ONE MOMENT you're doubled up with paroxysms of laughter, the next you're seized with rhythmic convulsions. Suddenly, everything makes sense — Todd Terry isn't past ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 6 May 1989
THE BANANA FROM OUTER SPACE ...
Alyson Williams: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 13 May 1989
SEX 'N' SALVATION UNDER THE LASH ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 13 May 1989
CHAKA KHAN, the smooth voice of early '70s soul, has been thrust back into the limelight with a new dance cut of her hits I'm ...
Elvis Costello: Palladium, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 13 May 1989
GETTING HIGH ON E ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Big Oz I Love You
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 May 1989
Why does MR OSBOURNE bite the heads off small animals? Ozzy can. Get it? Is Oz a fat geriatric bastard who'd be better off playing ...
Dr. John: Dr John: In A Sentimental Mood (Warner Bros LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
FUNNY OL' game the record business! First, we have the triumphant return of the Neville Brothers to the A&M stable after a ten year absence ...
Happy Mondays: Haçi*nda, Manch*st*r
Live Review by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
THAT MONDAY FEELING ...
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
HOUSE SEARCH ...
Lucinda Williams: Walking The Line
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
LUCINDA WILLIAMS was caught just in time, the singer/songwriter was just about to head off into the hills when somehow Rough Trade pulled her back. ...
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
On their new album The Burning World the SWANS have discovered their volume control goes down as well as up and have left the harsh ...
Swing Out Sister: Kaleidoscope World (Fontana LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
THE SAFEST way to keep ahead of the pack is to reinvent yourself every time. Swing Out Sister are aware of this; from their debut ...
The The: Mind Bomb (Epic/Some Bizzare LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
BRAIN STRAIN ...
Hue and Cry: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 27 May 1989
YOU HAVE to admire Pat Kane for at least attempting to combine rhetoric with rhythm, message with melody. I am sure Hue And Cry succeed ...
Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe: Johnny Cash: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 27 May 1989
I'M GOING by the rest of the crowd on this one, but it would seem that the pleasure to be had in being 'taken back ...
Mudhoney: Put Mud In The Music
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 27 May 1989
Thanks to an extensive European tour, a vinyl collaboration with Sonic Youth and their own indie-chart hit LP, Seattle's MUDHONEY find themselves the latest US ...
The Bangles: No Sex Please, We're Bangles
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 27 May 1989
Amsterdam, city of 1,000 vices and venue for a party to honour all-American girls THE BANGLES. All-British girl BARBARA ELLEN joins them and, between sex-shows, ...
Johnny Marr: What Is Johnny Marr Playing At?
Report by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 27 May 1989
SINCE THE SMITHS split in 1987, MORRISSEY has gone on to bigger if not necessarily better things, while JOHNNY MARR has been living the 'have ...
Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour: Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
Report and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 3 June 1989
YOUSSOU N'DOUR and PETER GABRIEL, the pair that have set so many causes alight, have combined again, this time to champion female emancipation. LEN BROWN ...
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 3 June 1989
NENEH CHERRY is a different style of woman, a popstar determined to be real, not plastic, positive and above all herself. With her single 'Manchild' ...
Peter Gabriel: An Alien In The Real World
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 10 June 1989
Although he's never appeared in the Sunday Sport, PETER GABRIEL has achieved enough for anyone else's lifetime. In part two of this interview, he talks ...
Neneh Cherry: Raw Like Sushi (Circa)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 10 June 1989
CHERRY-OH BABY ...
Guy, Teddy Riley: Teddy Riley: The Life of Riley
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 10 June 1989
At 22 TEDDY RILEY is the most sought-after producer in America. His mixture of R&B and rap has created a new sound, dubbed New Jack ...
The Stone Roses: Bliss This House
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 June 1989
"THE BAND? Sorry mate, they've just left. Urgent business." Outside Walsall's Junction 10 Club, the Stone Roses' tour van is disappearing around the corner when ...
Queen Latifah: The Royal Flavour
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 June 1989
All hail the new king and queen of Rap — namely hotshot producer DJ MARK THE 45 KING and his latest righteous rhymester, QUEEN LATIFAH. ...
Chaka Khan, D Mob: D Mob: Mixing With The Mob
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989
From DJ to A&R man, to the mixmaster behind D MOB's summer of '88 hit 'We Call It Acieed', DANNY D has moved on to ...
Prefab Sprout: Protest Songs (Kitchenware LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989
THIS SPRING, I spent a very pleasant afternoon in a bar with Paddy McAloon and, inevitably, the conversation got around to Protest Songs, the Sprouts' ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Full Moon Fever (MCA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989
HAVING LIVED next door to the Tom Petty Experience — a guy who strapped himself into his Strat to make up new solo parts for ...
Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989
Wild Thing! You make my bank account sing. In the last six months West Coast rapper TONE LOC has sold over six million records. His ...
Transvision Vamp: Velveteen (MCA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 24 June 1989
THE VELVET BLUNDERGROUND ...
Bobby Brown: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 1 July 1989
SEX AND HUGS AND RIGMAROLE ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 July 1989
THERE IS a sound where pop meets chaos and rides its fury and when I heard it I fall in love... ...
Band of Susans, Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses and Band Of Susans: Loving The Aliens
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 July 1989
THROWING MUSES, BAND OF SUSANS: GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL, SOUTHAMPTON UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM HUMMINGBIRD ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 July 1989
SO WHY AREN'T James chartbusters both sides of the Atlantic? The nascent uplifting strains of the new songs are certainly well-crafted enough. And they're no ...
Cynthia Plastercaster: This Woman Has Handled The Biggest Things In Rock
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 July 1989
Twenty years ago The Plastercasters of Chicago were the most infamous groupies in America. Now, hardened professional CYNTHIA PLASTERCASTER is back with tales of naked ...
Nirvana: Bleach (Sub Pop import US LP only)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 8 July 1989
REAL ROCK music should hurt. Like being too near an exploding plate glass window, it should get under your skin and cause you to writhe ...
The Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin, Wolfsbane: Rick Rubin: Fang of Def
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 8 July 1989
Five years ago RICK RUBIN was the 21-year-old student behind Def Jam — the label that brought you the twin rock-rap assault of Licensed To Ill and ...
Boogie Down Productions, KRS-One: KRS-1: We Are 1
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 22 July 1989
Metaphysics... conspiracy theories...the harmony of the Universe...and YOU thought KRS-1 was just a hot rapper! JACK BARRON gets philosophical with the boss of Boogie Down. ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 29 July 1989
SURVIVAL OF THE BRUTISH ...
Report by Richard North, New Musical Express, 29 July 1989
"IN NEW YORK, you don't need a reason for murder, just an occasion," says one clubber. He's talking about the recent shooting at THE WORLD ...
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 29 July 1989
THE TRAIN TO Rugby rattles down the track. On my lap lies an inch-thick collection of press on Spacemen 3. One quote in particular leaps ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
NEON NIGHT, LA. Clad in leather and flashing skull'n'dagger tattoos, Chris Holmes of WASP — the Peter Sutcliffe of heavy metal — is lounging on ...
Prince, Mavis Staples: Mavis Staples: My Prince Has Come
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
After years in the doldrums MAVIS STAPLES, one of the female voices is back. A phone call from Prince resulted in a new album Time ...
Primal Scream: Primal Solution
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
Indie heroes of yore PRIMAL SCREAM are back, straining at the leash with a harder, greasier, rocking new single 'Ivy, Ivy, Ivy'. STUART MACONIE hears ...
Soul II Soul: The Palladium, New York
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
SQUEEZED BETWEEN the hard core Hip-hop of Red Alert and DJ Mark The 45 King, the US dance remix of 'Keep On Movin'', holds its ...
KISS, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, W.A.S.P.: Spheeris of Influence
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
The macho world of Heavy Metal is not the most likely place to find a female film director, but PENELOPE SPHEERIS took her camera and ...
Bros, Debbie Gibson: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 26 August 1989
BROTHERS GRIM ...
The Stone Roses: Northern Soul
Report and Interview by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 26 August 1989
THE STONE ROSES: BLACKPOOL EMPRESS BALLROOM ...
Boy's Own Party: East Grinstead
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
BY THE time we got to Grinstead we were... oops! Wrong summer of love...No wallowing in mud here, no bad acid, no teds and no ...
Interview by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
THE STARE came first, the voice second. ...
Nirvana, Tad: Hard On: Nirvana and Tad
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
This week EDWIN POUNCEY gets on the trail of Sub Pop, the label that brought you Mudhoney and who are about to unleash the ungodly ...
Richie Rich: Brixton Fridge, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
RICHIE'S RICH PAGEANT ...
Schoolly D: Am I Black Enough For You? (Jive LP only)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
SOMETHING'S CREPT up the stairwell and shat on your perfectly-formed oriental rug. Schoolly D has just moved in, and, as the old adage says, your ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
BON JOVI's backstage booze fountain runs dry halfway through the evening. A metaphor for their coming performance? An omen for the career of Noo Joisey's ...
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
BY THE time we got to Grinstead we were...oops! Wrong summer of love...No wallowing in mud here, no bad acid, no teds and no people ...
The Rolling Stones: Steel Wheels (CBS LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 2 September 1989
STERLING MOSS ...
Barry White: King Shag Is Back
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989
Bombing around The Riveria in a convertible BMW screaming abuse at the rich are STEVEN WELLS and lensman KEVIN 'O'GRADELY' CUMMINS. The soundtrack that roars ...
BoDeans: Home (Slash/London LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989
SLASH RECORDS were one of the first American labels to offer an alternative selection of new artists to an industry bloated on feeble rock clichés. ...
Eurythmics: We Too Are One (RCA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989
'TOO' THE POWER OF TWO ...
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989
PRETTY UPMARKET for a rent party, or a money for drugs party, or a money for a new pair of trousers for building site bottom ...
N.W.A: Niggers With Attitude: Straight Outta Compton (4th And Broadway LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989
PAINT IT BLACK ...
The Blue Nile: Hat's Entertainment
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 9 September 1989
Five years after their highly acclaimed debut LP A Walk Across The Rooftops, THE BLUE NILE are back, to the sound of much rejoicing and ...
24-7 Spyz: Subterrania, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 16 September 1989
FINGERSTICKIN' GOOD ...
Digital Underground: Wutchyalike?
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 16 September 1989
California's DIGITAL UNDERGROUND have crashed the national charts with their first single 'Doowutchyalike', breaking through the walls of Daisy Age hip-hop like a sledgehammer. On ...
Happy Mondays: Thieves Like Us (and so do the police)
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 16 September 1989
Just back from their first trip (sic) into the Satan-worshippin' heart of Amerika, HAPPY MONDAYS tell JACK BARRON how they proved more than a match ...
Nick Cave: Scala Cinema, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 September 1989
THIS IS a remarkable, grandiose conceit. The idea of Nick Cave reading from his first novel, The Ass Saw The Angel, is initially as antiquated ...
Inner City: Paradise Postponed
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 23 September 1989
I CAME TO see 'Paradise'. I heard it, looked at it, sniffed it, and thought that I was in Kentish Town. In short, I was ...
Report by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 30 September 1989
This week NME devotes its Dance/Club page to a cool and unsensational look at the drug Ecstasy. Report by JACK BARRON ...
Soul II Soul: Funki Bold Demeanour
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 30 September 1989
• Current king of British clubs JAZZIE B is preparing to launch SOUL II SOUL even further ahead of the opposition-the summer soundtrack on both ...
"I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives"
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 October 1989
PETER JENNER epitomises the 'fifth Beatle' school of pop management, guiding the ill starred careers of the early Pink Floyd, Marc Bolan and Topper-troubled Clash ...
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 7 October 1989
Within three weeks of it's release, EPMD's first album had reached the No. 1 spot on America's black chart. With its follow up Unfinished Business ...
Kate Bush: In The Realm Of The Senses
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 7 October 1989
The essence of sensuality and child-like wonder or screeching wood nymph? KATE BUSH steps back into the spotlight after four years of reclusive recording and ...
Roxanne Shanté: 'I Have Never Seen A Man Talk To An Ugly Woman. Never.'
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 7 October 1989
There is nothing that ROXANNE SHANTE won't rap about and no limit to who she disses. Here she talks to PAOLO HEWITT about men, music ...
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 7 October 1989
WHAT A romantic tale is The Blue Niles. I mean, youre probably sick to the privy parts of hearing how they made an LP for ...
The The: Armageddon Outta Here!
Report and Interview by Helen Mead, New Musical Express, 7 October 1989
CASINO DE PARIS, FRANCE ...
Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989
GLORIA ESTEFAN is a goddess. While popular music searches for something to pep up its ailing corpse and, typically, picks on rock music — I ...
Liza Minnelli, Pet Shop Boys: Liza Minnelli: Results (Epic)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989
THE LAST time Ms Minnelli did anything of note was at the start of the decade. Her portrayal of shoplifting Linda, the object of Dudley ...
Richard Thompson: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989
"IT'S TAKEN me a long time to clamber my way back to the top of showbiz," announces Richard wryly, "see under Wyman, Bill." Although he ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Automatic (Blanco y Negro)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989
"Don't let your life be the butt of the joke/Get your lips round a pure black Pepsi Coke" 'Here Comes Alice' ...
Bryan Powell, Betty Wright: Betty Wright, Bryan J Powell: ICA, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
THE CURRENT dance mania, welcome as it is, may have obscured quality soul to a large degree, but the attitude it has engendered in ridding ...
Buffalo Tom: Fulham Greyhound, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
BUFFALO TOM don't trade on their American ancestry, it's just there. Immobile, inviolate. Watching them burn bright and spark off tonight, one wonders why we ...
De La Soul: Brothers From Another Planet
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
HIPPIES!?! Never! No sirree! Ignore the paisley, the peace signs, the flowers, the speccy Lennonisms, DE LA SOUL are truly brothers from another planet, extra ...
Kate Bush: Let Them Eat Kate: The Sensual World
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
FOUR YEARS TO produce one LP works out at ten minutes per year of The Sensual World, with an extra three minutes 48 for cassette ...
Black Box, Loleatta Holloway: Loleatta Holloway: It's My Record (And I'll Cry If I Want To)
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
You might not know the name, but you'll have heard the voice of LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY. It was her earth-shaking vocal on Dan Hartman's 'Love Sensation' ...
Stereo MCs: Werner Seelinbinderhalle, East Berlin
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
FEAST IN THE EAST ...
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 21 October 1989
LA VIE EN ROSE(S) ...
David Byrne: Rei Momo (Sire-WEA)
Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 28 October 1989
PURISTS AND cultural segregationists must be reaching for the suicide pills. There's Acid Bhangra, African House, Japanese ska, Brazillian Hip-hop, Yemenite disco, Turkish rap, Kate ...
Debbie Harry: Deborah Harry: "Wendy James? Isn't She In The Primitives?"
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 28 October 1989
Life's a bleach and then you dye. Bouncing back into the fray with her current hit single 'I Want That Man' DEBORAH aka DEBBIE HARRY ...
Billy Bragg: Is Billy Bragg Pissing In The Wind Or What?
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 4 November 1989
Highway Through Hellas: a Greek tragicomedy in sex acts and three comic benefits. Starring Billy Bragg as Flash Gordon (protest singer, planet saviour and aspiring ...
Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, White Lion: Crüe To Be Kind
Report and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 18 November 1989
Lock up your heated rollers, here comes Metal mayhem. Into the heart of dorkness strode our very own rock monster EDWIN POUNCEY armed with only ...
The Residents: Cube E Show, Sadler's Wells, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 18 November 1989
SOME CLASSY joint! No beer slop pit of a venue for The Residents... Nosiree! Instead, the paying customers are treated to seats, opera glasses and ...
Report by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 25 November 1989
In search of Die Neue Deutsche Tanz (New German Dance) JACK BARRON travelled to Berlin to meet the artists behind the Teutonic Beats label — ...
Cat Glover, Prince: Cat Glover: Cat O' Fine Tales
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 25 November 1989
You know her as the legs-akimbo sex kitten playmate of Prince, the undisputed star of the Purple One's lascivious shows and a fine singer to ...
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Mary Mary Quite Contrary
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 2 December 1989
Gawky Canuck MARY MARGARET O'HARA unfit for Irish TV shock! So should we be flinging her magical-pop-with-freaky-dancing at our kids? Most deffo, reckons MICHELE KIRSCH. ...
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 2 December 1989
I FIRST meet novelist Trevor Miller at 5am outside a London rave called Method Air after a night of dancing so manic and intense it ...
The Band of Holy Joy, James: Band of Holy Joy, James: Manc Magic Majestic
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 9 December 1989
Band of Holy Joy, James: Cambridge Corn Exchange ...
Grace Jones: Ladies And Gentlemen, Disgrace Jones
Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 9 December 1989
GRACE JONES is a living, laughing legend. She's wrestled with James Bond, battered Russell Harty, and now she's back once again to sit on the ...
Kym Mazelle: Hell, Brixton Fridge, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 December 1989
HELL IS FOR HEROES ...
Neneh Cherry: Send In The Clowns
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 9 December 1989
After the huge trans-Atlantic success of 'Buffalo Stance', NENEH CHERRY has established herself as one of the Pop world's most creative and exciting mainstream acts. ...
Alexander O'Neal: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 December 1989
THE LIFESTYLE stemming from competent professional soul is utterly despicable. Ostentatious displays of wealth inherent in the flashy cars and gaudily overpriced fashions turn my ...
Neil Young: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 16 December 1989
OUTSIDE IT'S thronged, tickets £60 a throw, there's a buzz in the air you seldom find at gigs these days. Inside there's two Crazy Horse ...
Nirvana, Tad: Tad, Nirvana: Astoria, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 16 December 1989
"CHECK!... CHECK!..." This is one little improvisation that the fans freezing outside were missing as Sub Pop stalwarts Nirvana struggled valiantly to balance the sound ...
U2: Rockin' in the Not So Free World (Part 1)
Report by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 16 December 1989
Yen will I see you again?!!...In the first of an exclusive two part report on the band that more than any other has found a ...
The Jungle Brothers: Guerillas in the Mix
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 23 December 1989
Commanding the corner where spiritual meets the street, "conscious rappers" THE JUNGLE BROTHERS are ready to lead hip-hop into its second decade with their landmark ...
U2: Rockin' in the Not So Free World (Part 2)
Report by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 23 December 1989
BONO'S OSAKA Plaza hotel room is littered with the ephemera of a rock 'n' roll traveler. There are Japanese picture books for his baby daughter ...
A Tribe Called Quest: Questin' Time
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990
THEY TROOP into the hotel foyer. The New Soldiers Of Rap are jet lagged from eight hours on a plane but the assault on Britain ...
Butch Hancock: Own & Own (Demon LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990
OUT OF the Texas troubadour tradition croaks the least famous former Flatlander (early '70s cult Country band — write a letter to Fred Fact for ...
Criminal Element Orchestra: Locked Up (Epic LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990
ARTHUR BAKER is generally credited with having several parts of his anatomy in touch with the living pulse of modern dance music. If this is ...
David Byrne: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990
I'M NOT saying the first sign of rain should have you reaching for the Leonard Cohen Sings Joy Division album, but in the dazzling depression ...
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990
DANGEROUS TOYS wind up their set with a no-sweat rendition of their first 45, an aimless rocker entitled 'Teas'n, Pleas'n' that merely acts as a ...
The Chimes: Sign of the Chimes
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990
Did you hear the one about the two Scotsmen and the London singer who may well be Britain's top soul band? Well PAOLO HEWITT has ...
He Bans The Drums — This Man Thinks You Are A Moron!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 January 1990
Rock is bad for you — OFFICIAL! According, that is, to DENIS VAUGHAN, top classical conductor and author of a virulently anti-pop blast in this ...
Terence Trent D'Arby: The World, New York NY
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 13 January 1990
THERE'S A nice little joke doing the rounds of the London headquarters of CBS in Soho Square, which goes something like this:"Knock knock.""Who's there?""Terence.""Terence who?""That's ...
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 13 January 1990
• From working on building sites to recording in Hollywood, THE QUIREBOYS have had the sort of change in careers that most hard rock bands ...
Coldcut, The Fall: Coldcut: Ring The Noise
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990
• And they said it wouldn't last! In the pop marriage of the'80s, COLDCUT producers Jonathan Moore and Matt Black invited Mark E Smith to ...
Loop: A Gilded Eternity (Situation Two LP/ Cassette/CD)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990
NEW GOLD DREAM ...
Michael Nyman: The Nyman/Greenaway Soundtracks (Virgin Venture LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990
NYMAN'S LANDSCAPES ...
New Kids On The Block: Hangin' Tough (Epic)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990
TWO SINGLES in the Top Ten! The nation drivelling at their feet! And they don't even play on their own records! ...
The Cramps: Creatures From The Black Leather Lagoon
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990
Self-confessed "Norma Desmonds of rockabilly", THE CRAMPS are cheering the demise of a less-than-world-beating '80s and looking forward to a well-rockin' '90s. With their new LP ...
Die Kreuzen: Islington Powerhaus, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
PERHAPS IF more people knew about Die Kreuzen they wouldn't undergo such sweeping stylistic changes. From hardcore freaks to metal maniacs, from purveyors of soft ...
Divine Styler featuring the Scheme Team: Word Power (Syndicate LP/ Cassette/CD)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
STRAIGHT OUTTA Los Angeles from Ice-T's new label, Syndicate, the Divine Styler's long and intense LP puts to shame most of the artists that Ice-T ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
IF THE Who were Prince's band at the apocalypse, they would make this noise. It's an almost psychedelic, thumping mash. The drummer is driven by ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
PAOLO HEWITT lays his hands on D mainman of D Mob, Dancin' Danny D ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
THE FIRST general rule of hip-hop is that most albums contain a couple of killer club cuts and a dozen cardboard fillers. Just to be ...
Ministry: The Ritz, New York NY
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
REMEMBER MINISTRY? That hot Dance act from Chicago who influenced House and soaked up exclusively European acts? Well, they've changed. It's 1990 and all that, ...
The Beloved: They Wanna Be Loved
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
THE BELOVED may have started life as dodgy New Order copyists with that ubiquitous Peel session under their studded leather belts, but now they're Dance ...
Timbuk3: Edge Of Allegiance (IRS LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
TIMBUK3 MIGHT be singing for the patriots or potheads of America; depends how much you swallow their irony, and if you believe you can love ...
Warren Zevon: Transverse City (Virgin America LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
WARREN ZEVON is one hell of an American songwriter with a brilliant — albeit sometimes cynical — eye zoomed in on the way both his ...
The Fatima Mansions: Fatima Mansions: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 February 1990
PULPIT UP!!! ...
Ice-T, Donald D, Everlast, Spinmasters: Top Rank, Brighton
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 February 1990
IS CHIPPING Sodbury in the house? How about Hastings? Is the Crawley posse chilling out tonight? Everybody make some goddam N-O-l-S-E... ER, please? ...
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 10 February 1990
Rave promoters gathered with Dance fans in London's Trafalgar Square last week to protest against proposed legislation to outlaw all-night parties. JACK BARRON joined the ...
George Clinton & The P-Funk Allstars: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 17 February 1990
GEORGE CLINTON once said, explaining his orchestration of an 18-piece band, "Offer great musicians the possibility of order and anarchy on the same plate, and ...
Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones: Quincy Jones: The Mighty Quince
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 February 1990
QUINCY JONES, producer of everyone from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, is now mixing jazz and hip-hop and working with Jesse Jackson and New Order. ...
The Cramps: Barrowlands, Glasgow
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 3 March 1990
I SHOULD BE SO LUXY ...
Phil Collins: Ugly Bald Bastard Speaks (to Phil Collins)
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 3 March 1990
• He leaves the toilet seat up! He does stuff in the privacy of his own house! He's worth 22 million! He's not a rich ...
Ride: In The Land of The Riding Sons: Ride: Boardwalk, Manchester
Review and Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 10 March 1990
"TALLULAH GOSH and some bloke from Supertramp" — this is the grim musical history of Oxford according to Ride. ...
Sinead O'Connor: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (Ensign LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 10 March 1990
THE FIRST ONE had O'Connor screaming in a storm of icy blue. This one has a sleeve that looks like a Phil Collins album, all ...
Tangerine Dream: Quiet Please! Musicians Sleeping!
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 10 March 1990
2019 Note: Tangerine Dream were the first band to play in East Berlin after the fall of the Wall. It had been ten years since ...
Guns N' Roses, Frankie Knuckles, Tone Lōc: Friend or Phobic?
Comment by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 March 1990
STEVEN WELLS investigates American rock's backlash against gays ...
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: The Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: To Live And Die In L.A.
Report and Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 March 1990
The Devoux brothers have learned the rules of survival the hard way. In LA there are now 92,000 gang members, and mercy is not in ...
Camper Van Beethoven: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 March 1990
SWOOPING IN from a nostalgic and sun-nourished California that never even existed, Camper Van Beethoven touch down in London with mature and majestic grace. In ...
Oleta Adams, Tears For Fears: Tears For Fears: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 24 March 1990
WOTCHA, MY name's Dave. Usually I enjoy my work as a tout, but tonight's Tears For Fears gig at the Arena is looking decidedly untasty. ...
The Roches: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 24 March 1990
YOU HAVE to understand, weird was not always marketable. Here we have three sisters from New Jersey who've been standing on a stage with acoustic ...
Happy Mondays: Homage to Catatonia
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 31 March 1990
It's just another manic HAPPY MONDAYS, as the Manc scuzz bags-made-good wreak havoc in a nab-it-all frenzy through Europe on their way back to a ...
Professor Griff: 100 Per Cent Prof.
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 31 March 1990
Accused of anti-Semitism, dissing the President, condoning Idi Amin and generally being a bit of a foam-flecked Rottweiler, Public Enemy's Minister Of Information PROFESSOR GRIFF ...
Suzanne Vega: Godmother Of New Age
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 April 1990
Suzanne Vega was brought up as a Puerto Rican, attended the neo-legendary New York School Of Performing Arts and went on to become the sensitive ...
Happy Mondays: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 21 April 1990
IN THE ARE(N)A! ...
My Bloody Valentine: The Artery Of Noise
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 April 1990
After an 18-month gap MY BLOODY VALENTINE are back on vinyl making a right bleedin' racket with their new EP Glider. STUART MACONIE discovers Creation's ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 28 April 1990
BILLY IDOL has got plastered! He's got God! He's got dead! Rumours about the blond Bromley bombshell blast through the ether of Transatlantic rockgossip! Is ...
John Cale, Lou Reed: Lou Reed/John Cale: Songs For Drella
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 28 April 1990
DETERMINED TO reclaim the remains of their sometime friend and one-time manager Andy Warhol from the beady gaze of the culture vultures, John Cale and ...
Black Box: Dreamland (RCA/DeConstruction LP/ Cassette/CD)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 5 May 1990
WHILE LOLEATTA Thingy languishes in some cell reserved for Great Pop Moaners, El Boxo as every Spanish child calls them have been off penning great ...
The Beautiful South: Scallifornia Dreamin'
Report by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 12 May 1990
THINK CALIFORNIA and you'll think Beach Boys, suntanned nymphets in cut-offs, surf, soda and the therapy industry. Oh and possibly raisins. You won't be thinking ...
Joy Division, Tony Wilson: Division On: Joy Division
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 19 May 1990
"FUNNY. I WAS IN the car with Barney the other day and I just hit Unknown Pleasures into the CD. And Barney shouted, 'Get that ...
New Order: Love Will Terrace Apart
Report by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 19 May 1990
Have a word, Ref! What's this — top disco situationists NEW ORDER in top "positive vibe" England World Cup squad anthem shock! A winning combination, ...
Soul II Soul: Volume 2: 1990 A Brand New Decade (10 Records L/Cassette/CD)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 19 May 1990
JAZZIE'S DREAM ...
Mazzy Star: She Hangs Brightly (Rough Trade)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 26 May 1990
DAVID ROBACK, who with singer Hope Sandoval makes up one half of the Mazzy Star project, probably likens himself to the US equivalent of ace ...
N.W.A.: Some Muthas Do 'Ave 'Em
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 June 1990
Rubbing white America's nose in its own racism or blagging big bucks by glorifying gangsterism, NWA are not the FBI-pigs' favourite people. STEVEN 'Wild West' ...
The Darling Buds: Older Bud Wiser
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 2 June 1990
Gone are the days when peroxides-in-Pampers Ramones soundalikes cut the Coleman's in Groovyland, so THE DARLING BUDS have come back from a long manager-dumping lay ...
Was (Not Was): Motown Brothers
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 June 1990
WAS (NOT WAS) make perfect pop (not poop). They also know the names of several philosophers! STUART MACONIE wants to lick the barbequed goat pizza ...
N.W.A: NWA: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 June 1990
BAAAAAD ATTITUDE ...
Betty Boo: Betty The Devil You Know
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 June 1990
She-rapper BETTY BOO is kickin' ass and wreaking revenge with her killer single 'Doin' The Do'. STEPHEN DALTON suffers Boomania ...
Coldcut: Some Like It Cold (Big Life LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 June 1990
RUNNING HOT 'N' COLD ...
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 16 June 1990
All roads lead to 'Roam'! They used to be totally crackers but now they prattle on about saving the planet and looking after the old ...
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.: Boo-Yaa Tribe: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 23 June 1990
EVEN IF they don't realise it, the Boo-Yaas are a big joke. But it's a funky, larger-than-life laugh-attack with a killer punchline, and that's the ...
Roy Harper: Peace, Love and a Punchup with Ginger Baker: The Saga of Roy Harper
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 23 June 1990
After 25 years on life's acoustic stage, ROY HARPER is undoubtedly King Of The Hippies. In a moment of good karma, NME let the man ...
Robert Plant: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 23 June 1990
AT ONE point during his performance this evening, Robert Plant throws back his golden locks and lets loose what sounds like an Islamic call to ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 23 June 1990
WORD OF mouth has drawn a near sell-out (To a free gig? — Ed) crowd to catch the legendary Sun Ra. Amidst rumours that he'll ...
Mudhoney: Dweeb Will, Dweeb Will Rock You!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 July 1990
Diseased drugvom and dogs! MUDHONEY cut through STEVEN WELLS' spunk encrusted C60 to give us the bald and rotting bare facts about the inadequacy of ...
Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 14 July 1990
IBIZA THE ACTION ...
The Rolling Stones: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 14 July 1990
AS THE Stones plodded through crap recent album track after crap recent album track we became restless. We started shouting abuse at the fans. They ...
Silverfish, Soundgarden, Swervedriver: Soundgarden, Silverfish, Swervedriver: Astoria, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 21 July 1990
ARRIVING HALF way through Swervedriver's set I canter expectantly to the front hungry for my first encounter with Thrash Metal Sub Hardcore Pop Noise. I ...
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, August 1990
THE EVER-SO-ARTY lyric book that accompanies the new Pixies album contains the words to a song that you will not find on the record itself. ...
Dread Zeppelin, Robert Plant: The Bong Remains The Same: Led Zeppelin Meet Dread Zeppelin (Almost)
Report and Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 4 August 1990
"After half an hour Elvis' bodyguards motioned that it was time to go. As they were leaving Robert gushed, 'Elvis, you're my idol. Thanks for ...
Bim Sherman: Subterania, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 11 August 1990
BIM SHERMAN'S reputation precedes him: either as the slinky-voiced singer on a host of Jamaican 45s in the 70s, his numerous collaborations with Adrian Sherwood ...
Interview by Michael Goldberg, New Musical Express, 18 August 1990
BERRY GORDY, the man who invented the "Sound of Young America", has seen the story of his monumentally influential Motown label told in a succession ...
Salt-N-Pepa: Salt 'N' Pepa: Shakin' Sweet
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 25 August 1990
Is this the end of rap's top pumptresses SALT 'N' PEPA? Bored with making millions and being reviled by all the hard rappin' 'bitches' they ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 25 August 1990
IT'S PROBABLY too ironic that, just when the Lemonheads were getting somewhere, things started to abruptly shake apart. ...
Anthrax: Persistence Of Time (Island LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 1 September 1990
TICK TOCK, tick tock begins this album. Predictable or what? Then the bowels of the earth open up and you are farted via geetars and ...
Crime & The City Solution: Paradise Discotheque (Mute LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 September 1990
THE WAY Crime And The City Solution have transgressed rock's outer limits for the last five years hasn't registered with pundits who only know them ...
George Michael: Listen Without Prejudice Volume One (Epic LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 1 September 1990
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE ...
KISS 100 FM: The Embrace Is On
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 1 September 1990
WHEN KISS 100 FM starts broadcasting legally on September 1, sending the freshest of dancebeats into the ether around London, it will be the final ...
Napalm Death: Harmony Corruption (Earache LP/CD)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 September 1990
WHAT DO you do when you've reached the outer limits of the known universe? That's the question that haunts the makers of the Star Trek ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Ragged Glory (WEA LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 15 September 1990
YOUNG'S BREW ...
Aswad: Too Wicked (Mango LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 22 September 1990
ANYONE FAMILIAR with the sussed militancy of Aswad's early 'Three Babylon' period would never have expected them to take an easy option and 'go commercial'. ...
LL Cool J: Mama Said Knock You Out (Def Jam LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 22 September 1990
LL SYSTEMS GO! ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 September 1990
SOUL LAAAARGAAAAH! ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 September 1990
MARCEL CELLIER first began assembling his library of haunting folk recordings after visiting Bulgaria in 1950. Shrewdly, the Swiss businessman seems to have retained copyright ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 6 October 1990
Get your hands on your handbags HAPPY MONDAYS are back. After a long hard summer recording in Los Angeles, the ugliest band in Britain have ...
Pop Will Eat Itself: Canoe Dig It?
Report by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 6 October 1990
All Hands on Dick as Dave 'Chippolata' Harper of RCA goes canoeing with Pop Will Eat Itself done up in rubber in downtown Staines, home ...
Londonbeat: Mammal We're All Crazy Now
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 October 1990
Rubberwear! Snorkels! Four-foot sexual organs! Real chart acts! We aim to please... Gasp in astonishment as LONDONBEAT give STEVEN WELLS a sense of porpoise and ...
The Stone Roses: Fools' Gaoled (almost!)
Report by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 13 October 1990
THE STONE ROSES may face a £3 million libel suit from their former record company, unless they pay for the damage they caused to the ...
The La's: This Could Be The La's Time
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 October 1990
It took three years to make, it cost an unfeasibly huge sum, it's stuffed with great songs – but THE LA's still hate their new ...
Killing Joke: I Came, I Warsaw, I'm Bonkers!
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 27 October 1990
Push! Struggle! They're living in the '90s!! Steven Wells joins Killing Joke as they storm Poland, and finds Jaz Coleman recovering from playing with "chaotic ...
Lisa Stansfield: The Lisa of Two Evils
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990
"All around the world and ah, ah, ah, can't find my luggage." Yep, it isn't all first class and fingerbowls in the high-flying world of ...
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990
"I DON'T like words," says the erstwhile centre of attention with the shock of bright red hair. "Why?" Inquires the journalist querulously. "Oh, I'm gonna ...
Professor Griff, Public Enemy: Material World: Professor Griff
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990
REAL NAME Richard Griffin ...
Public Enemy: Black Appeal in the Hour of Power
Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990
JAMES BROWN catches PUBLIC ENEMY'S spectacular show in San Diego and speaks to CHUCK D. ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 November 1990
Luscious, pouting, loud-mouthed, lambasting BETTY BOO is asking 250 million screaming teen hordes 'Where Are You Baby' in her day-glo, bobbed and blushered bid to ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 17 November 1990
DOCK OF THE BOYEE ...
The La's: 20 Questions: The La’s
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 November 1990
Thought of anything nice to say about your album yet? ...
808 State: State of the Manc Union
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 24 November 1990
The Haçienda's half full and "you have to go out of town on a Saturday night to have fun"... so can 808 STATE survive the ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 24 November 1990
IT'S BIN A long time comin'. Twenty-five years since his first Top 20 hit ('Catch The Wind' in '65) and over 20 since his last ...
The Small Faces: Where Are They Now?
Profile by Martin Aston, New Musical Express, December 1990
SHA LA LA La Lee! Pioneers of mod-psychedelia and decisive hair-parting strategies, The Small Faces. ...
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 1 December 1990
"Sometimes a wind blows/And the mysteries of love come clear" – 'Mysteries Of Love', Julee Cruise ...
Marc Almond: Stray Hello Waif Goodbye
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 8 December 1990
Nine years on from 'Tainted Love', MARC ALMOND is back working with Soft Cellmate Dave Ball on his new single 'Waifs And Strays'. BARBARA ELLEN ...
A Tribe Called Quest: Why Are You Being So Treasonable Now?
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 15 December 1990
Our reigning monarch scores as highly on the diss-o-meter as pop rapper Vanilla Ice for hip-hop hotheads A TRIBE CALLED QUEST. But a spot of ...
Interview by William Higham, New Musical Express, 1991
THE DOORS avalanche begins here! Word Up corners the band's drummer and chronicler JOHN DENSMORE, reviews his book and checks out an investigation into Morrison's ...
Billy Idol: Crockabilly!: Billy Idol: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
THE HEADY STRAINS of pulsating drums and long-forgotten African chants fill the cavernous room: "Zumbayeh, Aikobayeh". Billy Idol's intro tape is 'Cult Of Snap' by ...
Lunachicks: Mammary Weer All Crazee Now!
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
Yowza! It's ladeeez night every night in the weird 'n' wunnerful world of American underground rock 'n' roll, with the totally outrageous LUNACHICKS leading a ...
Manic Street Preachers: Manic On The Streets Of London
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
"SMASH HITS is more effective in polluting minds than Goebbels ever was…" ...
Omar: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
THE HAIRCUT speaks volumes. A multi-storeyed do with the sides shaved, it confirms Omar's refusal to exchange street fashions for something more upmarket. His has ...
Tippa Irie: Original Raggamuffin (Mango LP Only)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
FORTUNE HASN'T exactly smiled on Tippa Irie recently. After falling victim to the biggest tragedy the pop charts can offer — reggae toasters having novelty ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 January 1991
From out of the Texan desert they came, with recycled riffs, "ironic" sexism and grotesque amounts of facial hair… the Middle Aged Mutant Guitar Heroes! ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
THE HYPE and shoddy promotional tactics surrounding Blur would surely stifle a lesser group. ...
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
After a fallow few years, slug rock sensations DINOSAUR JR are back with a worthy successor to 1988's Freak Scene in The Wagon and a ...
Front 242: The Number of the Beat
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
We are coming to your House! Paradise crumbles to the sound of FRONT 242's tyrannical Techno ...
Maria McKee: Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
Written off by the LA rock cattlemarket following the demise of neo-Country nearly men Lone Justice, MARIA MCKEE was left licking her wounds amongst famous ...
Live Review by Susan Corrigan, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
HEAVENLY RECORDS gave 1990 some of its finest moments. A winning combination of happy housers, hippy haircuts, and hopped-up hyacinth heroes, their vibe generated fleeting, ...
Johnny Marr, Stex: Stex — It's that Marr again
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
AFTER COUNTLESS big name collaborations, Johnny Marr found unknown London funk band STEX appealing. Barbara Ellen sees them all forming a mutual appreciation society. ...
Vanilla Ice: To The Extreme (SBK LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 12 January 1991
MENTION VANILLA Ice to most "serious" music fans, especially elitist connoisseurs of rap, and their reply will most likely be brief and unprintable. Have they ...
Overview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 19 January 1991
Bring your good taste to be slaughtered! To mark Iron Maiden's ground-breaking success (any bleedin' excuse — Ed), STUART MACONIE investigates the subtle and many-faceted ...
David Lee Roth: A Little Ain't Enough (Warner Brothers/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 19 January 1991
DAVID LEE Roth is a flash git. When not playing golf or making videos in which he smiles too much, the man with the stupid ...
Manic Street Preachers: Royal Holloway College, Egham
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 19 January 1991
ONE OF the debates raging around selected corners of the NME office currently is: Are the Manic Street Preachers thrashing in the fizzy waters of ...
My Life Story: Powerhaus, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 26 January 1991
THE JAMES Bond theme 'You Only Live Twice' fills the air with its dense, muzak-y glamour as we spy the mermaid decopaged music stands swaying ...
Live Review by Susan Corrigan, New Musical Express, 26 January 1991
GIVE PEACE A DANCE ...
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 26 January 1991
"THIS SONG is called 'Squelch The Weasel'," announces vocalist Gene as he straps on an acoustic guitar. "By Ween," reminds his partner Dean, plugging in ...
Caron Wheeler: Got a Life, Thanks
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 2 February 1991
CARON WHEELER'S acrimonious departure from the Soul II Soul posse is the stuff of music biz legend. But rather than 'chat fart' from the sidelines ...
Motorhead: Don't Lemmy Be Misunderstood
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 February 1991
Where would today's corpse-violating moshing madmen be without grebo gurus MOTORHEAD? Where indeed, cackles decent, fun-loving working class Tory and all-round smart geezer Lemmy and ...
Throwing Muses: Serious Shrinking!
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 2 February 1991
Having gone 'kooky' at 14, KRISTIN HERSH now has command of the voices in her head and channels the demonic energy into making unnerving yet ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 February 1991
War broke out just as BOMB THE BASS released their first single for two years and the censors swooped. Now TIM SIMENON goes under his ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 February 1991
Pop music isn't all lying around the pool with GUNS N'ROSES, frugging with PRINCE and getting pissed (on) with the MONDAYS. Except, that is, in ...
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 16 February 1991
Utterly splendid eclectic rap duo GANG STARR have sympathy for Saddam and Farrakhan, dis Vanilla Ice and think Mötley Crüe are dope, but were too ...
Gloria Estefan: Into The Light (Epic/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 16 February 1991
THE TRUE Empress of Pop is among us once more. The other pop stars are fine, but in comparison resemble cartoon characters. Neither Prince (boggly ...
808 State, Björk: 808 State plus Björk: Lido, Reykjavik
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 23 February 1991
CUBIK ICELANDIK ...
Kim Appleby: Can I Play With Gladness
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 23 February 1991
Don't worry! KIM APPLEBY'S return to the charts has been one of the most satisfying sights of recent months, after the tragic end of Mel ...
Butthole Surfers: Piouhgd (Rough Trade/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 March 1991
PIOUHGD — WHAT A SCORCHER! ...
Morrissey: Kill Uncle (HMV/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 2 March 1991
BETTER RELATE THAN NEVER ...
Rick Astley: Free (RCA/All formats)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 2 March 1991
RICK ASTLEY's new album is called Free. What can this mean? Surely, Rick is not implying that he was once merely a performing surf to ...
The KLF: It's All White: The KLF: The White Room (KLF)
Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 9 March 1991
IS IT A strength or weakness to be versatile to the point where consistency becomes an alien concept? There's a hell of a lot of ...
Perry Farrell, Jane's Addiction: Perry Farrell: Goodbye To Jane?
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 9 March 1991
Basking in the glory of their Ritual de lo habitual album, are JANE'S ADDICTION about to hit the self-destruct button? As their US tour ends ...
Happy Mondays: Mardi* Grass!: Happy Mondays: La Cigale, Paris
Live Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 16 March 1991
(*That's French for the day after Monday) ...
Scritti Politti, Shabba Ranks: Scritti Politti: Do The Gart, Man
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 16 March 1991
THE DANCEHALL FOUNDATIONS are shaking and there's outrage in the ragga ranks. A white pop star has plundered their culture with the aid of Lennon ...
808 State, Björk: Björk & 808 State: In Yer Glacier!
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 23 March 1991
I love the smell of God's farts in the morning... It smells of Reykjavik to me! Deep in the Icelandic countryside, surrounded by vile-smelling sulphur ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, April 1991
Who is rock chameleon Sting today? High priest of Jungian jazz rock? Rain Forest warrior? Posing Thespian? Geordie homecomer? Bruce Springsteen's mate? On one matey? ...
Massive Attack: Blue Lines (Wild Bunch/Circa)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 April 1991
IMMENSE AT WORK ...
Johnny Cash: Old, Gifted And Black
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 27 April 1991
A C&W star for longer than most people have been alive, you'd expect JOHNNY CASH to be a down home, redneck good ol'boy. Hell no! ...
Teena Marie: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 April 1991
EVEN IF you frequent arthouse cinemas like others do toilets, sometimes you can't avoid the craving for glitzy Hollywood entertainment. By the same token, anyone ...
Bananarama: Sisters Undie The Skin
Interview by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
After the gold-disc rush of SAW, BANANARAMA are doing the Dobbie, rediscovering Youth, preparing for their tenth anniversary as The Greatest British All Girl Group ...
Brand Nubian: One For All (WEA/All formats)
Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
"BRAND N... Brand Nu... Brand Nubian" Get your pyjamas out, this one's a sleeper. No, it's neither dopey nor dozy, it's as wide awake as ...
Christy Moore: Smoke And Strong Whiskey (Newberry/All formats)
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
"WELCOME TO the cabaret", chortles Moore, as he ladles out a poteen made from pure booze, vitriol and the tears of centuries. "Your wife says, ...
EMF: Schubert Dip (Parlophone/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
NO DIPPY HICKS! ...
Swans: White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity (Young God/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
WHITE LIGHT, WHITE BLEATS ...
The Wendys: Where Gleneagles Dare
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
KEEN GOLFERS and new sound of young Scotland, The Wendys have got post-Mondays pop down to a tee. Stephen Dalton putts the questions to the ...
Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 4 May 1991
His voluminous trews tell only part of the story. MC HAMMER may well be as huge as the cut of his keks saleswise, but at ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 11 May 1991
IN NOVEMBER 1989, Manchester's Free Trade Hall opened its doors to a host of spivs, reprobates, ecstasy-casualties, groovy people and businessmen, unwittingly becoming the focus ...
Tad: Powerhaus, Islington, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 May 1991
THE LARDER THEY COME... ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 11 May 1991
Tubby, or not tubby? Erm...tubby actually. TAD may not be the biggest band around, but they're certainly the biggest band around (the middle). In full combat gear, STEVEN ...
Sonic Youth: They Tried With Their Boots On: Sonic Youth
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 11 May 1991
TEN-YEAR VETERANS of American clubland, Sonic Youth were on the brink of going overground. We were meeting them at a crosspoint in their career. They ...
Bomb The Bass: Subterania, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 May 1991
THE TRANSFORMATION is now complete. Tim Simenon has finally shaken off the last vestiges of novelty-type pop stardom and embraced a glorious future-funk noise. Anyone ...
Profile and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 May 1991
CURVE may now be the drop-dead coolest group in indie rap-dom, but life-patterns weren't always so sweet for Toni Halliday and Dean Garcia. DELE FADELE ...
Curve: Psykik Dancehall, Windsor
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 18 May 1991
BEND SINISTER ...
Morrissey Comes Out! (For A Drink)
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 18 May 1991
Shock! Horror! Girls throw themselves at his feet! Luridly manicured skinheads fling bouquets! Europe quivers beneath his majesty! MORRISSEY talks to the NME! As his tumultuous ...
John Zorn: There's John Zorn Every Minute
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 May 1991
Zorn to boogie! From his New York avant-garde garret, JOHN ZORN is busy invigorating the slumbering corpse of jazz with hardcore shock therapy. STEVEN WELLS ...
Coil: Love's Secret Domain (Torso)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 May 1991
FROM THE provocative cover which displays a severed penis ejaculating capsules of Ecstasy to the way the title track wryly quotes Roy Orbison's 'In Dreams', ...
Ice-T: O.G. Original Gangster (Sire)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 May 1991
FOR ALL the descriptions of graphic violence, sexism and general anti-establishment stances, Ice-T is a committed moralist at heart. Not for nothing did he portray ...
Steve Hillage, The Orb: The Orb: Fridge, Brixton, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 25 May 1991
AN ORB tour is already a pretty Zen concept without letting veteran hippy guitarist Steve Hillage out on a one-off day pass from Hillage Village. ...
Grateful Dead: One From The Vaults
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, June 1991
FOR DEVOTED Dead Heads, this release is a dream come true as (not to be outdone by Dylan) the Grateful Dead open up their tape ...
James Brown: Star Time (Polydor/CD Box Set)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, June 1991
SOONER OR later, all 20th Century music has to reckon with The Godfather. Before him there were be-bop revolutionaries blowing down the city walls, shamanic ...
Bleach (UK): Bleach: Camden Underworld, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 June 1991
THE NAME may seem sufficiently undemanding on the syllable front to vouchsafe dodgy contents within, but taken literally it speaks volumes about the nature of ...
Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 June 1991
In Düsseldorf back in ’68, a clean-cut combo of besuited squares were unaware that they were destined to change the face of dance music forever ...
Pet Shop Boys: Opera House, Blackpool
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 8 June 1991
"WELL, MY mother would agree with you," says Neil Tennant after. "She doesn't like the first half either." ...
Chesney Hawkes: A Block Off The Old Chip
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 15 June 1991
Indecently radiant post-Jason Golden Boy of pop and Son of Chip Tremelo, CHESNEY HAWKES has plenty on his mind: worrying about the attack of the ...
Anthrax, Public Enemy: Anthrax and Chuck D: Noise From The Black Stuff
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 June 1991
Five years after Run DMC's groundbreaking rap reworking of Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way', rock is finally repaying the compliment with ANTHRAX'S astonishing take on Public ...
Babes in Toyland: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 22 June 1991
AS YET ANOTHER lame-brain shuffles nervously before taking the plunge, the anti-stage-diving lobby have a point for once. In the context of Babes In Toyland's ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 25 June 1991
SEAL CLUBBING seemed an attractive option to many last year after the leather-clad lothario ascended our charts atop a naggingly crap Adamski riff and steadfastly ...
Babes in Toyland: Wench Warfare
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 29 June 1991
Championed by Sonic Youth and John Peel, hot-blooded all-girl 'foxcore' grunge-rockers BABES IN TOYLAND are coming to your house, sneezing explosively, dissing moms and men ...
Report by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 29 June 1991
Hungry for publicity for her new album, CHER says "Let's do lunch!" A dramatic TERRY STAUNTON puts on his best bib and tucker, but proves ...
Cher: Love Hurts (Geffen/All formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 July 1991
STRONG POP-women ditch bastard men to make it big time. Mad Donna slung out stroppy Sean to become Number One Rock Goddess whilst mighty hewed ...
Elvis Costello: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 13 July 1991
This Year's Muddle ...
Sepultura: Who Wants To Be A Brazilian Air Guitarist
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 13 July 1991
Stuart Maconie goes autograph hunting with Latin America's biggest thrash band ...
Paula Abdul: Spellbound (Virgin America/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 27 July 1991
THIS RECORD is plainly a miracle of self-belief and positive thinking, a triumph over adversity. Paula Abdul always knew she could dance, but all those ...
Salt-N-Pepa: Salt 'N' Pepa: My Condiments To The Chef
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 27 July 1991
The most successful female rap group ever, SALT 'N' PEPA have come a long way since the cartoon innuendo of 'Push It'. Now they're busy ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 July 1991
NO CELL OUT ...
The La's: Some Mavers Do Have ’Em: The La’s in America
Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 3 August 1991
The La's are sat outside a cafe in New York's Chelsea district with their manager Rob, [photographer] Tim Jarvis and me.They are relaxing before tonight's ...
Professor Griff: Kao's II Wiz 7 Dome (Luke/All formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 10 August 1991
GRIFF IS the liberal's worst nightmare. A young black radical who is something of a lyrical and musical whiz and who's made anti-Semitic and anti-white ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 24 August 1991
IF YOU want a creative and intellectually stimulating evening, go seek out RW Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant. Mudhoney are experts at ...
EMF: Sombrero Guys Have All the Luck
Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
Call the copse! America's favourite "alternative" group EMF are Number One and on one, naughty rock 'n' roll Bash Street Kids taking full advantage of, ...
Harold Budd: By The Dawn's Early Light (Opal/Warner Bros/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
TAKE A REST from the rigours of following popular music — those who rave, chill; those who contemplate their shoes, do it to your navel ...
Nine Inch Nails: A Bang On The Gear
Report and Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
SAN FRANCISCO, city of peace and love. Perhaps the last refuge of the beautiful people who advocate making babies, not bombs. But, hey, get out ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
Techno-slaphead alert! Bow-tie-wearing aliens with enormo-ears from planet Proper Dance Music are writhing in our cornfields and masquerading as ORBITAL. Beam me up, Rotty, screams ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
The success of the visceral New Jack City has made Blaxploitation movies a thing of the past and debuting director MARIO VAN PEEBLES a hot ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
FRIDAY: IT WAS obvious, really – he had to say it. Who better than His Supreme Iggyness Of Pop, the Godfather of (s)punk rock, to ...
Dire Straits: On Every Street (Vertigo/All formats)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991
SO HERE it is, Slowdive fans, the most important LP ever made. If you see what I mean. It is six years since the last ...
Hole: Pretty On The Inside (City Slang/All formats)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991
TOP HOLE! ...
Lloyd Cole: Don't Get Weird On Me, Babe (Polydor/All formats)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991
WEIRD BARD ...
Robert Wyatt: Dondestan (Rough Trade/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991
IT'S BEEN six years since Robert Wyatt last made a record, the wayward and twisty Old Rotten Hat. Before that, Wyatt spent a decade making ...
Nine Inch Nails: Bierkeller, Bristol
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991
NINE DANKE! ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991
We're talking sublime here. NIRVANA are the greatest band to emerge from the American post-hardcore meltdown since Sonic Youth, they sound nothing like Hüsker Dü ...
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991
PULP have waited a very long time to become overnight sensations with their space age disco anthem 'Count Down', but in a world of footwear-fixated ...
Robert Wyatt: Wheelie Saying Something
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991
Beardy-weirdy radical ROBERT WYATT may have ended up in a wheelchair pursuing rock 'n' roll Nirvana with '70s experimental cases Soft Machine, but he refuses ...
Soundgarden: Badmotorfinger (A&M/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 21 September 1991
TWO YEARS ago, Seattle's Soundgarden were poised for a big-time putsch very similar to Nirvana's impending success story. A&M had spotted the obvious sales potential ...
Kylie Minogue: A Wallaby Adored
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 28 September 1991
Be very afraid, indie saddos, for the Queen God-Empress of the Known Universe, KYLIE MINOGUE, will now transform into a Perv Rock Temptress before your ...
Primal Scream: Chicks With Everything
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 28 September 1991
Bacchanalia in the USA! Well, Kentish Town actually, but then the true spirit of rock 'n' roll has always been in the mind, reckons PRIMAL ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 October 1991
DIRE STRAITS fans are huddled in masses in the near vicinity, oblivious to the fact that the real revolution is being televised in this makeshift ...
Kirsty MacColl: Mean Fiddler, Harlesden, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 October 1991
"SO THAT'S what you look like!" Kirsty MacColl exclaims, faced with an altogether too respectable crowd of 30 and 40-somethings, then launches into an eerie, ...
Prince & The New Power Generation: Diamonds And Pearls (Paisley Park/Warner Brothers)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 October 1991
THERE WAS a time when Prince seemed to be the vital force acting on pop music's zeitgeist. A wily provocateur, the greatest singles artist of ...
Shabba Ranks: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 October 1991
LIKE THE herbsman grassed upon by his neighhours, some nasty rumours have been circulating recently about Shabba Ranks. To wit: that he's completely lost the ...
Digital Underground: Sons Of The P (Big Life/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
YOU'RE TUNED in to the mutant descendants of P-Funk. Digital Underground are updating George Clinton's '70s blueprint to reflect much more worrying times. The larger ...
Kylie Minogue: Let's Get To It (PWL/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
IT'S REALLY not that surprising that Kylie (Coy be-ribboned Girl- Next-Door) metamorphosised into SexKylie (Slinksome Vamptress and Pop-Dance Empress), although it's probably safe to say ...
Miles Davis: Miles Dewey Davis III (1926-1991)
Obituary by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
"Jazz is ignored because the white man likes to win everything. White people like to see other white people win and they can't win ...
Morrissey: Victoria Hall, Hanley
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
VICTORIA HALL, Hanley is what happens when ambitious architects attempt to cross Edwardian wedding cakes with youth clubs. A three-tier pyromanlac's fantasy of dusty, overstuffed ...
Public Enemy: The Boy-Ees are Black in Town
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
1991, and PUBLIC ENEMY — purveyors of The Noise — are busy flexing their new, improved mainstream muscle. Fresh from 'that' Anthrax collaboration, Chuck 'n' ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Warners/All formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
TOOLS YOU CAN TRUST ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991
THE JAZZ noise made here is powerful and alluring enough to snare the unwary punter into its ever-thrilling web of sound. ...
Marc Almond: Tenement Symphony (WEA/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 19 October 1991
A PLUCKY '80s survivor, Marc Almond is now on his tenth life. Having had dealings with almost every major label in the land, he's now ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Weld/Arc-Weld (Reprise/All formats)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 19 October 1991
SOLDER OF FORTUNE ...
2 Live Crew: Sports Weekend (As Nasty As They Wanna Be Part II) (Luke Records/All formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
YO! DIDDLEY! ...
Happy Mondays: Renting and raving
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
SHAUN RYDER Is suing News Of The World after they alleged he was a rent boy before he was a singer. JAMES BROWN hears the ...
The Adverts, The Clash, Sex Pistols, X-Ray Spex: Jon Savage: "I Remember Punk Rock..."
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
He was a bored public schoolboy, then JON SAVAGE heard the Pistols and the Clash and the strings of his heart went ping. He's now ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
Are LUSH the new Mike Oldfield? Does the old Mike Oldfield reckon his fans are "twats"? Is STEVEN WELLS picking on their gurly petal rock ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
He once sang with Flipper, but now MOBY — aka straight-edge Techno DJ RICHARD MELVILLE HALL — is having a whale of a time out ...
Mötley Crüe: Decade of Dickheadedness
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
Grand old dames of Heavy Metal MÖTLEY CRÜE have just signed a record deal worth a cool £35 million. Not bad for a band that ...
Primal Scream: Barrowlands, Glasgow
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 26 October 1991
GROOVIN' ON UP ...
Hole: Camden Underworld, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, November 1991
YOU KNOW WHEN you're feeling elated, lost in wonder, not out of your cranium but wondering why there seem to be continents on the moon, ...
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 2 November 1991
"WE'VE PLAYED 17 times," beams Neil Tennant, "and this is the first time the computers have gone down." While programmers rush round looking under lids, ...
Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque (Creation! All formats)
Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 2 November 1991
O STUPOR-MEN! ...
The Shamen: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 2 November 1991
SYNERGY IS dead, long live Progeny. Kicked into a different dimension by the untimely demise of bassist Will Sinnott, The Shamen's travelling rave-show finds itself ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 November 1991
RECENTLY SOME DEEP-SEA divers stumbled on an underground cave thousands of feet below sea level. Stalagmites, stalactites and mini-icicles greeted their brave entrance, almost too ...
Happy Mondays: Working Class Zero
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 16 November 1991
1990 was the year HAPPY MONDAYS could do no wrong. But this year they've made more headlines than records — Ronnie Biggs, editing Penthouse, the ...
Hole: The Berlin Independent Days Festival: Don't Mention The Wall!
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 23 November 1991
Swells Uber Alles! STEVEN WELLS takes his war on Jingly Jangly Wank to the Berlin Independent Days festival, where he shouts at Indie Kids, Europop ...
The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order: Anthony Wilson: Renaissance Manc
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
FACTORY: aloof, elegant, misunderstood Mancunian home of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, possibly the coolest record label in the world — but there are ...
Michael Jackson: Dangerous (Epic/All formats)
Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
JACKSON BOLLOCKS ...
N.W.A: NWA: Efil4Zaggin (4th & Broadway/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
BLAXPLOITATION OF MILLIONS ...
2 Live Crew, Skid Row: Skid Row and 2 Live Crew: Let's Shock!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
So just who is the most outrageous of them all? Is it SKID ROW'S SEBASTIAN BACH — banned from Wembley Stadium for life for using ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
IN DIN COUNTRY ...
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, December 1991
2013 NOTE: This piece is slightly longer than the version that appeared in NME, since I took the liberty of reinstating a small handful of ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 7 December 1991
GLAMOUR OF THE GOTHS ...
Wayne Kramer, MC5: MC5: Young, Powerful and Full Of Sperm
Retrospective and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 7 December 1991
It wasn't all flowers and freedom in the '60s for Detroit's finest rock'n'revolutionary band the MC5, whose legendary 1968 debut LP Kick Out The Jams, ...
Nirvana: 'Nevermind' — The Bolognese!
Report and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 21 December 1991
THE RAIN-sodden streets of Muggia (a secluded town in Northern Italy that acts as the border with civil war-torn Yugoslavia) are seemingly empty. Nirvana bass ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 December 1991
Praise the Lord and pass the platitudes! PM DAWN may be worshipped as 1991's brightest, dippiest new rappers, but they're keener to be set adrift ...
Babes In Toyland, Gallon Drunk, Leatherface: Astoria, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
THOUGH FRANKIE Stubbs later said he found the football field-sized stage spaces "too tiring", Leatherface appeared to thrive on this bigger platform. Guitarist Richie Hammond's ...
Overview by Keith Cameron, Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
It's the dawning of a new earache! Jakki Brambles is playing Daisy Chainsaw! Your parents have heard of Nirvana! Geffen are chasing Mudhoney! Madonna's into ...
Manic Street Preachers: The Junction, Cambridge
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
THE MANIC kampfwagen rolls on, picking up speed, one album to total oblivion, wannabe girl-boys with Welsh haircuts and purple scarves and blue blouses and ...
Mercury Rev: Nice Merc If You Can Get It
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
THE FRIDAY afternoon rendezvous with Mercury Rev isn't quite going as planned. Police have cordoned off a large stretch of Harrow Road, West London because ...
Napalm Death: End of an Earache
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
Two weeks ago STEVEN WELLS parachuted into Moscow to witness first hand the mega f— off potential of born-again frash warriors NAPALM DEATH. Today, the ...
The Sugarcubes: Sugarcubes: Shout To Lunch
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
"It is too cold in this country," sighs Einar Orn. "Cold and damp." He sips at his warming Guinness. Bjork Gudmundsdottir giggles to herself over ...
The Pogues, Joe Strummer: The Pogues and Joe Strummer: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 January 1992
THE EVENING starts, bizarrely enough. In a pub which is not only playing the whole of The Best of The Pogues but whose bar is ...
Daisy Chainsaw: Drivin' Miss Daisy
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 11 January 1992
In less than eight years, Daisy Chainsaw will be crushed to death by a giant rock from outer space. So shut up! Listen! We haven't ...
Lou Reed: Magic And Loss (Sire/All formats)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 11 January 1992
LOU REED may have abandoned his 'Phantom Of Rock' image long ago, but the search for his creative mainline has continued unabated. ...
Shonen Knife: Shonen is a Punk Locker!
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 11 January 1992
LAST YEAR in America a tribute album devoted to SHONEN KNIFE came out, with all the usual suspects like Sonic Youth on it. ...
Therapy?: Medicated Followers Of Thrashin'
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 January 1992
Warning: a steady diet of wan-faced doodlers and U2 wannabes can seriously damage your health. Solution: get some THERAPY?, Irish shitkickers with a bottom-baring fetish ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 11 January 1992
She's a Grade A, Class One, Turbo-driven Fruitcake, but Southern belle TORI AMOS might just be the antidote to all those cloying bottle blonde bimbettes ...
Del Tha Funkee Homosapien: I Wish My Brother George Was Here (Elektra/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 January 1992
THE GROOVY, art-directed cover image finds Del Tha Funkee Homosapien in repose: scared stiff and crouching in a forest, hounded by numerous disembodied eyes. Like ...
Lush: Spooky (4AD/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 18 January 1992
FILLY SPECTRES ...
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 18 January 1992
Darlings of the critics for more than a decade, the MEAT PUPPETS have finally signed to a major and made their "first" album. A battered ...
Retrospective by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 18 January 1992
AND SO, we hear you say, tell us more about the origins and development of this exciting music you call Techno. ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Henry's Dream (Mute)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 25 January 1992
HAVING LONG sneered and sped past the 'Buffoon Goth' pigeonhole reserved for him when he first arrived on these shores, the Nick Cave who thrives ...
Négresses Vertes, Les: Les Négresses Vertes: Famille Nombreuse (Circal All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992
NOW WE are all stars in the Euro firmament (at least, that's what Mick Hucknall tells us), perhaps it's time to reappraise our attitude towards ...
Primal Scream: Elysée Montmartre, Paris
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992
"QU'AVEZ VOUS donc envie de falre? On veut ete libre, libre de falre ce qui nous plait, s'en mettre plein la lampe et falre la ...
Silverfish: Acid Louse Revival
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992
Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, punk rock and sex. SILVERFISH have snogged everyone in pop music, and dreamt that they've snogged everyone else. STEVEN WELLS ...
Smashing Pumpkins: Smells Like Halloween Spirit
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992
With Nirvana a copper-bottomed rock phenomenon, the race is on to discover the Next Big Thing amongst America's 'alternative rock' ranks. Despite an acclaimed album ...
The Wedding Present: Single Sell Organism
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 1 February 1992
IN THE finest novel ever written by an Englishman, Keith Waterhouse's Billy Liar, our adolescent hero fantasises about leaving a thinly-disguised Leeds for London's bohemian ...
Jimi Hendrix: Stages (Polydor/CD box set only)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
SINCE HIS untimely death in 1970 guitar god Jimi Hendrix has been lauded as 'The Greatest Guitarist Of All Time'. His name has been inducted ...
Manic Street Preachers: Generation Terrorists (Sony)
Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
THE FIRST thing to acknowledge about Generation Terrorists is that the Manics have done it, they've pulled it off, they've released the debut double album ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
LAST NIGHT A PJ SAVED MY LIFE ...
Ride: Sex And The Singles Band
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
They are the model '90s pop group; sensitive young men with floppy hair and languid tunes, displaying cherubic belligerence laced with existential angst. But surely ...
The High Llamas: Apricots (Plastic Records/LP/CD)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
SEAN O'HAGAN and his fellow Llamas must be sick of references to their past life in Microdisney by now, but this latest mini-album undoubtedly invites ...
Tori Amos: I Wanna Sell You A Tori
Report by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
Six months ago she was nobody, today TORI AMOS is well on the way to becoming a household name. The former LA 'rock chick' has ...
American Music Club, ULU, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 15 February 1992
ONE SONG in, and the unthinkable appears to have happened. A young woman is dragged from the throng and placed on the stage, flat out ...
Manic Street Preachers: It Takes An Advance Of Millions To Hold Us, Bach
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 15 February 1992
Glammed up gobshites from the arse-end of nowhere, the MANIC STREET PREACHERS have, in a few short months, achieved their hearts' desires — a Top ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 15 February 1992
When MASSIVE ATTACK released their debut LP last year, it was hailed as a masterful collage of rap, soul and reggae with a cinematic feel. ...
PJ Harvey: Scrumpy's Trusted Nut
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 15 February 1992
Way out West Country! Cut off from television, newspapers and all your favourite bands, PJ HARVEY is brewing up an intense, sexual storm that's set ...
The Cult: Bill and Ian's Excellent Adventure
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 February 1992
Free-wheelin' through the Deep South, peddling their Bible Of Dangerous Rawk to innocent kids and getting chased by magnum-toting sheriffs...Yeah, THE CULT are still up ...
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 February 1992
READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! CHIC, the band who soundtracked 1,001 euphoric late-'70s Saturday nights and gave rock cred to disco music, are back ...
Curve: Never Mind The Parabolics
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 22 February 1992
Are Curve the manic, desperate and unhinged prince and princess of post-Mary Chain doom pop, or just a couple of old chancers out to make ...
The High Llamas: You Can Call Me Alpaca
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 22 February 1992
Former Microdisney man SEAN O'HAGAN is busy keeping that band's wry popsmithery alive in his new outfit, THE HIGH LLAMAS, mellow practitioners of the lost ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 29 February 1992
SINCE THEY faded into obscurity in 1975, shortly after recording the sessions for the Third/Sister Lovers LP, Memphis pop/rock band Big Star have been lauded ...
Manic Street Preachers: Cardiff University
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 29 February 1992
"All revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door"J K Galbraith ...
N-Joi: I'm To Essexy for the Charts
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 29 February 1992
Burn all your bootlegs, your boxed sets and Live At The Budokan deletions, and embrace Live In Manchester — a Techno record by N-JOI with ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: I-Beam Club, San Francisco
Live Review by James Brown, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992
TEASED BY the DJ's dose of Sugarhill, the audience at the I-Beam aren't so much eyeing up the imminent performance as gagging for it. ...
Report and Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992
OH DEAR. I am going to marry Billy Bragg. It's like this; Billy and I are in a tacky sort of '50s retro gift shop ...
Cowboy Junkies: Steers Beers and Pointy Ears
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992
Q: Who killed John Wayne?A: Burt Lungcancer. Cowboy drug joke, trad. ...
Nirvana: Bleach (Tupelo/All formats); Hormoaning (Japanese CD only)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992
WHAT'S ON offer here are Nirvana's (bleached) roots, a raw-throated and perhaps over-fussy sounding debut LP that would eventually spawn a phenomenon. Bleach with ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 7 March 1992
IT'S GRIM down south. Suicidally so on the remote escarpment of lunar terrain where the Dungeness nuclear reactor hums its menacing mantra out across beaches ...
Ride: Blank Re-Generation: Ride: Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
YOU KNOW the future has arrived early when Ride make mincemeat of the whole sorry teen-pop equation. ...
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
DESPITE BEING a rusting theme park 40 subway minutes from downtown New York, Coney Island has a lot going for it. ...
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Buffy St Marie: Coincidence And Likely Stories (Ensign/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
A CRASH course in Buffy history reveals that she has made 14 albums since the start of her career in the early '60s, when she ...
L7: Whisky-A-Go-Go, Los Angeles
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
BEWARE the curse of the flying TV camera. LA might be Rock City but tonight its high priestesses of dissolute turbo-grunge are ruefully bemoaning their ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
PROBLEM: A man knocks on the door of a Manchester hotel room and hands me a note which says: "Band been held up at knife-point. ...
Right Said Fred: Testicle Dept
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
DATELINE, NEW YORK. Right Said Fred have just topped the US charts with 'I'm Too Sexy' and their witty, zippy video squeezes itself gingerly into ...
The Fall: Code Selfish (Cog Sinister)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 March 1992
"THOUGH PROUD of the way I've avoided prison.../When the cell door slams/I walk to the wall.../These are the words of success expectation/These are the words ...
k.d. lang: Ingénue (Sire/Warner Bros)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
SOFTEN THE focus, put the total twang out to seed, put away the hard edge and the sharp suits for another day; k.d. has fallen ...
Nirvana: Smells Like Chlorine Spirit
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
IT'S 9AM IN Tacoma and Nirvana bassist Chris Novoselic has just got up. He's got things to do, cats to feed, a house to move ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: See You Later Ejaculator
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
THINK OF one word to sum up the Red Hot Chili Peppers. COME ON! COME ON! Sex, right? Right. ...
The Boo Radleys: Everything's Alright Forever (Creation/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
OF COURSE, they said it would be this good. And while The Boo Radley's stout-hearted self-opinion was a cheering presence in 1991's (complacen)sea of mumbles ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (blanco y negro)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
WOULD WE have thought, seven long years ago, when news of The Jesus And Mary Chain swept the land like an ugly rumour, that we'd ...
Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
Destined to rock the bones of the hard rock circuit, THE NYMPHS have already made a name for themselves in America by pissing on desks ...
The Sugarcubes: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 March 1992
HIT THE NORTH ATLANTIC ...
808 State: Club Citta, Kawasaki
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
FLASH IN JAPAN ...
Blur: Blast Of The Famous International Game Boys
Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
It's not all Calpis Walter, Pocari Sweat and smoking Keiths while on a rock 'n' roll jaunt in Japan, y'know. Sometimes you rediscover BLUR, completely ...
Cameo: Emotional Violence (Reprise)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
WELCOME TO the parallel cosmiverse of Larry Blackmon, where time stands still, and real guys wear codpieces and sport gravity-defying barnets, safe in the knowledge ...
Groupies: Stars In Their Thighs
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, David Quantick, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
NME'S LOOK AT THE THINGS THAT GO HUMP IN THE NIGHT ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
Don't be fooled by the lighter side of award-winning (and not-the-female-Nirvana) LA grunge gals L7 they may delight in the trash aesthetic of Hollywood, ...
The Sugarcubes: Nordic By Nature
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
Hamsters of the gods, inventors of hip hop, Phil Collins fans extraordinaire… life's still too good for reality on the planet of The Sugarcubes. Stephen ...
The Beautiful South: Wake Up… Time To Dial: The Beautiful South: 0898 (Go!)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 28 March 1992
"The perfect love song it has no words, it only has death threats/And you can tell a classic ballad by how threatening it gets." ...
Primal Scream: It's Only Choc 'N' Roll: Primal Scream: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 4 April 1992
"ALIEN INVASION, what on earth are we going to do?/Alien Invasion, what on earth are we going to do?" ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 April 1992
The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Blur: Glasgow SECC ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 April 1992
MAYBE IT'S for the best that Marc Bolan didn't take that bend as well as he'd have liked back in '77. Otherwise we might now ...
Soundgarden: Whole Allotment O'Love
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 April 1992
Sweet soil music! Somewhere between the excess of Heavy Metal and the austerity of alternative rock — in Seattle, in other words — lie SOUNDGARDEN, ...
Afghan Whigs: Congregation (Sub Pop/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
YOU THINK the world is f—ed? Take time out for a long, hard constitutional inside your own heart, friends, and chances are things won't look ...
The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy: Telly It Like It Is
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
Prime your remote controls for the anger and eloquence of powerful San Franciscan panthers of polemic rap, THE DISPOSABLE HEROES OF HIPHOPRISY, telling it like ...
Recoil: Bloodline (Mute/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
ALAN WILDER is the John Major of Electro. A nice chap — if every member of the public could spend ten minutes with him, he'd ...
Soul II Soul: Volume II Just Right (Ten/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
THE SOUL II Soul collective is undoubtedly a shining example of enterprise culture at its best; this culture, of course, being of the Caribbean roots ...
The Beastie Boys: Check Your Head (Capitol/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
MOW BETTER BLUES ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Funk Your Head Up (ffrr/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 18 April 1992
IT'S NEARLY five years since Ultramagnetic MCs released their debut Critical Breakdown, but you only get nine minutes into the follow-up before 'Blast From The ...
Metallica, Queen: Metallica: Het's Induction Hour
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 May 1992
JAMES HETFIELD likes weapons, Queen, women who aren't brain-surgeons, hates rap and looking like Lemmy, doesn't know all the words to 'Bohemian Rhapsody' but feels ...
Saint Etienne: St Etienne: Clubber Soul
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 May 1992
Stop farming your hair for an instant and smell those flowers! Perfect pop is back and ST ETIENNE will be drifting it blissfully up to ...
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy: Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury (4th & Broadway/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 May 1992
GREATEST AMERICAN HEROES In-Disposable! Rono and Michael take their message to the streets ...
Dinah Washington: Mad About The Boy (Mercury)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 9 May 1992
IF THE LIFE STORIES of Billie Holiday, Loretta Lynn and Pasty Cline were interesting enough to inspire major Hollywood movies, it's surely only a matter ...
N-Joi, Orbital, The Shamen: The Shamen, the Prodigy, Basti, Orbital, N-Joi: Sound City '92, Norwich
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 May 1992
FRIDAY ...
Babes in Toyland, Curve, Daisy Chainsaw, PJ Harvey, Lush, Silverfish: The Witch Report
Report and Interview by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 9 May 1992
HIPS, LIPS, TITS, POWER! Meet the new breed of enchantress, the spell-binding women who are taking the male bastille and giving it some earthily female ...
Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock: Bill Laswell: Mad Maxim
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 16 May 1992
Laughing in the face of musical categories, Manhattan's AXIOM label smashes through Techno stomp, space bass boogie, classical gas, Islamic rap'n'thrash, ferocious free-form jazz and ...
Book Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 16 May 1992
A FANATIC, they say, is someone who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim. The Smiths spawned many fans — I know, I ...
Fugazi: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 23 May 1992
LIVE AND LET DIET! ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 23 May 1992
ARE YOU ready to have your heart skewered on a grill? Just remember, if you will, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' cover version of ...
The House Of Love: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 23 May 1992
RAFTERS GROAN as House Of Love devotees stack themselves floor to ceiling for this live Radio XFM broadcast, sucking most of London's most unlikely demographic ...
Faith No More: Haircuts That Kill (a.k.a. Faith No More): The Marquee, London
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 30 May 1992
WAKE UP, IT'S TRIM TO DIE! ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 30 May 1992
Ranting, shouting, swearing, spilling conspiracy theories, spitting food in faces — L7, that is, not STEVEN WELLS (for once)! Gag, vom and die laughing as ...
Seam, Yo La Tengo: Yo La Tengo, Seam: Borderline, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 30 May 1992
"A FUNNY thing happened to us on the way to the gig." Whereupon Seam's Sooyoung Park demonstrates that the US/UK cultural gap still occasionally yawns ...
Kiss: The Tongue Remains The Same
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 6 June 1992
Wise up puckers! Are Neanderthal Moz-bashers KISS born-again rawk monsters or lip-smackin' duds? Ironic or moronic? Sexy or sexist? DAVID QUANTICK trades, ahem, licks with ...
Deee-Lite: Infinity Within (WEA/All formats)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
LYCRA DISNEY ...
Eric B. & Rakim: Eric B & Rakim: Don't Sweat The Technique (MCA/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
SWEAT SOUL MUSIC ...
Pete Rock & CL Smooth: Mecca & The Soul Brother (Elektra/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
FOR A DEBUT LP, Mecca & The Soul Brother has some serious expectations to live up to. Pete Rock has earned himself a reputation as ...
Phish: A Picture Of Nectar (Elektra/All formats)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
YOU'VE NEVER heard of them... right? But, believe it or not, Phish (from Vermont) are very big fry in the States right now and no ...
Prince: Nuremberg Power Generation
Report and Interview by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
There's a little guy in there somewhere… As PRINCE powers into Europe with yet another all-singing, all-dancing, all-peach sex-spectacle, experienced Prince-hound BETTY PAGE takes up ...
Wilson Phillips: Shadows and Light (EMI/Far too many formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 20 June 1992
FROM SUNNY California comes the new Wilson Phillips LP, eager to taste our salt tears. Tears, that is, of boredom, for there is no entity ...
Alex Chilton: Like Flies On Sherbert (Great Expectations/CD only)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 4 July 1992
WHEN BIG Star finally went under after their Sister Lovers (aka Third) LP failed to receive the attention it deserved at the time, a disgusted ...
Unmen: Love Under Water And Other Motion Picture Music (Some Bizzare/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 July 1992
I KNOW bugger all about Unmen save that they're called Giles Perring and Nick Cash. About Giles Perring I know nothing, but I know Nick ...
James, Public Image Ltd: Memories of a Freezing Festival… James/PiL: Alton Towers, Staffordshire
Live Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 10 July 1992
IT WAS NEVER really on the cards, was it, after a perfect Glasto, all sun and good vibes. There, James were last-minute bridesmaids; this was ...
The Lemonheads: It's A Shame About Ray
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 July 1992
Ray To Go, Dando! ...
Boogie Down Productions: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 18 July 1992
BDP ARE one of few constants in the fast-moving, ever-changing hip-hop world. Since 1986 they've put out hardcore classics without concession to passing fads, earning ...
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 July 1992
THE NIGHT is only three songs old when a lone, drunken heckler decides he's had enough. "Stop singing, Margaret," he admonishes. "You'd better stop that ...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 July 1992
Smells like (oh yes) caffeine spirit! Brash, thrashy, bursting with attitude, irony and a shameless desire to make a mint out of countless 'intellectual redneck' ...
Michael Jackson: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 8 August 1992
DANNY BAKER was the last man to interview MICHAEL JACKSON before the fences went up and the llamas moved in. Now, some ten years later, ...
Babes In Toyland: A Fête Worse Than Death
Report and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 15 August 1992
Rumble rumble rumble... whizz "WHAAAAHH!"And that's just listening to the new BABES IN TOYLAND album, long before EDWIN POUNCEY went anywhere near a rollercoaster with ...
Kylie Minogue: She Came, She S.A.W., She Conquered
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 22 August 1992
In the great theme park that is the British Popular Experience, KYLIE MINOGUE represents a national treasure, which is not bad going for an Australian. ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: Morrissey: Caucasian Rut
Essay by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 22 August 1992
POP STARS are especially strange creatures when it comes to giving that all-important 'image' an overhaul. ...
Babes in Toyland: Pieces Of Hate: Babes In Toyland: Fontanelle (Southern/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 22 August 1992
JUST AS THE word "love" is now virtually meaningless, its intensity sapped by decades of everyday misuse, so too has "hate" become an emotion too ...
Charles Manson: Die Flayed Alive! Charles Manson
Report by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 29 August 1992
Many reckon the swinging 60s ended the night followers of deranged hippy guru CHARLES MANSON broke into the home of Roman Polanski and brutally murdered ...
Nirvana: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 29 August 1992
As Nevermind zoomed past Bono & Jacko, so the rumours started: Kurt Is Dead ...Kurt & Courtney & heroin ...As the bulldozers continue to gather ...
Babes in Toyland: Marquee, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 September 1992
SHRIEK LIKE A CHILD ...
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 5 September 1992
They're grandly egocentric, they're glad to be fey, they think they're God's gift — and they might be right. Heaven knows, they're visceral now, and ...
The Fall, I, Ludicrous: Mark E. Smith and I, Ludicrous: Notebooks! Lout! Plagiarists!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 12 September 1992
• Which scabrous, sarky interviewer could give Fall-derivatives, football-obsessive and all-round smart alecks I, LUDICROUS a good going-over as their Idiots Savants LP sneaks out? ...
Screaming Trees: Powerhaus, Islington, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 12 September 1992
THOSE OF the opinion that rock 'n' roll is a soft option are advised to cast a cynical glance at the Screaming Trees. Singer Mark ...
Sinead O'Connor: Am I Not Your Girl? (Ensign/All formats)
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 12 September 1992
TORCHED BY YOUR PRESENCE, DEAR ...
Sister Souljah: Empire, Liverpool
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 12 September 1992
DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE Bill Clinton wants to be President of the world's only superpower — a nation capable of swatting any other off the globe at ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
CHARITY GIGS are decidedly advantageous in that they encourage strange bedfellows to share a stage; there's none of the usual persecution of support acts to ...
Buffalo Tom: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
CONSIDER CHRIS. Indeed, consider Chris Colbourn, bass-player from the excellent Boston three-piece Buffalo Tom, a man for whom nerves are a no-no. ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
IN THE grey area between barrow-boy techno and lumpen flannel-rock, there exists a community of enthusiasts who refuse to let their output be dictated by ...
Screaming Trees: Bark Psychotics
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
Are these guys for arboreal? Nursing an enviable collection of broken bones, SCREAMING TREES are pulling away from their Seattle roots and branching out into ...
Television: Return of the Valve Heads
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
HUNCHED AROUND a huge table which dominates the fancily decorated room that their new record company, Capitol, has allocated to them for interviews, the four ...
The Blue Aeroplanes: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
"ARE YOU now, or have you ever been, a member of the Blue Aeroplanes?" The T&C foyer merchandise stall is surrounded by hundreds of puzzled ...
Throwing Muses: Leicester University, Leicester
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 19 September 1992
IT MAY BE a tad predictable to criticise Throwing Muses for not being so good without Tanya Donelly, but there's something missing from their sound ...
Madonna: Non-Stop Erotica Cabaret
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 September 1992
Few papers get to interview MADONNA. Hardly anyone gets to see her home. Now — exclusively, natch — the NME charm their way into the ...
Spiritualized: Manchester University, Manchester
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 26 September 1992
HEY! SCREECHER! LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE! ...
Review by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 26 September 1992
WHEN THEY BURY the time-pod to enable future generations to get a handle on what happened in 1992, The Prodigy's debut album will be a ...
Madonna: Dominatrix Of The Trade
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 3 October 1992
In Part Two of our sexclusive interview, GAVIN MARTIN reveals how an increasingly in-control MADONNA plans to conquer the '90s with her multi-media conglomerate Maverick, ...
EMF: I've Got You Under My Foreskin
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 10 October 1992
Once they were young, pretty and sexy pop stars riding on the frenzied rock-shag monster with a diet of dangerous drugs and sex. Now EMF ...
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 10 October 1992
Neurotic, paranoid, alienated, personally inadequate (sound familiar?) — RADIOHEAD's THOM YORKE could well be the new British lyricist to claim the King Of Glum's songwriting ...
Guns N' Roses, Metallica: Metallica: High on Iron Scion
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 October 1992
The streamlined, black-clad resistance fighters of METALLICA are poised for a surgical strike on Guns N' Roses' hard rock throne. STEPHEN DALTON discovers the truth ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 24 October 1992
AFTER ALL the earache, the broken promises, the mad mullahs chasing after dollar signs and the sheer Zen apathy of the times we're dying through... ...
Paul Weller: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 24 October 1992
SEARCHING FOR THE OLD SOUL REVELS ...
The Verve: Verve: Mill At The Pier, Wigan
Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 24 October 1992
IT'S USUALLY Sunday supplement journalists who go to Wigan to hang around the notorious King Street area, sneer at the pier, observe the fights in ...
Flowered Up, Right Said Fred: Flowered Up: Sex Pistils
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 31 October 1992
YOU HEAR all these outrageous rumours about Flowered Up. About lavish parties which degenerate into Roman orgies where whole mansions get trashed while Kylie and ...
Right Said Fred: This Ain't Rock'n'roll...This is Spermicide!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 31 October 1992
Oo-er! Sex rears its ugly Fred this week, as those saucy HEAVENLY artistes release a charidee EP of rubber soul classics, namely RIGHT SAID FRED ...
Right Said Fred, Saint Etienne: St. Etienne: Saint Misbehavin'
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 31 October 1992
POP QUIZ! Which band have covered a Neil Young song, a Fall song, and a Right Said Fred song? St Etienne — who else but, ...
Björn Again: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 7 November 1992
THE '70s WERE fantastic, weren't they? Everyone was sort of daft, really. They ate all this weird food like Salt 'N' Shake crisps. They wore ...
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 7 November 1992
JUAN ATKINS, Godfather Of Techno, returns in style ...
Neil Young: Rustic Never Sleeps
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 7 November 1992
"GEE, IT'S LIKE being in a waiting room, the doctor will see you now." Neil Young has just taken a three-minute break between the arrival ...
Sebadoh: 'Doh What A Lovely War
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 November 1992
Sick of plaid-toting, attitude-brandishing, Seattle-worshipping corporate rock wannabes? Then seek a cure with SEBADOH, who speak the unspoken and think music is a huge and ...
Ice Cube: Cube Missive Crisis: Ice Cube: The Predator (4th & Broadway)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 21 November 1992
YOU ARE NOT going to believe this. ...
Shonen Knife: Dagger Dagger Hey!
Profile and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 November 1992
Do SHONEN KNIFE have some sinister masterplan to conquer Planet Pop or are they just a happy freakshow? STEVEN WELLS pulls on his combat fatigues ...
The KLF, Tammy Wynette: Stand By Your Van: Tammy Meets the KLF
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 23 November 1992
Welcome to Mu Mu Land, where hooded figures drive ice-cream vans and nothing is quite like it is in Tennessee. Which is a welcome change ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 28 November 1992
THIS RECORD HAS taken its creator, poet/songwriter/musician Leonard Cohen, four years to complete. A collection of seven originals and two cover versions that Cohen and ...
Ice Cube: The Predator's Decision is Final
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 5 December 1992
The nigger you love to hate is now The Predator. As the controversy over Ice-T's 'Cop Killer' dies down, ICE CUBE — rapper, film star ...
Report by John Harris, New Musical Express, 12 December 1992
So is THE WORD the prole art threat made flesh, or a load of amateurish toss? JOHN HARRIS travels to darkest Wembley to spend an ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 12 December 1992
As the Godparents of punk, SONIC YOUTH have seen their children break into the mainstream during the past year, signing major label deals and attempting ...
ABBA, Bjorn Again: Bjorn Again: You Saab Bastards!
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 December 1992
Are BJORN AGAIN the camp, knowing, so-bad-it's-good good-time covers band it's OK to like? Or the malignant cancer eating away at real rebellious new rock ...
Radiohead: Smashed!, Islington, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 19 December 1992
BY ALL accounts — primarily their own — Radiohead are Angry Young Men. And with good cause. Gig convention has it that the band's-mates-down-the-front scenario ...
Huggy Bear, Pavement, Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth, Pavement, Huggy Bear: Rainbow Club, Bristol
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 December 1992
SONIC THE HEADSHOCK 3 ...
Blur: Mother’s Litter Helpers: Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 1993
AND THE FOOLS laugh loudest. Blurs rise and fall has all the comic nuances of Reginald Perrins. Two years ago they were pops champagne Charlies: ...
The Boo Radleys: Giant Steps (Creation)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 1993
TIME FOR a rethink. At some point (just between the dreamy acoustic sway of Wish I Was Skinny and Leaves And Sand I think, but ...
Leonard Cohen: Hello! I Must Be Cohen
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 9 January 1993
THE SPLENDID LUNCHTIME repast lies before us, Leonard Cohen is gobsmacked by plenitude, overcome by abundance. ...
Spiral Tribe: You Can't Beat The System!
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 9 January 1993
Back to the future! SPIRAL TRIBE set out on the road to Stonehenge two years ago and never came back, lost in a world of ...
Brand New Heavies: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 16 January 1993
THE STAGE is awash with reflected light from a dozen mirrorballs and the back wall is bedecked in enough gold lame to keep Moz in ...
Cornershop: This Sitar Kills Fascists
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 16 January 1993
Out to smash Asian stereotypes, shit on racists and slaughter every half-assed predictable indie band on the planet — CORNERSHOP might not be able to ...
Apache Indian: Big Bhangra Theory
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 23 January 1993
He's been called the voice of Asian youth, the pop Gandhi and a politician but, according to APACHE INDIAN, his music just reflects the sound ...
Belly: Rough Trade Shop, Covent Garden, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 23 January 1993
THE STARLIGHT EXPRESS ...
Einstürzende Neubauten: Apocalypse Neu!
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 23 January 1993
Be honest, you missed the sheer noise terror, the rampant metal-bashing, the power drills and the quite literally explosive live show didn't you? Well now, ...
Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet: The Juliet Letters (WEA/All formats)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 23 January 1993
SINGING OF a cynic's world-view in 'A Sad Burlesque', Elvis Costello mentions 'The pitying smirk'. Funny, a pitying smirk is exactly what the young and ...
Julian Cope, The Fall, Pop Will Eat Itself, U2: Ground Control To Major Labels
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 30 January 1993
Unattached, paranoid, fancy working your ass off and seeing five gigs a night, listening to 400 tapes a week and shouldering the blame when the ...
Comment by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 6 February 1993
So we all know the Brits Awards are a farce. So damn well nearly all of our favourites have been overlooked in favour of a ...
Rage Against The Machine: Rage Against The Machine (Epic/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 6 February 1993
THE RAP-rock crossover is a long-cherished ideal that has invariably tarnished the credentials of its various practitioners and collaborators. Just as Run DMC were consigned ...
Seven Year Bitch: Smashed!, Islington, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 February 1993
BOYS ARE BORING. The tedious parade of middle-class white males desperately trying to persuade us that they 'hurt', that they 'suffer' ...YAWNO YAWNO! But listen ...
Digable Planets: Reachin' (A New Refutation Of Time And Space) (WEA/All formats)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 13 February 1993
DIGGERS WITH ATTITUDE ...
Rage Against The Machine: Livid In The Material World
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 February 1993
From Comershop to Consolidated, politics is most emphatically back on the pop agenda. And throwing up the high-wire act between semtex and spandex to beat ...
Radiohead: Pablo Honey (Parlophone/All formats)
Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 20 February 1993
GLOW FREQUENCY BAND ...
The Auteurs: Auteur Magic For The People
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 20 February 1993
Fed up of noisy, brutish Brit bands ripping off tired ideas from the Yanks? Nothing to excite you in the modern, cutting-edge of music? Then ...
Nirvana: Never Mind The Bullets
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 27 February 1993
Deep in the woods of Minnesota, a sleepy CHRIS NOVOSELIC is just finishing a major magazine article on the Bosnian/Croatian conflict, while Steve Albini helps ...
Radiohead: Turn On, Tune In, Rock Out: Radiohead at the Richmond, Brighton
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 27 February 1993
WE COULDN’T have waited much longer really, could we? What with Suede so colossal, and the likes of The Auteurs and Kinky Machine still rubbing ...
808 State: Town and Country Club, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 March 1993
THE COMPUTER-DRIVEN orchestral score that is Moby's opening gambit comes as a blessed relief. After two hours of beat-fascism courtesy of the hardcore DJ that ...
Special Feature by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 March 1993
You've seen HUGGY BEAR smash up mainstream complacency on The Word, you've been baffled by a load of biased ranting on some kind of new ...
Pulp, Saint Etienne: St Etienne, Pulp: Mayfair, Glasgow
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 6 March 1993
A MIRRORBALL of confusion spins and sparkles over the hall. Blank faces stare at the stage where Pulp are playing. Is this pop? ...
American Music Club: Join Our Club
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 13 March 1993
"I SAY A lot of stupid things," Mark Eitzel stares directly into Boy George's eyes and for a moment is very sombre. ...
Ice-T: "Bring Me The Head of Charlton Heston"
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 13 March 1993
America's most wanted... public enemy one... ICE-T's reputation is just about as real as he wants it to get right now. Ever since the 'Cop ...
Naughty By Nature: Hooray Homies
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 20 March 1993
They're huge! They're massive! NAUGHTY BY NATURE are the rap equivalent of Nirvana, catapulted to success by the unstoppable 'OPP'. But as they hold promotional ...
Arrested Development: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 27 March 1993
THE DEGENERATION GAME ...
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 27 March 1993
A VERY BRETTISH COUP ...
Levitation, Spiritualized: Spiritualized, Levitation: Hackney Empire, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 17 April 1993
A BALD man in a silver suit is pumping plumes of silver smoke from the balcony in between playing mood-altering ambient tape-loops. Below him, the ...
Review by Betty Page, New Musical Express, 24 April 1993
THE FIRST time, it gave me third degree burns. I was driving when the title track's soft murmur exploded into a rocket-thrusted motorcycle roar and ...
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 1 May 1993
Cancel room service! The man who styled and managed those grubby pop hopefuls The Rolling Stones — forever staining the world with the concept of ...
Stereo MCs: Birch Placidy and the Fun Dance Kids
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 May 1993
Beaut mutants THE STEREO MCs, the first great British rap band, are making cowboys clench their buttocks in the achy-breaky Texas heartland and dispensing mellow ...
Anthrax, Angelo Badalamenti, Public Enemy: Anthrax: Rap Metal Dealers
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993
Once upon a time, there was a super-competent trad-thrash band with a poodle-headed singer. They boldly entered the rock/rap crossover zone, collaborating with the cred-worthy ...
Overview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993
From The Kinks to Carter, Bowie to Blur, the Small Faces to Suede, British pop groups have eulogised, mythologised, criticised, glamorised, immortalised, romanticised and agonised ...
Gallon Drunk, PJ Harvey: PJ Harvey, Gallon Drunk: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993
LIKE IGGY said, all aboard for Fun Time. The pat preconceptions hanging around this inspired pairing suggest that chuckles will be thin on the ground. ...
Radiohead, Strangelove: Leicester University
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993
GUITAR VERY MUCH! ...
Pet Shop Boys: The Smiths You Can Dunce To: Pet Shop Boys
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 29 May 1993
WELL, HONESTLY! They're like an old married couple at times: Neil Tennant will poke fun at Chris Lowe, and Chris will get mildly stroppy in ...
The Velvet Underground: Velvet Underground: Some Velvet Moaning...
Comment by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 June 1993
TRUE STORY: I'm at the Smash Hits Christmas party, the disco is blamming out non-stop teeny-pop fun stuff and the joint is bopping with the ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 June 1993
Be gone with your rich kid, shoe-gazing, dilettante prejudices about SLOWDIVE, for the kebab-loving, apolitical enemy of the Manics are shaking off those untrendy pigeon-hole ...
The Velvet Underground: Playhouse, Edinburgh
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 12 June 1993
WHITE LIGHT/WHITE HAIR ...
Depeche Mode: Hanover Garbsen Stadium
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 19 June 1993
IN A marquee in the middle of a German field, Martin Gore is being cross-examined about the quasi-religious imagery of his lyrics by a frizzy-haired ...
Naughty By Nature: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 19 June 1993
ALL THE WHITE LIBERALS in the house go: "Uh oh!" ...
U2: Animal Lightweight: U2: Zooropa (Island)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 July 1993
SO THE intergalactic rock megastar reclines on his Virtual Reality waterbed at the Hotel Zooropa with multiple TV screens blasting 24-hour infotainment from every wall. ...
Bad Boys Inc: Naughty By Nurture
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 3 July 1993
It's easy to be cynical about 'manufactured' Pop Stars, how it's all so easy for talentless young upstarts to get fame and fortune beyond their ...
The Chameleons: Dali's Picture/Auffuhrung In Berlin
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 3 July 1993
IT NEVER quite happened for The Chameleons. While such kindred angsty spirits as Echo & The Bunnymen had the lips, the charisma and the odd ...
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 10 July 1993
It's the most exciting and important tour to take place this year. In the last six months, politics has roared back onto the musical agenda ...
Cypress Hill: Black Sunday (Ruffhouse/Columbia/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 24 July 1993
THE GRIM REEFERS ...
Funkdoobiest: Which Doobie U B? (Epic/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 July 1993
CARTOONS ALL over the sleeve. Distorted snapshots and stupid-fresh pseudonyms for the band: Tribal Funkster, Son Doobie and Tomahawk Funk. Goofball LA trio Funkdoobiest seem ...
The Pharcyde: Jazz Cafe, London
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 31 July 1993
HIP-HOP may have gained mass acceptance and corporate approval over recent years, but somewhere along the road it lost its sense of humour. Thankfully, the ...
Nirvana: Beyond The Thrash-hold Of Cobain: Nirvana: Roseland Ballroom, New York
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 7 August 1993
IT'S DEAFENING. Thurston Moore has his fingers in his ears. Lee Ranaldo's son Cody is wearing ear muffs. Even Courtney Love looks a little taken ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 7 August 1993
GOOD VIOLATIONS ...
Prince: Birmingham National Indoor Arena
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 7 August 1993
THE TINY FIGURE in silky lemon and black trouser-suit and Spanish heels is talking. ...
The Breeders: Credit to the Gestation
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 7 August 1993
Attention Pixies fans! You've muddled through the, erm, muddled Frank Black album, but now here is the true heir to the Pixie throne, the real ...
The Pharcyde: Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde (East West)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 7 August 1993
"DADDY, WHAT does 'crossover' mean?" ...
Buju Banton: Young Slack Teenager
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 14 August 1993
Two years ago, BUJU BANTON caused a furore with his single 'Boom Bye Bye', advocating the killing of homosexuals, a controversy further fuelled when his ...
Buju Banton: Voice Of Jamaica (Mercury/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 August 1993
THE FURORE provoked by Buju Banton's virulently anti-gay lyric to 'Boom Bye Bye' last year has had lasting repercussions on music in general and raggamuffin ...
U2: Welcome to Empty-V: U2's Zoo(ropa TV)
Comment by Stephen Dalton, Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 August 1993
Is Zoo(ropa/TV) a subversive, ironic multi-media bombardment and situationist statement or a two-hour post-modernist Pot Noodle advert made by politically naive, culturally unaware squares with ...
Bill Laswell: Super Barrier Brother
Profile and Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 4 September 1993
Respect and admiration this week go out to AXIOM label boss BILL LASWELL, breaking down multi-cultural barriers and making perfect musical marriages. ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 September 1993
GOSH, DIDN'T we all lose sleep worrying whether Curve were the genuine indie article when they arrived with an almighty belch called 'Ten Little Girls' ...
One Dove: Morning Dove White (Boys Own/London/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 September 1993
BEAKY REALISTIC ...
Radiohead: Creeping Up With The Joneses
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 11 September 1993
Their album outsells Suede's by 15 to 1, their single is in the Top 50 and MTV can't play their video enough times — in ...
The Orb, System 7: Trekroner Fort, Copenhagen
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 11 September 1993
SOMETHING'S ROCKING IN THE STATE OF DENMARK ...
2 Unlimited: Maastricht Bleepy
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 18 September 1993
For Holland's 2 UNLIMITED, purveyors of mindless Euro techno-pop (without lyrics) it's business as usual; flights to exotic destinations, endless interviews and their nth appearance ...
Huggy Bear: Taking The Rough With The Smooch (Wiiija/All formats)
Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 18 September 1993
PUCKER LIPS NOW ...
Shed Seven, Sleeper: Sleeper, Shed Seven: Smashed!, London
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 18 September 1993
HOW WE laughed. There is something delightfully absurd about York band Shed Seven's guitarist carrying on like a 15-year-old square trying to impersonate Bernard Butler, ...
The Wonder Stuff: Irish Centre, Digbeth
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 September 1993
BRUM UNDAUNTED EVENING ...
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
HOW THE NORTH-WEST WAS ON ...
Afghan Whigs: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
HIP LIBS... IT'S POWER! ...
Grant Lee Buffalo: Manchester University
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
ALL SUMMER, Grant Lee Buffalo have been critically lauded, thrown into the requisite festival slots and had their pictures shoved in the windows of record ...
KRS-One: Return Of The Boom Bap (Jive)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
HIP-HOP pioneers have always found it difficult to get respect in any true sense years down the line. ...
Pet Shop Boys: Very (Parlophone/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
THE UNFORGETTABLE INTENSIFIER ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
SO THIS is how the other half live. It's a drizzly Sunday night and nine quid to get in, but the Haçienda is bulging under ...
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
STEREOLAB ARE now just about the perfect indie art rock band. That's not necessarily a compliment. It means they don't sell millions of records, you ...
Swervedriver: Mezcal Head (Creation/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 September 1993
ATTENTION MI5: on the backs of all the recently restored gargoyles on the Houses Of Parliament are carved the words "Maggie sucks". Our sources suggest ...
Buffalo Tom: Borderline, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 October 1993
OLÉ TRINITY ...
Buffalo Tom: Borderline, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 October 1993
OLÉ TRINITY ...
Madonna: Girlie In A Coma: Madonna: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 October 1993
8.25PM: SHE'S HERE. Heads swivel and mouths gawp as her Royal Raunchiness makes an entrance few could hope to emulate. "I saw her! I saw ...
Mazzy Star: So Tonight That I Might See (Capitol)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 October 1993
WITH THEIR debut album, 1990's She Hangs Brightly, Mazzy Star ensured their place in that corner of rock's honour roll reserved for the enigmas and ...
The Wonder Stuff: Midlands Blank: The Wonder Stuff: Construction For The Modern Idiot (Polydor)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 2 October 1993
"Here's a question for you: are The Wonder Stuff still a credible band?" — Miles Hunt, NME, May 1990. ...
Afghan Whigs: Gentlemen (Blast First/All Formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 9 October 1993
MANNERS FROM HEAVEN ...
Bad Boys Inc, Take That: Take That and Parody
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 9 October 1993
Pop is being manufactured like never before — especially cute-white-boy pop. As the war between champs TAKE THAT and challengers BAD BOYS INC hots up, ...
Teenage Fanclub: Norman's Song Quest
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 9 October 1993
TEENAGE FANCLUB have unleashed their new album, Thirteen, already resigned to a critical savaging — because it's not the latest word in designer grunge. TED ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 9 October 1993
RAWK! THIS WAY... ...
The Lemonheads: Come On Feel The Lemonheads
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 9 October 1993
FIRST, THE good news; this album will drive people mad. For Evan Dando, deeply dippy, crack-smokin, high priest of slackerdom, has actually managed to create ...
PJ Harvey: 4 Track Demos (Island)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 October 1993
ROCK'N'ROLL EXISTS in a parallel universe to straight society. In this kaleidoscope of pleasures, people with suss, savvy and imagination are allowed to re-invent themselves, ...
Retrospective by John Harris, New Musical Express, 16 October 1993
ON APRIL 16, 1990, a proud man who'd spent 27 years in the custody of a vicious racist regime arrived in London. He'd come to ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 23 October 1993
SOME LIKE IT HUT ...
Spiritualized: Shirk, Rattle & Roll-up
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 23 October 1993
Jason Pierce — supposedly SPIRITUALIZED's miserable junky control-freak layabout — has been completely misunderstood… and so have his band. TED KESSLER finds that Mr Glum ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 23 October 1993
WILD, KEEN, HAIRY HIP KIDS ...
Kate Bush: Plimsoll Asylum: Kate Bush: The Red Shoes (EMI)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 6 November 1993
"WE THINK you'd better wake up captain," suggests the crew of Kate's ship on 'Constellation Of The Heart'. "There's something happenin' up ahead." "What am I ...
Suede: Fan Fare for the Common Room
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 6 November 1993
Recently returned from their second American tour, SUEDE have decided the US is their sort of place and they want out of cynical, self-consuming Britain. ...
John Lydon, Leftfield: John Lydon and Leftfield
Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 27 November 1993
IT'S ONE NIGHT in June '92, long past midnight at the Brixton Academy. The Orb have finished washing the cerebral nether regions of the full-on ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Muttley Crude: Snoop Doggy Dogg: Doggystyle (East West)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 4 December 1993
CULTURE ALIENATION, boredom and despair: such are the imperatives of Snoop Doggy Dogg's world. ...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 December 1993
With Nirvana and Metallica now deemed radio-friendly, someone had to supply a new soundtrack for rebellion — and Brazilian rockers SEPULTURA have taken up the ...
Live Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 11 December 1993
JARVIS COCKER stands on a little raised section of the stage, one finger pointing a la Travolta to the heavens, the other holding the mic ...
Oasis, Saint Etienne: St Etienne, Oasis: Birmingham Institute
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 11 December 1993
HIP POP... HOORAY! ...
D:Ream, Take That: Take That, D:Ream: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 11 December 1993
PIN-UP... AND COMING ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 18 December 1993
From girls to women, SALT-N-PEPA have moved on from their Svengali-led days to create their own agenda of single motherhood, sex and answering back to ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 December 1993
THE BOX HELPS. Men are, on average, taller than women, and at least it brings Her nearer to Him, thus conferring a little more credibility ...
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 December 1993
Just as grunge crossed over from the streets to the catwalk, RAGGA made the shift from underground to mainstream in 1993. Laying siege to the ...
Paul Weller: Wild Wood (Go! Discs)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 1994
SOMETHING TO mull over. Paul Weller has been having hit records for 16 years. Wild Wood the follow-up to his wildly-underrated debut solo outing ...
Suede: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 January 1994
Figgy Star Lust ...
Essay by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 January 1994
Is the current wave of Little Englandism just a mask for the fact that Brit rock is becoming increasingly irrelevant? STEVEN WELLS looks at the ...
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 15 January 1994
Quietly, stealthily, THERAPY? have crept up on the rock world to become the "indie" band it's OK for Beavis & Butthead to like. Even stranger ...
Urge Overkill: Jesus Urge Superstar; Americruiser (both Touch & Go/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 January 1994
IF YOU were wondering what Chicago's strutting cockerels of flame-grilled dude-rock were doing before last year's acclaimed Saturation opus, the answer is in these two ...
S*M*A*S*H: Family Club, Welwyn Garden City
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, February 1994
WELWYN GARDEN CITY. Always sounded horrible. Not as horrible sounding as Bletchley, Goole or Grimethorpe, admittedly, but more representative of the respectable blandist terrorism that ...
Garth Brooks: In Pieces (Liberty/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 5 February 1994
A GENUINE multi-platinum crossover phenomenon in the US, Brooks has yet to make any serious mark over here. Raised on Kiss and Queen, the 31-year-old ...
Sister George: Queercore: Come Out Feel The Noise!
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 February 1994
Alienated by the white, middle-class, mostly male gay scene and spurred on by riot grrrl, the exponents of QUEERCORE are young, working class, politically motivated ...
Royal Trux: Twin Infinitives (Domino/CD only)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 5 February 1994
"NOW THAT I can get outside of myself, I can see how that record has something that might not catch on immediately," admitted Royal Trux's ...
Queen Latifah: Black Reign (Motown/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 12 February 1994
AS A successful businesswoman, New Jersey rap pioneer Dana Owens, aka Queen Latifah, has few peers. She's earned respect over the course of a three-album, ...
Shaquille O'Neal: Shaq Diesel (Jive/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 12 February 1994
WITH NUMEROUS ad appearances, product endorsements and even a cover of Rolling Stone to add to his CV, it's sometimes difficult to remember that Shaquille ...
The Fugees: Emigration Terrorists
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 19 February 1994
Fact: like it or lump it in with the nastier things in life, hip-hop is still growing like the tumour from hell. Fittingly, as the ...
Blur: We Can Be Eros… Just For One Day
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 5 March 1994
Breaking out of the Camden bootboy mould that brought more bovver than they’d bargained for, BLUR are back with more songs about penile dementia, lager ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Melkweg, Amsterdam
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 5 March 1994
IT'S VALENTINE'S weekend in Amsterdam, love is in the air (and indeed, in the area), made all the more blissful by the dizzying aroma of ...
Beck: Mellow Gold (Geffen/All formats)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
INGOT'S DREAMING ...
Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja: Gang Starr: Respect is Duo
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
Four albums down the line, GANG STARR are on the verge of promotion to the Premier League with their unique brand of rap. ANGUS BATEY ...
Elastica, John Lydon, S*M*A*S*H, These Animal Men: Speed: Sinus Of The Times
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
Hey, you! Are you trying to coat your lungs with a half-pound bag of baking soda mixed with industrial-strength heroin and dealer's dandruff? STEVEN 'Just ...
Primal Scream, ZZ Top: ZZ Top: Can't Get Out Of Beard
Interview by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
They were poor, humble boogie-woogie Texan boys. And then ZZ TOP discovered beards!, buffalo!, babes! and car seat covers! so they could take over the ...
Jeff Buckley: A Son's Star Trip: Jeff Buckley: Borderline, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 April 1994
"I NEED A Guinness," murmurs Jeff Buckley, after completing one of his many audacious sorties on the collective heartstring this evening. "And I really mean ...
The Beatles and Astrid Kirchherr: They Loved Stu Yeah Yeah Yeah
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 2 April 1994
They weren't always old men owning half of Scotland and giving all their money to spiritual motor racing gurus. On the eve of a Beatles ...
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 2 April 1994
TIM BUCKLEY died at 28. He never had a Top 40 album. But two recent live album releases and the emergence of his son, Jeff, ...
Hole: Live Through This (City Slang/All formats)
Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 9 April 1994
HOLE ON THE RAGE ...
Jeff Buckley: Live at Sin-é (Big Cat)
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 9 April 1994
TALENTS sporting the imprint of famous genetic forbears inspire suspicion and derision in equal measure; look no further than Julian Lennon's career for elucidation. ...
Oasis, Whiteout: Respect is Dune: Oasis/Whiteout: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 9 April 1994
THERE IT IS, the new sound of young Scotland, wiggling its corduroy-wrapped hips, pursing its lips and clapping enthusiastically into the mic in a basement ...
The Auteurs: Haughty by Nature
Interview by Andrew Mueller, New Musical Express, 9 April 1994
Yup, it's six-gun 'n' ten-gallon — from Odd bins — fun all the way. as THE AUTEURS release their second album, Now I'm A Cowboy. ...
Primal Scream: You Can't Always Take What You Want: Primal Scream: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 9 April 1994
BOBBY GILLESPIE yells something victorious and completely unintelligible into the mic, waves a bottle of champers at the ecstatic throng at the front and falls ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Kurt Cobain: "We Just Cannot Realise How Troubled This Soul Was..."
Comment by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 16 April 1994
I FIRST MET Kurt Cobain on the night of December 3, 1989. His band had been on the road for weeks, touring the European toilet ...
Primal Scream: Dancing with Mr. G
Report by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 16 April 1994
Are you ready for rock-trucker blues — the PRIMAL SCREAM way? Can you handle misplaced underwear, Jacuzzi romps, leather shorts and shenanigans in gay clubs? ...
The Chemical Brothers, Death In Vegas: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 19 April 1994
"E'S, COKE, anything you want..." Yeah, you gotta admit it: Brixton knows how to party. No sooner have you navigated your way around the slurring ...
Counting Crows: Abacus:Arrival
Interview by Andrew Mueller, New Musical Express, 23 April 1994
They've gone from COUNTING CROWS to counting dollars in the space of one album, but rook leader ADAM DURITZ still has to avoid the questions ...
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 23 April 1994
The Kinks did it. The Who did it. But no-one does it like OASIS, five lads who won't waste words when a punch will do, ...
Saint Etienne: Cats Eyes and Legless
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 30 April 1994
You know Saint Etienne as the flop band living within the pages of Kay's Catalogue and fronted by Emma Peel's understudy. But their pals reckon ...
The Only Ones, Peter Perrett: The One Featuring Peter Perrett: London, Camden Underworld
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, May 1994
ELEGANTLY WASTED, stylishly dissipated.... it is far too easy to wrap the debilitating effects of heroin addiction in the prosaic flippancy of 1970s rock journalese. ...
Black Sabbath: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 7 May 1994
HE LOOKS for all the world like a 1970s catalogue model, with his snake-hipped flares. Shoot! Annual 1975 hairstyle, and rakish Zapata moustache. He has ...
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 7 May 1994
JAZ COLEMAN, if you didn't know already, has spent half a lifetime redefining the word 'intensity'. His all-encompassing passion borders on madness and his commitment ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 7 May 1994
GESTURE GIGOLO ...
Buffalo Tom, Kurt Cobain, The Lemonheads: The Lemonheads: Come On Feel The Suedehead
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 7 May 1994
EVAN DANDO has been marketed as teen sex symbol, scagged out hippy doper and serious artiste, but now THE LEMONHEADS' main squeeze is trying to ...
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 14 May 1994
A HOT South London night. The air is a heady mix of sweat, liquor, perfume… and bomb-ass skunk. Inside the Academy, a veritable ceremony is ...
Dr. Dre, Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Doggy Dog and Dr Dre: Every Dogg Has His Dre
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 May 1994
They called him an "evil bastard", said he shouldn't be allowed in the country, that there would be riots outside his hotel and gigs. But ...
Erasure: I Say I Say I Say I Say (Mute/All formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
DURING THE recent furore over the homosexual age of consent, nobody saw fit to introduce into the debate the on-going 30-year-old love affair between straight ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
IT IS the night before the local elections, the one chance to hit the BNP where it really hurts... and Bath is sound asleep. Down ...
Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart: Take Me To God (Island/All Formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
BE ON YAHWEH! ...
The Melvins, Napalm Death: Melvins, Napalm Death: Garage, London
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
THIS MUCH we know: having long since rejected such trifling notions as tunes, melody and coherent vocals, Napalm Death have concentrated their efforts on creating ...
Napalm Death: Fear, Emptiness, Despair (Earache/All Formats)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
WHAT CAN you say about a band who defined the very genre of which they are a part? ...
Sleeper: Kipping Against The Pricks
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
Tired of being safe? Fed up with worrying about the ozone layer? Bored with modern life? Then you need SLEEPER. The last of the dirty, ...
The Beastie Boys: We Clamorous Beasties
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
The Beastie Boys, icons to the sunstruck, tattooed youth of California have set up every American boy's dream empire — clothes, fanzine, record label and ...
Violent Femmes: New Times (Elektra/All Formats)
Review by Andrew Mueller, New Musical Express, 21 May 1994
IN A SANE world, every child on earth would be issued with a copy of the Femmes' 1985 debut the moment they reached puberty — ...
The Fatima Mansions: Fatima Mansions: The Garage, Highbury, London
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, New Musical Express, 28 May 1994
THE FIRST hundred through the doors are issued with oranges — satsumas are out of season — and a free single ('Humiliate Me') in a ...
Report and Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 28 May 1994
Five years ago GALLIANO was just a sticky Mediterranean drink. Now they're a band on the verge of major success, spearheading the movement that's the ...
Manic Street Preachers: Siamese Animal Men
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 28 May 1994
MANIC STREET PREACHERS were once provincial PC lads, but give them a sniff of Bangkok's infamous Pat-Pong district and morality flies out the window. BARBARA ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 28 May 1994
SHIRT UP AND DANCE ...
D:Ream: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 4 June 1994
PETER CUNNAH cannot dance to save his life. Of course, he knows this full well. Not for him the thrust of the hips to send ...
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 4 June 1994
Beneath the all-quaffing, lager-frenzied, dreamy-weamy indie muso LUSH there's a band bristling with resentment, heartbreak and anger. Visiting MIKI BERENYI's nightmare childhood and EMMA ANDERSON'S ...
Nine Inch Nails: Barrowlands, Glasgow
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 4 June 1994
IN HIS dreams, Trent Renzor is the last great warrior of industrial culture. As the Nine Inch Nails lynchpin. he wants to scare the living ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 4 June 1994
RIDE STRIPPED BARE ...
The Boo Radleys, Oasis, Ride: Creation Records: Rehabsolutely Fabulous
Interview by John Harris, Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 9 June 1994
A decade on from its inception, Creation rules the British rock underground. The 'Undrugged' party at the Royal Albert Hall, and the random singing of ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: Rough Trade Shop, Covent Garden, London
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 18 June 1994
'SECRET GIG' — Arf! Despite premature talk of fan mayhem and rioting in the plazas of Covent Garden this is a secret gig that isn't ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 June 1994
BLARNEY ARMY! ...
Rage Against the Machine: Marx Out Of Tension
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 June 1994
All festival trails lead to Glastonbury. At least they do for RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, stall angry, still shouty and still not talking about their ...
The Lemonheads: Lemonheads: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 June 1994
HOW HAS EVAN Dando managed to survive the Russian roulette games and hoop-jumping required of a heart-throb by the shark-infested music industry? How does he ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 June 1994
SANITARY CONFINEMENT ...
Glastonbury: Three-Day Passout
Report by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 2 July 1994
Glasters — a total experience for mind and body… and awesome fun besides. JOHNNY CIGARETTES folds his tent and steals away to the outer extremities ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 July 1994
MOST OF THE people Nas looked up to during an eventful adolescence in Queensbridge, New York City, are either dead or in jail. His DJ ...
Report and Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 9 July 1994
"AAAARGH! F*** YOU ASSHOLE! GET OUT MY FACE!" ...errrrrrk!..."YEAH I'M DOIN' A F***IN' U-TURN WHAT'S THE GODDAMN PROBLEM?!" errrrrrrk! "Oh jeeezuuus! We've been past ...
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 23 July 1994
PETE TOWNSHEND, Broadway hit musical owner and destroyer of 1001 guitars, is lounging in the shade of a Twickenham afternoon like a man who's just ...
Report by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 30 July 1994
LOLLAPALOOZA once had the chance to be the greatest rock'n'roll circus the planet had ever seen. But, in spite of the live spectacle of VERVE, ...
Suede: While My Guitarist Swiftly Leaves
Report by John Harris, New Musical Express, 30 July 1994
What a guffing idiot, eh readers? You're the genius guitarist in SUEDE, you've just finished your second album and then... you bugger off amid rumours ...
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 6 August 1994
PUBLIC ENEMY were once unerring occupiers of the moral high ground, but guns, drugs, liquor and arrests have shown them to be as fallible as ...
Public Enemy: Flavor Flav: Coke Adds Strife
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994
While PUBLIC ENEMY have been lying low for the past two years, errant rapper FLAVOR FLAV has been having very personal, and very public problems ...
Neil Young: Sleeps With Angels
Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994
PETE TOWNSHEND got it right when he said, "Neil Young? Neil's the leader – the rest of us just follow him." Young may have started ...
Portishead: Dummy (Go Beat/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994
POOR PORTISHEAD. The town, I mean, not the slo-mo sound sculptors who have made this innocuous seaside hideaway sound so relentlessly tragic. For this is, ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: Stoned and Dethroned (Blanco y Negro)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994
WHEN YOU ARE the Jesus and Mary Chain and your life is willingly bounded by certain influences – let's rise once more from our orthopaedic ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 20 August 1994
The scene: Dublin, or the London Underground, or a vomit-strewn bathroom. The props: beer, lots of it. The time: time to wake up to the ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 27 August 1994
Born with a voice to die for and a runaway father who follows him everywhere, JEFF BUCKLEY's wish not to discuss the late, great old ...
Report by John Harris, New Musical Express, 27 August 1994
Take 250,000 hippy children (Please! — Ed) and baby boomers reliving the 'glories' of the '60s, stick them in a sea of mud and charge ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 September 1994
From their early militant days to today's mellowed-out elder statesmen, ASWAD have hauled British reggae into the '90s, sidestepping genres and influencing everyone from Ace ...
Green Day: The Dookies Of Hazards
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 3 September 1994
Smothered in mud, wrestling with bouncers, GREEN DAY are The Monkees, The Kinks, The Banana Splits and The Ramones in one handy million-selling punk rock ...
Kylie Minogue: A Wallaby Together
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 3 September 1994
It's been a difficult gestation, but the world looks set to witness the rebirth of KYLIE MINOGUE as she emerges from the cocoon with colourful ...
Coolio: Con Voyage: Coolio: Camden Underworld, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 10 September 1994
SOME PEOPLE with hidden agendas berate Arrested Development and Public Enemy endlessly for touring with rock bands. ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 September 1994
Hard-lad hoodlums in a world of antiseptic pop fodder, EAST 17 are the credible alternative to the usual pec-flexing pin-ups that try to storm the ...
Ice Cube, Public Enemy: Ice Cube & Public Enemy: Patinoire De Malley, Lausanne
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 17 September 1994
Yodel, Bum Rush The Show ...
James: No Folk on the Wah Tour
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 17 September 1994
They laugh! They drink! They 'partake' of nitrous oxide! Is this the JAMES of indie-folk wibble dancing legend? No! This is the About To Be ...
Massive Attack: The Three Racketeers
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 17 September 1994
With the follow-up to their 1991 monster Blue Lines in the can, MASSIVE ATTACK are out to prove that homegrown soul fusion can take on ...
Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 17 September 1994
YOU MIGHT regard the hirsute scruffball demeanour as proof of their berth on the now ritually condemned HMS Slacker, but in fact The Flaming Lips ...
Catatonia: Sleep Smell of Success
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 24 September 1994
"ECHOBELLY, THESE Animal Men, all those groups... they've got the gift of the gab, they know what to say, they live in the right places. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Jesus and Mary Chain: Sporran Co-Despondents
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 24 September 1994
After ten years on the road, the Jesus and Mary Chain find themselves in pretty much the same place they've been for years: on licensed ...
Spearhead: Don't Spear the Rapper
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 24 September 1994
MICHAEL FRANTI, the man behind The Beatnigs' post-industrial clatter and key shouter with agit-rappers Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy, has adopted a mellower vibe for his ...
The Clash: Clash/Subway Sect/Slits/Prefects: Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford
Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, October 1994
BORED TEENAGERS – SUBURBAN HICKS with soap-stiffened Sid Vicious barnets and bleeding earlobes gape in awestruck, whey-faced wonder. Chelmsford, anonymous epicentre of NOWHERE is playing ...
Suede: Dog Man Star (Nude/All formats)
Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 1 October 1994
DIAMOND 'DOG'! ...
Radiohead: March Of The Modulations: Radiohead: Garage, Glasgow
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 8 October 1994
LET'S GET straight to it. Radiohead are fundamentally a very good group. They have a guitarist with space alien good-looks and the natural swagger of ...
Brand New Heavies: Mississippi Earning
Report and Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 15 October 1994
Audiences across the Atlantic have taken to THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES like their long lost brother/sister, seduced by the glamour of these sharp-dressed poppy funksters. ...
Shane MacGowan: Adder Few Drinks
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 20 October 1994
One of them's the stumbling genius who used to front The Pogues, the other's a chisel-jawed Hollywood superstar actor. They are drinking buddies SHANE MACGOWAN ...
Transglobal Underground: Trans-Global Underground: 24 Hour Liberal Party People
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 October 1994
TRANS-GLOBAL UNDERGROUND are the ultimate in multi-ethnic, politically correct entertainment and they've never been guilty of thinking non-PC thoughts about anyone. Ever. At least, not until STEVEN ...
Meat Puppets, Nirvana: Nirvana: Unplugged In New York (Geffen/All formats)
Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 29 October 1994
WAKE OF FIRE ...
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 29 October 1994
Dartmoor, Devon, and the mist-shrouded figure wrapped in a Victorian great-coat playing the role of Flashman can only be BRETT ANDERSON. But how is Housewife ...
Jamiroquai: Cardiff University, Wales
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 11 November 1994
Champignon, The (Stevie) Wonder Hoarse ...
Body Count, Ice-T: Ice-T: Seine In The Membrane
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 November 1994
It's not all being grim and Malcolm X when you're ICE-T. You also get to go on the road with your mates, play metal and ...
Echobelly, Elastica, Gene, Oasis, Shed Seven: Oasis/Shed Seven/Elastica/Echobelly/Gene: EC Raiders
Report and Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 19 November 1994
Sacre bleurgh! Parisian hoteliers flee through the boulevards as la creme de Brit indie culture — i.e., OASIS, SHED SEVEN, ELASTICA, ECHOBELLY and GENE — ...
The Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (Capitol)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 19 November 1994
JUST CHILLIN', like Bob Dylan. Paul's Boutique, five years on from its release way back in August '89, is still an electrifying blast of cool. ...
Beck: The Slack and Bright Minstrel
Profile and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 26 November 1994
In the boho East Village cafes he listened to Woody Guthrie's back catalogue and shouted along to his acoustic guitar. But that was before 'Loser' ...
Pearl Jam: Mo' Vedder Blues: Pearl Jam: Vitalogy (Epic)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 26 November 1994
NOSTALGIA MIGHT BE the last refuge of the scoundrel, but is it too late to turn back the clock? Can we return to a time ...
Urge Overkill: Cocktail of the Unexpected
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 3 December 1994
Supersuave trashlords with cocktail lounge tendencies, Chicago's URGE OVERKILL are finally surfing the British chart on the back of a surprise hit, taken from the ...
Beck: Water Rats, King's Cross, London
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 10 December 1994
WOOLLY HATS off at the door, please. Now, put out that spliff and stand up straight, you silly people. This is Beck, and he's too ...
Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 10 December 1994
M PEOPLE make timeless pop songs, have a genuine cool soul singer and a classic album that won them the Mercury Music Award — and ...
The Stone Roses: Second Coming (Geffen/All formats)
Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 10 December 1994
ANTI-CLIMAX BLUES BAND ...
The Sabres of Paradise, Andrew Weatherall: Andrew Weatherall: Sabre as a Judge
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 17 December 1994
ANDREW WEATHERALL was a wanker, but he's alright new. At least that what he tells TED KESSLER in the wake of his girlfriend ditching him ...
Blur, Elastica, Oasis, Pulp, Sleeper, Suede, Supergrass: Britpop: Modern Life Is... Brilliant!
Overview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 7 January 1995
It was the year grunge died, the year of jungle... arses. It was the year that BRITISH POP found its feet again, and what's more, ...
Blackstreet: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 January 1995
MODESTY might not be Teddy Riley's strongest suit, but he's certainly earned the right to project himself as a streetwise megalomaniac from the forgotten projects ...
R Kelly: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 January 1995
"IF YOU'RE 16 or under, don't try this at home." ...
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 14 January 1995
Has it all gone wrong for SUEDE? Dog Man Star not accorded the status they wished for, doubt over Richard Oakes' ability to better Bernard, ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 4 February 1995
TUMMY GUNS ...
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 4 February 1995
The meteoric rise of SLEEPER is matched only by the meteoric speed of singer LOUISE WENER's gob. Anti-feminism, anti-PC, anti-voting but pro shagging, drinking and ...
Tricky: Maxinquaye (4th & Broadway)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 February 1995
THE SEVERN ALLIANCE ...
Manic Street Preachers: From despair to... where?
Report by John Harris, New Musical Express, 25 February 1995
The disappearance of RICHEY EDWARDS has rekindled all sorts of fears and rumours, from the possibility of suicide to the seemingly inevitable split of the ...
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 25 February 1995
"THIS SONG'S about Oxford, I s'pose," says Thom Yorke, managing to sound like a spiteful 25-year-old adolescent. Then he starts singing: "I can't afford to ...
Gravediggaz: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 March 1995
THE HITMAN AND HEARSE ...
PJ Harvey, Tricky: Town & Country Club, Leeds
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 18 March 1995
THE REBIRTH OF GHOUL ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: The Voice Of Young America
Interview by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 23 March 1995
Daryl Hall is the sweet soul voice in the Hall & Oates duo, whose "black-white" music has made them America's hit single champs of the ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 March 1995
ASH may be fresh-faced teens but they're hardly naïve kids. The Irish striplings are currently the coveted prize in a US bidding war involving such ...
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: Cardiff University
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, April 1995
THIS YEAR, amazingly, Wales just might become the world capital of cool. And look who's making it happen: Welsh pop's most unlikely candidates for crossover ...
Profile and Interview by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, April 1995
"I DRANK as much as anybody, but I'm not drinking now... except tonight." ...
Jon of the Pleased Wimmin, Andrew Weatherall: Liverpool's Cream: Bag Company
Report by Bethan Cole, New Musical Express, 8 April 1995
TRAVELLING TO Liverpool by train, passing through the industrial landscape of warehouses and factories that once made Britain 'Great', you're reminded of the North's 19th ...
Nirvana: "I Don't Believe In Closing Off Options"
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 8 April 1995
Back in August 1991, NIRVANA were just the latest in a long line of US rock hopefuls. Newly signed to Geffen, Nevermind was about to ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Washington's State
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 8 April 1995
If Cobain's death shook the rock world, its impact on his hometown went off the scales. BARBARA ELLEN visited Seattle to find out how much ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 15 April 1995
WHEN COURTNEY LOVE tries it on, people think she's the defiant survivor shrugging the weight of the world off her shoulders. Yet, when Moby decides ...
The La's: There He’s Gone: Lee Mavers
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 15 April 1995
Simple as. When Lee Mavers talks, in that cracked-up Mersey drawl of his, he talks. ...
Method Man: Method in the Madness
Report and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 29 April 1995
Welcome to Florida, land of Disney, Dayton Beach and glorious Orlando. And paranoia, machine-gun toting security guards and camcorders shoved up strangers' crutches. METHOD MAN, ...
Vic Chesnutt: Is Vic All There?
Profile and Interview by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 29 April 1995
"I DRANK as much as anybody, but I'm not drinking now... except tonight." ...
The Boo Radleys: Zeleste 2, Barcelona
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, May 1995
IT IS 4.42 AM. Martin Carr and Bob Cieka of the Boo Radleys are, um, "relaxing" at the Hotel Sol in Barcelona after a suitably ...
Hole: Oxford Street Virgin Megastore, London
Live Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 6 May 1995
PETTY ON THE OUTSIDE ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 6 May 1995
THERE'S A new spring in Pulp's stride. Maybe it's the afterglow of romping to victory in the Sound City pop quiz earlier today, but Jarvis ...
Marion, Menswear: Passage Du Nord Ouest, Paris
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 13 May 1995
VIVE LA PRANCE! ...
McAlmont & Butler: Drag Man Star
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 13 May 1995
Charged up by men in frocks, with a voice like Al Green meets Liz Cocteau, there's no mistaking McALMONT. But who's the reticent guitarist? BERNARD ...
Paul Weller: Woking Back To Happiness: Paul Weller
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 13 May 1995
Its taken over a decade, but with his new album PAUL WELLER has finally gone back to his roots, the part of his life that ...
Cornershop: Water Rats, King's Cross, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 20 May 1995
WHO COULD have foreseen a re-birth on this grand scale? The basic struggle for Cornershop has always been one for identity and, while they've been ...
Elvis Costello: They Think It's All Covers... Er, It Is Now!
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 20 May 1995
After 18 years of being either a sneering young turk or cumudgeonly old bugger, ELVIS COSTELLO has decided it's time for a change – he's ...
McAlmont & Butler, Edwyn Collins: Hanover Grand, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 20 May 1995
THE LEGACY of the ampersand in rock is, frankly, mixed. For every Lennon & McCartney you can bank on the lurking presence of a Foster ...
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 20 May 1995
FOREVER BLIGHTED by the indie kids as 'that bunch of arse who supported Paul Weller', Glastonbury's Reef are universally condemned for their multifarious crimes against ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 20 May 1995
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN ...
Babes In Toyland: Garage, Glasgow
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 27 May 1995
THEY MAY be down, but the Babes come out fighting. Battling lukewarm reviews for their patchy new album and general indifference to grungular yank yowling, ...
Live Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 27 May 1995
SUPER GRASS! ...
Black Grape: Pips Out For The Lads
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 3 June 1995
If you expected old fruit SHAUN RYDER to come back as reconstructed new man you were pissing in the wind. PAUL MOODY discovers that the ...
Peter Andre, East 17: East 17, Peter Andre, Deuce, J-Pac: SECC, Glasgow
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 3 June 1995
COCKNEY REVELS ...
Portishead: Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 June 1995
TORCH ME I'M SLICK ...
Royal Trux: It's All Chauffeur Now
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 June 1995
They're the most notorious rock band on the planet. They're wilder than a starving lion. So how come ROYAL TRUX are afraid of pre-teen Washington ...
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 10 June 1995
Suede, Blur, Oasis… all have slumped at the Breakthrough Bar, unable to make it big in America. So what makes ELASTICA think they will succeed? ...
Foo Fighters: King Foo: Foo Fighters: King's College, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 10 June 1995
TRUE, THE FACT THAT the hall is christened "Tutu's" is something of a giveaway, as indeed are the alarmingly generous bar tariffs. But if this ...
Michael Jackson: HIStory (Epic/all formats)
Review by John Harris, New Musical Express, 17 June 1995
HISTERICAL! ...
The Verve: Manchester Roadhouse
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 17 June 1995
SO THATS what it sounds like. A long, curdled up intro, all ghostly pyrotechnics and a death rattle of drums, then suddenly, whoosh! And the ...
Therapy?: Infernal Love (A&M/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 17 June 1995
SOME PEOPLE work down in the sewers. Others dispense hard-earned wisdom to spotty adolescents in the name of hard rock. Which job would you prefer? ...
The Chemical Brothers: Apothecary Now: The Chemical Brothers : Exit Planet Dust (Junior Boys Own)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 June 1995
THINK OF THE truly great, era-defining albums of the last 18 months. Definitely Maybe would be in there. Ill Communication and Dummy, too. ...
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 24 June 1995
Can't make it to Glastonbury this year? Mum wouldn't allow you near the place, huh, or is it, as you've told your friends, you were ...
Primus: Tales From The Punchbowl (Interscope/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 July 1995
AS THE cerebrally challenged Austrian King in Amadeus would have no doubt averred, there's but one simple problem here: "too many notes". ...
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 July 1995
The last time FUN-DA-MENTAL took a journalist to Pakistan, the writer came home a jibbering wreck and the band split. A return trip anyone? Bribes/blackmail/strict ...
Laurie Anderson: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 8 July 1995
PATRON SAINT of art zombies everywhere, Laurie Anderson's come a long way from playing her violin while standing on blocks of ice on street corners ...
Kyuss: ...And The Circus Leaves Town (Elektra/All formats)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 15 July 1995
FOR THOSE about to rock, we salute them round these parts, and no-one rocks heavier than Kyuss, the thinking mammoth's metal muthas. ...
Report and Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 22 July 1995
Camera-shy SEAL is poised for pan-global success with his latest 'Bat' single and new album, but can he balance a beachball on his nose? JOHNNY ...
Björk: Venus As A Joy: Björk: SFX City Theatre, Dublin
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 22 July 1995
"SIX YEARS AGO," gasps Björk in her decidedly over-affected five-year-old-geisha-girl voice, "I was here in this very room with Sugarcubes. Nostalgic but true. Thank you, ...
Goldie: You Can't Beat A Bit Of Bullion!: Goldie: Timeless (Metalheads/ffrr)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 August 1995
TO VENTURE INTO Goldie's world you must suspend conventional notions of time. Double-speed breakbeats fly past at irregular intervals; solemn strings swell, as if for ...
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 9 September 1995
DON'T PRETEND you saw it coming. In fact, don't even bother going back and combing the grooves looking for it. ...
Cath Carroll: True Crime Motel (Teenbeat/CD only)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 September 1995
TO SOME people, Cath Carroll needs no introduction. Tony Wilson, the situationist supremo behind the sadly-defunct Factory Records, is certainly aware of her, having bankrolled ...
Lenny Kravitz: Circus (Virgin/All formats)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 9 September 1995
CIRCUS TO REQUIREMENTS ...
Blur: Graham Coxon: I'm Completely at Odds With Everything
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 23 September 1995
He hated the 'Country House' video and had doubts about it as a single. He thought of sabotaging his band's attempts to win that coveted ...
Baby Bird: Bad Shave (Baby Bird Recordings/CD only)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
MORE BEDROOM shenanigans from the enigmatic Steven Jones in his Sheffield hideaway. The follow-up to August's I Was Born A Man, Bad Shave is the ...
Green Day: Insomniac (WEA/All formats)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
SLEEPY JOE ...
Green Day: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
THEATRE OF MATES ...
Menswear: Nuisance (Laurel/LP/CD)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
IF YOU are over the age of 21 and read the NME, you should hate Menswear. And you should hate them, essentially, for being young, ...
Nick Cave, Kylie Minogue: Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue: The Devil and Miss Bones
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
Together at last — two great antipodean, pop phenomena who have, in their individual ways, made a unique contribution to the business called show. NICK ...
Shara Nelson: Friendly Fire (Cooltempo/All formats)
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
SHOT FROM THE HEART ...
Superchunk: Here's Where The Strings Come In (City Slang/CD/LP)
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 7 October 1995
HARD TO believe, but Superchunk are maturing. Sure, they're still dealing in their trademark angst, and Mac McCaughan's desperately fragile falsetto still teeters on the ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 21 October 1995
DARLING, they're the young ones — but only just. With two-thirds of their group now contemplating life on the wrong side of 18, Bis, Glasgow's ...
Sleeper: Anson Rooms, Bristol University,Bristol
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 October 1995
THE KIPS ARE ALRIGHT ...
Rocket From The Crypt: Cats With Nine Knives
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 28 October 1995
They mean it, maaan. Punk from the States is so often tame, familiar and predictable, but that looks set to change with the imminent success ...
The Chemical Brothers: Astoria, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 28 October 1995
OH NO, not the eyelids again... Nurse! ...
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 28 October 1995
Forget all you may have read about TRICKY. Forget that he once admitted being the father of MARTINA's child. Forget that he and Björk, at ...
Eternal: Power Of A Woman (EMI/CD/Cassette)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 November 1995
YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACKLISTED ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 4 November 1995
CLOTHES ENCOUNTERS ...
Cypress Hill: Prophets of Boom
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 November 1995
Welcome, disciples, to the Temple Of Boom (temporarily relocated to Baker Street). Marijuana monks CYPRESS HILL are in attendance, ready to dispense sacred knowledge on ...
The Bootleg Beatles, Oasis: Oasis, Bootleg Beatles: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 18 November 1995
THE STARDUST BROTHERS ...
Pulp: Sorted For Freezing Gigs!
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 18 November 1995
Phew!!! It may be bloody cold outside (minus three degrees, actually) but in the frozen expanse that is Norway, things are definitely hotting up for ...
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Carter USM: Tattoo Little Boys
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 November 1995
CARTER USM have been held back by their following's anti-pop element — a minority who can't accept that their heroes don't want to kill pop. ...
Foo Fighters: The Foo Epidemic
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, December 1995
IT'S BEEN QUITE A YEAR for Foo Fighters, shaking off the ghosts of the past and confounding the expectations of those who consider Dave Grohl ...
Madonna: Meanwhile Back at the Raunch
Interview by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 2 December 1995
Phew!!! Hold on to your seats because MADONNA is about to reveal all... NOOOOOO!!! she's not stripping off again, but she IS telling all to ...
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 2 December 1995
HE SELLS HIMSELF as some kind of rampant stallion from Shagsville central, yet produces the most impotent swingbeat shite known to modern man. His nauseating ...
The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Slayer: Russell Simmons: Def Shepherd
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 December 1995
Yeah Boyee! DEF JAM, the record label that put the ROCK in hip-hop and brought you the likes of Public Enemy and Beastie Boys, is ...
Teenage Fanclub: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 December 1995
SHOULD YOU happen to care about affection and chrysanthemums and heartache and damp bedrooms lit with a warm glow, then Teenage Fanclub will not only ...
Eazy-E, N.W.A: E Bygone!: Eazy-E: Eternal E (Virgin)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 January 1996
THE BIBLE says that, in the last days, men will actively seek death and death will flee from them. So, as sad and ultimately preventable ...
The Congos: Heart Of The Congos (Blood And fire/LP/CD)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 20 January 1996
THAT WAS the mother lode year, 1977, set in timeless stone for reggae, and the year that, as Rastafarians would have it, two sevens clashed. ...
The Wedding Present: Mini (Cooking Vinyl/LP/CD)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 20 January 1996
ON RADIO recently, David Gedge claimed that the most hurtful press comment he'd ever read about himself was that he had hairy ears. Well, Dave's ...
Goldie: Saturnz Return (London/All formats)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 January 1996
RiNGS LEADER ...
Add N To (X): On The Wires Of Our Nerves (Satellite/CD/LP)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 31 January 1996
ADD N TO (X) have heard the future, and it sounds old. These three merry pranksters inhabit a dimension dedicated solely to unearthing the most ...
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Murder Ballads (Mute/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 3 February 1996
HOW DO you prevent any rational person from committing murder? ...
Denim: Denim On Ice (Echo/All formats)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 17 February 1996
SICK AND SATIRED ...
Shed Seven: Hanover Grand, London
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 17 February 1996
WITH EACH passing year, the attention span of the average punter is becoming shorter and shorter. Racing brains honed to razor-sharpness by a steady diet ...
Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips: Vote Labia!
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 17 February 1996
Twelve years and seven albums down the line and only now are Oklahomans THE FLAMING LIPS making their presence felt. At last we can let ...
The Mike Flowers Pops: Anson Rooms, Bristol University
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 February 1996
TOUPEE AWAY! ...
Madonna: Ray Of Light (WEA/CD/Tape)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 28 February 1996
HOW TIME flies. Four years, one child and the rise and fall of the most successful female-led uprising since the suffragettes and the lady Madonna ...
Ride: Tarantula (Creation/All formats/Available for one week only)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 2 March 1996
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOILS ...
Bruce Springsteen: Hey Joad, Don't Make It Sad... (Oh, Go On Then)
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 9 March 1996
HE'LL BE REMEMBERED as the most unbounded performer in rock'n'roll history. His records took you inside a world of naked honesty and passionate conviction and ...
The Dandy Warhols: First Avenue, Minneapolis
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 23 March 1996
IT MAY NOT BE entirely inappropriate that The Dandy Warhols (yes, dreadful name, I blame the parents) are performing tonight at the very venue where ...
The Prodigy: House Of The Razing Arson
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 23 March 1996
The Prodigy, those Beztastic cartoon ravers with the bonkers tunes and child-scaring hairdos, are mutating! Yup, they are evolving, gulp, into a scary fire-snorting funky ...
Comment by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 6 April 1996
John Lennon thought The Beatles were bigger than IT, some people think Elvis is/was IT and Michael Jackson seems to think he is IT. So ...
The Stone Roses: The Rise and Fall of the Roses Empire
Retrospective by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 6 April 1996
They were the greatest band of a generation and seemed invincible. At the height of their powers, their downfall seemed an impossibility. But now that ...
LTJ Bukem: Various: LTJ Bukem Presents Logical Progression (ffrr/Good Looking/All formats)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 6 April 1996
FLOCK OF AGES ...
Larry Heard aka Mr. Fingers: Larry Heard: Alien Dex Fiend
Profile and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 13 April 1996
WHO IS HE? LARRY HEARD ...
Black Grape: Monster Bunch!: Black Grape: Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 13 April 1996
BLOODY HELL. Seven years since The Stone Roses played a legendary show in this very building, and seven days after they split, it's like Madchester ...
Profile and Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 13 April 1996
Like Michaelangelo and his Ninja mates, they're mutant crossover crazies in a half shell! They are Chicago's TORTOISE and, supporting ver 'Lab on their British ...
Northern Uproar: Concorde, Brighton
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 27 April 1996
THE WONDER BUMFLUFF ...
Interview by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, May 1996
29 PALMS is hardly the most hospitable place on earth. It's a half-horse town located in the heart of the Californian desert and it's perpetually ...
Cypress Hill: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 4 May 1996
INANE IN THE BRAIN ...
Everything But The Girl: Walking Wounded (Virgin/All formats)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 4 May 1996
MISSING INACTION ...
Mark Morrison: Return Of The Mack (WEA/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 May 1996
AND YOU never realised this pint-sized package of prefab perv actually was a mack or that he'd been away, correct? No matter. Disregard the harsh ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 4 May 1996
'The Return Of The Mack'? OK, so it might be all trendy trenchcoats round your way, but we're talking MACKS proper — the Mr Bigs ...
Manic Street Preachers, Oasis: Oasis: ...And Noddy Holder Came Too
Report by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 May 1996
What a weekend! The parties! The stars! The footballers! The, er, free candyfloss! Yes, we were there at those exclusive do's held in honour of ...
Charlatans, The (UK): Rockfield: Searching For Console Rebels
Report and Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 11 May 1996
Rockfield: you know, the legendary Welsh studio where Oasis, the Roses, Iggy et al record amid scenes of mayhem. Sort of. Well, it seems Bebop ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 May 1996
So what does it take to provoke SLEEPER'S LOUISE WENER into spouting those liberal-baiting, feminist-hating statements of old? What about old fave, political correctness? Oasis? ...
Manic Street Preachers: Everything Must Go
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 18 May 1996
IMAGINE ONLY good things. Imagine that after checking out of the Embassy Hotel in London on February 1, 1995, Richey James drove to his flat ...
Soundgarden: Down On The Upside
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 18 May 1996
WHEN THEIR CHILDREN ask what they did in the grunge cred wars of the early '90s, Soundgarden will claim that they were conscientious objectors. ...
George Michael: Older (Virgin/All formats)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 25 May 1996
VICTORY MATURE ...
Geto Boys: Southern Discomfort
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 May 1996
Deep in the heart of the redneck Bible Belt, squillion-selling rap supergroup GETO BOYS are living up to their paranoid bad-boy reputation. Bushwick Bill has ...
Jeff Mills: The Detroit Spinner
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 25 May 1996
IT'S 3AM AT The End, London's state-of-the-art nightclub. The apocalyptic sound system rams an earthquake beneath every kick-drum; the warning signs on the walls scream ...
Thin Lizzy: Wild One -The Very Best Of Thin Lizzy (Polygram)
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, June 1996
THE LONG hot summer of 1976 was not a great time to be a pop kid. Brotherhood Of Man and Showaddywaddy (ask your dad) dominated ...
Ben Folds Five: Grease Is The Word
Report and Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 1 June 1996
LET'S SEE: Mike Flowers is the polyester-wigged new James Last of the cheesy-listening plague that's, erm, "sweeping the nation". So that must mean that Ben ...
Gloria Estefan: Destiny (Epic/All formats)
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 1 June 1996
SO WHAT'S so glorious about Gloria? How come every time the woman delivers a casually conceived catalogue of choice cuts to her record company, she ...
Grant Lee Buffalo: Copperopolis (Slash/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 June 1996
SOME MIGHT fiddle while America burns. Grant Lee Phillips, however, has seen the writing on the wall. A vague premonition of disaster troubles him very ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 June 1996
GANGSTER'S PARADIGM ...
Profile and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 June 1996
Punk's not dead, kids! Not real stinking-mohawk-gobbing punk rock anyway, because that's alive and spitting with RANCID, America's coolest (and richest) revolutionaries. So stuff yer ...
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 15 June 1996
DO MOLOKO have something to hide? Is there something missing from their kooky take on trip-hop that can only be disguised by a vast dollop ...
Beck: Odelay (Geffen/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 22 June 1996
MR BOHO RISING ...
De La Soul: Subterania, Ladbroke Grove, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 22 June 1996
SUMMERTIME AND inside west London's Subterania, at least, the living is far from easy. There is no air, no space, no escape; just raging heat ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 22 June 1996
ANY BAND THAT HANGS OUT with George Michael, forsakes drugs for jogging and spends five years on that difficult second album must be completely arse, ...
Me'shell Ndegeocello: Peace Beyond Passion
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 22 June 1996
IT'S NOT just rock that's gone retro, as Peace Beyond Passion clearly demonstrates. Confrontational jazz diva and soulmate of Madonna, Me'Shell Ndegeocello (that's N-day-gay-O-cello to ...
The Fugees: Forum, Kentish Town, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 22 June 1996
THE 'GEE-FUNK ERA ...
Elvis Costello: A Good Year For The Composer
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 29 June 1996
HE IS THE Music Man, he comes from down your way. And he can play. Oh, he can play pretty much anything you care to ...
M People: Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 29 June 1996
HAIRDO WELL! ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 29 June 1996
Having adopted the moniker of one Pablo Escobar, NAS ESCOBAR set about creating vivid lyrical depictions of life in his native New York tenement slums. ...
Busta Rhymes, Shyheim: Club UN, Tottenham, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 27 July 1996
POPPED-UP TOASTER ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 27 July 1996
THE POCKET-SIZED Henry Rollins must be insane. He's clearly gone stark raving crucifix-tattoo-on-the- back-of-his-neck bonkers. ...
The Sultans of Ping FC: Le Zenith, Paris
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 27 July 1996
EEK! FOUR years from the end of the millennium and there's still hundreds of scrawny, scrag-haired boys in trouser-sized pipecleaner jeans wanting to be The ...
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 24 August 1996
CONTEMPORARY FEMALE singer-songwriters, then: fiercely independent, forever marketed as several colours short of a full palette and ever-prone to massive crossover success care of the ...
Lewis Taylor: Lewis Taylor (Island/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 24 August 1996
THINGS COULD be a lot worse, of course. Lewis Taylor could turn out to be the new George Michael. Either that or his renaissance soul-man ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 7 September 1996
HOLLYWOOD IN THE 1930s wasn't the ideal environment for a feisty, independent actress with an inquiring mind who couldn't stomach the iniquities of the studio ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 7 September 1996
HOW THE WESTWAY WAS WON ...
Kenickie: It's Great When You're Straight 'A'... Yeah!
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 7 September 1996
They're impossibly young, they're most definitely 'free', they are KENICKIE and they've got A-levels coming out of their ears! And their lo-fi three-girl-one-boy punkoid action ...
Bobby Brown, New Edition: New Edition: Houston? We Have No Problem
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 7 September 1996
The Rolling Stones? Pah! The Beatles? Forget it! They're nothing compared to NEW EDITION (remember '80s classic 'Candy Girl'?). Or so founder member Bobby Brown ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 14 September 1996
BEACHED WAILS ...
Josh Wink: Check Your Hedonism
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 14 September 1996
He doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs, he goes down the gym, never loses his temper and asks himself lots of deep life questions. Is ...
Interview by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 21 September 1996
Thousands, if not millions, owe their pop sensibilities to JOHN PEEL, indie's very own godfather. But at 58, IAN FORTNAM asks the "old feller" if ...
Kula Shaker: They Camelot, They Saw, They Conquered
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 21 September 1996
They rave about King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table, elevated consciousness and all things mystical. They predict — oh lordy! — imminent, ...
Skunk Anansie: Skin Complaints
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 September 1996
Skunk Anansie are a rock band with a difference because the 'Nansie are a rock band who actually ROCK! Like a bastard, in fact… and ...
Tupac Shakur: "Tupac always gave you something with his music"
Obituary by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
TUPAC AMARU Shakur, the US 'gangsta' rap star and actor shot in an ambush in Las Vegas on September 8, has died after a five-day ...
Arthur Baker, Afrika Bambaataa, New Order, Rockers Revenge: Arthur Baker: Baker Groove
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
This week Vibes hops across to the Emerald Isle to hook up with one of the founding fathers of modern dance, the fabulous ARTHUR BAKER ...
Beth Orton: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
OH ALRIGHT, Beth ain't quite this big on her own terms yet (tonight's mini-set is as special guest to grim old folkie John Martyn) but ...
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
ENGLAND'S SCREAMING ...
The Boo Radleys: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
EXPERIMENTAL EVERYTHING ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Tupac Shakur: War Of The Words
Report by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 28 September 1996
TUPAC SHAKUR's death has once again highlighted the feud between the East Coast and West Coast rap communities. ANGUS BATEY takes a look at hip-hop's ...
Sheryl Crow: Carrion up the Charts
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 5 October 1996
SHERYL CROW doesn't torture small furry animals with big eyes or sponsor international terrorism. In fact, she's a smart and charming lady. OK, so she ...
Soundgarden: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 5 October 1996
DESPAIR-SHAPED ...
Super Furry Animals: Astoria, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 5 October 1996
BAD BOYS MINK! ...
Manic Street Preachers: Cool LA Shakers!
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 12 October 1996
It should have been great Supporting Oasis in the US. But the Gallaghers' squabbles also meant that the MANIC STREET PREACHERS had to fly home ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 12 October 1996
One of THE POWER STATION used to be in Duran Duran and one of them is Robert Palmer. It's not a promising start, is it? ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 9 November 1996
Techno's eccentric ginger prince APHEX TWIN likes to make noises that upset people. Incredible, then, that he's sold tons of records and made a wad ...
Tricky: Things That Go Bumpkin The Night
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 9 November 1996
After his darker than dark period, West Country imp Tricky comes back from the other side with a new LP, Pre-Millennium Tension, proclaiming New York ...
Screaming Trees: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 16 November 1996
TAKE A BOUGH ...
The Black Crowes: Astoria, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 30 November 1996
A DOZEN CRIMSON rugs strewn across a stage; the waft of incense burning sweetly from the monitors; an anaemic band clad only in the finest ...
No Way Sis, Oasis: No Way Sis: Faker Makers!
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 December 1996
• Tipped for the Christmas Number One spot, besieged by groupies, plagued by demented fans — yup, Oasis copyists NO WAY SIS have made it ...
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 14 December 1996
IN THA DOGG HOUSE ...
Billy Mackenzie: Beyond The Sun
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 1997
BILLY MACKENZIE was narcissism made flesh, the Devil's grin on his dimpled face and the best white pop voice of the last 20 years gushing ...
Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa: Pamela Des Barres: Supergroupie
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 4 January 1997
Legendary supergroupie PAMELA DES BARRES has toured the dark side of rock'n'roll and lived to tell the tale. But what does she make of young ...
Cat Power: What Would The Community Think (Matador)
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 10 January 1997
IT'S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT, but it is now a legal requirement that every single independent album released in the United States of America must ...
Dodgy: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 11 January 1997
SOME ARE born happy, some achieve happiness and some have happiness thrust upon them. Dodgy were born happy. In their minds they're the antidote to ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 11 January 1997
Feisty teen poppers SYMPOSIUM may've pelted NME with snowballs in the past, but we forgave them. Hey, we're professionals (stop sniggering!). So professional that we've ...
Depeche Mode: Dave Gahan: Dead Man Talking
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 18 January 1997
IN AN UPSTAIRS lounge at Abbey Road Studios, a man perched on the edge of a large black sofa stares at the video images on ...
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 18 January 1997
With gangsta rap getting just a tad too "real" of late, NAS ESCOBAR comes as something of a relief. His last album, It Was Written ...
Daft Punk: Ready, Study, Go!: Daft Punk: Homework (Virgin)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 January 1997
AS A RULE, the better a country's cuisine, the worse its pop music. Hence the illustrious rock'n'roll lineage of Great Britain, land of lardy stodge ...
Bush: Valise of the Dolts: Bush: Razorblade Suitcase (Interscope)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 18 January 1997
OK. WE ADMIT IT. We're shit. Culturally, politically, militarily, economically, morally, socially, athletically and aesthetically, Britain is rubbish. We can't win at cricket any more. ...
Retrospective by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997
Liam Gallagher's caution for possession of cocaine is the latest in a long line of rock'n'roll drug busts. STUART BAILIE remembers those other pop stars ...
Curtis Mayfield: New World Order (Warner Bros/All formats)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997
HE SAW his people endure hard times and dedicated his life to evangelising alternative paths. He was a soul singer, a streetwise prophet, one of ...
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997
ONE SOUND rings out above all others in DAFT PUNK's uncluttered office in Paris' beautiful Montmartre district. Not music but... whirr! A fax machine working ...
Depeche Mode: Synth and Sensibilities
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 25 January 1997
Last week Dave Gahan flabbered your collective 'gast with his terrible tale of all-round narcotic foolishness. In the second part of our DEPECHE MODE exclusive ...
Blind Melon: Nico (Capitol/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 February 1997
IT'S EVIL to speak ill of the dead... Therefore, any suggestions that late Blind Melon vocalist Shannon Hoon got cheated by Lucifer when he went ...
David Bowie: Drum 'N' Bass Oddity
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 1 February 1997
Forget the '80s. Forget Let's Dance and Tin Machine. Forget the mullets. 'Cos DAVID BOWIE'S discovered jungle and he's back with a vengeance. STEPHEN DALTON ...
Offspring: The Offspring: Spawn To Be Wild
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 February 1997
• Californian punk rockers THE OFFSPRING are hated by the American 'underground'. Why? Well, they love 70s disco, one of them is saving for his ...
Wilco: Being There (WEA/All formats)
Review by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 1 February 1997
THE UNBELIEVABLE MIGHTINESS OF BEING... ...
Wilco: Being There (WEA/All formats)
Review by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 1 February 1997
THE UNBELIEVABLE MIGHTINESS OF BEING... ...
Mansun: Rocket From The Cryptic
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 February 1997
It's a mighty strange world that MANSUN inhabit — stripping vicars, bend-your-brains surrealism, anti-religious ranting and, of course, songs about chickens. STEVEN WELLS takes the ...
Pavement: Brighten The Corners
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 8 February 1997
OI, DAMON! Got that limited-edition, ultra-rare, one-sided King Kong seven-inch remixed by John McEntire? Whaddyamean, "No"? ...
Daft Punk: Act De Triomphe: Daft Punk: The End, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 15 February 1997
NO QUESTION, it is the hottest ticket in town. A night on the tiles with Paris' new dance sensations — at a party hosted by ...
Take That: Mark Owen: Pretty Verdant
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 15 February 1997
He was known as the cute one, the member of Take That most likely to adorn pubescent girls' bedroom walls, the one who sang and ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 15 February 1997
• What's with America, eh? First they make Bush megastars, then they take our beloved ska, add saccharine to it and sell it back to ...
Bush: Forum, Kentish Town, London
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 22 February 1997
THICKET TO DERIDE ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 February 1997
AFTER FIVE years of squandered promise, wrong turnings, bitter splits and experimental muck-spreading, how much can we honestly expect from Alex Paterson? Five years in ...
The Roots: Jazz Café, London; Effenaar, Eindhoven; Nighttown, Rotterdam
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 22 February 1997
HOLD THE front page! Rap band in 'turns up' shock! Punters left reeling after American rappers successfully tour Europe... ...
Pizzicato Five: Caught In A Von Trapp! Pizzicato Five
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, March 1997
PIZZICATO FIVE look like the coolest band on Earth, a stylish visual remix of every trash cultural icon from the past four decades. They are ...
Eels: The Freak Shall Inherit The Earth
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 March 1997
The EELS are the band currently treating Britain to the joys of geek power with their hit single, 'Novocaine For The Soul'. And leading their ...
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 1 March 1997
SOME PEOPLE, eh? They're never satisfied. Incredibly, not even vast pop success is enough for these blighters. ...
Profile and Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 1 March 1997
AMERICA SNEEZES, the saying goes, and Britain catches a cold. Well wrap up warm and get the Night Nurse in, because America has got the ...
Ash: TFI Friday, Saturday, Sunday...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 March 1997
They've been on the rock'n'roller coaster since they were bagging off school to play gigs but there's just the little matter of five sell-out shows ...
De La Soul: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 March 1997
LIZA MINNELLI and Liberace don't even come into it. Once a long-serving band become a parody of themselves and start trawling around in ever-decreasing circles, ...
Jay Z: Jaÿ-Z: Cabaret Club, Stockholm
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 8 March 1997
"YO! Give it up for Jaÿ-Z! Onstage for the first time in Sweden!" ...
Reef: Bristol University, Bristol
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 8 March 1997
THRUST NEVER SLEEPS ...
U2 Part One: 'Only Now Do We Look Cool'
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 8 March 1997
But that's not all that's changed. Yes, you read it here first...U2, those hoary old rock behemoths, have gone dance! Sort of! ...
Death In Vegas: Dead Elvis (Concrete/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 15 March 1997
FOR SUCH trendy purveyors of Londoncentric dance music, Death In Vegas are surprisingly steeped in rock'n'roll lore. ...
Eternal: Before The Rain (EMI/CD/Tape)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 15 March 1997
IN THEIR Louise days, Eternal looked set to be the Spice Girls in negative, thanks to their upbeat pop-soul tunes and post-fem sauce-bomb image. The ...
The Notorious B.I.G. (1972-97)
Obituary by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 15 March 1997
NOTORIOUS BIG, born Christopher Wallace, had risen from poverty to become one of the most influential figures in the hip-hop world in an incredibly short ...
U2 Part Two: 'I Feel Caught Between the Bootboy and the Ponce'
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 15 March 1997
Ah, the problems of being the biggest band in the world. In the second of a two-part special, Keith Cameron keeps up with U2 as ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Unity Church, Compton CA
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 22 March 1997
SO THIS is what they mean when they say that going to gigs is like attending church. In LA's most notorious district, 800 souls are ...
Pet Shop Boys, Suede: Neil Tennant, Brett Anderson and Vic Reeves: Twentieth Century Blues
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, April 1997
WHAT A SIMPLY spiffing party. The glint of expensive a jewellery, the waft of exotic perfume, the tinkle of erudite conversation "More cocaine, vicar? Help ...
The Notorious B.I.G.: Life After Death (Arista)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 April 1997
THE UNFORTUNATE and tragic death of Christopher Wallace in the early hours of March 9, 1997 will leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouths of ...
Fatboy Slim, The Housemartins: Fatboy Slim: The Norman Conquest
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 19 April 1997
In the beginning, he was a Housemartin. In between, he's been Pizzaman and a Mighty Kat. Now he's FATBOY SLIM. But no matter what NORMAN ...
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 19 April 1997
THE EARNEST young man sitting in a corner of London's empty Colombia Hotel bar on this late March afternoon doesn't look like a difficult customer ...
The Jam: Direction Reaction Creation
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, May 1997
IF WE ACCEPT pop as the religion of youth in the last quarter of the 20th century, then there can be no more striking example ...
Mansun: Attack Of The Grey Matter: Mansun: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
FOUR SILHOUETTES stand perfectly still, statuesque, shrouded in red and blue light and strange, unearthly clouds of smoke. ...
Bentley Rhythm Ace: Blue Note, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
BRUM PUNCH ...
Blackstreet: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
GIANT VIDEO screens above the stage are showing two members of Blackstreet rendered as puppets, and they're having a bit of a row about something. ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
Of course, one day you're going to say, "Ah yes, I've always loved EMBRACE." So you might as well start saying it now. Because without ...
Propellerheads: Whirlybird catches the worm
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
They're the undisputed Kings Of The Slink! They're gonna be as big as the Chemicals! They've frustrated The Man! They're PROPELLERHEADS and they'll be raising ...
Squarepusher: Hard Normal Daddy (Warp/CD/LP)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 3 May 1997
TOM JENKINSON, the one-man band who is Squarepusher, has no doubt inherited many fine things from his Hard Normal Daddy. But being normal is most ...
Grand Wizard Theodore, DJ Kool Herc: DJ Kool Herc and Grand Wizard Theodore
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 7 May 1997
DJS KOOL HERC and Grand Wizard Theodore, who recently played in London as support to the Chemical Brothers, may not be up there with yer ...
Bentley Rhythm Ace: Bentley Rhythm Ace (Skint/LP/CD)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 May 1997
WILD IN THE BLACK COUNTRY ...
Kenickie: Socialist Smirkers Party
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 10 May 1997
Tory-bashing, loads of shouting and plenty of swearing. Enough about STEVEN WELLS, 'cos here's KENICKIE. And they've brought their cracking debut LP At The Club ...
Mansun: Attack of the Japanese Lantern!
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 May 1997
OK, so top pop fashion monkeys MANSUN may not have exactly been bombarded by lanterns while touring Japan and environs, but they were: Besieged by ...
Warren G: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 17 May 1997
SNOOZE IN DA HOUSE! ...
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 24 May 1997
THAT SNORING SOUND you can hear throughout the 69 minutes and 16 seconds of Ladies And Gentlemen…? Why, that's the sound of a young Brian ...
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 24 May 1997
AFTER 11 years as a recording artist, surely even the gargantuan ego at the heart of KRS-One must have been surprised when 'Step Into A ...
Wu-Tang Clan: "Give us a chance to be truly wicked and we'll blow the whole shit up"
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 31 May 1997
So here we are in the wonderful and frightening world of Staten Island's Wu-Tang Clan. A formidable collective of renegade rappers well versed in everything ...
Alabama 3: Testament Department
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 June 1997
Yea, verily, it is written. Theatrical preacher types ALABAMA 3 will meet STEVEN WELLS in a Brixton restaurant. They will shout at him about about ...
Hanson: Middle Of Nowhere (Mercury/All formats)
Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 14 June 1997
MMM PEOPLE ...
The Jungle Brothers: First among equatorials
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 14 June 1997
INTRODUCING... Native New Yorkers and old-skoolers Mike G, Afrika Baby Bam and Sweet Daddy Sammy B, collectively known as the JUNGLE BROTHERS ...
Wyclef Jean: Logical Procession: Wyclef Jean Featuring Refugee Allstars: The Carnival (Ruff House)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 21 June 1997
A LOT OF RUBBISH has been written about the Fugees since 'Killing Me Softly' elevated them to the dizzying pinnacle of pop stardom, and Wyclef ...
Profile and Interview by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 21 June 1997
WHAAAH! SCREECH! Yakka yakka! They're incoming from all sides. Fierce noises from the right, altercations from behind. Just now there's a stormy advance on the ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 June 1997
ALL TOO FAMILIAL ...
Ash: Staying Out Of It For The Summer
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 28 June 1997
As the world prepares to get ripped to the tits on cheap cider and mung bean noodle bake at GLASTONBURY, NME indulges in a series ...
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones: Live Art
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, July 1997
PERIPATETIC FOOTBALL manager and TV raconteur Ron Atkinson once memorably berated an errant striker's inability in front of goal by claiming that "he couldn't hit ...
No Doubt: Ska-Spangled Banter!
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 5 July 1997
Why has Beavis & Butt-head country gone mad for NO DOUBT's peculiar brand of ska-pop-funk-type-thing? And how has singer Gwen ended up as a feminist ...
Michael Jackson: King of Pap: Michael Jackson: Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 19 July 1997
IT'S 5PM on anovercast Wednesday in Sheffield and the Most Famous Man On Earth is late. ...
Super Furry Animals: Scream! Latvia! Scream!
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 July 1997
...that's right, Latvia, 'cos SUPER FURRY ANIMALS are heading your way, and they've got new single 'The International Language Of Screaming' and STEVEN WELLS with ...
Puff Daddy: Smalls Wonder: Puff Daddy & The Family: No Way Out (Bad Boy Records)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 26 July 1997
IN LIFE, only death is certain. For the religious, the prospect of paradise beyond the great divide provides an energising, vital motivation. For the cynics, ...
Belle and Sebastian: Trop Belle Pour Toi!!
Report and Interview by David Hemingway, Ian Watson, New Musical Express, August 1997
Once again, Glasgow has provided the world with something special. Belle and Sebastian will become one of the most important bands of the '90s. Oh ...
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 30 August 1997
DOES ANYONE think it remotely strange, in an age when the biggest rock star in Britain goes for drinks at Number 10, and sings at ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 30 August 1997
THE MAN christened Artis Ivey is back with his third opus, having conquered the pop cosmos with 'Gangsta's Paradise' two years ago. He's still got ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 30 August 1997
SHE REDUCED Nick Cave to a pool of molten Vegemite, then persuaded James and Sean Manic to write her back into the realm of pop ...
Marilyn Manson: The Afterlife Of Brian
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 30 August 1997
You may think that MARILYN MANSON (or Brian to his mum) is just a spooky goth who smokes human bones and sings about scabby angels ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Critical Beatdown (Roadrunner/Next Plateau)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, September 1997
KOOL KEITH is Liam Howlett's favourite rapper. And this relic from an age before 'Diesel Power' and Dr. Octagon shows why. ...
David Holmes: Let's Get Killed (Go! Beat/All formats)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 6 September 1997
AS FAR AS career opportunities go, being a top-level DJ in the '90s is on par with being an early-'70s rock star... More money than ...
Primal Scream: International Language of Screaming
Report and Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 6 September 1997
So what if Primal Scream have cancelled tour dates, lost a band member and played a shaky live performance? They're just minor glitches which cannot ...
Mark Morrison: "They're gonna have to kill me to stop me and maybe one day they will"
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 13 September 1997
So did he really cry in court? Was he really petrified in jail? Or was it just all tabloid baloney? Self-proclaimed "Bad Boy of Pop" ...
Stereolab: Dots And Loops (Duophonic)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 20 September 1997
STEREOLAB ARE running dogs of bourgeois revisionism who, come the revolution, will be hunted down and shot like the lowly vermin they are. ...
The Rolling Stones: Bridges To Babylon (Virgin)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 20 September 1997
TO CALL the Stones dinosaurs three years from the end of the century is to put tyrannosauraus rex and his Jurassic associates to shame. It ...
Robbie Williams: Just Williams: Robbie Williams: Life Thru A Lens (EMI)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 27 September 1997
RARE IS THE POP STAR who finds his true vocation. That's because they're a bunch of moaning, jealous malcontents who always want what everyone else ...
Roni Size and Reprazent: Victoria Park, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 27 September 1997
SIZE MATTERS! ...
Toni Braxton: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 10 October 1997
WHEN a church-woman goes bad, she really goes bad. ...
Roni Size and Reprazent: Pet Projects Win Prizes
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 October 1997
RONI SIZE and REPRAZENT's Mercury Prize-winning brand of soulful drum'n'bass has made them the most successful junglist crossover act yet... NME finds out why. Breakbeats ...
Jay Z: Jay-Z: In My Lifetime Volume 1 (Northwestside)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 25 October 1997
THE FIRST WORDS you hear are spoken by Jay-Z himself, assuming a parodic Italian-American accent, imagining himself as a dying Al Pacino in Carlito's Way, ...
Firm, The (Hip Hop), Foxy Brown, Nas: The Firm: Funky Mafia!
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 25 October 1997
It's an offer you can't refuse. The chance to meet Mafia-inspired hip-hop outfit THE FIRM – namely mobsters Nas, Foxy Brown and AZ — and ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, November 1997
THERE'S A shadow across Rakim's face, but his brown eyes are shining. The man who is for many the greatest rapper ever to have picked ...
The Cure: Galore: The Singles 1987-1997
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 1 November 1997
IN AN UNGUARDED moment, Mick Jagger once admitted that there came a point in the mid-'70s – once the Stones had made Exile On Main ...
DJ Shadow: Oxford Brookes University
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 8 November 1997
IT'S ASKING a lot, of course, to hope that tonight, amid a boozed-up, loudmouthed, zany shirt-wearing crowd of freshers, DJ Shadow will come close to ...
Will Smith: Yuppify Guy!: Will Smith: Big Willie Style (Columbia)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 8 November 1997
HE'S COMIN' AT YA, loud and proud, mean and lean — straight outta, well, a palatial uptown apartment overlooking Central Park, probably. Heck, and he ...
Tupac Shakur: Shakur Moneymaker: 2Pac: R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (Jive)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 22 November 1997
WHEN LIAM GALLAGHER sees fit to offer out the likes of Damon Blur and George Beatle, he's risking… ooh, you never can tell, really. A ...
DJ Shadow: Camel Bobsled Race (Q-Bert Mega Mix) (Mo'Wax/CD/Tape)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 6 December 1997
ALL THIS SCRATCHING'S MAKING ME BITCH! ...
Live Review by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 6 December 1997
OH, THE CONDESCENSION. The sheer mock-heroic nature and undue gravitas of the introduction, "Ladies and gentlemen, Meredith Brooks and her band", carefully engineered to dupe ...
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 6 December 1997
She writes Number Ones! Makes "wacky" videos! Is, like, totally fly! And MISSY "MISDEMEANOR" ELLIOTT, rap's brightest new talent, has come to save us… ...
Busta Rhymes: Bump'N'Grundies!
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 13 December 1997
Pants! Lewdness! Spinal Tap-esque shenanigans! Yes indeedy, it's rap megastar BUSTA RHYMES giving it his inimitable 'Woo hah!' on a Stateside hip-hop extravaganza. On the ...
The Chemical Brothers: Octagon Theatre, Sheffield
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 13 December 1997
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS: A couple of girly-haired posho Oxbridge medieval language student chancers who claim that their 'big beat' mobile disco can knock any rock ...
Flaming Lips: Zaireeka (Warner Bros.)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 3 January 1998
IN THE REALM OF musicological discourse, the term 'genius' has been overused virtually to the point of obsoletion. So it bears stating at the outset ...
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 3 January 1998
SINGLE TRITE FEMALE ...
Morrissey: Battersea Power Station, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 January 1998
OLD POWER VENERATION ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Is Right: The Spice Girls: Spiceworld: The Movie
Film/DVD/TV Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 3 January 1998
DIRECTOR: Bob Spiers STARRING: Sporty, Posh, Ginger, Scary, Baby, Richard E Grant, Roger Moore, Michael Barrymore ...
Report and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 10 January 1998
It's Sunday night and DAVD HOLMES, ARAB STRAP'S AIDAN MOFFAT and DAWN OF THE REPLICANTS' PAUL VICKERS are in a Brixton pub getting trousered and ...
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 17 January 1998
Qu'est-ce que c'est? Music that sounds like ELO jamming over a porn flick soundtrack — on the moon!? Oh yes indeedy, prepare to enter the ...
Mark Hollis: Hi-Elegy: Mark Hollis: Mark Hollis
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 17 January 1998
BEFORE WE GET to the heart of the matter: Mark Hollis used to be the singer in Talk Talk, a group who began their career ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 January 1998
Politicians hate them, Christians hate them and, since they beat him up, Thom Yorke probably does too. But those bonkers kids in America just love ...
The High Llamas: Cold And Bouncy (Alpaca)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 24 January 1998
IT'D TAKE A lot to knock the chief Llama off course. Sean O'Hagan could probably stand at the end of a runway listening to Death ...
Les Rythmes Digitales: Vibes: Ooh, You Are Eiffel!
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 24 January 1998
VIBES PLAYS TRICOLORE OR TREAT WITH WALL OF SOUND'S ONE-MAN BIG-BEAT FACTORY LES RHYTHMES DIGITALES... ...
Aphex Twin, Death In Vegas, Goldie, The Prodigy: Big Brother Is Watching Your Video!
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 31 January 1998
Seen that Prodigy video yet? What about the promo for Aphex Twin's 'Come To Daddy' single or Death In Vegas' 'Dirt'? Nah? Well, why not? ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 February 1998
Mulder & Scully. Horses' heads in people's beds. Selfish genes. Blimey what are those crazy cats CATATONIA singing about? Well, don't bother asking the band. ...
The NME Awards: You And NME We're History...
Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 7 February 1998
So which future James Bond handed out the awards in 1963 and '68? Who played their last UK show at 1966's do? And who sparked ...
Add N to (X): Equation Plug Foundation
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 14 February 1998
They take their name from a mathematical formula, think electricity is God, want to form a 1,000-strong synth orchestra and play a millennium gig from ...
Propellerheads: Chelsea Bridge Studios, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 14 February 1998
FUSSY LOGIC ...
Dubstar: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 21 February 1998
IF A BUILDING could 'Tsk' the 'Tsk' of having seen it all before, this one would surely be doing it now. The Empire, after all, ...
Cornershop: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 28 February 1998
MAGIC MASTERY TOUR ...
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, March 1998
SOMETIMES THE simplest words are the most powerful. Plain statements. Single syllables. Don't pull your punches – hit 'em hard. ...
The Beta Band: Letter Men Show
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 7 March 1998
The music biz may be salivating over THE BETA BAND'S thrilling musical pot-pourri but the music biz can go whistle as far as the Beta ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 14 March 1998
Smack addiction, tragic death and a clueless music biz may have conspired against the fortunes of genius singer-songwriter MICK HEAD and his band SHACK, but ...
CappaDonna: The Pillage (Razor Sharp/Epic/All formats)
Comment by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 March 1998
THE 'DON IS the raspy-throated Wu-Tang junior partner who provided most of the standout raps on the Clan's disappointing second group album last year. This ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 March 1998
Take some scary spiders, a few mad mutts, a sound akin to the Pet Shop Boys on downers and, er, eye of SHIRLEY MANSON, and ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 March 1998
Take some scary spiders, a few mad mutts, a sound akin to the Pet Shop Boys on downers and, er, eye of Shirley Manson, and ...
Groove Armada: Northern Star (Tummy Touch/CD/LP)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 March 1998
JUST ONE of the trade names of Tom Findlay and Andy Cato, London club promoters and jazz-funk veterans, Groove Armada's debut album is an oddly ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 March 1998
The OD couple ...
Cappadonna, Wu-Tang Clan: Cappadonna: Wu Who?
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 28 March 1998
Keep up! It's CAPPADONNA. You know, the latest of the Wu-Tang Clan to keep up the rapid onslaught of solo LPs from that camp. And ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 28 March 1998
...But it's not just rude things JARVIS COCKER and PULP are talking about. They're also chatting about the new album, losing a band member, losing ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: Water Rat, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 28 March 1998
THREE YEARS AWAY from the fray, denied the Mercury Prize, shunted off their major label deal and back in the bosom of Creation, can the ...
Beenie Man: Many Moods Of Moses (Shocking Vibes/CD/LP)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 11 April 1998
TO CALL Beenie Man a prolific artist is an understatement. The self-styled 'ghetto president' normally records singles in the time it takes others to have ...
Gang Starr: Moment Of Truth (Cooltempo/All formats)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 11 April 1998
IN HIP-HOP'S world of oversized egos and spiralling sales, few dare to admit weakness. So for veteran New York-based duo Gang Starr to return after ...
Busta Rhymes: The Temple, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 April 1998
AND WHAT sort of name is 'Busta Rhymes' anyway? Sounds like a character from the Whizzer & Chips comic circa 1978. No, but seriously, the ...
Massive Attack: Mezzanine (Virgin)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 18 April 1998
FLOORED GENIUS ...
Retrospective and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 25 April 1998
Disco biscuits, gurning, raves, sartorial bonkersness, and, um, Guru Josh! The ACID HOUSE scene brought us many things when it exploded in 1988; it also ...
The Fall: Totale's Turns/Slates/A Part Of America Therein, 1981 (Essential/Castle)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, May 1998
"I DON'T PARTICULARLY like the person singing on this LP," opines Roman Totale XVIII in his sleevenotes to Totale's Turns. "That said, I marvel at ...
Report by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 9 May 1998
Take an assorted bunch of like-minded skunk rockers, big beaters and eclectic groovers, ply with brain-curdling tequila'n'ale cocktails, and then put them out LIVE! on ...
Garbage: Version 2.0 (Mushroom)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 9 May 1998
IN OUR post-Prodigy, post-Marilyn Manson times, it feels almost churlish to criticise Garbage's impeccably tailored cybergoth rocktronica. So maybe they are the Disco Tin Machine ...
Money Mark: Hanover Grand, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 9 May 1998
"MULLET!" YELLS a gobby punter, pointing at the member of Money Mark's band who sports the offending locks. "You've got a mullet!" And so begins ...
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 9 May 1998
COMPANY FLOW are the future of rap. Their schizoid debut LP, Funcrusher Plus, is the biggest thing yet from Rawkus, arguably the most influential NY ...
Shed Seven: The Great White Shack Hunt
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 9 May 1998
So you thought SHED SEVEN were boring? Hah! Well that was before the band's first ever interesting interview. Hold on to your seats, you're in ...
Insane Clown Posse: Greasepaint's The Word
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 16 May 1998
Insane Clown Posse — it's the greatest show on earth (according to Beavis & Butt-heads across America). Featuring! Silly make-up! Fizzy pop! Two fellas with ...
Mogwai: Kicking A Dead Pig (Eye Q)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 16 May 1998
THE FABULOUS BACON BOYS ...
The Lightning Seeds: Three Lions '98: They Shoot, They Roar!
Report and Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 16 May 1998
Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land! Oh yes, we're gonna win the World Cup. Why? Because FRANK SKINNER, DAVID BADDIEL & IAN BROUDIE have updated Three Lions' — ...
Ultramagnetic MCs: Gone — The Essential Guide To Yesterday's Heroes: Ultramagnetic MCs
Retrospective by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 3 June 1998
WHO THEY? Revered underground hip-hop pioneers from the late-'80s, Moe Luv, TR Love, Ced Gee and Kool Keith have long been consigned to the penury ...
Rakim: Ladbroke Grove Subterania, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 6 June 1998
HE CALLS himself "God". ...
Common: Camden Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 13 June 1998
OLD FEUDS die hard. While Common takes great pains to point out his argument with Ice Cube has been settled, it's still with some relish ...
Underworld: The Rocket, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 27 June 1998
WE GOT NO 'Born Slippy' with its killer "lager lager lager" chorus tonight because sensitive artist Darren Emerson is "fucked off with it". Well excuse ...
The Beastie Boys: Sonic Yo!: Beastie Boys: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 4 July 1998
THEY BOUND ONSTAGE in boiler suits — Ad-Rock and Yauch in industrial orange, Mike D in laboratory white with a tackily fashioned synthetic sheet on ...
PJ Harvey: Homecoming Queenie: PJ Harvey: Arts Centre, Bridport
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 15 August 1998
PERCHED ON A rocky coast in deepest Dorset, sleepy Bridport is Polly Harvey's home turf. Approaching this outpost of rural Britain on humid summer nights, ...
Carl Cox, Fatboy Slim: Ibiza: Big Beach Boutique
Report by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 15 August 1998
When Radio 1 decamped to Ibiza for a weekend of daft dancing, super funky anthems and celebs behaving badly, it seemed only polite for NME to join them. ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Snoop Dogg: Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told (No Limit)
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 29 August 1998
IT'S ONE OF THE most depressing stories in pop music. ...
Sophie Ellis-Bextor, theaudience: theaudience: Sophie's Choice
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 29 August 1998
First she was a grunge slacker, then an Adidas-clad Britpopper, but nowadays it's not so clear. Is THEAUDIENCE's glamourpuss Sophie Ellis Bextor "showbiz royalty" or ...
A Tribe Called Quest: How The Quest Was Gone
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, September 1998
Say it ain't so! A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, one of the most loved and respected hip-hop bands ever, have bitten the dust. Here, they reveal ...
Report by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 September 1998
THE CURRENT economic boom may have transformed large swathes of London's East End, but not Stratford. As the queue for FRESH '98 snakes around the ...
Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem: Varg Vikernes: This is the Most Evil Man in Rock
Overview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 5 September 1998
STEVEN WELLS reports on the BLACK METAL scene, where various bands have been linked to church burnings, neo-Nazism and even murder. ...
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 September 1998
OK, Yank metalheads Korn might not be named after a foot complaint, but they are definitely hot-blooded hetero rawk muthas, right?! Why else would they ...
The Beta Band: The 3 EPs (Regal)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 19 September 1998
THREE FEAT HIGH AND RISING ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 October 1998
Welcome to Pollyworld, a world in which David Beckham, South Park and The Big Breakfast don't exist, but fun, relationships with Nick Cave and therapy ...
Stereophonics: Stereophonics: Cwmaman Overboard
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 October 1998
Since shifting 300,000 albums, Stereophonics have been schmoozing in London's trendy Met Bar and hanging with Kevin Spacey and Robbie Williams. So, kids, have the ...
Fatboy Slim: You've Come A Long Way, Baby (Skint)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 17 October 1998
A FEW SHORT years ago, Quentin 'Norman' Cook was staring poverty, divorce and imminent nervous breakdown in the face. Despite a string of inspired chart-pop ...
Placebo: Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 17 October 1998
FLACCID HOUSE ...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Blast Rites
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 October 1998
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. They're a blues band, right? Wrong! They're the living, breathing embodiment of fizzing rock'n'roll. And soul. AND blues. And if ...
Elvis Costello: Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello at the Royal Festival Hall
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 14 November 1998
The stage is in darkness and from somewhere in the wings Elvis sings the opening verse of 'Baby It's You'. It is one of the ...
Natalie Imbruglia: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 November 1998
WHOLESOME LOTTA LOVE ...
Tony Bennett: The Croon Prince
Interview by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 21 November 1998
He wowed all at Glastonbury and is revered by everyone from Jarvis to Elvis Costello. Here's your ten-point guide to why you young whippersnappers should ...
Interview by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, December 1998
IN A SPARTAN East London front room, two of the '90s most innovative dance music pioneers are attempting to explain where they've been these past ...
Cradle Of Filth: This Is My Uncouth
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 December 1998
It was a meeting made in hell — quite literally. A gathering of the forces of evil — namely Cradle Of Filth — and the ...
Nine Inch Nails: An Interview with Trent Reznor
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 1999
THE PRINCE of pain has a severe case of the sniffles. Imprisoned in a swanky London hotel, Trent Reznor has been laid low by a ...
The Prodigy: Prodigy: Chat Of The Landowners
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 1 January 1999
In the second of this two-parter with PRODIGY'S LIAM HOWLETT, NME has a word, Hello!-stylee, about his new country home, his pal Keith and his ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers, Lee "Scratch" Perry: Lee Perry: Lost Treasures Of The Ark (Jet Star)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 2 January 1999
BOOTY RECALL ...
Redman: Doc's Da Name 2000 (Def Jam)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 January 1999
A PSYCHE AS twisted as Redman's would be hard to find in a psychiatric hospital, let alone on the streets of New Jersey. But here ...
Pete Waterman: The Puppetmasterplan
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 9 January 1999
Pete Waterman: scourge of the majors, champion of the people and the most wonderful man in Britain? Or just the tosser who brought us Jason ...
Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 10 January 1999
BACK AT GROUND Zero, having sacked/been deserted by the foot soldiers of his old Rythm Revue, riffmeister General M Smith returns to the London stage. ...
Jay-Z: Volume 2... Hard Knock Life (Northwestside)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 16 January 1999
Z TOP! ...
Beck, Goldie, Ian Brown, Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey, Pulp, R.E.M.: Pete Waterman: Style Counsel
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 January 1999
Last week, Pete Waterman the Brian Clough of pop, stoutly defended his new teenpop cadets Steps and his revitalised label PWL. Here Doctor Waterman offers ...
Garbage: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 30 January 1999
VERSION INCISION ...
3 Colours Red: Revolt (Creation)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 February 1999
OVERTHROWING MUSES ...
4 Hero: Two Pages — Reinterpretations (Talkin' Loud)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 6 February 1999
JUNGLISTS AND wannabe jazz cats 4 Hero issued an album which veered from brilliant to noodly to downright dire last year. Here comes the inevitable ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 February 1999
Gene — bunch of weedy, sensitive fops, right? Wrong! For they have returned and this time they are a no-nonsense, well-hard fighting machine. So just ...
Everlast: the Neverending's Story
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 13 February 1999
EVERLAST, THE former lead rapper in House Of Pain, has never seemed more humble. The arrogant extrovert on the Irish-American crew's worldwide Number One pop ...
Big Daddy Kane: Veteranz Day (Blakjam)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 20 February 1999
THOSE WITH CD-ROM capability get an added bonus on Big Daddy Kane's latest comeback effort: the chance to visit 'Kane's Lair', a place of unconvincing ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 20 February 1999
ROBERT WYATT has been a ghostly presence in progressive British pop for the last 30 years. ...
Sleater Kinney: Sleater-Kinney: The Hot Rock
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 20 February 1999
The Ember Strikes Back ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, March 1999
BLASTING INTO Munich airport for 24 hours on the road with the Beautiful South, the bands publicist offers some sage advice: "Just dont try to ...
Stereophonics: OK Composers: Stereophonics: Performance And Cocktails (V2)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 6 March 1999
WE NEED bands like Stereophonics. Or so the cynical consensus would have you believe. Because, even if you couldn't pick them out of a post-Britpop ...
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 10 March 1999
TWO-AND-a-half minutes into the tenth track on his band's sixth album Damon Albarn is heard to ponder: "Where is the magic?/I've got to get better". ...
The Roots: Things Fall Apart (MCA)
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 23 March 1999
ERUDITE, LITERATE and keenly aware of their surroundings, Philadelphia's the Roots have become an anomaly in hip-hop – even though they arguably stay truest to ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard, Wu-Tang Clan: Ol' Dirty Bastard: America's Most Wanted
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 April 1999
Ol' Dirty Bastard's rap sheet pisses on Mark Morrison's. But are the cops really out to get him? Are gangstas gunning for him? Or is ...
Electronic: So I Took Her, And That's My Bet Lynch Story
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 17 April 1999
Electronic's Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr may have a new album out but – heck – we've just got to hear about that Bet Lynch ...
Eminem: The Slim Shady LP (Aftermath/Interscope)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 April 1999
MMM, LET'S TALK about sweeties! M&M's are the grey squirrels of the confectionery world, driving the indigenous British Smartie to the verge of extinction. A ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 24 April 1999
Cast's John Power may be older, cutting down on the 'chong' and, um, less frantic but, don't worry, he can still talk bollocks for England... ...
Arab Strap: Mad For Sadness (Go! Beat)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 May 1999
Live Aidan! ...
Barry Adamson: The Murky World of Barry Adamson (Mute)
Review by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 1 May 1999
TEN YEARS ago, Barry Adamson put out Moss Side Story to a bemused audience. While the Brit scene was hailing house and baggy acts, Barry ...
Elliott Smith: Pretty Barfly: Elliott Smith
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 May 1999
ELLIOTT SMITH is a philosopher, a jocular barroom buddy, but he's also a loner, the Bukowski-esque malcontent with a great American sadness etched into his ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 1 May 1999
Loaf-fi Allstars! ...
The Roots: Astoria, London WC2
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 1 May 1999
YEAH, THE Roots are live hip-hop, but that ain't what makes 'em special. What makes The Roots special is just how good their itchy, firebrand ...
Atari Teenage Riot: 60 Second Wipe Out (Digital Hardcore)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 8 May 1999
There's A Riot Going On... and On ...
Atari Teenage Riot: 'I Would Die For This'
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 8 May 1999
...And Atari Teenage Riot's Alec Empire means it. So away, you doubters, and come on feel the mid-frequencies! ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 8 May 1999
CAMBERWELL CARAT! ...
Neurosis: Times Of Grace (Music For Nations)
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 May 1999
YOU KNOW that bit in Hellraiser where the wimpoid fiddles with the antique Rubik's Cube and suddenly finds himself in dimension triple-X being flayed alive ...
Reef: Bad Rock!: Reef: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 May 1999
"I LIKE TEQUILA!/It mek me happy!"No, sorry, that's Terrorvision. This is Reef — the other mighty-biceped bunch of lantern-jawed provincial troglodytes who bring us lumps ...
Macy Gray: Embassy Rooms, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 15 May 1999
SHE STANDS apart, unmistakable. It's like she's from another planet, another dimension, she's so different. Different from her vacu-formed backing band, who look and sound ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 15 May 1999
This is a story of highs and lows. Of drug addiction, of long lost albums, wasted opportunities and ultimately — perhaps — much deserved success. ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Allez G!: Snoop Dogg: Top Dogg (Virgin)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 29 May 1999
WHEN SNOOP DOGG released his Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told album last autumn, more than just the Doggy part of ...
Gay Dad: "All I'm Asking is for People to Trust Us, Let Go Of Your Cynicism, and Believe"
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 29 May 1999
YOU JOIN us in the darkest depths of the Mississippi Delta, at the crossroads rumoured to be the very location upon which Robert Johnson, Godfather ...
Regular Fries: 2000 and on one! On a mission with Regular Fries
Report and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 12 June 1999
A SUNNY DAY and therefore not a bad one to get conscripted into the Regular Fries' newly-formed supporters network, the Space Military. Though NME isn't ...
Lauryn Hill: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 12 June 1999
WE DO NEED MiSEDUCATION ...
Lo Fidelity Allstars: Lo-Fidelity Allstars: Refugee Allstars
Report and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 19 June 1999
Lo-Fidelity Allstars claim to be the most jinxed band in the universe. Pah! Their singer may have quit, but they're back from the brink and ...
Fatboy Slim, Armand Van Helden: Fatboy Slim Vs Armand Van Helden: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 26 June 1999
SATURDAY FiGHT FEVER! ...
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 June 1999
When the Glasto Green Field vibes work their magic, we all come over a bit hippy. But for the good folk of Glastonbury, being a ...
Mr. Scruff: Mr Scruff: Keep It Unreal (Ninja Tune)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 26 June 1999
WITH A four-year trail of often brilliantly wayward 12"s behind him, it's taken Manchester's Andy Carthy ages to release his debut album. He's no perfectionist, ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 July 1999
FIERCE PONDER! ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 24 July 1999
Once he was undisputed heavyweight champion of the rap universe, booming apocalyptic conspiracy theories from some of the most earth-shattering hip-hop albums of the last ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 August 1999
She looks a bit like Iggy, she's been hanging around the Viper Room of late and now Mel C is stepping out of Spiceworld to ...
Mary J. Blige: The Mary Changed: Mary J. Blige: Mary (MCA)
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 21 August 1999
THE LATE-'90S HAVE BEEN something of a golden period for female-fronted soul/R&B music. ...
Puff Daddy: Bentley Rhythm Not So Ace: Puff Daddy: Forever (Arista)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 28 August 1999
HIS DAD was a hustler, his mother a model, he went to private school and he drives a Bentley convertible. If he were British, Sean ...
Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 28 August 1999
He's got no ears and is a fetching shade of yellow. Who cares?! Just one of his fuzzy little paws is more rock'n'roll than all ...
Sneaker Pimps: The Brilliant Corner: Sneaker Pimps: ICA, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 28 August 1999
SNEAKER PIMPS originally swept up on a crest of post-Portishead bands. Photos of them always marked them as standard trip-hop — singer Kelli Dayton posing ...
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 4 September 1999
THE SCOUSE THAT JAXX THRILLED ...
Martine McCutcheon: You Me & Us (Virgin)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 September 1999
THE TIFF GET GOING ...
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 September 1999
SCIENTISTS SEEM to be forever discovering hideously ugly living examples of supposedly extinct prehistoric animals. One experiences a similar frisson of excitement upon discovering that ...
Robbie Williams: Slane Castle, Dublin
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 September 1999
OVER 80,000 people stand for hours in the baking sun wearing alternately flashing red devil horns, KISS make-up and the occasional latex Homer Simpson mask. ...
Leftfield: "We Waited. That's What We Did."
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 September 1999
...And eventu-bloody-ally, after four long years, Leftfield have got their she-iiit together on another mighty fine album. Or is it arse?! Have your say! ...
Mobb Deep: Murda Muzik (Loud/Epic)
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 11 September 1999
IN QUEENSBRIDGE, NYC, when someone gets shot, they generally don't get up. Your homey isn't out drinking 40s and smoking blunts; he's laying on a ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 18 September 1999
RY COODER'S tireless musical explorations hit unexpected paydirt when he visited Cuba in 1996 and recorded the sessions for the brilliant Buena Vista Social Club ...
Moloko: Beefa: How Low Can You Go?
Report by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 18 September 1999
Ibiza — sun-kissed vibes central or merely an over-commercialised supermarket for disco dudes 'n' dollies? With the help of Balearic housers Moloko, NME went in ...
Leftfield: Rhythm & Stealth (Hard Hands/Higher Ground)
Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 18 September 1999
PHATS WALLOW ...
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 18 September 1999
CALL IT PRE-MILLENNIAL psychosis, call it nervous exhaustion or call it self-pity, but you can count the pop people who haven't battled some kind of ...
Bernard Butler: Utterly Butlery: Bernard Butler: Zodiac, Oxford
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 18 September 1999
IT'S BODY LANGUAGE that gives the game away as much as anything. The way he wears his fringe over his eyes, like he's saying "You ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 25 September 1999
From Euro-disco trance nutters to Mercury-friendly rock'n'soul pluralists finally getting the respect they deserve — you've heard the word, now come worship in the house ...
Idlewild: Arts Theatre, Kirkwall
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 25 September 1999
ORKNEY LOVE ...
Mortiis: "Boy. I'm really nervous!"
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 25 September 1999
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the real Mortiis ...
Stereolab: Cobra And Phases Group Play Voltage In The Milky Night (Duophonic)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 25 September 1999
GANE OVER ...
Review by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 25 September 1999
DUD ELVIS ...
Arab Strap: Pachyderms of Endearment
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 October 1999
You're not going to believe this but Arab Strap are in love. Yes, the band who always look on the shite side of life are ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 October 1999
LIVE HIP-hop is such a rare occurrence it's almost a duty to disregard the actual quality. However, Gang Starr don't need any excuses made for ...
Idlewild: Where the Idlewild Things Are
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 October 1999
And where are Idlewild? In the bleedin' Orkneys, as far away from the cynical London music biz as possible, honing their new 'acoustic' direction in ...
Kid Rock: At Last! Could Kid Rock Be The Saviour Of Rock? Oops. Sorry.
Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 9 October 1999
"HEY, SCATLAND! R U ready for some medal!? How many of you guyz are gonna getta 'shag' tonite!?" ...
Feeder: "Sixth-Form Poetry? We Didn't Even Get To Sixth Form."
Interview by Stuart Bailie, New Musical Express, 9 October 1999
Ooh bloody hell, Feeder, eh? All they wanna do is big-boy rock...Text: Stuart Bailie ...
The Bluetones: Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 9 October 1999
UNHIP HOORAY! ...
Beck: "Postmodern Irony Is Like A Bad Smell In The Bathroom"
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 October 1999
Has he who smelt it dealt it? Beck answers some burning questions. ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 October 1999
Oh, the angst! The pain! Searching for truth in a meaningless world… Such is life in Teignmouth. Just ask Muse, three lads who've escaped small-town ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 16 October 1999
THE MAN POO! ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 23 October 1999
Life with Mogwai has always been a strange whirl, but after 27 hours on a ferry to Norway with them, a karaoke, a skate video ...
Asian Dub Foundation: Forum, Kentish Town, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
PUNK IS DEAD! LONG LIVE, ERM, PUNK! ...
Can Solo Projects: Barbican, London
Live Review by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
KRAUTROCKERS CAN'S influence on modem music has been more profound perhaps even than Kraftwerk's. Way back in 1973, with 'Moonshake' they were making prototype techno, ...
Foo Fighters: There Is Nothing Left To Lose (Roswell/RCA)
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
NOTHING left to lose? Oh, I wouldn't say that. This reviewer for one wouldn't mind mislaying the notion that the artist formerly known as Grunge ...
Guided By Voices: Fleece & Firkin, Bristol
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
YOU KNOW the drill by now: 30-something schoolteacher, obsessed equally with The Beatles, The Who, and Budweiser, bashes out neo-psych nuggets with similarly wasted wastrels ...
Spearhead: Jazz Café, Camden, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Music Hall, Aberdeen
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 30 October 1999
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME ...
Badly Drawn Boy: King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 6 November 1999
SHAMBOLICALLY DRESSED and scowling at his keyboard as if he hates its electronic guts, Damon Gough is supposedly a man with much to prove tonight. ...
The Auteurs: London School of Economics
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 6 November 1999
HE'S AGED well. In the six years since the Auteurs first waltzed into the fray, Luke Haines seems to have grown into his scowling, petulant ...
Shack: Head Masterful: Shack: L2, Liverpool
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 13 November 1999
BACKSTAGE, the band's name is being wielded as a verb — to get "Shacked". As in to be drawn into Shack's chaotic, hedonistic tailwinds. To ...
Death In Vegas: They're Satanic Majesties: Death In Vegas: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 13 November 1999
HALLOWEEN has been and gone. So has Guy Fawkes' Night. But Death In Vegas don't care. ...
Beck: Midnite Vultures (Geffen)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 20 November 1999
LOVE SEXXY! ...
Mos Def: Black On Both Sides (Rawkus)
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 20 November 1999
DESPITE HIP-HOP being commercially and creatively stronger than ever, the political content of rap is at an all-time low. ...
Eminem: The Magic Cuss: Eminem: Academy, Manchster
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 20 November 1999
"YOU ALL KNOW Dr Dre is one of the greatest MOTHERF—IN' producers in hip-hop, right?" asks the DJ warming up the crowd before the first ...
Report by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 11 December 1999
SO THE party's over. Alan McGee has picked up his ball and moved on, to pastures new — multimedia and, no doubt, highly lucrative. Although ...
Spice Girls: Aromatic For The Little People: Spice Girls: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 8 January 2000
NEWS JUST IN: David Beckham has had a clause inserted in his contract with Manchester United which says he can become a free agent and ...
Chicks on Speed: International punky art rockers: Chicks On Speed
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 January 2000
Three Chicks On Speed stand statue-still onstage dressed in leather rags while a giant robo-voice intones "CHICKS ON SPEED" over a demented dustbin techno loop. ...
Sigur Ros: Iceland's Magical Visionaries
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 8 January 2000
ASK PARENTS on Iceland's northernmost shore, and they'll say the kids are alright when Sigur Ros arrive. Their trademark mix of gently persuasive confidence, humble ...
Slipknot: Sinister Masked Rap-Metallers
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 8 January 2000
JOEY (No 1): "We have enough hatred and anger to fucking fuel fucking ten fucking records!" Shawn (No 6): "We're pretty angry." ...
Macy Gray: There's Something About Macy: Macy Gray: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 8 January 2000
WELCOME TO SONGS ABOUT "crazy love and all that shit". Dressed in electric blue, with her trademark wind-tunnel hair, flailing arms, happy-mad countenance and dance ...
System Of A Down: London Astoria
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 15 January 2000
FUCK! SHIT! AAAAARGH! ...
Mos Def: Are You Def Or Somefink?
Interview by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 22 January 2000
Er, yes, actually. Mos Def, Brooklyn rapper, dontcha know… ...
The Beta Band: "We're sick of underachieving"
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 29 January 2000
Notorious awkward buggers The Beta Band squeal for atonement ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 12 February 2000
OF ALL practices displaced Africans brought to the New World, voodoo remains the most potent. ...
Ghostface Killah, Wu-Tang Clan: Ghostface Killah: Supreme Clientele
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 19 February 2000
AND SO THE return of the Wu-Tang Clan's most gifted wordsmith is as mysterious and unheralded as all his compadres. No fuss, no build-up, no ...
Oasis: Fan-ish Inquisition, Pt. 1
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 19 February 2000
Go Letter It Out. The New Oasis. Your Questions! Their answers! Oh no, it's…the fan-ish inquisition. In the first of a two-part interview with Oasis, ...
The Bluetones: Bolt From The Blue
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 February 2000
Take one top Rottweiler, introduce it to an indie band, throw in some irresponsible comments about the "dilution of English culture" and await the inevitable ...
Tommy Lee, Methods of Mayhem, Mötley Crüe: Tommy Lee: Tommy Knockers…
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 March 2000
…well we were, but now we're willing to give former Mötley Crüe drummer and lo-fi porn star Tommy Lee the benefit of the doubt. 'Cos ...
Yo La Tengo: All Hail Melodic Lo-Fi Mavericks Yo La Tengo!
Interview by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 11 March 2000
TEN-GALLON FACTS (YES, IT'S THE BIG ONES!) ...
The Bloodhound Gang: A Question of Sportz
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 11 March 2000
Juvenile and offensive, do Bloodhound Gang represent the bona fide arse end of sportz meddle? ...
Common: Like Water For Chocolate
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 6 April 2000
IT WEREN'T ALWAYS multiple Wu-pseudonyms and verbose flights of mystical lyrical fantasy down hip-hop's way. Back in the day, rappers wove their rhymes from the ...
Belle And Sebastian: Belle & Sebastian: The Lo-Fi Who Came In From The Cold
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 20 May 2000
After years of refusing to speak to the press, Belle & Sebastian mainman Stuart Murdoch finally faces up to his fiercest critic. ...
Travis: Fran's across the ocean
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 3 June 2000
Drawing to the end of a US tour that's outlasted even their tourbus, and gearing up for their biggest UK hit, Travis reveal how they ...
Bon Jovi: Don't Mention The Hair!
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 17 June 2000
Tousled, crimped and teased to perfection, how can NME not mention poodle rock's most celebrated barnet? So Bon Jovi, hair we go! ...
King Biscuit Time: What's Up Duck
Profile and Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 17 June 2000
After "losing it big time" around the release of the Beta Band's ill-fated alburn, Steve Mason is back with another King Biscuit Time EP and ...
Bright Eyes: On Band: Bright Eyes
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 July 2000
AT THE RIPE age of 20, Conor Oberst is a little long in the tooth to be properly termed a prodigy, but his talents are ...
Gene: They Have A Dream – A California Dream
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 6 July 2000
… On their uppers after parting company with Polydor, the ever-resourceful Gene decamped to L.A., where a three-gig residency turned into a hugely successful webcast ...
Interview by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 15 July 2000
Som Wardner is no ordinary rock star-in-waiting — his granddad has a road named after him! — but then My Vitriol are no ordinary class ...
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 29 July 2000
Sit down, De La Soul want to tell you the greatest hip-hop story ever told… ...
Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age: Queens of the Stone Age make an offer you can't refuse
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 29 July 2000
"SOME OF YOU DRUGGERS, SOME OF YOU SOBER PEOPLE, SOME OF YOU SEX FIENDS, SOME OF YOU VIRGINS. COME TO OUR CLIQUE. YOU JOIN THE ...
Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg: Suge Knight: Death Wish
Report by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 5 August 2000
His rise and his fall has been a story of violence, pig-headed machismo and ruthless determination. Currently biding his time in jail, Death Row boss ...
Sleater-Kinney: Three Times A Ladyman!: Sleater-Kinney: 13th Note, Glasgow
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 5 August 2000
MAKE NO MISTAKE. Sleater-Kinney are incandescent. In the three years since their breakthrough third album, Dig Me Out, saw this corrosive power-trio progress from local ...
Special Feature by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 12 August 2000
Y2K has been something of an annus horribilis for Eminem (discounting the ten million album sales, that is). Faced with a lawsuit from his mum, ...
Review by Johnny Cigarettes, New Musical Express, 19 August 2000
AMERICANS, EH? Need a good slap, if you ask me. They can't even make a chirpy, tuneful collection of three-minute pop songs without getting all ...
All Saints: Poor Shore: All Saints: Renaissance@Privilege, Ibiza
Live Review by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 19 August 2000
YOU'RE SUFFICIENTLY IMPORTANT that a huge illuminated cross adorns the stage this evening. You're on after the not-strictly-eye-grabbing Pete Tong; posters have been advertising your ...
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Spiller Queen
Interview by Andy Crysell, New Musical Express, 19 August 2000
Once the pouting princess of indie pretension, is former Theaudience singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor really set to become the new diva darling of the Ibiza club ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 2 September 2000
Daphne & Celeste — social commentators, teen girls bringing a breath of fresh air to the testosterone-charged air of the Carling Weekend. Of course not ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 2 September 2000
PEOPLE HAVE KEPT a safe distance from Sizzla in recent times. Since he made remarks at an open-air concert to the effect that he doesn't ...
Sizzla: And You Will Know Him By His Trail Of Dreads
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 September 2000
Meet Sizzla, Rastafarian musical missionary and the biggest star to emerge from Jamaica in years. He does what he does, and if anyone emigrates to ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 9 September 2000
Word up homie, knowwhatI'msayin'? Tim Westwood may talk like a herbert, but his contribution to hip-hop is unsurpassed on this side of the Atlanic. Now ...
Peaches: The Teaches Of Peaches (Kitty-Yo)
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 16 September 2000
THE MUSIC — harsh shards of electronic fuzz, coupled with unforgiving whiplash beats — sounds like ATR's Alec Empire playing lounge music for a San ...
Doves: On-Seine Posse!: Doves: Batofar, Paris
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 23 September 2000
EVER SINCE not winning the Mercury Music lash-up thingy, Doves have clearly decided to obliterate their disappointment amid a flurry of activity. So it is ...
Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 14 October 2000
ARSE AND PISS. Gerrit? Crap, innit? ...
Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Xzibit: Eminem Takes The Bizkit!
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 28 October 2000
What happens when America's two biggest antiheroes share the same stage? Join NME at Anger Management, the climactic enormodome showdown between Eminem and Limp Bizkit. ...
Rage Against the Machine: Zac De La Rocha: "Every song I've ever written is a love song!"
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 11 November 2000
…but now that Zack De La Rocha has penned his last for legendary polemic rockers Rage Against The Machine, will anyone fill the hole in ...
Amen: "I don't know if I'll be around in five days, let alone five years"
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 18 November 2000
Don't put your son on the stage, Mrs Chaos. Not unless you want him to form the most vile, heathen, nihilistic, hedonistic rock 'n' roll ...
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 27 November 2000
IT BEGINS WITH AN ARGUMENT. Surprisingly, Ryan Adams and his bandmate aren't arguing about some dusty Gram Parsons track, but a Morrissey record. And, surprisingly, ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 16 December 2000
Straight outta Compton, Dr. Dre shaped the future of gangsta rap with NWA and lived to tell the tale. Now, the man responsible for giving ...
Profile and Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 6 January 2001
They claim to be outsiders, but psychedelic southern playas Big Boi and Dre are already two million LPs ahead of the rap competition. ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 January 2001
They're Yanks, they rock, but, dude, this infestation of ass-kickers aren't jumping on any bandwagon — they're pissing all over it. ...
Common: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 13 January 2001
HEADY ON A diet of wigga-impressing gangsta-rap and wall-to-wall Eminem, some critics have a tendency to write off Chicago's master of the 'conscious' rhyme as ...
Massive Attack: 24-Hour Arty People
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 13 January 2001
Two years and one near implosion later, Massive Attack are back; their new material is ready and everything's as it should be. But what's with ...
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 17 February 2001
THE SOUND BEGINS as a whisper, builds into murmur, stretches into a babble. ...
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 24 February 2001
He's boombastic, totally fantastic, he'll do anything for love but he won't do that. Re-introducing Shaggy, the '90s pop dancehall king whose rude rhymes are ...
Daft Punk: Romocops: Daft Punk: Discovery (Virgin)
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 10 March 2001
FOUR YEARS after Homework redefined dance music, turned handbag house into High Art and landed every disco chancer in Paris a record deal, can Thomas ...
The White Stripes: SXSW, Austin Fat Tuesday's, Austin, Texas
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 31 March 2001
THE WHITE STRIPES are quite a sight. ...
Black Eyed Peas: Mean Fiddler, London WC2
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 21 April 2001
NOW THAT hip-hop is a global lingua franca, anyone with the slimmest of credentials can lay claim to authenticity. ...
The White Stripes: De Stijl (Sympathy For The Record Industry)
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 21 April 2001
Two-piece brother and sister band kick up fine rock'n'roll ruckus ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 5 May 2001
HOORAY! MANCHESTER has delivered its first great album of the millennium. Others will doubtless follow, but few will conjure up magic as brooding as Elbow ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 26 May 2001
FOUR TET's second album is a voyage of warm, ambient loveliness. It is its author Kieran Hebden's best work to date and confirms the prolific ...
Pulp: Postcards From The Hedge
Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 2 June 2001
Galloping stallions, shagging on a mountain top and perhaps a spot of weeding. Welcome to the all-new pastoral pastimes of Pulp. ...
Lil' Kim: Hello Nasty: Lil' Kim: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 7 July 2001
THERE'S SUCH A thing as hip-hop time. It doesn't generally apply to gigs, more to long-suffering journalists kept waiting for hours on end for an ...
N.E.R.D.: N*E*R*D: The New Statesmen
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 4 August 2001
If Uber-producers N*E*R*D ruled the world there'd be no guns, no drugs and we'd all wear our STDs on our sleeves. ...
The White Stripes: White Noise, White Heat: The White Stripes: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 4 August 2001
HE'S THE don of Detroit, the god of garage, the man reclaiming rock'n'roll from false-hearted cheats and whining, hollow charlatans. ...
N.E.R.D.: N*E*R*D: In Search Of...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 August 2001
AS THE NEPTUNES, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo are the only serious rivals to fellow Virginia Beach native Timbaland's studio dominance over the smart end ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 18 August 2001
ADIEU, BACKSTREET BOYS: your retirement awaits you. With Celebrity, NSYNC have cooked the boyband goose, and none will feel the heat more acutely than the ...
Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Tupac Shakur, Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Suge Knight: Knight's Tale
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 15 September 2001
INCARCERATION, CORRUPT LA COPS, FEUDS WITH DRE AND SNOOP, DEATH ROW RECORDS, GOD AND POLITICS: THE GODFATHER OF GANGSTA RAP SUGE KNIGHT IS OUT OF ...
Depeche Mode: Waldbühne, Berlin
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 22 September 2001
STILL GAHAN STRONG ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 6 October 2001
THE NUMBER ONE rapper returns. ...
The Streets: Fast-moving UK Garage Geezer
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 6 October 2001
EVERYONE KNOWS THE future of dance music always comes from the streets. ...
Review by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 11 November 2001
THERE ARE FEW GROUPS who can successfully support the twin burdens of leftfield artistic endeavour and big-time bankability. We know one such group, though. A ...
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 December 2001
EXACTLY 70 PER cent of this audience are fluffy pink deely-boppered weeny-poppers. About 20 per cent are benignly smiling mums and dads. And the remaining ...
Simon Cowell: "The White Stripes? Heard of them. Wasn't blown away."
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 January 2002
He makes kids cry, hates fat people and he gave us Westlife. Now Pop Idol villain Simon Cowell turns his evil gaze on some NME ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 20 March 2002
USHER RAYMOND IV sure has his priorities right. This R&B heavyweight and MTV posterchild understands his hormone-obsessed teenage fanbase. That's why tonight, spectacle is all. ...
Pink: Go Ahead Pink, Make Our Day!
Comment by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 4 May 2002
Be afraid Britney, Gwen and Kylie: there's only one candidate to be the new Madonna ...
Busta Rhymes: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 May 2002
BUSTA RHYMES is massive. Not necessarily in a physical sense — though he cuts an imposing figure — but in a metaphysical kinda way. ...
Foxy Brown: Stratford Rex, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 1 June 2002
ON A BILL heavy with London-based garage crews, motormouth MCs and well-dressed ruffnecks striking thug poses, Foxy Brown is the main attraction. ...
Rammstein: Docklands Arena, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 1 June 2002
WHOOOOMPHF! The mad bastards are wearing 20ft long napalm-flame spewing fuckmasks. This is great! ...
Report and Interview by Chris Campion, New Musical Express, 13 July 2002
EYE YAMANTAKA, founder and creative visionary of Japan's Boredoms, is one of rock's great eccentrics. His band churn out a cosmic slop for kids with ...
The Polyphonic Spree: Polyphonic Spree: Songs Of Praise
Interview by Ian Watson, New Musical Express, 27 July 2002
LAST MONTH, London was invaded by the strangest musical gathering the capital has ever seen. ...
Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 August 2002
SCREAM'S MULTI-WARHEAD DISCO-PUNK LOVE MISSILE OF A SEVENTH ALBUM ...
Radiohead: Subterranean Homesick Aliens
Overview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 August 2002
How five bookish Middle Englanders became the world's most vital band ...
The Sex Pistols: Crystal Palace Sports Centre, London
Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 6 August 2002
We Might As Well Be Proud Of Them ...
Retrospective by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 17 August 2002
He died 25 years ago this week, but after his recent residency at Number One it is clear that Elvis Presley will reign immortal as ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 October 2002
ARTISTS ARE usually content with whatever audiences they attract. Not so Beenie Man, a former child prodigy turned dancehall reggae veteran at the age of ...
Craig David: Any Flava You Like!: Craig David: Slicker Than Your Average (Atlantic)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 9 November 2002
SOUTHHAMPTON'S SOULMAN COVERS ALL BASES IN BID FOR SERIOUS STATESIDE R&B WEDGE ...
Tenacious D: D-linquent, d-generate and d-praved!
Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 16 November 2002
Leaders of the satanic rock revolution, cult spunk guzzlers Tenacious D have already lured Dave Grohl, Weezer and Tool into their sleaze-sodden underworld where orgies ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 21 December 2002
IN THE concrete catacombs beneath Bogart's, a barn-like venue in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, a home-made rock'n'roll ornament takes pride of place on the ...
The Libertines: Englishmen Abroad
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 21 December 2002
Those respected gentlemen of Albion, The Libertines, chose to limber up for Christmas with a typically debauched tour of mainland Europe. And, considering they fully ...
Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 January 2003
IN THE LATE 1960S, civil rights struggles, and demonstrations against the Vietnam war in America, gave birth to heavy psychedelia and searing soul music. 2002 ...
Eminem: The Most Hotly Anticipated Movie Of The Year!
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 January 2003
…but is it any good? NME gives you the ultimate lowdown on Eminem's forthcoming blockbuster 8 Mile ...
The Libertines: Sun, Sea, Sangria, Skag… The Libertines: Roxy Discoteca, Valencia
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 18 January 2003
Is Spain ready for the sex and drugs-fuelled invasion of The Libertines? ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 8 March 2003
FEW ROCK'N'ROLLERS have crashed from such a spectacular height as Evan Dando. Fewer still live to tell the tale. In 1992, he was primed to ...
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 21 June 2003
The Coral may have recently performed in Utah to a crowd of eight, but their giant New Brighton circus tent bash will bring them triumphantly ...
Beck, Blur: Beck: Main Stage, Reading, Saturday 6.35pm; Blur: Main Stage, Reading, Saturday 9.30pm
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 30 August 2003
Battle of the Old-Timers: Funky robots take on a chaotic Blur ...
The Libertines: The decline and fall of the Albion Empire
Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, New Musical Express, 20 September 2003
THE LAST TIME Pete Doherty and Carl Barat played on the same stage together was at the summit of the Libertines' explosive career in May. ...
Death In Vegas: Back To Mine: Death In Vegas
Review by Rob Fitzpatrick, New Musical Express, 31 January 2004
COOL. What a word. What a lot to answer for. Death In Vegas are kewl. They're mates with groups your mum would have heard of ...
Pete Doherty, Wolfman: Wolfman's howling mad week
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 1 May 2004
How did a degenerate mucker of with no fixed abode come to gatecrash the Top Ten and celebrate with a wild party at the snooty ...
Foo Fighters: "Us or Nirvana? I'm prouder of us!"
Interview by Ian Winwood, New Musical Express, May 2005
DAVE GROHL IS SITTING in a spacious room with his band the Foo Fighters. They're seated in a ragged semi-circle, and at the moment the ...
Review by Stevie Chick, New Musical Express, 12 September 2005
Fresh US hip-hop on a bucolic tip ...
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 12 September 2005
THE BRAVERY, THEN: priapic quiff-rockers about to de-flower(s) the Killers-obsessed indie-nation, or calculating chancers set to self-destruct in their own tsunami of hype? ...
Dirty Pretty Things: Waterloo To Anywhere
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 21 April 2006
Carl's new gang put the past — and Pete — behind them on their classic debut ...
Review by Pat Long, New Musical Express, 21 April 2007
Picture perfect: South London romantics mine their childhood memories for art-rock gold ...
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 29 February 2008
WELL, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT — Adele? Putting former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan — not so much human as a walking medicine cabinet — ...
Black Lips: 200 Million Thousand
Review by Pat Long, New Musical Express, 14 March 2009
Even without all the pissing in each others' mouths, they still warrant your attention. ...
Editors: In This Light And On This Evening
Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 10 October 2009
Mild beasts: Neither Tesco angst fish nor dark art fowl ...
Esben And The Witch: Madame JoJo's, London
Live Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 12 January 2010
THE MERCURY might be heading towards zero and the radio crackling with dire warnings of apocalyptic snowfall, but in the heart of Soho the pimps ...
Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 5 March 2010
YOU ARE ABOUT TO ENTER A UNIVERSE you've never before been to. Be prepared... ...
New Young Pony Club: The Optimist
Review by John Doran, New Musical Express, 12 March 2010
WHEN NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB first released 'Ice Cream' on Tirk Records in 2005, it felt like they were destined to become Favourite New Band ...
Live Review by Luke Turner, New Musical Express, 18 February 2012
Filthy, fabulous and downright f… f… f...freezing, the sexy foursome realise dreams of disco utopia ...
Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 26 October 2013
REGULARLY CITED AS one of the greatest albums ever made more or less since the day it was released, perhaps the most striking aspect of ...
Tame Impala's Danceable New Album Currents: Track By Track First Listen Review
Review by John Calvert, New Musical Express, 23 June 2015
"I REALISED we'd never seen people dancing to our music," Tame Impala's Kevin Parker told NME earlier this year. ...
Tame Impala: Inside the mind of a psych-pop shaman
Interview by John Calvert, New Musical Express, 14 July 2015
"I THINK five years ago," says Kevin Parker, the man who to all intents and purposes is Tame Impala, "the thought of sitting in a ...
Battles On Their "Next Level" New Album La Di Da Di
Interview by John Calvert, New Musical Express, 27 July 2015
"I DON'T KNOW… I keep coming back to the word technique…" In a pokey pizza place in Hackney, Ian Williams is failing to explain the ...
Beach House: Depression Cherry
Review by John Calvert, New Musical Express, 19 August 2015
"MAKING THE SIMPLE COMPLICATED is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity." Not our words but those of jazz colossus Charles Mingus, which ...
Review by John Calvert, New Musical Express, 23 January 2016
Foxes' second album is the pop belter Britain needs ...
David Bowie Biographer David Buckley Reflects On A Life Immersed In His Colourful World
Essay by David Buckley, New Musical Express, 11 February 2016
Author David Buckley has spent years chronicling the life and work of David Bowie, in academia and in books such as Strange Fascination: David Bowie, ...
Banks & Steelz: Anything But Words
Review by John Calvert, New Musical Express, 2 September 2016
THE RAP-ROCK fusion album is a hard one to get right. Examples of success in this weird little corner of music do exist — Dälek's ...
Sky Ferreira hits out at label after being "forced" out of her own Soundcloud
Report by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 28 July 2018
SKY FERREIRA HAS posted a lengthy attack on her own record label, saying she has been "forced/told I had no choice" to hand over her ...
Report by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 1 May 2020
Yeasayer are taking legal action against the stars ...
Toots & The Maytals: Toots And The Maytals: Got To Be Tough
Review by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 25 August 2020
The influential band's first album in more than a decade is rarely subtle, but Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert remains an inspirational force for change ...
Bad Bunny to compete at WWE's WrestleMania
Report by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 23 March 2021
A feud between the rapper and former WWE champion The Miz has been building for weeks ...
Raye: Polydor records respond after RAYE says she hasn't "been allowed" to release her debut album
Report by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 30 June 2021
RAYE has expressed her frustration that she's yet to release her debut album, despite having been signed on a major label deal with Polydor for ...
Consequence, Kanye West: Consequence shares new Kanye West-produced single 'Blood Stain'
Report by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 10 June 2022
Consequence calls it "beat of the year" ...
Interview by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 9 August 2022
It's long been mooted that the fêted producer and The Roots' lead MC had a stellar collaboration in them. Now Cheat Codes is finally here ...
Black Country, New Road: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Patrick Clarke, New Musical Express, 16 December 2022
Bouncing back after a turbulent year, BC,NR reaffirm their role as one of Britain's boldest young bands ...
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