The Guardian
The Guardian is a British national daily newspaper, founded in 1821, and owned, with The Observer, a Sunday weekly newspaper, by The Guardian Media Group.
2,770 articles
List of articles in the library
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 22 October 1968
A STORY of virtue rewarded: Polydor, tiny in Britain compared with EMI or Decca, sold more LPs in the third quarter of 1968 than any ...
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland (Polydor)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 5 November 1968
THERE ARE 19 naked ladies on the cover of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (Polydor 613 008/9). Pictured inside, Jimi has a flicker of the lip-licking ...
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (CBS 63308)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 November 1968
2018 note: The quality and impact of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is not because of the songs. It is because of the behaviour and ...
The Beatles: Back with the real Beatles: The Beatles (White Album) (Apple)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 November 1968
The Beatles' new album is about to be released. This is the first of two articles on what is likely to be the biggest event ...
The Beatles: Back to Spring: The Beatles: The Beatles (White Album) (Apple)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1968
"EARTH, WATER, fire, and air met together in a garden fair," chants Robin Williamson, of the Incredible String Band, in 'Koeeoaadi There'. And if the ...
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 3 December 1968
2019: Thoughts after half a century. The piece below written as rock as a genre and a concept was emerging stands up quite well. As ...
The Rolling Stones: Beggars' Banquet (Decca SKL 4955)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 December 1968
The Stones' carrier wave ...
Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 24 December 1968
"AN ELECTRIC caterwauling of power... burning it, flashing it, whirling it down some arc of consciousness, the sound screaming up to a climax of vibrations ...
Harpers Bizarre: Anything Goes (Pye, WS 1716)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 31 December 1968
HOWARD JOHNSON ice-cream parlours, Harvey's hamburgers, Busby Berkeley movies: artificial, sentimental, surface childlike fantasies. Small-town radio stations, high school proms, Frank Capra, George Gershwin, Mickey ...
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 7 January 1969
Update, 2019. Forty years ago leading BBC tv Radio DJ Paul Gambaccini organised Critic's Choice: Top 200 Albums, in which 47 rock music writers including ...
The Everly Brothers: Roots (Warner WS 1752)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 January 1969
Pulled up by the roots ...
Nico, The Velvet Underground: Letter to a Mystified Man
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 28 January 1969
DEAR Mr Davey — You write a neat letter, and I smiled, too. Last week you wrote to the editor of the Guardian (January 20). "If you ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 February 1969
Muddy Muddy Waters ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 11 February 1969
Transcending the Blues ...
The Beatles: Too Big For The Band?
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 25 February 1969
MARY HOPKIN, the film music for Yellow Submarine and Wonderwall, and the Two Virgins album, were all made by Beatles. But they have no other ...
Blood Sweat & Tears: Blood, Sweat and Tears: Blood, Sweat and Tears (CBS)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 March 1969
BOUND WITH BLOOD AND SWEAT ...
Family: The Original Family Way
Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 18 March 1969
FAMILY IS the most original and ambitious of the British bands that have not fully emerged from' the club circuit. I first heard them a ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stone Magazine: Ripples from the Stone
Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 25 March 1969
FEW REVIEWS can make a first-rank artist doubt his ability at the height of his success. At this level, critics can rarely do more than ...
Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline (CBS)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 22 April 1969
Nashville Skyline man to tell the time by ...
Janis Joplin: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 April 1969
CRYING FOR US ...
Country Joe & The Fish, Dr. John, Flying Burrito Brothers, The Fugs: Rocking into religion
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 27 May 1969
Gods, bishops, priests and worshippers ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 June 1969
Update, 2019. FRANK ZAPPA was always friendly when he and I met, between 1968 and 1970. This may have been because I took him seriously, ...
Steve Miller Band: Brave New World (Capitol)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 June 1969
Update, 2019. THE ARE three omissions and one serious mistake in the piece below on the Steve Miller Band's Sailor (October 1968) and Brave New ...
Giorgio Gomelsky: The Pop Paragon
Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 22 June 1969
Author's note, 2018. Georgio died in New York in January 2014, aged 81. Everybody with even a passing interest knows that Georgio, whose dark bearded ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 24 June 1969
JONI MITCHELL has written songs for Tom Rush, and the Fairport Convention have used her songs on both their albums. ...
Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band: Joe Boyd: Freaky Galahad
Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 July 1969
"WELL, YOU'D put your arm round its neck, y'know, like this" (demonstrating) "and hold it on the seat next to you, like another person." ...
The Kinks, Barbara Lewis, The Who: Styles of the City
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 August 1969
GEOFFREY CANNON ON POP MUSIC ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan, The Band: Isle of Wight Festival
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 2 September 1969
The gospel according to Dylan ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 16 September 1969
Finding a new faith: GEOFFREY CANNON reviews pop music ...
The Beatles: Abbey Road (Apple)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 8 October 1969
Abbey Road backtrack ...
The Rolling Stones: Jumping Jack Jagger
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 14 October 1969
THE WIDENING gap between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones has been labelled as the contrast between aesthetics and politics. The difference between the two ...
Cream, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall: Union Jack Blues
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 October 1969
MEETING JANIS Joplin a few months ago, before her Albert Hall concert, I was staggered to feel how nervous she was. Then she explained. She ...
Davey Graham, Quintessence: Island in Basing Street
Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1969
Update, 2019. In the piece below I mention that Basing Street, where Island Records was established in 1969 in what had been an abandoned chapel, ...
Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie: Delaney & Bonnie: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 3 December 1969
Update, 2019. IN THEIR short time between 1969 and 1972, Delaney and Bonnie were glorious, for their quality, knowledge, and expressed love and joy of ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Are We in Tune? No
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 January 1970
Author's note, 2018: The review below was cut by the Guardian. What's here is uncut. Who plays Crosby Stills Nash (and Young) albums now or, ...
Comment by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 13 January 1970
Update, 2019. SOME FACTS from Wikipedia, practically half century after my negative review below."Led Zeppelin are one of the best-selling music artists in the history of audio ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 April 1970
I WAS ON that New York trip last weekend, too. My brief was to listen to the music. I have to report that as soon ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Quintessence: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 April 1970
2019 Update: I was crazy for Creedence. For The Guardian I reviewed Bayou Country in February 1969, saying "I rate John Fogarty as high for ...
The Flock, It's a Beautiful Day, Quintessence, Johnny Winter: Sounds of the '70s at Montreux
Report by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 1 May 1970
UP THE ROAD from where I'm sitting now, senior television executives from ail over Europe, and from America and Japan, have been descending into a ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Hollywood Festival, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 May 1970
Disgracing The Grateful Dead ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 July 1970
Update, 2020. Woodstock. The name has many meanings. There's Woodstock the town where Bob Dylan and the Band lived once. But the main resonance is ...
The Isle of Wight Festival: Three Shades Of Wight
Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 5 September 1970
APART FROM the music, what went on at the Isle of Wight last weekend? Here are the most popular theories. ...
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Rebel – An Appreciation
Obituary by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 September 1970
"THANKS FOR being so patient. Next time we will really try and get it together." Spoken two hours before a cold Sunday dawn, three weeks ...
Janis Joplin: An Appreciation by Geoffrey Cannon
Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 6 October 1970
AN EVENING at the Royal Garden Hotel in April, 18 months ago. I was meeting Janis Joplin. I fished around for a while, trying to ...
The Band: Listening to The Band
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 October 1970
A NUMBER OF rock music bands have been celebrated, in the past three years, not just as "supergroups," but as bands composed of superlative musicians, ...
The Band: Supergroups: A Matter of Context
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 10 October 1970
A NUMBER OF ROCK music bands have been celebrated, in the past three years, not just as "supergroups" but as bands composed of superlative musicians. ...
Bob Dylan: New Morning (CBS KC 30290)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 23 October 1970
Update, 2019. EMERGING FROM Hibbing to New York's Village. His pilgrimage to Woody Guthrie. The protest songs sung like a crow that are now a national ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 30 October 1970
"'SINFUL MUSIC,' the townsfolk in Memphis said it was. Which never bothered me, I guess." Elvis Presley, interviewed in 1957. In the early 1950s, the ...
The Byrds: Untitled (CBS 66253); Preflyte (Together Records ST-T-1001)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 13 November 1970
FEW MUSICIANS have mastered the 16-track recording machine. The abstract discipline it imposes on anyone faced with reducing all its available tracks to two, too ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 December 1970
Ringo Starr: Beaucoups of Blues; Paul McCartney: McCartney; John Lennon: John Lennon Plastic Ono Band; George Harrison: All Things Must Pass ...
Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 8 January 1971
Update, 2020: Judging by what I play most as I work at home, the Velvet Underground and also Lou Reed are tops, together with Them ...
Little Richard: Electric Circus, New York NY
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 January 1971
ST MARK'S PLACE, the high street of New York's East Village, hums with memories these days. Among them, at the new year, was little Richard, ...
John Cale, The Velvet Underground: John Cale: Welsh Underground
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 April 1971
Author's note, 2018. The Velvet Underground and Nico and to a lesser extent White Light/White Heat are the albums that above all others up to ...
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (COC 5910O)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 23 April 1971
Sticky fingers gather no moss ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 21 May 1971
THERE IS NO way to make great rock music from retirement. Paul McCartney may have been seduced — by reading that he's equalled Schubert — ...
Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash: Joni Mitchell: Blue/Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 June 1971
JONI MITCHELL'S new album, Blue, is about to be released here by Warner Brothers (K 44128). A large proportion of Joni's most notable songs, to date, ...
Nesuhi Ertegun: The World Is His Manor
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 19 October 1971
GEOFFREY CANNON talks to "the most powerful man in the record business outside America" ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 29 October 1971
Out of the city ...
Overview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 26 November 1971
Update, 2020. "Perverted, outrageous, violent, repulsive, ugly, tasteless. A travesty. That's what's good about them". This was a quote about the Rolling Stones, recorded around ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 4 January 1972
Update, 2019: The first time I met George Harrison was in the late 1960s, when he was still a Beatle. I quite often went to ...
The Doors: "Out here on the perimeter there are no stars"
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 20 March 1972
Update, 2019. Yes, folks are still listening to the Doors. An extract from their album LA Woman, mentioned in the review of Jim Morrison's lyrics ...
The Beatles, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, The Supremes: Motown Making Millions
Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 1 May 1972
Author's update, 2019. "The Manchester Guardian? That's the best fuckin' newspaper in the world!" So David Crosby told me in early 1969. He had answered ...
The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Rolling Stones Records, COC 2-900)
Review and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 20 May 1972
MICK JAGGER on record ...
Elvis Presley: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 17 June 1972
Author's note, 2018: Yes, it started for me with Elvis, when in 1956 I heard a demo of his first RCA record 'Don't be cruel'/ ...
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 28 June 1972
THE ROLLING STONES are on their first US tour since, the wild acclaim of their 1969 trip. In America, GEOFFREY CANNON describes the impact of ...
Profile by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 7 July 1972
Author's note, 2018. WHEN I interviewed Lou Reed in New York in June 1972 he implored me to listen to David Bowie, and especially to ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: The Anarchic Rock of the Young and Doleful
Profile by Steve Turner, The Guardian, 3 December 1976
And then there was punk. Tonight the Sex Pistols, focal point of the newly dubbed punk generation, take off on their first concert tour of ...
Allman and Woman: Cher & Gregg Allman: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 26 November 1977
ON THE FACE of it, Cher and Gregg Allman are one of music's most unlikely couples; she a star of television spectacular and gossip column ...
Linda Lewis: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 3 December 1977
THE CAREER of Linda Lewis presents the classic case of an artist caught on the horns of a dilemma between commercial success and artistic worth. ...
Tom Robinson Band: The Tom Robinson Band: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 8 December 1977
IT WAS ONLY A matter of time before the new wave explosion brought forth a performer like Tom Robinson, articulate enough to put into coherent ...
Professor Longhair: Late Riser
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 22 March 1978
Mick Brown talks to a survivor ...
Alexis Korner: Korner in Blues
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 April 1978
IT IS WHOLLY fitting that the guest-list for Alexis Korner's 50th birthday party this week at Pinewood Studios should have read like a Who's Who ...
Dolly Parton: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 November 1978
THE FIXATION on Dolly Parton's buxom outrageousness has evidently become so acute that nowadays even Ms Parton feels obliged to use it as a butt ...
Tina Turner: The Willpower Way From Square One
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 14 March 1979
Tina Turner, now singing alone, is back in Britain. She talks to Mick Brown ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 July 1979
WATCHING the American guitarist, John Fahey, one is reminded of the occasion when Ravi Shankar performed at the famous concert for Bangladesh. Taking to the ...
Lena Horne: One Way to Raise a Roof
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 July 1979
Mick Brown meets the new-fangled Lena Horne ...
The Pretenders: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 31 July 1979
LESS THAN a year after formation, the Pretenders are already shaping up as one of the most interesting new British bands. Led by Chrissie Hynde, ...
Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 8 August 1979
ONE OF IAN Dury's most endearing mannerisms on stage is to extend the length of his microphone stand two feet above his head, accentuating his ...
Kevin Coyne, Dagmar Krause: Kevin Coyne: Babble, Oval House, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 24 August 1979
HAVING ALREADY seen Babble banned from one London theatre as the result of a sensationalist and grossly misrepresentative newspaper story, Kevin Coyne found it necessary ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Killer's Gospel
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 February 1980
Jerry Lee Lewis closes his current British tour in London at the Rainbow tonight. Mick Brown reports ...
Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Saxon: The Lustre of Heavy Metal
Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 July 1980
Mary Harron takes a trip to Sheffield and discovers a surprising rock revival. ...
Shirley Bassey: Apollo, Victoria, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 September 1980
TWO BOUTS of middle-aged hysteria within the space of seven days is surely almost more than the body can decently stand. Still shell-shocked from religious ...
Airto Moreira: the Venue, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 23 September 1980
THAT SOUTH American music should have been the source of vitality and inspiration in jazz that it has over the past decade is due in ...
Public Image Ltd: PiL: Rotten's Public Image is on the Mend
Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 26 September 1980
A former Sex Pistol is trying to make it as plain John Lydon. Mary Harron reports ...
Led Zeppelin: Zeppelin Drummer Found Dead
Report by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 26 September 1980
JOHN BONHAM, the drummer with Led Zeppelin rock group, was found dead yesterday in bed at the house of the group's lead guitarist, Jimmy Page, ...
George Melly: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 3 October 1980
ONE CAN think of few people other than George Melly who could spend the early part of an evening speaking eloquently on a television literary ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 20 October 1980
AN EVENING with Pat Benatar is an instructive experience in the nature of the huge and seemingly unbridgeable gulf which now separates contemporary rock music ...
Robert Palmer: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 10 November 1980
YORKSHIRE BORN Robert Palmer first achieved recognition partnering Elkie Brooks in the group Vinegar Joe in the early Seventies, but it took a move to ...
Aretha Franklin: Once More With Feeling
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 18 November 1980
Mick Brown on Aretha Franklin's return after years of soul searching ...
Talking Heads: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 3 December 1980
DESPITE HAVING sold barely enough records in Britain in the past to cover printing costs, and despite their live performances sometimes resembling a well-kept secret, ...
Rev. James Cleveland: Pastor Cleveland, Superstar
Report by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 24 December 1980
Well manicured and mohair-suited, America's most successful gospel performer leads an hour of electrifying Worship on ITV this Sunday. Mick Brown reports ...
Bert Jansch: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 22 January 1981
WITH THE audience for folk music in a state of steady and seemingly irreversible decline, appearances by Bert Jansch seem to have become ever fewer ...
The Bush Tetras, James Chance & the Contortions: Why the Big Apple Lacks Real Bite
Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 7 February 1981
London's rock scene is fizzing, but New York's has turned flat. Mary Harron reports ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 11 February 1981
FEW GROUPS have been faced with such a heavy burden of expectation as were New Order in their London debut. This is the group formed ...
Marvin Gaye: Star in the Remaking
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 February 1981
Marvin Gaye was Motown's blue-eyed boy of the '60s. Then, he fell dramatically. Mick Brown describes a soul man's self-searching. ...
Tom Waits: He's a Coppola Swell: Tom Waits
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, March 1981
THE FIRST TIME Tom Waits visited London, in 1976, he earned the dubious distinction of being thrown out of the club were he had been ...
Jeff Beck: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 10 March 1981
OVER THE past few years Jeff Beck has given the impression of someone wilfully squandering a brilliant career. Having established himself as one of the ...
Central Line, Freeez, Linx, Light of the World: Funk for all the Family
Report by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 21 March 1981
Jazz-funk, an offshoot of American soul music, is sweeping away the tired sounds of disco. Mary Harron reports on an underground youth cult ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 11 May 1981
THE PAIRING of the guitarist, Robert Fripp's newest venture Discipline with the New York group the Lounge Lizards — offered two examples of radical sensibilities ...
John Martyn: Making Tracks to the Top
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 23 May 1981
John Martyn, in concert in London tonight, has been a cult figure for far too long. Now he plans to change all that, as Mick ...
Stanley Clarke, George Duke: George Duke & Stanley Clarke: Apollo Victoria, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 26 May 1981
HAVING TAKEN root in the early Seventies, flourished brightly for a few years and then appeared to wither into a state of atrophy, jazz-rock did ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1 June 1981
AMONG AN older generation alienated by the bleak and joyless fare offered up by so much of the British rock music that purports to be ...
Sam Charters: Chains that Gave Birth to the Blues
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 6 June 1981
Mick Brown reports how the musicologist Sam Charters learned to stop feeling guilty about slavery ...
Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 4 July 1981
Mary Harron meets the rich kid behind ZE Records' success. ...
Earth, Wind & Fire: Earth, Wind and Fire: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 11 March 1982
IN THE last 10 years, black music in America has moved steadily away from raw, personal expression towards a more sophisticated presentation which acknowledges show ...
Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 26 March 1982
Mickie Most tells Mary Harron why in the world of pop the producer reigns supreme ...
Gil Scott-Heron: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 10 April 1982
THERE CAN surely be few performances in London this year which for intelligence, authority, musical expertise, and sheer style can hope to equal this by ...
Richard and Linda Thompson: Dominion, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 7 May 1982
LOOSELY SPEAKING, Richard Thompson is the sole practising legatee of the British folk-rock tradition which he was instrumental in establishing 14 years ago as a ...
Willie Nelson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 9 June 1982
IT IS TRUE what they say about things being bigger in Texas. You could wrap up a jumbo jet in the flag of the Lone ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 29 July 1982
FOR HERMAN Blount, life has never been the same since he decided to change his name. A former big-band piano player, Herman metamorphosed into Sun ...
Hot Chocolate: Monday Night Fever
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 31 July 1982
As Hot Chocolate ride high in the charts again, Mick Brown meets Errol Brown, Britain's most successful black song writer, the toast of Mickie Most's ...
Light of the World: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 2 August 1982
HAVING COME and gone among the first wave of black British funk bands when the genre was but a trickle, Light of the World have ...
The Undertones: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 18 August 1982
FOLLOWERS OF the Undertones will be reassured to learn that after a 12-month leave of absence back in their native Ireland, one thing remains unchanged: ...
Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim: Dollar Brand: Albany, Deptford, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 3 September 1982
IT IS ONE of the most extraordinary aspects of the work of Abdullah Ibrahim, also known as Dollar Brand, that for a South African pianist ...
Blue Rondo a la Turk: Camden Palace, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 8 September 1982
THE CAREER of Blue Rondo a la Turk illustrates vividly the perils of too close an association with style. Maligned by critics for the cut ...
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 11 September 1982
Mick Brown meets the singer with a new album out on Monday ...
William Burroughs: The Beat Guru Loaded For Bear
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1 October 1982
Burroughs is in Britain for a series of readings. Mick Brown reports. ...
The Gun Club: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 7 October 1982
WHILE THE new guard of British pop cultivate sophistication, artifice and detachment, the American avant garde continue to celebrate the more basic virtues of rawness ...
Kid Creole & the Coconuts: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 13 October 1982
IT SEEMS only fitting that when August Darnell, a.k.a. Kid Creole, finishes this British tour which celebrates his transition from exotic cult figure to top ...
Philip Glass: Sadler's Wells, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 26 October 1982
IT IS EASY to see why Phil Glass, long recognised as being in the vanguard of American avant-garde composers should have suddenly found himself lionised ...
The Roches: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 9 November 1982
FIRST THE McGarrigles and now, a fortnight later, the Roches. How many more sets of slightly kooky sisters does the American folk circuit have for ...
ABC: Sophistication to the last letter
Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 November 1982
Mary Harron describes the hit group ABC's recipe for success, reverting to a clean image. ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 23 November 1982
SURPRISING AS it may seem, the hottest ticket in town at present is not for ABC, Yazoo or any other of the leading lights of ...
Marty Robbins: Country Dude of Nashville
Obituary by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 10 December 1982
Mary Harron on the style of Marty Robbins ...
Billy Bragg: Captain’s Cabin, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 1983
PLACING a heavy burden on a small but genuine talent, Billy Bragg has been hailed as the next big thing. ...
Billy Fury: One of the First to Rock
Obituary by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 29 January 1983
Mick Brown pays tribute to the talents and the achievements of Billy Fury ...
The Thompson Twins: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 2 March 1983
WITH THEIR tribal drumming, anti-nuke benefits, funny clothes and shambolically exuberant performance, the Thompson Twins once personified a charming, if somewhat loopy strand of idealistic ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 7 March 1983
PIGBAG surprised everybody, not least themselves, by climbing into the American charts and subsequently the British ones in 1981 with 'Papa's Got A Brand New ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 19 March 1983
OVER THE past 20 years John Cale has gone from the Royal College of Music to Lamont Young's avant garde Theatre of Eternal Music to ...
Dolly Parton: Ask a Dirty Question, and you Don't Get Any Answers
Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 29 March 1983
Dolly Parton smiles, and giggles, and parodies herself, but she's really not that kind of girl at all. Not any longer, reports Mary Harron. ...
Dolly Parton: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 29 March 1983
IN THE early stages we were treated rather like the captive audience at a television games show, as orders were issued for us to stand, ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 30 March 1983
FOR A MAN who is both producer, writer, performer and engineer, Dennis Bovell's career progresses at a frustrating and slow pace. As producer he seems ...
Joan Armatrading: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 9 April 1983
THERE IS about Joan Armatrading a quality of self-containment, resolution and a complete absence of any suggestion of faddishness, artifice or compromise which is enormously ...
Joni Mitchell: Happy Talkin' Joni
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 22 April 1983
IT WOULD BE an exaggeration to describe Larry Klein as a hated man; but, face it, there must have been times when he has felt ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 25 April 1983
WITH JONI Mitchell, the music and the life are inseparable. As a confessional songwriter the appeal is based on identification; with those of us who ...
Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin: McLaughlin/Di Meola/De Lucia: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 20 June 1983
A COMBINATION of John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia — three guitarists in the world heavyweight class — promises a multitude of ...
David Bowie: Milton Keynes Bowl, Buckinghamshire
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 4 July 1983
THE BRITISH phase of the Serious Moonlight tour ended in a grassy amphitheatre where a crowd of 50,000 strained to see a little white figure ...
Nick Heyward: Dominion, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 5 July 1983
ONE ALMOST fears for today's teenagers when someone as apparently anodyne as Nick Heyward becomes a teen idol. Whatever happened to insurrection, rebellion, young lust, ...
James Blood Ulmer: Ace, Brixton, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 9 July 1983
A PROTÉGÉ of Ornette Coleman and disciple of Coleman's theory of harmolodics — a musical system of such devious complexity that possible only Coleman and ...
Defunkt: Albany Empire, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 15 July 1983
DEFUNKT ARE in the anomalous position of being an American band playing in a singularly American style who find themselves prophets without honour — or ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 28 July 1983
IDA GUILLORY is the nearest thing Louisiana has to offer to a housewife superstar. A 55-year-old grandmother, Queen Ida had spent almost her entire life ...
Wanted: a Rock Valhalla for the Golden Oldies
Comment by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 4 August 1983
Up and down the country sweet little sixteens have just about half a million signed autographs. In fact, all the best rock 'n' roll memorabilia ...
Michael (Mikey) Smith: Michael Smith: Jamaica Killing
Report by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 26 August 1983
MICHAEL SMITH, internationally acclaimed as Jamaica's foremost "dub" poet, was murdered last week, apparently a victim of Jamaica's turbulent and violent political climate. Smith, who ...
Fab 5 Freddy: Streetbeat, Albany Empire, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 12 September 1983
ONCE DISMISSED as a novelty, rapping has proved its durability, and as soon as you think it has died another wave of influence appears. As ...
Gary Numan: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 18 October 1983
EVEN IF you are undecided about his music, you have to give Gary Numan credit for his nerve and the mysterious hold which his meagre ...
Essay by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1984
Atlantic and other classic R&B issues are at last being reprinted — in Britain. Mick Brown reports ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1984
ONE HAS ALWAYS suspected that Eric Clapton's worst enemy was his own reputation. Few people live with – much less live up to – the ...
The Neville Brothers: Live At The Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1984
THE NEVILLE Brothers are an institution whose time would seem to have come. Four brothers from New Orleans, their contribution to Crescent City music over ...
Fats Domino, Ray Charles: Thorns In Velvet: Fats Domino and Ray Charles at the Capital Jazz Festival
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1984
AMONG the collection of venerable antiques paraded for this year’s Capital Jazz Festival – couldn’t the organisers find anybody of note under the age of ...
Alexis Korner: Man of the Blues
Obituary by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 2 January 1984
THE DEATH of Alexis Korner at the age of 55 from cancer marks the closing of a chapter in British music. Korner's role as one ...
Millie Jackson: Dominion, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 23 February 1984
MILLIE JACKSON has said publicly that she is bored with "talking trash," and with her image as soul's queen of sexual outrage. ...
Whitesnake: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 5 March 1984
WHITESNAKE ARE known as the male chauvinists of British heavy metal, which is a dizzying thought. Lead singer David Coverdale's stardom is based on his ...
Marillion: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 13 March 1984
A NIGHT out for the lower sixth, dungeons and dragons players and the "progressive" rock fans time forgot. ...
Obituary by Mick Brown, The Guardian, April 1984
MARVIN GAYE, who was so shockingly killed in Los Angeles on Sunday, one day before his 45th birthday, was not only a consummate soul music ...
Mary Wells: Albany, Deptford, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 31 May 1984
MARY WELLS made one mistake in her career almost 20 years ago and has been paying for it ever since. Wells was Motown's first international ...
Joan Baez: The Folk Heroine Mellows With Age
Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 22 June 1984
IN 1959 JOAN BAEZ walked out on stage at the Newport Folk Festival and touched off a wave of adulation that was to reach almost ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, July 1984
ALL SUMMER, Christians have been performing in football stadiums; first we had Luis Palau, then Billy Graham, and now Bob Dylan. But as it turned ...
Aswad, Jimmy Cliff: Jimmy Cliff, Aswad: Crystal Palace Bowl, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 30 July 1984
THE ANNUAL Nelson Mandela festival was held in perfect sunlight in the secluded grassy amphitheatre at Crystal Palace. Unfortunately one reason why it was so ...
The Clark Sisters: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 3 September 1984
GUIDING GOSPEL music into the Eighties has not been without its hazards for Detroit's Five Clark Sisters. When last year their gorgeous 'You Brought The ...
Sisters Of Mercy: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 2 November 1984
THERE WAS a time when the Sisters of Mercy would have provided not so much a performance in themselves as an excuse for the audience ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 November 1984
A GOOD night for London Transport. The fans had poured off the bus and Tube to this one squeezed into satin pants, war paint, and ...
Michael McDonald: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 1985
THIS SHOW proved one thing and proved it triumphantly: you can be a paunchy, greying white Californian with a supremely uncool-looking band and still have ...
Notes That Are Music To His Ears: Clive Davis
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1985
What do Barry Manilow, Donovan, Janis Joplin, and Springsteen have in common? They owe a lot of their success to Arista Records’ boss Clive Davis. ...
Suzanne Vega: Live At The LSE, London.
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1985
Chess metaphors, the myth of Odysseus and the woman he left behind, being a "small blue thing", and, possibly if you listen hard enough, love ...
Leonard Cohen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 27 February 1985
FOR WHAT are undoubtedly all the wrong reasons, one has come to approach Leonard Cohen with suspicion. The air of long-suffering torture one associates with ...
James: Institute of Contemporary Art, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 March 1985
HIGH FLYING in the independent charts, the current darlings of the music press and publicly championed by Morrissey, lead singer with the Smiths — these ...
Ricky Skaggs: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 20 May 1985
Mick Brown on Ricky Skaggs's county revival at the Dominion ...
Ashford & Simpson: Ashford and Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 22 May 1985
TIME HAS revealed Ashford and Simpson to be the most enduring, adaptable — arguably the greatest — of all the great Motown songwriting teams of ...
Scritti Politti: The Politics of Green Land
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 July 1985
Adam Sweeting meets Scritti Politti's radical singer-songwriter ...
R.E.M.: On the Southern Frontier
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 July 1985
Adam Sweeting meets one of the bands pioneering the new American rock ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, September 1985
The old Crosby, Stills and Nash hippie has taken on a new redneck colouration with firm roots in country music. Adam Sweeting looks back from ...
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 September 1985
ADAM SWEETING investigates the selling of a pop star package ...
Diana Ross: Second Hand Emotion — Diana Ross: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 20 September 1985
Diana Ross's performance at the Albert Hall was a memorably touching experience — the only trouble was, reports Mick Brown, you couldn't believe a word ...
Bobby Womack: Testament of a preacher man
Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 12 October 1985
FOR ANYBODY remotely interested in black music, past and present; in the continuity between the halcyon days of rhythm and blues and church music and ...
Alex Chilton: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 October 1985
Back on top ...
George Benson: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1 November 1985
AT LAST! A performer who has conquered the formidable problems of Wembley Arena and turned it to the service of a triumphant concert. ...
Masquerade: Morgan Khan: The groovy side of the street
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 February 1986
The entrepreneurial one-man band Morgan Khan talks to Adam Sweeting ...
Big Country: Seer with feet on the ground
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 April 1986
Adam Sweeting catches Big Country as they are threatened with superstardom ...
The Cure, The Waterboys: Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 28 April 1986
THE CURE stepped boldly from the shadows to close the series of Sound Waves For Greenpeace shows with a towering set which lasted nearly two ...
Thrashing Doves: Marquee, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 June 1986
YOU KNOW something's wrong when people insist that the Housemartins write "great pop songs," Dr. & The Medics lodge at No.1 for weeks, and the ...
Wham!: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 June 1986
George's time to go-go: Adam Sweeting on Wham!'s farewell concert at Wembley ...
Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter: Capital Jazz Parade, Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 July 1986
Winning sets ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Blasphemy of Stardom
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 21 July 1986
Mark Cooper reports on the brothers from East Kilbride they banned on Radio 1 ...
Chic, Nile Rodgers: Source of the Nile
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 August 1986
Funk guitar specialist Nile Rodgers is also one of the world's great producers. Adam Sweeting reports ...
B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 October 1986
AFTER 30-ODD years in the trade, in which he's travelled millions of miles and used up lord knows how many sets of guitar strings, it's ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 October 1986
Heads in the clouds ...
Julian Cope: No tears for Julian
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 24 October 1986
After stunning success with The Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope blew up. He's back with a new hit. Adam Sweeting reports ...
Robert Palmer: How to Run the Riptide With Style
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 November 1986
Adam Sweeting on the rise of Robert Palmer ...
Eurythmics: "I Am Not The Androgynous Annie Lennox. I Never Was. I Used It For Something Else"
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 November 1986
The Eurythmics Leading lady talks to Adam Sweeting about her life, her music and her image. ...
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Royalty Theatre, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 December 1986
Elvis on the loose: Adam Sweeting sees a master in peak form. ...
The Oyster Band: Out Of Their Shells
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 16 January 1987
Mark Cooper on The Oyster Band's place in the "roots" dance revival ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 23 January 1987
Adam Sweeting meets Rosie Vela, the former cover-girl now looking for success as a singer-songwriter ...
Comment by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 February 1987
As London prepares for more streamlined sophistication, Adam Sweeting wonders what happened to the sweat and suffering ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 February 1987
HOW DIFFERENT one's life might have been if one's mother had been Naomi Judd. One might have been a cowboy, the local sheriff, or better ...
Luther Vandross: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 February 1987
Deluxe on his side: Adam Sweeting on Luther Vandross's uptown sounds ...
Cyndi Lauper: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 February 1987
FUNNY GIRL! Cyndi Lauper is equal parts Shirley Temple, Rickie Lee Jones and Bugs Bunny, a fruitcake in a musical doll's house wearing cartoon clothes, ...
The Beatles, Happy Mondays, New Order: CDs: The Slipped Disc
Report by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 February 1987
Compact Disc has brought the second coming of The Beatles and the promise of a revolution in the rock industry. But is it a sound ...
DAT: How Japan has got the trade taped
Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 27 February 1987
There's another audio revolution on the way, and it could pose a piracy threat to the music business, says Mark Cooper. ...
Rough Trade Records: Rough At The Top
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 February 1987
In the record industry big doesn’t always mean best, and the independent Rough Trade have beaten the big boys in fostering new talent and ideas. ...
Lionel Richie: Crossing the Square
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 March 1987
The saintly Lionel Richie's co-writer is the Lord. Adam Sweeting reports ...
Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer: Thrash Metal: Psycho Path to the Top
Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 20 March 1987
Thrash metal is the new noise of teenage horror, a vinyl equivalent of the video nasty. Mark Cooper reports on the bands that delight in ...
Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis: New Country: Banjoing the Roy Rogers Image
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 March 1987
It may have had a hard time persuading people to take it seriously but, as Adam Sweeting reports, country music is winning ...
Erasure: Central Hall, Westminster, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 April 1987
THANKS MOSTLY to the glittering Andy Bell, Erasure manage not to be the cold stew of circuits and digital read-outs decried by some. Certainly, much ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 17 April 1987
Chris Isaak's melancholy songs hark back to the teen ballads of the Sixties, reports Mark Cooper ...
Millie Jackson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 April 1987
Dirty work: Adam Sweeting sees Millie Jackson strut her smut at Hammersmith Odeon ...
Tom Jones: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 May 1987
Mock macho ...
Randy Newman: The Star And Snipes
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 22 May 1987
Mark Cooper talks to Randy Newman, standard bearer against the smug and prejudiced ...
The Beastie Boys: Burden of the Beasties
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, The Guardian, 23 May 1987
WHEN THE Beastie Boys step on stage in Brixton tonight at the start of their British tour everyone – the media, authorities, and fans alike ...
The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Run DMC, Slayer: Def Jam: Don't Knock The Rock – Rap It
Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 1 June 1987
Mark Cooper on how Def Jam crossed over punk with rap, white with black, and stayed cool with both sides ...
David Bowie: Serious twilight — David Bowie: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 June 1987
Adam Sweeting finds David Bowie losing his way at Wembley ...
Miles Davis: A little loving goes Miles and miles. Miles Davis: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 July 1987
Adam Sweeting finds one of Jazz's greatest innovators in masterful form at the Festival Hall ...
Billy Joel: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 July 1987
Bout with an uptown boy: Adam Sweeting on a roistering evening with Billy Joel at Wembley ...
10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M.: REM and 10,000 Maniacs: Rulers Of The Campus
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 25 September 1987
College rock is alive and gigging in the US. MARK COOPER hears why from Michael Stipe of REM and Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs ...
John Hiatt: Return of the Demon Conqueror
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 9 October 1987
Singer-songwriter John Hiatt is back — at his best — from the drugs-and-booze brink. Adam Sweeting reports ...
Aztec Camera, Roddy Frame: Aztec Camera: Cameraman Has Got The Picture
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 October 1987
At 23, Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera has an old head on his shoulders, and as Adam Sweeting found out, his new LP benefits from ...
Robbie Robertson: Off the Band Stand
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 October 1987
After turning off the road to rock and ruin, Robbie Robertson is back — on his own terms. Mark Cooper reports ...
George Michael: By George, he's really got it
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 9 November 1987
Rich, talented, and politically aware, George Michael skilfully charts the tricky waters of superstardom. ...
The Proclaimers: Right-on in Auchtermuchty
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 November 1987
Adam Sweeting finds two reasons for feeling cheerful about alternatives to pop blandness — Scotland's The Proclaimers ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Roger Waters: Out of Troubled Waters
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 20 November 1987
Roger Waters now finds himself in competition with his one-time colleagues in Pink Floyd – he doesn't like it but there are compensations. Mark Cooper ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Good and Bad Vibrations
Interview by Jeremy Gluck, The Guardian, 1988
Beach Boy Brian Wilson owes his survival to his doctor and a regime of psychotherapy, diet and exercise, he told Jeremy Gluck. ...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Holly Johnson: Frankie goes to Litigation
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 18 January 1988
Holly of Frankie Goes To Hollywood takes his label to court today. Adam Sweeting reports ...
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, The Guardian, February 1988
WE LIVE IN THE days of the flood, says Leonard Cohen. "Most of my psychic landmarks have evaporated. I'm reluctant to apply the psychic realm ...
Afrika Bambaataa: The Funky Cassandra
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 February 1988
Adam Sweeting spreads Bambaataa's word for Planet Earth ...
Lyle Lovett: Lovett and Leave It
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 March 1988
Lyle Lovett is top of the country charts but the laid back Texan has no intentions, he tells Adam Sweeting, of ending up on the treadmill ...
Prefab Sprout: A Satisfying Whiff of Glue
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 11 March 1988
Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout talks to Mark Cooperabout Tin Pan Alley, nostalgia and his search for enchantment ...
David Byrne, Talking Heads: David Byrne: Heads and Tales
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 18 March 1988
With Naked, Talking Heads' tenth album, David Byrne is still asking "How did I get here?" Mark Cooper examines a stranger in paradise. ...
Thomas Dolby: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 April 1988
Cruising in the slow lane ...
Morris Day: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 29 April 1988
A bad Daydream ...
Nanci Griffith: Country Rose of Texas
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 April 1988
Nanci Griffith's music may live happily in bedsit or honky-tonk but she tells anecdotes onstage to stop her audience fist-fighting, reports Adam Sweeting ...
Alexander O'Neal: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, May 1988
BANK HOLIDAY weekends used to be taken up with rock and roll frolics. These days soul music has a better grasp of good times and ...
Whitney Houston: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 May 1988
Adam Sweeting marvels at a mega-star in action at the Birmingham NEC ...
Fleetwood Mac: All Meat With The Big Macs
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 13 May 1988
As Fleetwood Mac start a major tour Mark Cooper talks to Christine McVie about the band that refused to die ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 20 May 1988
Ry Cooder is on the road again. He talks to Mark Cooper ...
The Sugarcubes: Astoria, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 23 May 1988
WITH FRAIL old people packing out Wembley and the charts stuffed with the dross that even Eurovision couldn't stomach (yobbish novelty records, the pitiable Wet ...
Scritti Politti: Pretension and polish
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 June 1988
Adam Sweeting drops in on one of the pop world's top name-droppers ...
George Michael: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 June 1988
Right-on George in shape for the 90s Adam Sweeting sees a superstar work out ...
Prince: Sign O' The Times (Dir. Prince; Paisley Park Films)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 July 1988
Let the good times rock — Adam Sweeting finds brilliance abounds in Prince's latest film ...
Bob Dylan: Pennebaker Looks Back
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 July 1988
Adam Sweeting turns the tables on the man who documented the young Dylan ...
Michael Jackson: The Greatest Showman — Michael Jackson: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 July 1988
Adam Sweeting on the dazzling Michael Jackson at Wembley ...
Nico, The Velvet Underground: Nico: A Baleful Dark Brown Voice
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 23 July 1988
NICO, THE baleful Teutonic queen of sixties New York, has died in Ibiza after a cerebral haemorrhage suffered while cycling in intense mid-day heat. She ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 July 1988
MINNEAPOLIS COMES to Broadway! Even in the wake of Wacko, Prince's latest show is something of an eyeball-popper. The 64-inch-high prodigy materialises from a gleaming ...
Carly Simon: Free as a liberal prude
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 July 1988
Carly Simon is back after years of artistic famine. She tells Adam Sweeting about life beyond the emotional bumps ...
Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Mantronix: Taking the Rap
Report and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 5 August 1988
Club violence and the whiff of gunsmoke are accompanying rap's rise to prominence in the United States. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Everything But The Girl, Tracey Thorn: Tracey Thorn: Doctorate feelgood
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 10 August 1988
A daughter of punk, Tracey Thorn is riding high in the pop charts. But academia looms just as large in her life. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bunny Wailer, The Wailers: A Wailer Surfaces to Claim Reggae's Crown
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 26 August 1988
After Marley, what price reggae? Mark Cooper on Bunny Wailer's musical crusade ...
Salt-N-Pepa: Salt 'N Pepa: Shakin' Seasons
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 31 August 1988
It's hard being a woman rapper in a man's world, but Salt 'N Pepa have made it. Adam Sweeting found them in Oklahoma City. ...
Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club: Tom Tom Club: The Byrne Issue
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 October 1988
Adam Sweeting on Talking Heads, the Tom Tom Club, and the great divide between the two ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 October 1988
To celebrate Cameo's thirteenth album Adam Sweeting joins Larry Blackmon for a wholemeal bagel in downtown New York. ...
Anita Baker, Luther Vandross: Luther Vandross, Anita Baker: Omni Coliseum, Atlanta GA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 25 November 1988
Casanova in a shiny suit ...
Sandie Shaw: University of London Union, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 November 1988
Sandie's sure thing Adam Sweeting welcomes Sandie Shaw back to live gigs. ...
Steve Earle & the Dukes: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 December 1988
When more means less ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 December 1988
Adam Sweeting meets Bon Jovi, the hard-rockers turned chart phenomenc ...
The Proclaimers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 December 1988
The doublevision: Adam Sweeting savours the Proclaimers at Hammersmith Odeon ...
Roy Orbison: Singer of the lives of the lonely
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 December 1988
Yesterday, pop hero Roy Orbison died at the age of 52. Adam Sweeting records the legend of the broken-hearted balladeer, whose life was as tragic ...
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 December 1988
Adam Sweeting watches the label boom and fears a future of repackaged rock, candyfloss music and 'low-stress' hard sell ...
Martin Carthy: A Passage to England
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 29 December 1988
Martin Carthy believes in the power of performance, not purity. Mark Cooper meets the folkie who refuses to play safe. ...
Live Review by Len Brown, The Guardian, 30 December 1988
WITH A soft Charles Hawtrey-style "hullo" and a shower of flowers. Steven Patrick Morrissey returns to the stage. It's two years since his uniquely English ...
Neneh Cherry: A Gap in the Rap
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 25 January 1989
Neneh Cherry is one of many women invading the hip hop scene ...
Fine Young Cannibals: Stay fresh and keep 'em hungry
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 8 February 1989
Roland Gift tells Lucy O'Brien about the Fine Young Cannibals' appetite for success ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 February 1989
The Judds' story is worthy of a country song. Adam Sweeting on the long road from Morrill, Kentucky, to the Dominion, London. ...
The Waterboys: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 February 1989
The incredible Galway gypsies ...
David Crosby: A Hippy out of Hell
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 March 1989
David Crosby is back with an album and autobiography. He talks to Adam Sweeting ...
Philip Glass, S'Express: S'Express: Disorderly House
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 17 March 1989
Mark Moore and S'Express have taken British music one step beyond the Acid House formula. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Luther Vandross: The Soul Survivor
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 24 March 1989
Mark Cooper on the awesome presence that is Luther Vandross ...
Cowboy Junkies: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 March 1989
Cowpoking explorers: one of the newest names in New Country and an all-out thrash attack ...
Luther Vandross: A night with the fat controller — Luther Vandross: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 April 1989
Adam Sweeting finds the rich fare of Luther Vandross a mixed blessing at Wembley Arena ...
Roachford: Town & Country, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 April 1989
IT MAY ONLY be rock 'n' roll, but Andrew Roachford and his band kick up the kind of excitement from an audience that has been ...
The Triffids: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 April 1989
The way of the Triffids ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 April 1989
Come to the cabaret, old chums. Adam Sweeting gets a kick out of Liza, Sammy and a revitalised Frank Sinatra at the Albert Hall. ...
Diana Ross: The Queen of Muzak — Diana Ross: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 May 1989
Adam Sweeting finds the Birmingham crowd more entertaining than Diana Ross ...
Lucinda Williams: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 May 1989
Twang go the heart strings ...
Tom Jones: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 May 1989
Jones the joker ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 May 1989
The Man in Black is back fighting the good fight. Adam Sweeting catches up with Johnny Cash, travelling troubadour, in Cambridge ...
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 12 May 1989
Matt Johnson tells Bruce Dessau how he's managed to mix pop and politics ...
10,000 Maniacs: A Lioness's Share of Woe
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 19 May 1989
Natalie Merchant is fighting the world's battles in her songs. Mark Cooper finds out why. ...
Elton John: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 24 May 1989
Battered and upright ...
R.E.M.: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 June 1989
The green line over Georgia Adam Sweeting at Hammersmith Odeon on the homespun charms of R.E.M. ...
Cookie Crew: Some Cookies Don't Crumble
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 21 June 1989
British rap is taken seriously in the States largely due to the Cookie Crew. Sheryl Garratt found out why ...
Bobby Brown: Bobby Bites The Bullet
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 23 June 1989
Mark Cooper meets the young American soul star everybody's gunning for ...
Bobby Brown: Soul's Carnal Cruiser: Bobby Brown, Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 June 1989
He came, they saw, he conquered... Adam Sweeting on Bobby Brown at the Wembley Arena ...
Cowboy Junkies: The Cowboy Junkies: Cowboy country
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 June 1989
Mark Cooper hears how the Cowboy Junkies draw on Canada for their inspiration ...
Chaka Khan: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 1 July 1989
No Khan do... ...
Pere Ubu, The Pixies: Pixies, Pere Ubu: Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 July 1989
SUPPORT FOR The Pixies, Boston's finest, came from Pere Ubu, born again (and again) as cortex-tickling popsters via the Cloudland album. Vocalist David Thomas, a sweating balloon ...
Carole King: Stepping Out Of The Shadows
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 14 July 1989
Carole King is coming out from behind her piano because she wants to rock. Mark Cooper reports. ...
Pet Shop Boys: The Pet Shop Boys: NEC Arena, Birmingham
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 July 1989
All good guilty fun. Adam Sweeting watches the Pet Shop Boys come to life ...
Bob Mould, Husker Du: Bob Mould: Out of the Warehouse
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 21 July 1989
DESPITE THE flood of veterans currently patching up ancient quarrels for one last sack of ancient dollars, divorce rather than reconciliation remains the common fate ...
Liza Minnelli, Pet Shop Boys: All Eyes Are On Liza
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 August 1989
"My whole life I've sung songs that were written before I was born." But no longer. Liza Minnelli, Oscar-winning superstar, talks to Adam Sweeting about ...
Del Amitri, Diesel Park West: Del Amitri, Diesel Dark West: Astoria, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 August 1989
THIS WAS a fine example of the technology gap which now yawns between live performance and the studio. Unless you're able to invest incalculable sums ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: Sealed with a disc
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 August 1989
Keith Richards bridles at the suggestion that rock is a young man's game. Spruced up, rifts with Mick Jagger all forgotten, he and the Stones ...
Terence Trent D'Arby: D'Arby has his day
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 September 1989
Terence Trent D'Arby has a new album on the way. He also has a clearer idea of his role in the world, as Adam Sweeting ...
Gloria Estefan: Estefan in Exile
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 15 September 1989
Bruce Dessau on the singer hailed by President Reagan as the capitalist face of communist Cuba. ...
Dusty Springfield: Starring role
Comment by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 27 September 1989
Any woman pop star who comes out puts her career on the line as Dusty Springfield discovered. Lucy O'Brien reports ...
The Neville Brothers: At Last The Legend Lives
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 October 1989
The Neville Brothers, long held in awe by fellow musicians, are finally selling records. Mark Cooper on the London-bound band. ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 October 1989
THE WOMAN pouring tea in a hotel near EMI records has a wide, warm smile and speaks with such endearing openness that you wonder if ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Keeping Her Cool
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 25 October 1989
Shot to stardom 10 years ago, Rickie Lee Jones has fought her way back – no less cool but much more confident. Mark Cooper reports ...
The Creatures, Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie Sioux: Mellowing of a Banshee
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 25 October 1989
Lucy O'Brien on Siouxsie Sioux's new Creature comforts and lasting spirit ...
Michelle Shocked: Culture Shocked
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 8 November 1989
Feminist fans may be outraged by her apparent change of image, but it's no sell-out, as Michelle Shocked tells Lucy O'Brien ...
Belinda Carlisle, The Go-Go's: Belinda Carlisle: From Go Go to Solo
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 22 November 1989
She's come through the live-fast, look-bad, almost die-young scene to a beautiful future. Belinda Carlisle tells Lucy O'Brien how she did it ...
The Wonder Stuff: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 28 November 1989
Carry on rocking: Mark Cooper on a glittering performance from Wonder Stuff ...
Cat Glover, Prince: Cat Glover: Cat goes for the cream
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 December 1989
Adam Sweeting on why Prince's dancing sensation is aiming for stardom — without him ...
Terence Trent D'Arby: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 January 1990
IT'S ALWAYS a lark to be able to see major-ish artists in small settings, and perhaps we should be grateful to all the people who ...
Simply Red: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 January 1990
Slightly Red: Adam Sweeting on Hucknall and co — skilful but loutish at Wembley ...
Mel & Kim: Mel Appleby: The Bravery Lying Behind All That Fun, Love & Money
Obituary by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 31 January 1990
Lucy O'Brien finds the pop world full of praise for the courage of Mel Appleby of the bubbly duo Mel and Kim, who this month lost ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 8 February 1990
From Satchmo to Wacko Jacko, Quincy Jones has worked with them all. Now, he tells Mark Cooper, it's time to take stock. ...
Daniel Lanois: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 February 1990
BEST KNOWN for producing U2's The Joshua Tree and whipping up a little dust-storm of hipness around Dylan's Oh Mercy, Daniel Lanois is also a ...
Del Shannon: Pop Before the Beatles
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 February 1990
THE APPARENT suicide of Del Shannon at his home in California puts the final tragic twist to a story which began well with a string ...
Grace Jones: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 March 1990
THE GRACE Jones Experience could be described as long-awaited. The chap pressed up to the front of the stage certainly thought so. "Waiting three hours ...
The Jungle Brothers, KRS-One, Public Enemy: Rapped in Black
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990
An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...
The Jungle Brothers, KRS-One, Public Enemy: Rapped in Black
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990
An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...
Del Amitri: The down-to-earth Del boys
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 April 1990
'Ancient', honest and confused — Del Amitri are not a typical overnight sensation, Adam Sweeting reports ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 18 April 1990
The other Nelson jumps genres ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 28 May 1990
Signing stetsons and killing time ...
Report by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 June 1990
Adam Sweeting looks at a new round of paper wars ...
Bobby Brown: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 June 1990
Coming over lewd and clear ...
And Why Not?: Brum, brum — hot tracks!
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 6 June 1990
Having seen their heroes' feet of clay and having dodged the Bros comparisons the only way for a successful young group, reports Lucy O'Brien is ...
Pet Shop Boys, Dusty Springfield: Lusty Springfield
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 June 1990
Adam Sweeting speaks to the '60s icon who has risen from pop's graveyard to breathe new life into the charts. ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 June 1990
The Prince's new clothes ...
Little Feat: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 July 1990
THERE'S A song on Little Feat's 1988 album, Let It Roll, called 'Hangin' On To The Good Times'. It's a syrupy, self-romanticising look back at ...
Madonna: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 July 1990
Madonna Inc in tireless and tiresome spectacle ...
Betty Boo: Take-off for the girl from Planet Boo
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 22 August 1990
Funky fantasy and shy eyes, hope and regret... Lucy O'Brien on the two sides of Betty, aka Alison ...
Living Colour: Rocking the Boat
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 23 August 1990
Establishment America says rock is a white man's prerogative. Adam Sweeting on why Living Colour think otherwise ...
The Time: Time without the Prince
Profile by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 31 August 1990
MOST BANDS that get together after solo careers do so to cash in on their past. If the Minneapolis band the Time had wanted to ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 September 1990
Aged Young still wild at heart ...
Jason Donovan: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 September 1990
IT MUST have been sheer devilry that inspired someone to play Prince over the PA directly before Jason Donovan came on stage. Even Jason, awaiting ...
Janet Jackson: Janet takes her video on tour
Report by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 19 October 1990
JANET JACKSON'S first solo tour has crossed the globe on its way to the UK — not without some hitches. One member of the entourage ...
Big Fun, Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, New Kids On The Block: Kylie Minogue et al: Mild at heart
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 October 1990
Today's pop idols seem so insipid that fans are turning to turtles for thrills. Caroline Sullivan on the Kylie/Jason phenomenon. ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Independents have their day
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 23 October 1990
TWELVE months is a long time in pop music. This time last year The Charlatans had never made a record. They could only boast that ...
A-Ha Have the Last Laugh on the Teeny Tag
Profile and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 14 December 1990
Groups come and go in a flash but the boys from Norway seem to have staying power. Lucy O'Brien reports ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 18 December 1990
Herod and the grey suits ...
Was (Not Was): The Was bros who weren't
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 3 January 1991
Middle-class Jewish boys from Motor City, Was (Not Was) have set out to show that white men can make soul music. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Def Leppard: Obituary: Steve Clark — Hard Rock Hero
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 January 1991
THE DEATH of Def Leppard's guitarist Steve Clark, aged 30, on Tuesday morning was the latest disaster to strike the Sheffield group. On New Year's ...
George Michael: NEC, Birmingham
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 January 1991
"THE MOST constructive thing I can do now is to try to be a great songwriter," says George Michael. ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 9 February 1991
On the titter count he scores high. And he insists on playing the prat because it pays off so handsomely. But the music biz has ...
Joni Mitchell: They paint paradise
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 February 1991
Now Joni Mitchell's more at ease at her easel, reports Adam Sweeting ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, March 1991
AS ANY OF the fans who have helped to sell out her shows in London and Glasgow this weekend will know, Rickie Lee Jones likes ...
Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, Jane's Addiction: Jane's Addiction, Chickasaw Mudd Puppies: Marquee, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 March 1991
THEY'RE ALREADY hacking a broad swathe through the Americas, and Jane's Addiction's appearance for this "secret" show turned the Marquee into a vile, heaving sweat-box. ...
Overview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 March 1991
Dim, manic, noisy, and rarely women. But drummers aren't all troll-like, says Adam Sweeting ...
Gloria Estefan: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 April 1991
THE SMALL but dynamic Gloria Estefan does not look like someone only recently recovered from a major back injury sustained in a road accident. ...
Unsound Moves in the Print Trade
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 April 1991
Caroline Sullivan investigates the long-standing malaise afflicting the weekly music press after last week's closure of Sounds and the merger of Record Mirror with Music ...
808 State: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 15 April 1991
WHILE Manchester's club culture is rent asunder by rave-dazed apathy and internecine drug wars, the bands that made the scene move on. Happy Mondays are ...
Alexander O'Neal: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 April 1991
ALEXANDER O'NEAL'S last British tour was famed for the moment during the concert when a double bed was wheeled on stage and a young laydee ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 April 1991
Massive unfinished sympathy ...
Sting: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 April 1991
IT SEEMS unlikely that Sting has been paying attention to his critics, but with his new stripped-down band and a show sprinkled with The Police's ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 April 1991
JOHNNY THUNDERS had long been a by-word for self-destruction through drugs and hard living. In 1981, Trouser Press magazine cynically declared Thunders "legally dead" alongside a cartoon ...
MC Hammer: Hammering pop peace and Pepsi
Profile by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 2 May 1991
IF ANYONE was still sceptical about the mainstream of rap, a quick glance at MC Hammer's considerable commercial achievements will soon put them right. His ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 May 1991
Hammered home: Adam Sweeting sees MC Hammer let the rap rip at the Birmingham NEC on a night of music and moralising ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 May 1991
In the precious and profitable world of pop, how you look, it seems, is more important than how you sound, Caroline Sullivan reports ...
MC Hammer: Me, Jesus and the President
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 May 1991
Adam Sweeting is privy to a generous 15 minutes of MC Hammer's hard-earned fame ...
Sinéad O'Connor: Angel of Angst
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 15 June 1991
Sinead O'Connor's need for self-exorcism has made her a target of the tabloids. Sean O'Hagan talks to the outspoken singer. ...
Vanilla Ice: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 June 1991
THE TOUTS on Empire Way were peevish. Entire blocks of seats for Vanilla Ice's London debut were still empty and no one was buying. Much ...
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, The Guardian, July 1991
FASHIONS IN FOLK devils, like all other fashions, are subject both to painless expiry and to unexpected and possibly incongruous resurrections. ...
Deee-Lite: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 July 1991
LAST YEAR, Deee-Lite's fusion of hip-hop beats and hippy good vibes supposedly presaged a kinder, gentler era in pop. Nothing much changed, but Deee-Lite still ...
Cath Carroll: Home is where the heart is
Profile and Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 31 July 1991
With the release of her rhythmic debut album, England Made Me, Cath Carroll crosses from punk past to Latin future, as Bruce Dessau reports ...
Milli Vanilli: The Award Sinners
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 August 1991
The Milli Vanilli affair rocked the secretive world of pop. CAROLINE SULLIVAN on the scandal of stars who don't sing — and the judge with ...
Jane's Addiction: Lollapalooza
Report by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 29 August 1991
LOLLAPALOOZA means a bizarre happening. ...
Voice Of The Beehive: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 September 1991
Bumble Bees ...
Wet Wet Wet: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 November 1991
FOR WET Wet Wet's first British date for two years their record company was taking no chances. An audience of Radio One competition winners was ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 7 November 1991
All but canonised in Ireland, U2's lead singer preaches redemption through rock 'n' roll. But now he's learning to write about girls. Sean O'Hagan profiles ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 7 November 1991
All but canonised in Ireland, U2's lead singer preaches redemption through rock 'n' roll. But now he's learning to write about girls. Sean O'Hagan profiles ...
Report and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 14 November 1991
As the recession hits record labels, Lucy O'Brien talks to some of the bands who've been given the chop ...
Salt-N-Pepa: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 December 1991
MEN, ACCORDING to the rapteuses, Salt 'n' Pepa, are good for one thing. "And sometimes they're not even good for that," Salt observed, on stage ...
Nirvana: The indie alternative
Report by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 19 December 1991
This year saw groups like Nirvana breaking into the mainstream,. Simon Reynolds reports on the changing face of the charts ...
Cookie Crew, Salt-N-Pepa, Sister Souljah: Sisters Are Rapping It For Themselves
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 January 1992
In the misogynistic world of rap, anybody who's not one of the boys is a whore or more genially a bitch. But even the female ...
The Rolling Stones: Bradford rolls away the Stones: At the Max
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 30 January 1992
Bruce Dessau reports on a Rolling Stones concert film — the first to be shown on IMAX ...
Horace Andy, Massive Attack: Keep on Runnings
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 15 February 1992
Bob Marley's music is not the young music in Kingston today. Ragga not reggae is king. And that took the British group Massive Attack to ...
The Wedding Present: Staying Single
Interview by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 20 February 1992
Bruce Dessau meets a band who bizarrely believe that 45s are still cool ...
Daisy Chainsaw, The Nymphs, Shakespears Sister: Rock's Savage Sorority
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 February 1992
Caroline Sullivan on how women are using music to cope with rape, abortion, drugs. ...
Barry White: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 March 1992
Lurve and kisses: Caroline Sullivan on the night Barry White made the earth move ...
Lisa Stansfield: Soul of Discretion in a Hotel Laundry
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 March 1992
'If I've a hole in my tights, I'll sew it up. You can wear them under trousers.' Caroline Sullivan on Rochdale's most ordinary export, Lisa ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 March 1992
IS TOM PETTY thrashing out a mid-life crisis or has he always been this way? His current show certainly leaves you wondering. American rock is ...
Curve, Primal Scream: Curve: Town and Country Club; Primal Scream: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 March 1992
THE TRADITIONAL concert is being supplanted in some surprising quarters by the rave — anything from an all-nighter in which the group are just one ...
Julian Lennon: Kensal Dock, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 April 1992
IT IS DIFFICULT to contain a sneaking compassion for Julian Lennon. Unwelcome comparisons, rarely in his favour, continue to dog his career. They surfaced even ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 April 1992
L7: THE FIRST artistically-credible female heavy metalists, or rock vixens with more decibels than sense? The question divided the electorate at Thursday's sold out show. ...
Desmond Child, Diane Warren: Tracks Of Their Tears
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 May 1992
Caroline Sullivan hunts down the US songwriters responsible for the junk ballad ...
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Carter USM: Stars of the Singlets Market
Report by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 21 May 1992
Never mind the music, it's the T-shirt that counts these days. Bruce Dessau reports ...
Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole: Natalie Cole: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 May 1992
'UNFORGETTABLE', Natalie Cole's "duet" with her father, Nat "King", cleaned up this year's Grammy awards. The song, wherein Natalie's voice was grafted onto Pop's 1951 ...
Erasure, Right Said Fred: When the flirting stops
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 July 1992
Sex is back in the charts. But it doesn't seem to be using a condom. Caroline Sullivan reports ...
Sonic Youth: Here Come The Noise Terrorists: Sonic Youth
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 July 1992
THUNDEROUS mantra-grooves and jagged fanfares of atonal brass boom across the parched grass of New York's Central Park, though it could equally well be Monterey ...
Throwing Muses: Kristin Hersh: Tortured by the Muse
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 September 1992
Caroline Sullivan on the nightmare illness which drives singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh ...
Tom Waits: A Mellower Prince Of Melancholy
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 September 1992
HE MIGHT STILL dress as though he staggers around sniffing under dustbin lids, but now the self styled Oddball Kid refuses to play his old ...
ABBA, Bjorn Again: ABBA: The High Priests of Euro-naff
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 September 1992
The sateen-flared Swedes are back again. Caroline Sullivan on Abba — The Revival ...
Happy Mondays: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 October 1992
THESE ARE troubled times for the Happy Mondays. Their new album, Yes, Please!, reputedly went over budget and has not had the sales to compensate. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 October 1992
BARELY six months old, Suede are attracting extravagant hyperbole. The London foursome have been deemed the best British guitar band since the Smiths, and their ...
Rory Gallagher: Town & Country Club, Leeds
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 2 November 1992
IT WAS ALWAYS likely to be a heavy onus for the guitarist Rory Gallagher to bear when it was confirmed that he would be the ...
Bon Jovi: Search for a New Faith
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 November 1992
Jon Bon Jovi jumped off rock's roller-coaster and started to look around. What he saw has changed what he is ...
Nigel Kennedy: Cat Whose Cream Went Sour
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 November 1992
'At some point I'll have to think about whether it's my responsibility as a musician to get into heavier drugs simply to find out more ...
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 November 1992
Most senior citizens hate pop. But a few still thrill to the sound of a synthesiser ...
Nina Simone: Diva Of The Dives
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 20 November 1992
APPROACHING 60, Nina Simone, Princess Noir with the famed attitude, has got used to putting punters in their place. A one-time classical musician she should ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 December 1992
TOKYO APPARENTLY has a flourishing indie scene, and female trio Shonen Knife are its stars. Their popularity certainly emphasises the cultural gap between East and ...
Boney M: The Fridge, Brixton, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 January 1993
WHAT MIXTURE of whimsy and misanthropy persuaded Arista Records to release a "Boney M megamix"? It appears to be part of a bizarre masterplan to ...
The Stranglers: Leeds University
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 8 February 1993
IN THE SUB-CULTURAL flow, punk rushed headlong in a bid to create the spontaneous, ephemeral and disposable. Some irony then, that 15 years on, the ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 February 1993
Airy melodies and nightmare lyrics make Belly a surprise hit ...
Tasmin Archer: St George's Hall, Bradford
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 9 March 1993
A BLACK WOMAN based in Yorkshire, singer-songwriter Tasmin Archer might be seen as a figure on the margins in almost every sense. Add to that ...
Profile by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 March 1993
He's armed and he's dangerous: Ice Cube's lyrics are about race hate, the Los Angeles gangs and the glory of the gun. He's America's worst ...
Apache Indian, Cornershop, Fun-Da-Mental: Real Lives: Rock of Asians
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 March 1993
Britain's Asian community has long hosted a thriving pop scene, operating in a lucrative parallel universe to the chart mainstream. Now, CAROLINE SULLIVAN reports, radical ...
Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear: University of London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 March 1993
RIOT GRRRL, a radical feminist frock movement originating in Washington state, is generating much controversy in the US. Even the New York Times has published a chin-stroking ...
Arrested Development: Town and Country Club, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 March 1993
ATLANTA hip hoppers Arrested Development are the very antithesis of Ice Cube, whose tour they follow by just a few days. They counter Cube's scatter-gun ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 March 1993
Take the in-yer-face spirit of punk, add a dash of Mom's best feminist cant. Born in the USA, now raising hell here, Riot Grrrls are ...
The Auteurs: Camden Underworld, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 March 1993
Bound for a kind of glory Caroline Sullivan joined the crush to hear The Auteurs ...
The Lemonheads: National Ballroom, Kilburn, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 April 1993
Pop's tangy new taste ...
Kingmaker, Pulp, The Wedding Present: Wedding Present/Pulp/Kingmaker: The Leadmill, Sheffield
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 7 April 1993
THE STEEL CITY, commemorating its centenary and celebrating soccer success, turned rock capital as a week of music events, including concerts, seminars and workshops, got ...
The Orb: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 April 1993
PIONEERS OF neo-progressive pop or appalling hippy throwbacks? That both descriptions apply to the Orb indicates the scale of the changes occurring in rock music. ...
PJ Harvey: Rid Of Me (Island CID8002/514 696-2)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 April 1993
Somerset psyche ...
John Shuttleworth: Buzz Club, Manchester
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 28 April 1993
ONE-TIME PUNK parodist in the guise of Jilted John, actor Graham Fellows has emerged in a new incarnation – a singer-songwriter of dubious pedigree by ...
Sounds of Blackness: The Sounds of Blackness: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 1993
IT WAS hard to believe that a gospel choir spawned the lubricious soulster, Alexander O'Neal, until you saw the ensemble in question. Minneapolis's 40-piece Sounds ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 May 1993
New Order have overcome the collapse of Factory Records and leapt into the charts with a number one album ...
Stereo MCs: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 24 May 1993
WITH THE ticket touts in the Manchester streets peddling their wares at up to £40 apiece, the Stereo MCs were unquestionably the hottest ticket in ...
Shabba Ranks: Ragga Bragger — Shabba Ranks: Maestro Club, Bradford
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 28 May 1993
Shabba Ranks, the bad boy of ragga, in Bradford ...
Guns N' Roses: Chopper rock — Guns N' Roses: National Bowl, Milton Keynes
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 May 1993
Guns N' Roses, high on attitude, bring their macho moves to Milton Keynes ...
Pet Shop Boys: MTV Launches in Russia - and the PSBs Cut the Ribbon!
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Guardian, June 1993
2002 NOTE: This piece about the launching of MTV Russia was published by the Guardian in London, by Tip magazine in Berlin, and by the ...
The Beatles, Sex Pistols: Pointing Pistols at the throne
Essay by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 2 June 1993
There is something Rotten in the state of England. Republicanism is emerging as an option even for Tory meritocrats — thanks to the punk's subversiveness ...
Bros, East 17, Let Loose, Take That, Worlds Apart: Pop Goes The Bubblegum
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 June 1993
Teenybopper bands were once besieged by fans wherever they went. The new generation's tame in comparison. Why? ...
Prince: My name is Prince (well it was)
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 July 1993
To criticise Prince is to reveal yourself as a musically illiterate Jason Donovan fan. But who is this workaholic, whose band call him 'sir' and ...
Prince & the New Power Generation: National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 July 1993
Funked up: The new PC Prince starts his British tour in fine style in Birmingham ...
Tony! Toni! Toné!: Forum, London
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 8 September 1993
THERE ARE many unspoken rules in pop. One is that you can tell how important a group consider themselves to be by the number of ...
Saint Etienne: St Etienne: Hacienda, Manchester
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 14 September 1993
BRITAIN'S NATIONAL popular music convention In the City, Manchester's five-day jamboree of industry chatter and on-stage over-drive, adds weight to the argument that the place, ...
Madonna: The Entertainer — Madonna: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 September 1993
Despite attempts to write her off, Madonna's spectacular costume cabaret proved that she's not dead, just feverish. ...
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 29 September 1993
A FEW years back, with acid house at its peak and video games beginning to bite into record sales, there emerged a theory that rock ...
PJ Harvey: Good golly, Ms Polly
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 October 1993
Screeching harridan? Feminist heroine? One thing's certain: Polly Jean Harvey's tortured song-tantrums are a far cry from Captain Beefheart. ...
Leftfield, L.F.O., Andrew Weatherall: Techno: The Sound Warp
Overview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 22 October 1993
Let me take you on a journey... After the drugs and the digital-industrial dreamscapes, just what is the secret of the mega-successful Techno white dance ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 October 1993
Mojo, a glossy monthly aimed at ageing rockers, is the latest in a long line of minutely targeted music magazines ...
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 2 November 1993
IN 1992, WE thought we were unshockable. Then came news of an English band, those angry sons of Asian immigrants, who had found a chink ...
Dina Carroll: Dina delivers the soul — Dina Carroll: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 November 1993
A triumphant London debut for Dina Carroll at the Hammersmith Apollo ...
Comment by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 23 November 1993
THEY'RE AT it again. Yes, even here in the Guardian, the thirtysomething zombies, with their litany: Pop isn't what it used to be, there are ...
Paul Weller: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 November 1993
ANYONE WHO doubts that a little fatherhood can be a dangerous thing should have been at the first of Paul Weller's two sold-out London gigs. ...
Interview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 26 November 1993
Brian Eno used to wear leopard skin and make the synthesised squeaks and honks for Roxy Music. Now he's the venerable intellectual of pop ...
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 29 November 1993
THERE IS an honourable tradition of blue-eyed soul stretching from the Righteous Brothers to Hall & Oates and Stevie Winwood, yet if Wet Wet Wet ...
Sister Sledge, Tammy Wynette: Sister Sledge: Forum, London; Tammy Wynette: Palladium, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 November 1993
Standby your sisters: Revived seventies disco queens Sister Sledge and the First Lady of country music Tammy Wynette woo London ...
Diana Ross: Miss Ross the Boss
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 December 1993
Singer, actress, businesswoman — Diana Ross has always been in control in 30 years of show business ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 December 1993
TWO DIFFERENT versions of the art of gangsta rap. Twenty-one-year-old Los Angeleno Snoop Doggy Dogg is about to make history by having his debut album ...
Pansy Division, RPLA, Sister George, Tongue Man: Queer to the core
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 December 1993
The pop establishment has always had a handful of gay stars — colourful, eccentric, lovable. But now there's 'queercore', a radical gay music movement with ...
Body Count, Ice-T: Ice hits meltdown — Ice-T & Body Count: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 December 1993
Macho rapper Ice-T goes all soft and squishy at Brixton Academy ...
The Cranberries, Elastica: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 January 1994
AS LIMERICK pop quartet the Cranberries might warn London pop quartet Elastica, beware the tag Next Big Thing. The Irish band basked in that title ...
Carleen Anderson, Young Disciples: Carleen Anderson: Songs from the Soul
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 28 January 1994
Carleen Anderson has had a bitter, difficult life on both sides of the Atlantic. Now much of it features in her seductive, defiant music. ...
D:Ream: Metropolitan University, Leeds
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 5 February 1994
THE EARLY weeks of this year have seen D:Ream catapulted from the lower reaches of the Top 30 to the pinnacle of the charts with ...
Snoop Doggy Dogg: Cocking a Leg at Society
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 February 1994
To Snoop Doggy Dogg, the hard man of rap, women are 'bitches' and 'niggaz with attitude' like him pack a pistol. CAROLINE SULLIVAN talked to ...
Cocteau Twins: The Cocteau Twins: Manchester Academy
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 15 February 1994
THE CORE TRIO, more triplets than twins, have become weary of the media tag locating them as other-worldly beings, cult objects disconnected from the realities ...
Chaka Demus and Pliers: Chaka Demus & Pliers: Maestro's, Bradford
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 10 March 1994
AFTER THE brooding intensity of Shabba Ranks and the controversies engulfing ragga and dancehall generally, it is easy to forget that while reggae has frequently ...
R Kelly: R. Kelly: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 March 1994
WITH RAP the genre of choice of so many young American black musicians, traditional soul looks endangered. Twenty five-year-old R Kelly offers one answer to ...
Soul Asylum: Town & Country Club, Leeds
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 22 March 1994
A MERE six years ago, rock records accounted for half the world's popular music sales. Today the white, Anglo-American alliance has seen its market share ...
Marvin Gaye: The Ostend of the Road
Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 March 1994
Arena's vivid documentary evokes Marvin Gaye's final years ...
Credit To The Nation: Rapped by Rappers
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 April 1994
Matty Hanson — aka Credit To The Nation's MC Fusion — has come under fire for his views on the values of gangsta rappers. Is ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 April 1994
The Charlatans and Pulp play the opening night concert at Sound City in Glasgow ...
Primal Scream: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 April 1994
Retro-rockers Primal Scream play Brixton ...
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 13 April 1994
HENDRIX'S line, when tuning his instrument between songs, used to be, "Hey, only cowboys stay in tune." The post-grunge equivalent of this, as articulated by ...
Hole: Live Through This (City Slang EFA 04935)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 April 1994
Love 'em or leave 'em ...
Pulp: Metropolitan University, Leeds
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 29 April 1994
IN A MORE just world it would now be time to set aside the macho posturings of the rock burn-out and the dead-ends of the ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 1994
After several false starts, Blur have got it right with their album Parklife, which is set to leap into the charts at number one. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 May 1994
Snoop Doggy Dogg comes over like a pup at the Brixton Academy ...
Bikini Kill: Bikini Kill/Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (Kill Rock Stars KRS204)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 May 1994
THE BIGGEST act on this Washington label is these founding riot grrrls, whose first two mini-albums are re-released as a single tape/CD. The 32-minute running ...
Billy Joel: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 May 1994
BILLY JOEL'S break-up with model Christie Brinkley has received more media coverage than anything he has done since he married her, so it was predictable ...
The Auteurs: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 May 1994
THIS TIME last year, the pop press were grooming the Auteurs to be the next big thing. It didn't quite happen, and now, a good ...
Radiohead: Manchester University
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 27 May 1994
"THERE ARE A LOT of people out there who want to tear us to pieces," Radiohead's vocalist Thom E. Yorke told the churning, cheering hordes ...
The Stone Roses: Stone Roses, phone home
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 May 1994
Their debut LP was one of the eighties' finest. Yet five years on we're still waiting for the follow-up. Whatever became of the Stone Roses? ...
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 8 June 1994
CHALLENGED TO a drinking contest by their support band, noise merchants Blessed Ethel, Lush claimed they had chosen the easier option by returning to the ...
Brand New Heavies: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 23 June 1994
WHEN BRAND New Heavies lumbered on to the scene in 1988, few would have rated their chances of surviving into 1994, let alone of becoming ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie work if you can get it
Profile by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 June 1994
After years in the doldrums the Beastie Boys are back-and packing out the Astoria ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 June 1994
Diana Ross returns to celebrate a half-century, and a mysterious 30th anniversary, at Birmingham NEC ...
Johnny Cash: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 July 1994
"CAN YOU name anyone in this day and age who is as cool as Johnny Cash?", Rolling Stone magazine rhetorically asks. No one at this ...
Future Sound of London: London Calling
Interview by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 8 July 1994
Two years ago Future Sound Of London changed the course of dance music. Now they are changing the way rock bands tour... ...
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 15 July 1994
GALLIANO HAVE the knack of polarising opinion. On the one side, you have a public who have been drawn to the band's deeply hip fusion ...
Paul Oakenfold: Pick and Re-Mix
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 July 1994
Paul Oakenfold's new record has only his name on the cover. But he isn't a musician. He's the emperor of DJs ...
Chaka Demus and Pliers, General Levy: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 July 1994
THE RANKS of policemen who materialise outside Brixton Academy during shows by black artists were absent Friday night. Clearly, they had been informed that no ...
House Of Pain: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 August 1994
Pain, but no gain ...
Oasis: The Boys Are Back In Town
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 August 1994
Trashed hotels, fist fights, easy sex — Oasis have rediscovered rock's roots. They've also found the time to knock out a great tune ...
Prince: Come (Warner Bros 9362-45700-2)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 August 1994
WE COULD be forgiven for assuming that Prince — or The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, as he's officially titled — is uninterested in subjects ...
Comment by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 2 September 1994
From Pink Floyd to the pink pound, pop has provided a lifeline for the young to find heroes often denied a voice elsewhere ...
Jeff Buckley: The Garage, London
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 5 September 1994
AS JEFF Buckley ambled lugubriously on to the stage, the faces of pretty much everyone in the capacity crowd betrayed the same thought — "How ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 September 1994
From wholesome soap star to scantily clad sex kitten — Kylie Minogue has changed her image more times than she might care to remember. But ...
Report by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 16 September 1994
Jon Savage sees the north take its regional revenge ...
Blur, Pulp: Bedsitters' night out — Blur, Pulp: Alexandra Palace, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 October 1994
Minimalist pop has its day as Blur and Pulp share the bill at London's Alexandra Palace ...
Manic Street Preachers: Manchester Academy
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 18 October 1994
IF EMPTY intellectualism has been etched on pop's calling card, there has always been the odd renegade determined to transform rock into an intelligent medium. ...
East 17, PJ & Duncan, Shampoo, Take That: The New Bottom Line
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 October 1994
There was a time when sex in pop meant a shuttlecock down the jeans. The days of innocence are over. The steam age has begun. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 October 1994
US band Green Day sing of misery and hatred but, live at the Astoria, it's just one big party ...
Madonna: Not CD of the week: Madonna: Bedtime Stories (Maverick 9362-45767-2)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 October 1994
"MAKING THIS album was a test of my sanity and stability," Madonna writes in the sleevenotes, admitting for the first time that she's not always ...
Bill Frisell Plays Buster Keaton: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank, London
Preview by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 29 October 1994
Go West (1925), Sherlock Junior (1924), The High Sign (1921), One Week (1920). Wednesday November 2 1994, 7.30pm ...
Suede: Effete of Clay — Suede: City Hall, Hull
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 October 1994
Brett Anderson forsakes camp as Suede struggle to impress in Hull ...
Blur, Elastica: Blur: Blurred Vision
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 November 1994
They are the names on everyone's lips, the pop heroes from Essex. Blur are being mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles, and yesterday ...
Guide by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 November 1994
Feeling brazen? Ready to crawl? Caroline Sullivan offers the definitive guide to bum-rushing the show ...
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 28 November 1994
IS THIS the age of the neurotic self-obsessive? Sold out signs at Beck's debut UK gig suggest that his curious blend of twitchy unease and ...
Suicide: A Tribe Called Quest: Subterania, London
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 3 December 1994
IN MANY ways. A Tribe Called Quest are one of hip-hop's best-kept secrets. Their debut album, People's Instinctive Travels... remains one of the defining moments ...
Gene, Salad: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 December 1994
AT LEAST one man at this long-sold-out gig was there because he believed Gene's frontman, Martin Rossiter, to be the late actor Leonard's son. He ...
Bjorn Again, The Bootleg Beatles, Gary Glitter: Hark! The Faded Popsters Sing
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 December 1994
As Christmas approaches, turkeys aren't the only ones preparing to hop into the silverfoil. Ageing pop stars too come out but once a year ...
Massive Attack: Haçienda, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 December 1994
MASSIVE ATTACK promised us a "multi-media experience" and, boy, they gave us one. The traditionally grey, post-modern confines of the Haçienda were swamped in camouflage ...
Essay by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 16 December 1994
The media's love affair with football has spawned a huge culture industry. But is it to blame for the return of loutishness? ...
Manic Street Preachers: Bible Of Hate: Manic Street Preachers: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 December 1994
SINCE achieving cult fame in 1990, the Welsh quartet have preached nihilism juiced up with arty quotes from the Situationists and literary figures. The not-entirely-novel ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 January 1995
Hot crotch buns ...
Lisa Germano, Sarah McLachlan, Saint Etienne: Stalkers: Ever-Present Possessive
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 January 1995
Business is booming in the protection business. Now many of those being protected are women pop stars targeted by dangerous stalkers ...
Bettie Serveert, Jeff Buckley: Jeff Buckley, Bettie Serveert: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 January 1995
WHEN JEFF Buckley's debut album, Grace, was released last year, it received ferocious acclaim and spawned a resurgence of interest in Jeff's folk singing father, ...
Seefeel, Spiritualized: Spiritualized, Seefeel: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 27 February 1995
THE GHOST of St Jimi must have been smiling: this was a good night for guitars. First, the London quartet Seefeel set about deconstructing the ...
PJ Harvey, Tricky: Red-blooded Chameleon — PJ Harvey, Tricky: Town & Country Club, London
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 March 1995
Enigmatic as ever, PJ Harvey returns in red satin and fine form, with Tricky in support ...
Barry White: Rising to the big occasion — Barry White: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 March 1995
Seventies legend Barry White has them swooning in the Wembley Arena aisles with his unique brand of bedroom soul ...
Live Review by Simon Warner, The Guardian, 23 March 1995
IT'S OFFICIAL. Rock, that huge, lumbering beast we thought had been exiled to the sports stadiums of the American Midwest, is alive and almost kicking, ...
Elastica: Under the Influence — Elastica: Sheffield University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 March 1995
Elastica, the vanguard of the new new wave bands, smash and grab their way through classic punk pop in Sheffield ...
Kurt Cobain, Manic Street Preachers: Is This Music To Die For?
Report by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 31 March 1995
AN ARTICLE in this week's Melody Maker describes some of the dozens of letters the paper has been receiving every week since Richey James's departure ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 7 April 1995
How come an unknown British band are so big in the US? ...
The Boo Radleys: Irish Centre, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 April 1995
AS MUSIC biz jokes go, The Boo Radleys are a very, very good one. Formed in Liverpool in 1989, their topsy-turvy career (taking in baldness, ...
Janet Jackson: Platinum bland — Janet Jackson: London Arena, Millwall
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 April 1995
Janet Jackson's voice may be average, but her dancing is that of a well-drilled athlete ...
Jimmy Nail: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 April 1995
THIS ISN'T Jimmy Nail's First crack at rock stardom. In the seventies, the glowering Geordie was lead vocalist of a deservedly obscure punk group called ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 April 1995
Oasis play the rock 'n' roll game in a one-night stand at the Sheffield Arena. ...
Warren G: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 April 1995
OF THE adjectives applied to gangsta rappers, "endearing" is way down the list. Warren Griffin, the latest sensation from the wrong side of Long Beach, ...
Hole: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 1995
In the name of Love: Caroline Sullivan on a stunning start to Hole's tour in Wolverhampton ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 May 1995
THE TEENY horrors' recent attempts to grow up have been partially successful; the newly-acquired dreadlocks are frightening rather than alluring, but their third album is ...
Grooverider, Moby, Orbital: Tribal and Strife
Report by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 8 May 1995
The Criminal Justice Act put the rave under House arrest. But it's out and it's phat in Oxfordshire ...
Renegade Soundwave, Tricky: Tricky, Renegade Soundwave: The Grand, Clapham, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 May 1995
Cool, calm and very, very strange: Caroline Sullivan is haunted by Bristol rapper Tricky ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 May 1995
Hormonesapoppin' as E17 storm the Sheffield Arena. No prisoners taken ...
Teenage Fanclub: Shepherd's Bush Empire
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 June 1995
YOU CAN tell a lot about a band from their choice of cover versions. As their tumultuous set rampaged to a close, Teenage Fanclub ripped ...
PJ Harvey: Queen of the Night: P.J. Harvey
Profile by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 12 June 1995
SHE’S TAKING America by storm. She’s very fashionable at the moment. She’s hipper than hip. That’s what Paul McGuinness says; he’s the manager of U2 ...
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 June 1995
Jon Bon Jovi was once the king of hairspray and spandex. Now he wants to be taken a lot more seriously. The hell-raising days are ...
Blur: Boys will be lads — Blur: Mile End Stadium, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 June 1995
A right old knees-up with Blur and their guests at Mile End ...
The Rolling Stones: Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 July 1995
Charlie upstages ye olde rock stars ...
Marianne Faithfull: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 July 1995
Better class of icon defies the years ...
Black Grape: Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 July 1995
BLACK GRAPE are currently the hottest new property in British rock. Even prior to their first single, acres of music press coverage had signalled the ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 July 1995
Invalids losing their direction ...
Take That: Then There Were Four — Take That: Manchester Arena
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 August 1995
Caroline Sullivan on how a Robbieless Take That fare at Manchester Arena ...
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the TV Bollocks
Report by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 11 August 1995
Jon Savage mulls over the four-year struggle to put his definitive study of Punk, England's Dreaming, on television ...
Cynthia Plaster Caster: Come Up And See My, Er...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 August 1995
Caroline Sullivan meets the woman who persuaded Jimi Hendrix to dip his erect member into a jar of gooey pink dental mould. ...
The Chemical Brothers: Rock Steady Dance Beat
Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Guardian, 25 August 1995
Who says dance and rock don't mix? Lisa Verrico talks to the Chemical Brothers — a DJ outfit who make it work ...
Foo Fighters: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 September 1995
Spooky survivor ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 September 1995
STEREOLAB have been on the verge of a major breakthrough for longer than Damon Hill. They've been steadfastly supported by music press darlings for the ...
Melissa Etheridge: One of the Boys
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 3 November 1995
As a woman, Melissa Etheridge’s success in the major league of American rock is remarkable, as an out lesbian it’s unique. Lucy O’Brien meets a ...
Goa Trance: Paradise Lost Can Be Regained
Report by Andrew Smith, The Guardian, 16 November 1995
Is a movement that started 12 years ago in a small south Indian state about to take over the British club scene? Andrew Smith chills ...
"Mad" Frankie Fraser: Criminal records
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 November 1995
Dave Simpson talks to former gangland killer turned recording artist 'Mad' Frankie Fraser about his foray into pop music ...
Blur: Time for the Blur to Fly — Blur: NEC Arena, Birmingham
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 November 1995
Blur a flagging, studenty band? Those memories are now long gone as screaming teenyboppers everywhere fight to hear their heroes ...
Take That, Robbie Williams: Robbie Williams: Take One New Man
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 December 1995
There is life after Take That. Robbie Williams, the lad who broke ranks (and rules), is growing up. Dave Simpson finds him talking politics, paparazzi ...
Therapy?: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 16 December 1995
The riot act, scene two ...
Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 1996
AT THE AGE OF 25, Beck Hansen has the air of a man who is surprised by nothing. Either that, or he is surprised by ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 January 1996
Gangsta takes rap to new level ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 January 1996
Monster made mellow: Caroline Sullivan wonders if mean rocker Henry Rollins can possibly be related to the loveable raconteur performing at the Forum ...
Joan Osborne: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 23 January 1996
Meat and potato with little relish ...
Melissa Etheridge: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 January 1996
Perky pioneer lacking magic ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 February 1996
A LITTLE gender-uncertainty never hurt any band, and it might prove the making of Placebo. The Swedish-American trio is fortunate in boasting a singer, Brian ...
Lou Reed: Life After The Leather Jacket
Interview by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 16 February 1996
MY ORIGINAL IDEA vis a vis this whole Lou interview situ and how to break his notoriously Siberian icepack reticence was to kick things off ...
Lou Reed: Walk on the Mild Side
Interview by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 16 February 1996
Lou Reed was the ultimate rock'n'roller who mimed shooting up on stage. Now he's clean and sober, but what kind of shape is his music ...
Pulp: Sorted for Kids — Pulp: Brighton Centre, Brighton
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 February 1996
In a police station one night, on stage the next, and the Pulp fans have never been happier. Caroline Sullivan reports ...
Supergrass: Bald truth, hairy moments — Supergrass: Apollo Theatre, Oxford
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 February 1996
Supergrass were named best new band at last week's Brit awards — but why? Noisy they may be, but subtle they're not. Caroline Sullivan went ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 March 1996
RECENT WARNINGS linking club-going to ear damage have got it all wrong. Never mind amplified Jungle or cranium-pounding dub, the real threat to the nation's ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 March 1996
Two trumps for a busted Lush ...
Report and Interview by Susan Corrigan, The Guardian, 14 March 1996
Why would Top Of The Pops give space to a band without a record deal? And why is the band adamant it doesn't want one? ...
Album covers: New tricks up their sleeve
Interview by Susan Corrigan, The Guardian, 18 March 1996
The LP cover is once again regarded as an art form. Susan Corrigan meets the designer largely responsible ...
Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, R. Kelly, Teddy Riley: Andre Harrell: Resurrection of the Soul
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 22 March 1996
Andre Harrell is a man with a mission. The youngest head of Motown since Berry Gordy, he tells Sean O'Hagan how he plans to put ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 April 1996
She has been described as Naomi Campbell crossed with Tank Girl, but is there more to the singer with Skunk Anansie than just good cheekbones? ...
k.d. lang: Academy, Birmingham
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 April 1996
A big-boned gal among friends ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 1996
Oasis promoted to relegation spot ...
Everything But The Girl: Walking Wounded (Virgin)****
Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, May 1996
ONCE KNOWN by cynics as Everything But A Laugh, Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn spent much of the Eighties exploring the lonely outer fringes of ...
Orbital: De Montfort University, Leicester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 May 1996
DANCE MUSIC is the most innovative genre around, but Orbital are leaving that behind. Six years on from their rave smash 'Chime', the Hartnolls' recent ...
Chris de Burgh: Hampton Court Palace, Surrey
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 June 1996
Chris de Burgh's banter saves the day at Hampton Court Palace, says Caroline Sullivan ...
808 State: Castlefield Amphitheatre, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 June 1996
THINK OF A free open-air gig on the first day of summer and you'd probably imagine hippies, loud rock music and lots of mud. All ...
Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols: Last of the Mohicans
Report by Susan Corrigan, The Guardian, 26 June 1996
On Sunday, the punks were rocking again. But what on earth were they wearing? ...
Damon Albarn, Blur: Blur: Meet Damon, The Poet
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 July 1996
Blur's Damon Albarn tells CAROLINE SULLIVAN he is tired of being a star, tired of Yob Pop and tired off feuding. That's why he's reading ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 July 1996
Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr, two of the great icons of eighties pop, tell DAVE SIMPSON what keeps them going ...
Gary Barlow, Take That, Robbie Williams: Gary Barlow: Gary Takes it All
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 July 1996
The least fancied member of smash-hit boy band Take That was the one with the bona fide music training. Now, Gary Barlow is writing songs ...
The Eagles: McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 July 1996
IF YOU were wondering what happened to the British summer, then spare a thought for the residents of Hell, California, whose habitat has frozen over. ...
Bis, Sarah Cracknell, Elastica, Garbage, Shampoo, Sleeper: The Young Pretenders
Report by Susan Corrigan, The Guardian, 17 July 1996
Susan Corrigan talks to the teenagers with stars in their eyes. ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: Girls Just Wanna Be Loaded
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 July 1996
LAST WEEK, the world was as it should have been. Gary Barlow was number one, the summer's foreign novelty hit, 'Macarena', was panting just behind ...
Drugs In Rock Culture: Don’t Try This At Home
Essay by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 2 August 1996
TAKING DRUGS CHANGES things. It changes your blood stream and brain waves and bank balance; your heart rate and slang of choice and the circumference ...
The Divine Comedy: York Hall Leisure Centre, Bethnal Green, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 August 1996
Divine, darling, simply Divine ...
Charlatans, The (UK), Oasis: Blue Tones — The Charlatans: Knebworth, Herfordshire
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 August 1996
The Charlatans must have dreamt of upstaging Oasis. At Knebworth, they almost did. But it came at a horrible price, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Lewis Taylor: Lewis Taylor (Island) **** £9.99
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 August 1996
BRITISH SOUL stars are invariably compared to some American counterpart. Mark Morrison is derided as an R Kelly imitator and Seal as a composite of ...
Michael Jackson: Look Who's Wearing Stalin's Shoes
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 September 1996
He's Bad, he's Dangerous, he's History... Wacko Jacko is invading Eastern Europe and showing what capitalism can do when it comes to the cult of ...
The Mercury Prize: Pulp Friction
Comment by Simon Frith, The Guardian, 13 September 1996
Tokenistic? Predictable? Ridiculous? Critics claim all three. Here, chairman of the judges Simon Frith defends the Mercury Music Prize. ...
Johnny Mathis: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 September 1996
Play Misty for us again, ole buddy ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 September 1996
After Britpop, C96. Caroline Sullivan runs a marathon of new music in north London. ...
Metallica: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 October 1996
Classic metal misfits spit out decibels of defiance at the venue from hell ...
Baby Bird: Ugly/Beautiful (Echo)
Review by David Bennun, The Guardian, 18 October 1996
This baby's got wings David Bennun celebrates a bedroom genius ...
The Fugees: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 October 1996
Incredibly hiphop: If the Fugees were any bigger, they'd explode. Caroline Sullivan finds out why ...
Andrea Parker: 'The Rocking Chair' (Mo' Wax EP)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 25 October 1996
The chill factor: Dave Simpson enjoys a spooky orchestral set ...
The Chemical Brothers: The Chemistry Set — The Chemical Brothers: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 October 1996
Dave Simpson takes some Anadin with The Chemical Brothers ...
Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Doggy Dogg
Profile and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, November 1996
"I'M GONNA live forever," says the man slumped in the chair opposite, his voice so soft it's barely more than a mumble. Nobody has ever ...
The Beautiful South: Zipless anoraks — The Beautiful South: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 November 1996
Their new album may have screamed in at number one but The Beautiful South are lousy live, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Erasure: Town & Country, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 November 1996
SIZE IS everything in Erasure pop world. For their last tour, they put on one of the biggest shows on earth, a theatrical triumph of ...
The Lightning Seeds: Ian Broudie: Number One Seed
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 November 1996
Ian Broudie is responsible for some of the most enduring pop music of the decade. So what's his excuse for making that football record, asks ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 November 1996
Rusty metal with extra irony ...
Overview by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 27 November 1996
David Jones... Major Tom... Ziggy... will the real David Bowie ever stand up? And can the quick-change act disguise the fact that it's been 20 ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 30 November 1996
Great rocker, poor jazzer. Dave Simpson catches Sting in Sheffield ...
Sleeper: Town & Country, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 December 1996
LOUISE Wener is a curious phenomenon. Hers is the face that has launched a thousand front covers; her sharp tongue has spawned a million "quotable ...
Neneh Cherry: Cherry Picker — Neneh Cherry: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 December 1996
Caroline Sullivan on the sultry charms of Neneh Cherry at Shepherds Bush Empire ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 December 1996
They're mad, bad and dangerous to know, and the apple of their mothers eyes. Caroline Sullivan examines the closest of all relationships... ...
Nirvana, Oasis, Pulp, Sex Pistols: True Brits
Interview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 20 December 1996
A young New York painter looks like becoming "the first artist of Britpop". Jon Savage on how Elizabeth Peyton's portraits of Jarvis, Liam and Noel ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 December 1996
Rumours of East going west fuel night of confusion and great pop ...
Townes Van Zandt: Keeping Quiet For The Sake Of A Song: Townes Van Zandt 1944-1997
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, January 1997
OTHER MUSICIANS revered Texan song writer Townes Van Zandt who has died of a heart attack aged 52, but he made real efforts, helped by ...
Kula Shaker: Abandon dope all ye who entertain
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 January 1997
Toff rockers Kula Shaker got away with telling fans to take lots of drugs; East 17's Essex boy Brian Harvey was crucified. That's pop, says ...
Elvis Presley: 25% Of The King: Col. Tom Parker
Obituary by Michael Gray, The Guardian, 23 January 1997
COLONEL TOM PARKER, the flamboyant tent-show hustler who was Elvis Presley's Svengalian manager, has died in Las Vegas at the age of almost 90. He ...
The Associates, Billy Mackenzie: Billy Mackenzie: Pop's Great Outsider
Obituary by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 27 January 1997
AN ANARCHIC Bassey, a sinister Pavarotti, a monstrous madcap Bowie, even when he was at his most obscure, his most difficult and extreme, there was ...
The Beatles: The Sound of Acid
Overview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 31 January 1997
Hey man — it's time to beat that cosmic tabla and slap on a droning tape loop. Drug-infused psychedelia, says Jon Savage, never went away ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 February 1997
High on the Placebo effect ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 March 1997
Boys enjoy early night ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 March 1997
ONCE UPON a time, modernists (ha!) fought running battles with rockers along the seafront at Brighton; now their descendants congregate at Brighton Beach in, um, ...
James: Wrinklie riot — James: Town & Country, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 March 1997
The fans are older, their knees are shot and they can't dance any more (if they ever could) Dave Simpson joins James's sell-out tour ...
Peter Andre: Fairfield Halls, Croydon
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 March 1997
And it's one for the tummy Caroline Sullivan gets all worked up about Peter Andre ...
The Divine Comedy: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 March 1997
Kitschy coup: Few pop musicians could carry it off, but Divine Comedy's orchestral manoeuvres impress Caroline Sullivan ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 18 April 1997
Lee "Scratch" Perry may not have invented dub, but, says Sean O'Hagan, he is its one auteur — his influence can be heard from trip-hop ...
Nico, The Velvet Underground: Name Game: Billy Name
Interview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 25 April 1997
At Andy Warhol's Factory everybody wanted to be a star. Everyone except Billy Name. He designed the Factory, curated it, soothed the egos of Warhol's ...
Sinead O'Connor: An Inconvenient Woman: Sinead O’Connor
Profile and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 26 April 1997
Sinead O’Connor bothers people. American audiences were outraged when she shunned their national anthem, the pop establishment was vindictive when she refused a Brit, and ...
Supergrass: Town & Country Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 May 1997
Just Alright on the night ...
Jonny Lang: Hanson: The little brat pack
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 May 1997
They're too young to drink at their own gigs. But Hanson are coming, and so is a new wave of pubescent poppers. Caroline Sullivan meets ...
David Bowie: Hanover Grand, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 June 1997
Bowie wants to meet his public so he plays a small London club – heaven or what? Some fans paid 100 pounds for a ticket. ...
Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 June 1997
U2 are that rarity, a clever rock band. So why do the English press hate them? By Sean O'Hagan ...
Massive Attack, Radiohead: Radiohead, Massive Attack: RDS Arena, Dublin
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 23 June 1997
Storming through the downpour ...
Blur, Oasis, The Stone Roses, Paul Weller: Brit Pop: The Boys Club
Essay by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 4 July 1997
Pop music is booming, right? British bands are taking over the world, right? Wrong. The yobbish lads of Brit rock are about to hit the ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 5 July 1997
Hedonism was a way of life for Alan McGee. And who would expect anything less from the man behind Oasis? But the road to pop-tycoon ...
Soul Coughing: Fleece and Firkin, Bristol
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 July 1997
Mr Weird and Mr Wonderful Caroline Sullivan chills out with the coolest singers from the States ...
Soul Coughing: Irresistible Bliss (London) £14.99 *****
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 August 1997
Caroline Sullivan is completely blissed out ...
Paul Weller: Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 August 1997
Pub rock without the pub ...
Morrissey: Maladjusted (Island) ** £14.99
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 August 1997
Nine self-pitying, lachrymose albums in a row — isn't it time Morrissey grew up? ...
The Verve: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 August 1997
Dave Simpson witnesses the miracle works of Richard Ashcroft, reunited with the apostles of The Verve ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 August 1997
Bono and Co go big, only to come up with a lemon ...
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 12 September 1997
Dave Godin rubbed shoulders with Motown's greats and brought us black American music. But, says Jon Savage, his great achievement was creating northern soul ...
Oasis: Westpoint Arena, Exeter
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 September 1997
Radical move to symbolism-uh! as Oasis tour goes Pink Floyd ...
The Fall: Mark E. Smith: By Gum, it's Mr Grumpy
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 September 1997
He's getting old and his teeth are falling out, but The Fall's Mark E. Smith is as fresh as ever, says Caroline Sullivan. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 September 1997
THERE'S A current joke that goes "Why haven't New Order spawned a tribute group? Because Peter Hook got there first." Boom boom, and indeed, booming ...
Drop The Dread, Honky: Why White Artists Wanna Be Black
Essay by James Maycock, The Guardian, October 1997
IN 1959, JOHN Howard Griffin, a white journalist, dyed his skin black and travelled through the southern states of America. He found the experience ...
Portishead: Dread again — Portishead: Portishead (Go! Beat) *****
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 October 1997
If Portishead's first album spooked you out, their second one will really get to you, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Robbie Williams: The Show-Off Must Go On — Robbie Williams: The Waterfront, Norwich
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 October 1997
Robbie Williams doesn't need to get his kit off to impress, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Whitesnake: End of an earache — Whitesnake: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 October 1997
Hang up your air guitars: Whitesnake will rock no more. Caroline Sullivan is oddly moved ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 October 1997
She is currently the UK's most successful female singer, she has been voted one of the sexiest women in the world, she even has a ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Girls: Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul, Turkey
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 October 1997
Oriental Spice: Sponsor power, not bazaars, draws the Girls to Turkey ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 October 1997
You've never heard of Five. The Spice Girls' inventors will make sure you do. Caroline Sullivan reports ...
Jewel: Daddy cruel — Jewel: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 October 1997
For a while on stage, Jewel exudes vulnerability. Then she tells you she wants to bash her father's teeth in. CAROLINE SULLIVAN reports ...
Peter Andre: Putting Away the Six-Pack
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 October 1997
With his doe eyes and firm stomach, Peter Andre was a classic teenybop chart success. Now he's set on R&B cred, and has some impressive ...
Spice Girls: The new product — Spice Girls: Spiceworld (Virgin) ***
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 October 1997
Between the T-shirts, mugs, movies, dolls and video games, the Spice Girls have put out a new album. Caroline Sullivan didn't hate it... ...
Review by David Bennun, The Guardian, November 1997
THE LATE '70s and early '80s were bleak years for rock, and most other things besides. One of those moments in history which seem to ...
King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Yabby You: Blood And Fire Records: Simply Dread
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 7 November 1997
Mick Hucknall's devotion to the pioneers of dub and lovers' rock led him to form Blood And Fire records. Sean O'Hagan salutes them ...
Björk: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 November 1997
Iceland's icon scares the hell out of Caroline Sullivan at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. ...
Mary J. Blige: Mary J Blige: From the Bronx to the Big Time
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 November 1997
Caroline Sullivan has an audience with Mary J Blige, queen of hip hop soul ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 November 1997
WHEN SHAUN Ryder recently sang Black Grape's comeback hit 'Get Higher', he no doubt afforded himself a mischievous grin. For years, Ryder was the dark ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 28 November 1997
Singer Beth Orton shrugged off the tragedies of her youth and was inspired by acid house to mix folk with breakbeats. Sheryl Garratt hears how ...
M People: Just Pedestrian — M People, Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 November 1997
M People may do a lot for Peugeot, but Caroline Sullivan is not moved ...
Bush, Madonna, Gwen Stefani: For the Love of Blighty
Report by Susan Corrigan, The Guardian, 1 December 1997
Coming soon to a suburb near you: Madonna. Susan Corrigan reports on a transatlantic affair ...
Jamiroquai: Battersea Power Station, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 December 1997
ON THE face of it, Jamiroquai are an unlikely group to excite the passions they do. Singer Jason "Jay" Kay is the only member familiar ...
Obituary by Michael Gray, The Guardian, 17 December 1997
ROBERT PALMER, THE distinguished American music journalist and blues expert, has died in New York aged 52. ...
Spice Girls: Spice: The Final Frontier
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 December 1997
The tabloids have turned on them, their fans are leaving them — even Smash Hits readers voted them Worst Group. Is this the end for ...
Frank Sinatra: Nelson Algren's The Man With The Golden Arm
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Guardian, 1998
How Nelson Algren's acclaimed novel was made into Hollywood's first film about heroin. ...
Essay by James Maycock, The Guardian, January 1998
How & Why Black Rappers Exploit Racial Stereotypes (With references to historical precedents through 20th century) ...
Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Take That, Robbie Williams: Take That: That Was Then, This Is Now
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 January 1998
Two years after the split, the Take That boys are more famous than ever — and no longer just for the excesses of Robbie Williams. ...
Barry Manilow: Barry Glitter — Barry Manilow: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 January 1998
Could it be magic? When Mr Manilow sings, grannies swoon, moan, even storm the stage. Caroline Sullivan knows just how they feel ...
Review by David Bennun, The Guardian, February 1998
FROM 1980S synth-pop with Talk Talk, Mark Hollis is now a solo artist of rare contemplation… It's all gone quiet over here. Mark Hollis has ...
The Beastie Boys, Money Mark: Money Mark: On the money
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 13 February 1998
There he was, fixing a gate — when along came a Beastie Boy. Tom Cox on the keyboard capers of the man who was nearly ...
Bernard Butler: Upstairs at the Garage, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 March 1998
Young pretender goes it alone ...
Blur, Oasis: Labour's Love Lost
Comment by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 13 March 1998
According to this week's NME, the honeymoon between pop and the Government is well and truly over. Sean O'Hagan isn't surprised ...
Kylie Minogue: Kylie Minogue (deConstruction) *** £15.99
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 March 1998
Caroline Sullivan on the latest from the former pop kitten who's moving ever closer to that elusive musical maturity ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 March 1998
'Ere, ducks, give that girl an Oscar ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 March 1998
Jarvis Cocker, latter-day folk hero, talks to Caroline Sullivan ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, April 1998
ONCE UPON a time, when James performed their most famous song 'Sit Down', whole audiences would do just that. Nowadays it's tempting to suggest the ...
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 3 April 1998
A new tribute CD confirms folk singer Pete Seeger as the patron saint of hippy radicals — and he still hasn't lost hope. ...
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, May 1998
Back to skool: Tom Cox pays attention at the back as hip-hop gets a lesson in positivity ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 May 1998
'Only Happy When It Rains', 'Queer', 'Subhuman'. And those are just the titles of Garbage's harrowing songs. Caroline Sullivan on a band with a troubled ...
Jeff Buckley: Grace under fire
Retrospective by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 May 1998
Singer Jeff Buckley lived in the shadow of his father Tim's death. Dave Simpson remembers meeting the visionary of pain and loss, and hears the ...
Saint Etienne: Garage, Glasgow
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 May 1998
IN THEIR perfect world, Saint Etienne's new album, Good Humor, would be battling it out with the Beatles and the Prodigy. The Prodigy? Yes, because ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 May 1998
What's next for the Irish boy band now that their main heart-throb has got married? Caroline Sullivantalks to Ronan Keating about pop, faith and a ...
Super Furry Animals: A furry good year
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 22 May 1998
The marauding Welsh techno-popsters are touring with a Spinal Tap-scale set and making records like there's no tomorrow. Tom Cox meets the Super Furry Animals. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 May 1998
Choking on his own venom ...
Robbie Williams: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 May 1998
HE LIVES under the gaze of photographers; he's had public battles with fluctuating weight and unfeasible hairstyles; he's slaughtered by the press if he nips ...
Shirley Bassey: A Real Big Splendour — Shirley Bassey: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 June 1998
Only one woman can out-oomph Diana Ross. Caroline Sullivan salutes Shirley Bassey ...
Overview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 June 1998
They maybe rock icons, mad, bad and dangerous to know. But somewhere, some long-suffering woman remembers them in nappies. Caroline Sullivan on that great institution, ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 June 1998
Teen hearts throb with teen music ...
Dana International: (Wo)man of the Summer: Dana International
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 June 1998
Caroline Sullivan gets past the girl talk with Eurovision winner Dana International ...
Embrace: These charming men — Embrace: Limelight, Belfast
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 June 1998
Two brothers, one hell of a sound. Dave Simpson salutes Embrace, Huddersfield's Oasis ...
Glastonbury: Pop Feast Kicked Off By Football
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 June 1998
Caroline Sullivan sorts fab from drab ...
Tupac Shakur: Afeni Shakur: The Kick Inside
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 July 1998
It is two years since gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur's short life ended in a hail of bullets. Caroline Sullivan talks exclusively to his mother about ...
The Beastie Boys: Beat Masters — Beastie Boys: Hello, Nasty (Grand Royal) **** £14.99
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 July 1998
Sick of introspective rock? Pining for the time when hip-hop was fun? So are the Beastie Boys. Caroline Sullivan fights for her right to party ...
Mark Lanegan: Scraps At Midnight (Beggars Banquet)
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 3 July 1998
Hard chimes: Tom Cox on a brooding, rumbling lone star ...
Whitney Houston: Nynex, Manchester
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 July 1998
This town ain't hot enough... ...
The Jungle Brothers: Jungle Brothers: Straight Out Of The Jungle (Gee Street)
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 17 July 1998
BROOKLYN'S JUNGLE Brothers release great albums which no one buys and mediocre remixes which sell by the skipfull. ...
Morrissey: Heaven knows he's miserable now...
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 July 1998
He lives with his mum, he's been dumped by his label and he's going to court. Finally, Morrissey really has something to be fed up ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 July 1998
"IS THIS the way they say the future's meant to feel?" asked Jarvis Cocker as his hands, seemingly independent of the rest of his body, ...
Rufus Wainwright: Raise the Rufus
Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 7 August 1998
The son of Loudon Wainwright III, this melodramatic young folk singer might be the next Jeff Buckley. Tom Cox meets him ...
Essay by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 7 August 1998
Pop is on sick leave because the nation's youth hasn't done its music homework. Tom Cox tells aspiring young bands to nab their parent's record ...
Kylie Minogue: Little Miss Boomerang
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 8 August 1998
Kylie Minogue has probably had more brickbats than bouquets since she quit soap stardom to become a pop singer. But, with a new record in ...
The Divine Comedy: Funny peculiar
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 August 1998
Neil Hannon, aka the Divine Comedy, belongs in the last century, says Caroline Sullivan — the man who penned the Father Ted theme tune is ...
Baby Bird: There's Something Going On (Echo) **
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 28 August 1998
Toxic wasteland: the new Babybird has Tom Cox reaching for the sickbag ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 August 1998
The Artist Formerly Known As Prince did his best to stop Caroline Sullivan seeing his Wembley gig. When she sneaked her way in, this is ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 12 September 1998
Twenty-five years ago, Gram Parsons died in a remote desert motel, the victim of a prodigious appetite for drugs and alcohol that shocked even Keith ...
Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello: Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello: Kings of America
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 19 September 1998
Burt Bacharach had his first hit when Elvis Costello was in short trousers. Costello had hits of his own when Bacharach's star was waning. Now, ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 October 1998
The Music Of Black Origin awards are now pop's trendiest bash, reflecting the dominant R&B influence in the charts. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 October 1998
Kenickie's in a twist ...
The Cure, Hole: Hole, The Cure: The Forum, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 October 1998
WELL, IT'S one way of getting a rock critic out of the house. Just tell her a big band is going to make a secret ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 October 1998
GOING BY the number of teenage lovelies in the Civic Hall ladies' loo, Ash are hot with the girls of Guildford. Maybe it's just that ...
Overview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 16 October 1998
Tom Cox on the new bands that are making country music sexy ...
Fatboy Slim: You've Come A Long Way, Baby (Skint)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 October 1998
Big beats, monster choons — Norman Cook refuses to alter a chart-busting formula, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Report by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 20 October 1998
In one of the most startling comebacks in music history, Tom Cox is delighted to find that sales of turntables and crackly old vinyl records ...
Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 30 October 1998
OH STOP MOANING Sheryl Garratt finds pain but no gain in a wallowing follow-up album ...
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 November 1998
They're narcissistic coke fiends with no interest in music, or so the legend goes — yet A&R men shape the future of pop. Surely, asks ...
Jools Holland, Squeeze: Jools Holland: Coolest cat on the tube
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 7 November 1998
He's played piano with BB King and learned chords from Ruben Gonzalez — but deep down he's a rock 'n' roller who likes his nan's ...
Natalie Imbruglia: Natalie lmbruglia: Apollo, Manchester ***
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 November 1998
IF ANYONE doubts the thespian talents of Neighbours, they should look at Natalie lmbruglia. While her displays as Beth were hampered by scripts and career-threatening ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 November 1998
Now Rolan Bolan is making his own bid for fame. Caroline Sullivan met him ...
Lucinda Williams: Small town fireworks
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 27 November 1998
Three parts honey, two parts bourbon — the road-movie songs of folk-rocker Lucinda Williams have been hugely influential over the past 20 years, and a ...
Sepultura, Slayer: Metal mickey — Slayer, Sepultura: Astoria, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 November 1998
Sepultura and Slayer? Caroline Sullivan can't take it seriously ...
The La's: Lee Mavers: The Lost Boy
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 December 1998
Lee Mavers of the La's was a star in the early nineties and idolised by Oasis. Then he fell foul of drugs and disappeared. Amid ...
Massive Attack: London Arena, Millwall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 December 1998
Chilled-out prog hop struggling in a massive arena ...
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 18 December 1998
Jon Savage describes how Brian Epstein fell victim to drugs and the pressures of being a secret homosexual. ...
Rock’n’Role: Are Singers The New Feminist Icons?
Overview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 21 December 1998
IN THE US, they call it the Third Wave – a new feminism for a new generation. It is fuelled by popular culture in general ...
Obituary by John Tobler, The Guardian, 2 January 1999
LOVE ON THE EDGE with the beautiful people ...
Mercury Rev: Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 January 1999
IF YOU'VE chanced upon the term 'post-rock' and wondered what it meant, refer to Mercury Rev, who — at a guess — are the very ...
Black Star Liner: Bengali Bantam Youth Experience! (WEA)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 January 1999
Dave Simpson adores Black Star Liner's mix of Bollywood soundtracks and skyscraping dance beats ...
Guide by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 29 January 1999
1 Nick Drake Bryter Layter (Island, 1970) ...
Miles Davis, Billie Holiday: Billie 4 Miles: A Kind Of Blue Love
Essay by James Maycock, The Guardian, February 1999
MILES DAVIS CONFESSED twice in his candid autobiography he fancied Billie Holiday. "She had such a sensuous mouth," he remarked, "I thought she was not ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, February 1999
AS LOW POINTS go, this one was not merely a dip in life's road. It was a chasm. A gorge. A bloody great sheer-sided canyon. ...
Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The great pretender — Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Water Rats, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 February 1999
Caroline Sullivan knows one thing about Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. He's common ...
Lauryn Hill: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 February 1999
When Lauryn Hill played Brixton, it looked like the venue was braced for a riot. But the only rampaging mob was on stage. Caroline Sullivan ...
Terrorvision: Parr Hall, Warrington ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 February 1999
THE ROCK scene is currently as serious as a pub that's running low on booze. Oasis, The Verve and Pulp are the loudly-voiced Men At ...
Profile and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 12 February 1999
At his lowest ebb, Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, nearly jacked it in to be a fireman. Now he's a chart-topper with a clutch of ...
Robbie Williams: Sheffield Arena
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 February 1999
If the flat cap fits: is Robbie Williams the new Arthur Askey, asks Caroline Sullivan ...
Orbital: Town & Country Club, Leeds ***
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 March 1999
IS IT REALLY 11 years since acid house? Yup, the members of the Class Of '88 haven't reached for their pipe and slippers yet, but ...
Catatonia At The Brixton Academy
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 March 1999
'EVERY MORNING when I wake up, I thank the Lord I'm Welsh,' sings Catatonia's Cerys Matthews, and 3,000 people sing it back to her, voices ...
Martine McCutcheon, Barbara Windsor: Albert Square dancing
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 March 1999
EastEnders is having a right old knees-up at the moment. Caroline Sullivan talks to Martine McCutcheon about her million pound record deal and, below, finds ...
S Club 7: Warning: They're Part Spice Girl, Part Monkee...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 April 1999
Seen the show, read the book, got the T-shirt? You soon will have. Caroline Sullivan prepares for S Club 7, coming to your TV screen ...
The Cranberries: Why, why, why, Dolores? The Cranberries: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 April 1999
Sure, Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan has a great voice — but that's no reason to marginalise the rest of the band, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Tom Waits: Mule Variations (Epitaph)
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 16 April 1999
I'D HATE TO be the neighbourhood psycho on Tom Waits's street. You'd never quite feel safe, terrorised by those all-seeing, scarecrow eyes, observing your every ...
All Saints: Saints Preserve Us
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 April 1999
All Saints keep marching on as Girl Power's most credible models. They talk to Caroline Sullivan about the good side of being bad ...
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde: The Great Pretender
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 27 April 1999
CHRISSIE HYNDE, wild woman of rock, sits in a private members' club in London's Portman Square in a finely tailored pinstripe suit. Despite the elegance ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The Sugarhill Gang: Good Boys Of Rap
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 30 April 1999
Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five And Melle Mel: 'Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel' (Sequel)The Sugarhill Gang: Rapper's Delights (Sequel)Various Artists: Sugarhill Club Classics ...
Moby: Grow out the roots — Moby: Play (Mute) ****
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 May 1999
Dave Simpson on Moby's return to what he does best ...
Ralph McTell: Streets of Melton Mowbray: Ralph McTell
Report and Interview by Andy Farquarson, The Guardian, 14 May 1999
MELTON MOWBRAY isn't the most obvious place to search for heroes, treasure and sentimental stories. But all three are here tonight somewhere. ...
Rufus Wainwright: Embassy Rooms, London ****
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 May 1999
And mother came too ...
Steve Earle, The Del McCoury Band: Steve Earle And The Del McCoury Band: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 May 1999
MOST OF THE FIRST HALF of Steve Earle's three-hour performance was dedicated to the expert bluegrass voicings of the Del McCoury Band, who backed Earle ...
Ike Turner, Ike & Tina Turner: Ike Turner: What Love Had To Do With It
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 May 1999
Ike Turner last spoke to his ex-wife Tina in 1986. Since then, he tells Caroline Sullivan, he's taken too much flak ...
Gay Dad: Leisurenoise (London)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 May 1999
Hyped to the hilt, Gay Dad's album isn't worth the wait, says Dave Simpson ...
The Bay City Rollers: Standing the Butt-Test of Time
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 May 1999
The Bay City Rollers were the Boyzone of their day — only bigger. And their fans, including Caroline Sullivan, still pay homage ...
Catatonia: Glowing In The Dark
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 May 1999
RED DRAGON flags, rugby shirts and the strains of 'Road Rage' drifting across the moist night air — it could only be Wales's second-biggest band ...
Brandy: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 1 June 1999
Icy cool, but no fizz ...
The Chemical Brothers: Beat generation
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 12 June 1999
The Chemical Brothers are the Clark Kents of dance music — mild-mannered and thoughtful in private, impossibly fast, pile-drivingly powerful on stage. So how did ...
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 14 June 1999
Tom Cox finds the Head brothers of Shack in Liverpool — but spiritually, they're in Los Angeles, circa 1967 ...
The Chemical Brothers: Chemical Brothers: Surrender
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 June 1999
THIS ALBUM SOUNDS like the Chemical Brothers threw one hell of a party. Banging on the door with 'Let Forever Be', in his first dalliance ...
Kristin Hersh: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 June 1999
IN THE SPHERE OF ROCK-AS-PSYCHOTHERAPY, Kristin Hersh has few peers. Now a decade and a half into her career, she first established herself with the ...
Backstreet Boys: Earl's Court, London **
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 June 1999
IT'S A DEPRESSING thought, but the Backstreet Boys have a strong claim to being the most popular group in the world right now. Although no ...
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 25 June 1999
Gomez may have won the Mercury Music Prize, but they're not your typical hard-living rock stars. Tom Cox meets the broadest minds in the business ...
Gary Barlow: Stronger, Faster, Better — and Taller
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 July 1999
Gary Barlow may have been upstaged by the success of his former Take That colleague. Then again, says Caroline Sullivan, Robbie can't fly ...
Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin: Ifs and Butts: discs from Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 July 1999
As Latino pop looks set to take over the charts, Caroline Sullivan is only mildly impressed by the two artists leading the charge ...
Todd Terry: Terry's All Gold — Todd Terry: Resolutions (Innocent)
Review and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 2 July 1999
Todd Terry is huge — and if his latest album is anything to go by, says David Bennun, the house deity is about to get ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 July 1999
Famous for 10 minutes ...
Celine Dion: Up Too Close And Personal: Celine Dion: Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 July 1999
THREE SONGS IN, a smiling Celine Dion decides she wants to talk to us, "personally". ...
Macy Gray: Irresistible sister — Macy Gray: Macy Gray On How Life Is (Epic) ****
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 9 July 1999
Sweat, toil, grit and sex (the real kind)... Macy Gray's debut album has the Guardian's new pop critic, Tom Cox, champing at the bit. ...
Morphine, Mark Sandman: Morphine: Mark Sandman — Exponent of low rock and low life
Obituary by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 13 July 1999
MARK SANDMAN, who has died aged 46 after collapsing on stage at a gig outside Rome, was the central figure in Morphine, America's premier exponents ...
Belle and Sebastian: Nobodies? Perfect
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 July 1999
Belle and Sebastian may not court fame, but they've sure found success. ...
Elaine Paige, Cliff Richard: Cliff Richard, Elaine Paige: Hyde Park, London
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 19 July 1999
Only for the converted ...
Ben Christophers: Kashmir Club, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 July 1999
THE UK music business is amply stocked with Wellers and Hucknalls, and even the Williams slot is filled. What it has lacked, though, is a ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 22 July 1999
SUCH IS THE brouhaha provoked by Technique in their brief career that one might innocently suppose it had something to do with their music, and ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 July 1999
IF YOUR NAME WAS CONRAD, why would you change it to the even less euphonious Merz? There's a story behind it, as there is to ...
Destiny's Child: The Writing's on the Wall (Columbia)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 July 1999
THEIR HIPPYISH name apart, there's nothing about these Texas teenagers that hasn't been calibrated to comply with laws governing female R&B groups. ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis: He's Alive!
Guide by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 30 July 1999
It's 22 years since the King was found dead at Gracelands, but some people still refuse to believe he has gone. Tom Cox sifts through ...
All Saints, Bananarama, Spice Girls, The Supremes: Girl Groups: Smash Hits
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 August 1999
So Mel C thinks Geri H is untalented, does she? When girl bands break up, says Caroline Sullivan, the pops get personal ...
Gigolo Aunts: The Garage, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 3 August 1999
THE PAST IS a foreign country, and it's where the Gigolo Aunts choose to live. "Last time we were here we were touring with the ...
Secret Knowledge: Kris Needs: I Snogged Debbie Harry
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 August 1999
If you can't be a rock star, you can always get your kicks by hanging out with them. Kris Needs tells Dave Simpson how it's ...
Mark Morrison: How to beat a bad rap
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 August 1999
The baddest boy in pop is out of jail. But behind Mark Morrison's hard facade Caroline Sullivan finds a big pussycat who wants nothing more ...
Dr. John: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 7 August 1999
If it wasn't for the beard and white suit, you might mistake Dr John for the warm-up act. Tom Cox waits in vain for something ...
Aretha Franklin: Jerry Wexler: Aretha And Me
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 13 August 1999
JERRY WEXLER, co-founder of Atlantic Records and in-house producer, was picking himself up off the floor of Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama when he received ...
Roots Manuva: The Venue, London ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 August 1999
YOU COULD probably write the history of British hip-hop in this space. The problem is less a dearth of homegrown talent than a lack of ...
Wondermints: Bali (Big Deal/EMI America) *****
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 13 August 1999
Bloody good vibrations — They use seaflutes and palm fronds and write sun-drenched melodies. Oh, and they tour with Brian Wilson. Tom Cox is in ...
Bros, Five, Spice Girls: Bob Herbert 1942-1999
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 August 1999
BOB HERBERT, who has died in a car crash aged 57, didn't invent the idea of the packaged pop group, but, as the man responsible ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 August 1999
Madonna loves their parodies; so do Elton, Mick and Boy George. Dave Simpson meets Aussie sensation Supergirl ...
Ben & Jason, Witness: Witness/Ben & Jason: The Social, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 20 August 1999
SO CONVIVIAL IS the Heavenly record label's latest location for West End hi-living that any act willing to take on its Wednesday night acoustic challenge ...
Elastica: Six Track EP (Deceptive) *
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 27 August 1999
FOR ALL THE TREMORS, speculation and mystique you might generate by disappearing off the face of the earth after a classic debut album, there's always ...
Guided By Voices: The Garage, London
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 27 August 1999
Pithy, his psychedelia ...
The Sugarhill Gang: The Jazz Cafe, London **
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 28 August 1999
Caught in a rap trap ...
Pulp — A Quiet Revolution: Queen's Hall, Edinburgh ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 September 1999
Blinds have more fun ...
Hawkwind: Epoch Eclipse 30th Anniversary Box Set
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 September 1999
HOW DID HAWKWIND GET A REPUTATION as peace-loving hippies? They were a barking mad, space-age fusion of druggy menace and joyous sonic mayhem, and they ...
Bernard Butler: He Won't be Suede
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 September 1999
Since leaving Suede in 1994, Bernard Butler has taken the battering of his life just for being "different and eccentric". But the strong and silent ...
Whitney Houston: Sheffield Arena **
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 September 1999
Diva takes a nosedive ...
Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 17 September 1999
Four years ago Leftfield made the Greatest Dance Album of All Time. Then everything went quiet until the release of their new album this month. ...
Comment by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 17 September 1999
HERE'S A JOKE. Last night, I met an alien outside a pub in north London. We got chatting about hobbies and stuff, and he ended ...
David Bowie: David Buckley: Strange Fascination – The Definitive David Bowie Story
Book Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 23 September 1999
WHILE MOST BOWIE biographies (notably Alias David Bowie, Peter & Leni Gillman's 1986 exposé of family mental illness and the Bowie "myth") are as welcome ...
The Clash, Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer: Definitely Not Admitting Defeat Yet
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 September 1999
"I THINK GOOD manners will come back. In America, kids saw punk rock as a licence to be as rude as possible. I didn't like ...
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 24 September 1999
Macy Gray's unearthly voice was once the butt of everyone's jokes. But after a hit album, that voice is having the last laugh. Tom Cox ...
Shelby Lynne: I Am Shelby Lynne (Mercury)
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 24 September 1999
Her father shot her mother then killed himself, she has a problem with using 'g' in song titles and she's set herself up as the ...
Dot Allison, Arab Strap: Arab Strap, Dot Allison: Islington Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 25 September 1999
Smitten souls ...
Review by David Bennun, The Guardian, October 1999
IF EVER a Central Committee for Naming Things should be summoned into existence, I would like to nominate, for the chair, the inventor of the ...
Funkapolitan: Bish, Bash, Posh: Class and British Pop
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 1 October 1999
As Tony Blair calls for a classless society, he might be surprised to learn that the world of pop music is riddled with toffs. Self-confessed ...
Wheat: Water Rat, King's Cross
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 5 October 1999
IN A RELATIVELY brief career, one imagines Wheat are already weary of agricultural quips prompted by their name. But it would help if the Massachusetts ...
Fine Young Cannibals, Roland Gift: Roland Gift: Not the man he used to be
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 October 1999
Roland Gift tells Dave Simpson why he has no reason to mourn the demise of the Fine Young Cannibals ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 October 1999
"WE," DECLARED the blonde girl in the DJ booth, "are the Moloko sound system." This was bad news indeed. Every band currently has what it ...
Christina Aguilera, BreZe: Life in Plastic, It's Fantastic
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 October 1999
Who are all these new singers who go straight in at No 1? Caroline Sullivan on the rise of the boil-in-the-bag pop star ...
The Bay City Rollers: My tartan heart
Retrospective by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 October 1999
Caroline Sullivan reflects on the life and love of a teenage Bay City Rollers fan ...
Beth Orton: Academy, Manchester ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 October 1999
Real angry woman ...
The Incredible String Band: An Incredible String Reunion: An Interview with Robin Williamson
Interview by Andy Farquarson, The Guardian, 22 October 1999
To those of the Rizla generation who spent the summer of 1967 rolling joints on its album sleeves, the Incredible String Band occupies near-mythic status. ...
Gabrielle: Sunshine After Rainy Days
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 October 1999
After what she's been through, who'd begrudge Gabrielle her success? Not Caroline Sullivan. ...
Horace Andy: Roots master — Horace Andy: Living in the Flood (Melankolic) ****
Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 22 October 1999
Thirty years into his career as a reggae singer, Horace Andy has hit paydirt, writes Sean O'Hagan ...
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 22 October 1999
THE AURAL equivalent of icing desperately missing a cake, High Llamas records are all arrangement and no song, taking the legacy of the Beach Boys ...
Campag Velocet : Music Box, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 October 1999
Market rap an outrage ...
Shelby Lynne: Embassy Rooms, London ****
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 27 October 1999
ONE OF THE new breed of US country crossover stars, Shelby Lynne doesn't have the smooth, invincible sheen of a Shania Twain or a Mindy ...
Jimmy Webb: Pizza on the Park, London ***
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 28 October 1999
WHEN THE Boo Radleys wrote a song called 'Jimmy Webb is God' they presumably weren't gripped by a vision of the Lord playing a gig ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: "Deja Vu Again"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 October 1999
THERE'S NO MISTAKING the portly middle-aged man with the walrus moustache beached on a sofa at the Dorchester hotel, plucking the chords of Neil Young's ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 October 1999
Don't wait until next year for Oasis or Radiohead — the debut album from Merz is here now, and it will leave you bewitched, says ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 29 October 1999
Fresh out of young Jamaica in the 60s, ska became the defining sound of a vibrant music scene — in turn it influenced 70s reggae, ...
Horace Andy: Heavenly Social, London
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 30 October 1999
After three decades as a singer, Horace Andy can still surprise. Lucy O'Brien reports ...
Shack: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London — Fine songs, poor show
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 November 1999
TO LOOK AT THE QUARTET of off-duty plumbers who comprise Liverpool's Shack — which you can't do on their current album, HMS Fable, as it ...
Beck: Arty like it's 1999 — Beck: Midnite Vultures (Geffen)
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 12 November 1999
Tom Cox picks over the latest from a surreal, scrambled brain ...
Basement Jaxx: Academy, Manchester ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 November 1999
Big cheese party ...
Chuck Prophet: Underworld, London ****
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 17 November 1999
IN 1989 CHUCK Prophet was the snake-hipped, guitar-slinging foil to Dan Stuart's punch-drunk sheriff in American rock'n'rollers Green On Red. ...
Coldcut: Shepherds Bush Empire, London ***
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 17 November 1999
Ramraiders of the past ...
Guided by Voices: Ale to the King
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 19 November 1999
He's 42, his main influences are The Beatles and Genesis, and he's still putting self-proclaimed rock'n'roll animals to shame. Tom Cox shared more than a ...
The Isley Brothers: It's Your Thing: The Story of the Isley Brothers (Epic) *****
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 19 November 1999
THE MOST DEFINITIVE summation of The Isley Brothers' career so far begins not with a song but a real, live shriek. ...
Everything But The Girl: Forum, London
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 20 November 1999
Smooth grooves ...
Prince: Pop stars as you'll never see them
Report by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 20 November 1999
I HAVE A certain contingent of friends who want to protect me from the music business because they think it's riddled with merciless charlatans and ...
Pavement: Brixton Academy, London ****
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 22 November 1999
A grave goodnight ...
Foo Fighters: Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 23 November 1999
A THREADBARE Celtic cliché claims audiences at this decrepit old ballroom are better than anywhere else in the country, perhaps even the world. But as ...
Atomic Kitten: Who the hell are Atomic Kitten?
Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 November 1999
So, who the hell are they? Liverpudlian about-to-be pop sensations Elizabeth McLarnon (18), Kerry Katona (19) and Natasha Hamilton (17). ...
Luscious Jackson, Pavement: A rocky place for friendships
Comment by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 27 November 1999
THIS SUMMER, I interviewed Luscious Jackson, the funky, friendly New York girl group, in a hotel suite de-renovated to resemble an adolescent bedroom on the ...
Foo Fighters: At the Brixton Academy
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 November 1999
The number of rock drummers who've realised they were destined for headier things at the front of the stage can be counted on two fingers: ...
Henry Rollins: LSE Old Theatre, London ****
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 30 November 1999
SOMEWHERE UP there, reclining on a celestial tobacco cloud, Bill Hicks must cast a rueful eye towards the one-man stand-up multi-gym that is Henry Rollins. ...
Marc Almond, Labelle, Dusty Springfield: Vicki Wickham: Ready, Vicki, Go!
Retrospective and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 November 1999
She's managed stars from Dusty Springfield to Marc Almond and has just won an award for her lifetime's work in the music industry. But outside ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 3 December 1999
HERB ABRAMSON, who has died aged 82, was one of the architects of Atlantic Records, which in the 1950s and 60s was the most creative ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: Peter Rabbits
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 3 December 1999
I'M LAUGHING, BUT Pete Townshend is frightening me. "Yes!!!!!" he shouts, and bangs hard on the table in his Richmond studio, for the second time ...
The Mavericks: Hammersmith Palais, London - Let's do the timewarp
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 December 1999
THERE'S A NEW Best of the Mavericks compilation launched to commemorate the "first decade of Maverick music", which prompts the alarming thought that they may ...
Spice Girls: Robotic Neurotics: Spice Girls: Evening News Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 December 1999
YOUR BAND may take a year off, but if you are a Spice Girl you just can't keep out of the headlines. ...
George Michael: Even older, but no wiser — George Michael: Songs from the Last Century (Virgin) **
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 December 1999
He has fought for credibility since his Wham! days — now he's blown it for ever, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Birth: Who The Hell Are They?: Birth
Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 December 1999
So, who the hell are they? He, actually. The rather oddly-named Bournemouth export Dawm Lanten, who understandably prefers to be called DL. ...
Comment by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 11 December 1999
ONE OF the best Christmas presents you could buy for the 80s obsessive in your life this year is The Mullet: Hairstyle of the Gods, ...
The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson: Phil Spector and Brian Wilson: The Nutty Producers
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 16 December 1999
Without Phil Spector and Brian Wilson, the 60s would have sounded very different, says Sean O'Hagan. ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 December 1999
Stiff competition: Caroline Sullivan checks out the latest from two late rappers ...
Royal Trux: Bang, Crash Brilliance: Royal Trux: Scala, London
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 December 1999
ROYAL TRUX don't give a damn and don't care who knows it. ...
Report by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 December 1999
Dave Simpson tunes into the latest pop cult ...
George Clinton, Funkadelic, Parliament: George Clinton: The P-Father of P-Funk
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 23 December 1999
Who was pop's greatest showman? Sean O'Hagan has no hesitation in picking George Clinton. ...
Bob Dylan, 1966: A Lot of Nerve
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 30 December 1999
It was 1965, and in a surge of amphetamine-fuelled creativity Bob Dylan was reinventing the pop song. But then a motorbike crash changed everything. As ...
Almost Famous: 1973 and all that
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, The Guardian, 2000
1973 AS A rock and roll annus mirabilis? Six thousand miles away from the old Rolling Stone office in San Francisco, it felt more like ...
Bob B. Soxx & The Blue Jeans: Bobby Sheen
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2000
WHENEVER HE MADE records under his own name, Bobby Sheen, who has died aged 57, was out of luck. But as Bob B Soxx, the ...
Profile and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 2000
"I CAN," says Glen Campbell, "wriggle my right breast." He demonstrates. It's true. He can. ...
Steely Dan: Librarians on Acid
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, January 2000
STEELY DAN have always split people down the middle. On one side sit major dudes like William Gibson, who delight in the apparent disjunction between ...
Sugarcane Harris: Don "Sugarcane" Harris, 1939-1999
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 3 January 2000
THE JAZZ, BLUES and rock violinist Don "Sugarcane" Harris, who has died of pulmonary illness aged 61, played on four of Frank Zappa's albums, including ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 18 January 2000
AS THE MUSIC industry struggles to acclimatise to the brave new online era, it's somehow fitting that the first major gig of the year should ...
The Wannadies: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 20 January 2000
THE OLD ADAGE says that a pop song is only truly popular once postmen are heard whistling it, but the approbation of bar staff isn't ...
Smashing Pumpkins: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 January 2000
Heavy on the '70s metal ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 29 January 2000
EVERY YEAR they come, wan-faced desperadoes who all too willingly pronounce themselves saviours of that raddled old nag we know as rock 'n' roll. ...
Oasis: Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (Big Brother) **
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 4 February 2000
FOR HAS-BEENS APPARENT, Oasis still possess remarkable powers of intimidation, but in the build-up to Standing on the Shoulder of Giants they've cunningly switched tactics. ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 11 February 2000
IF LIFE REALLY begins at 40, then pity Robert Smith, a man who has spent more than 20 years ruminating on the sheer hopelessness of ...
Death in Vegas: The Cockpit, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 February 2000
Better listen at home ...
Smashing Pumpkins: Machina/Machines of God (Hut) *
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 18 February 2000
FOR THE DIZZY hippy posing as disaffected slacker, Smashing Pumpkins were the perfect band to help you dream your way through the grunge era. ...
Pete Townshend's Lifehouse: Sadler's Wells, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 28 February 2000
PETE TOWNSHEND at Sadler's Wells? The ex-Who star's venue for this performance of the 30-years-in-the-making rock opera Lifehouse was, like its recent broadcast on Radio ...
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 3 March 2000
AC/DC MAY OR may not currently be writing the best lyrics in rock. It's hard to tell, since they don't print them on their album ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 March 2000
THE STORY GOES that west London teenager Shola Ama was singing to herself at Hammersmith tube station one day when, in true pop-legend fashion, a ...
Ali Farka Touré: Barbican, London — Niger river delta blues
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 March 2000
IT HAS become increasingly difficult to prise Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré away from the rural life in his home village of Niafunke. ...
Prefab Sprout: Going for a Song
Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 March 2000
Paddy McAloon made Prefab Sprout one of Britain's favourite bands. Now you can buy the albums for just 10p. Tom Cox asks him how he ...
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 24 March 2000
IT BEGINS WITH a grumble: not Lou himself, but a bass guitar attempting to clone the sound of an OAP getting on a downtown bus, ...
Beck: Wembley Arena, London ****
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 25 March 2000
Chameleon colours ...
The Mighty Imperials: Mighty Imperials: I can't dance to this modern racket
Essay by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 25 March 2000
I'M SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING the debut UK gig by New York's Mighty Imperials, but, off to stage right, three black men are turning themselves ...
Cypress Hill: Astoria, London ****
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 28 March 2000
THE ONGOING debate about the decriminalisation of cannabis seems redundant when a substantial proportion of the 1,800 people shoehorned into the Astoria have voted with ...
Phil Collins: This man must be stopped
Comment by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 30 March 2000
Stop up your ears. Unplug the radio. Phil Collins is back, with an Oscar-winning song, a tribute album, even a high-profile lawsuit. Tom Cox prays ...
Julian Cope: Royal Festival Hall, London ****
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 4 April 2000
IT HAS BEEN a long time since Julian Cope could be described merely as a singing psychedelic mystic eco-warrior. ...
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 April 2000
First Britpop, then drum'n'bass, now UK garage: behind every popular band are the A&R scouts, hunting for acts who might repeat that success. ...
Inner City Jam: A musical about rundown north London. In Leeds
Comment by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 April 2000
Inner City Jam is a colourful portrait of King's Cross. So why couldn't it find a theatre in the capital, asks Dave Simpson ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 April 2000
Bad grrls live forever ...
Coldplay, Muse, Radiohead, Six By Seven: No Surprises: Radiohead And Their Kind
Report by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 14 April 2000
After the success of OK Computer, Radiohead's next album is one of the most eagerly awaited records ever. Perhaps, says BARNEY HOSKYNS, that's why copycat ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 April 2000
GIRL POP has rarely been less prepossessing. The choices these days boil down to factory-farmed mannequins like Atomic Kitten or fourth-generation copies of Hole that ...
Dwight Twilley: Magical Mystery Man
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 April 2000
The name Dwight Twilley probably doesn't ring a bell, but to the cognoscenti he's a rock'n'roll legend blessed with pop sensibility and irresistible animal magnetism. ...
Buena Vista Social Club, Omara Portuondo: Omara Portuondo: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 2000
Cuba's Edith Piaf ...
David Pajo, Papa M: Papa M: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 April 2000
How to avoid an audience ...
Matthew Sweet: In Reverse (Zomba)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, May 2000
MATTHEW SWEET began the '90s with the much-feted Girlfriend, an album of angular, bittersweet power pop markedly different from the meaty rage of Nirvana and ...
The Jayhawks: Smile (Columbia)
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 5 May 2000
"THESE SONGS ACT like country-tinged rock and roll with an intellectual attitude and shit-kicking ambiance, but they're smarter than they act... they aren't as simple ...
Heinz, John Leyton, Joe Meek, The Tornados: Geoff Goddard, 1939-2000
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 25 May 2000
Innovative songwriter in an era before the Beatles ...
Public Enemy: New Trinity, Bristol
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 29 May 2000
THOUGH THEY NO longer dominate hip hop as they did 10 years ago, it's worth remembering that, before Public Enemy, rap was not an instinctively ...
Pearl Jam: Wembley Arena — Forever grunge
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 May 2000
IN THE US, Pearl Jam are held up as everything a big rock band should be: unswervingly dedicated to their brooding art, with a complementary ...
The Dandy Warhols: A Toast To The Wasted: The Dandy Warhols: The Cockpit, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 June 2000
AS IGGY POP would testify, you can always rely on the British public to take a drug-frazzled American wacko to their hearts. ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 10 June 2000
A shuffle in the dark: Cat Power leaves Keith Cameron ill at ease ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 June 2000
FOR THEIR ardent supporters, Coldplay are the great white hopes of British angst rock. For their equally vociferous detractors, they are miserable musos who have ...
Richard Ashcroft: Alone With Everybody (Hut) **
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 16 June 2000
KINDRED TO THE hippie but more English, less articulate, less political, more self-serving and better at fighting, the dippie is a breed of musician that ...
Kasey Chambers: Daughter of a preacher man
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 July 2000
One day you're trapping foxes in the Outback with your devout dad. The next, you're a country singer. Adam Sweeting meets Kasey Chambers. ...
Girl Thing: No more girl power
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 July 2000
Girl Thing were meant to be the new Spice Girls. But the public had other ideas. Caroline Sullivan reports ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty: John Fogerty: The saddest story in rock
Retrospective and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 July 2000
In 1988 John Fogerty was sued for plagiarising his own songs. Adam Sweeting talks to the Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman about 12 years of bitter ...
Graham Coxon: Sheffield Leadmill
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 July 2000
Grunge therapy ...
Kasey Chambers: Borderline, London
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 20 July 2000
KASEY CHAMBERS is a 23-year-old New Country artist, from New South Wales rather than Nashville. She has already sold 70,000 copies of her debut album, ...
Sleater-Kinney: Cockpit, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 July 2000
IT’S HARD ENOUGH being a 21st-century, radical feminist post-punk band, but Sleater-Kinney have a further enemy in the sound system. "This is our fourth member," ...
Crescent, Movietone: Movietone: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 31 July 2000
HOW DO YOU know when a "pop" band is part of the underground? There are probably several definitions, but one of them must surely be ...
Eliza Carthy, Kate Rusby, Kathryn Williams: Sandals Out, Piercing In: The New Folk Sirens
Overview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 24 August 2000
LIVERPUDLIAN ARTIST Kathryn Williams is among the nominees for this year’s Mercury music prize – and hotly tipped to win. Last year Kate Rusby was ...
Lowell George: Time Loves a Hero: Lowell George
Retrospective by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 August 2000
THE EAGLES SOLD more records and Steely Dan went down better with intellectuals, but the best American band of the 1970s was Little Feat, led ...
Andrew Weatherall: My brilliant career
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 September 2000
Andrew Weatherall helped to invent both dance music and the superstar DJ. Then, burnt out and disillusioned, he went underground. As he emerges with a ...
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 11 September 2000
GREAT GIG, but what a shame not to hear 'What A Shame About Me'. It's the perfect singalong anthem for fans of Steely Dan, since ...
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 13 September 2000
THERE WERE THREE groups who vividly chronicled life in post-Woodstock America. The Band sought refuge from the psychedelic intensity of the period in the country's ...
Bob Dylan: Vicar St, Dublin *****
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 16 September 2000
THE 800 TICKETS for this suddenly announced "intimate" show supposedly sold out in 15 seconds. For the select multitude, then, this was a night of ...
Melanie C: St George's Hall, Bradford
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 September 2000
OF THE MANY routes to solo stardom open to a Spice Girl, being a rock chick is not one of them. Just ask Mel C. ...
Magazine: Maybe It's Right to Be Nervous Now (Virgin, 3CDs) ****
Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 22 September 2000
FOLLOWING AN initial period of liberation, punk, like all revolutionary forces, soon substituted new orthodoxies for those it had blown apart. ...
Neal Casal: Borderline, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 25 September 2000
IT IS HARD not to sympathise with Neal Casal: he is surely doing this for love, not money. After seven mostly impressive albums in five ...
Radiohead: Victoria Park, London ****
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 25 September 2000
FOR DARLINGS of an allegedly slack generation, you can't deny Radiohead have high standards. This is the band who recently took 373 days to record ...
The Kingsbury Manx: Water Rats, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 3 October 2000
IN THEIR RIOT OF VISUAL UNDERSTATEMENT, The Kingsbury Manx suggest a new derivation of math-rock that has little to do with rigorously precise musicianship and ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 October 2000
ALTHOUGH SHIVAREE is nominally a band, all interest is inevitably going to focus on vocalist Ambrosia Parsley (her real name, should you feel inclined to ...
Allison Moorer: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 16 October 2000
SHE MAY BE TRADITIONAL down to her oft-repeated felicitations to "y'all", but Alabama's Allison Moorer is hardly a typical country woman, and not solely because ...
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 19 October 2000
ANOTHER WEEK, another female singer trying to merge Alanis Morissette's lyrical convolutions, Sheryl Crow's tuneful rock chickery and that hint of kookiness Jewel embraces with ...
Jason Donovan: Jason gets sorted
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 October 2000
Jason Donovan was the golden boy of soap and pop 10 years ago. Then he went bald and it all fell apart. Now he's reinvented ...
Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 20 October 2000
WE HAVE BEEN THIS WAY BEFORE. Many times in fact, since 1967, when Scott Walker discovered Jacques Brel and embarked upon a most contrary solo ...
Coldplay: Shepherd's Bush Empire
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 24 October 2000
The shambolically serious Coldplay. ...
U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 October 2000
PRISING THEMSELVES free from their mid-'90s fixations with irony and Las Vegas glitz, U2 have circled back to what they've always done best. That means ...
Placebo: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 November 2000
IT'S HALLOWEEN, so it's fitting that the evening's main attraction is a petulant succubus wearing a tight purple suit and nail varnish. If you hadn't ...
Smashing Pumpkins: Manchester Apollo
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 November 2000
FINAL FLING for the painful Pumpkins. ...
Cosmic Rough Riders: Enjoy the Melodic Sunshine
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 November 2000
IT'S SEVEN YEARS since Alan McGee "discovered" Oasis blowing 18 Wheeler off the stage in King Tut's, Glasgow. Since then, his Creation label has gone ...
Artful Dodger (2000s): Artful Dodger: It's All About the Stragglers
Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 10 November 2000
Artful Dodger's debut is a glorious compilation of two-step hooklines. ...
Spice Girls, Westlife: Battle of the blands: Westlife versus the Spice Girls
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 November 2000
It was the biggest chart clash since Blur versus Oasis: Westlife versus the Spice Girls. What does that tell us about today's music business, asks ...
Marti Pellow: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 November 2000
ANYBODY WHO EVER WONDERED how Marti Pellow managed to live with himself after producing the excruciating 'Love Is All Around' — 14 weeks at number ...
Wondermints: Borderline, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 17 November 2000
IN THE MOMENTARY SILENCE following 'Global Village Idiot''s harmonic but angular climax, some wag shouts "Surf's Up!" It's part request, part comment and everyone in ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 November 2000
WE’RE HEADING for the silly season. For the next month or so, the TV companies will dig out those old episodes of Top of The ...
Craig David: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 November 2000
PEOPLE ARE DIVIDED on Craig David. For some, he is the spearhead of UK garage, whose pioneering "two-step" music has swept him to two number ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 November 2000
WITH A NAME like And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, you could say these Texan noise-punks are looking for trouble – ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 30 November 2000
MORE THAN 25 years after they started it, AC/DC are still playing it – the riff. The same sticklebacked three-chord trick has been their passport ...
Richard Ashcroft: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 December 2000
THE VERVE MAN rises again in style ...
Jean-Jacques Burnel: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 December 2000
JEAN-JACQUES BURNEL is one of rock's most notorious characters. In the Stranglers' authorised biography, No Mercy, 20 pages tackle the subject of "Burnel, violence". ...
Cradle of Filth: Astoria, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 December 2000
AND A SATANIC Merry Christmas from Cradle of Filth, nice Ipswich boys whose idea of a great night is quaffing freshly-drawn virgin's blood to rev ...
The Human League: Human remains
Report by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 December 2000
What are the Human League doing playing a bank's Christmas do? Dave Simpson reports ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 December 2000
Glamour and gutsiness — par for the Corrs ...
Bill Frisell: Let your fingers do the talking
Interview by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2001
Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has worked with everyone from Chet Baker to Marianne Faithful. So why start taking lessons now? Richard Williams met him ...
All Saints: When The Saints Go Marching Out
Retrospective by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 January 2001
THEY'VE BEEN on the verge of it before, but this time it looks as though All Saints are finally splitting up. Caroline Sullivan laments the ...
Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 12 January 2001
IT IS HARDLY giving away state secrets to acknowledge that things are not going well for Cork's Frank and Walters. When their 1992 debut Trains, ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 14 January 2001
WHEN YOU'RE born with a name as memorable as Usher or Aaliyah, there's no need to rack your brains for a zappy alter ego. If, ...
Report by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 January 2001
The Brits shortlist will spark a hunt for the next Coldplay or Craig David. Dave Simpson despairs ...
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 January 2001
LAST NOVEMBER, 29-year-old Dido Armstrong and her boyfriend Bob were discussing their day at work. Bob had gone to the office and relaxed with a ...
Ani DiFranco: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 1 February 2001
WITHOUT A HINT OF MAINSTREAM chart or media attention over a decade-long career, without a new record to promote and without any discernible music industry ...
Ronnie Scott: Playing with fire
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 February 2001
The Musicians' Union is accused of failing its members. ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 February 2001
Natalie Cole has been a prostitutes' tout, a junkie and the winner of no fewer than eight Grammys. She tells Dave Simpson about scandal, success ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 February 2001
EMINEM'S REPUTATION as world's number one bad boy rapper precedes him. Amid scenes reminiscent of the Sex Pistols, his records have been banned by student ...
Rickie Lee Jones at the Jazz Cafe
Live Review by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 10 February 2001
RICKIE LEE JONES is something of an anomaly. Her latest album, It's Like This, has just been nominated for a Grammy – but how many ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 February 2001
Lina's delicious smoky big band sound ...
Comment by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 14 February 2001
It's been a bad week for music fans — but a good week for the industry. Adam Sweeting on why the CD swindle has to ...
Fun Lovin' Criminals: Loco (Chrysalis)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 February 2001
Felonious funk: Caroline Sullivan enjoys the wiseguy Lotharios of New York ...
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 February 2001
One little store inspired a new breed of musician and turned the record industry on its head. Dave Simpson celebrates 25 years of Rough Trade ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 February 2001
AS THE BAND remind us from the stage, they are the only group to have their first five British singles enter the chart at number ...
Kylie Minogue: Camping with Kylie: Kylie Minogue: Manchester Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 March 2001
HAVING RECOVERED FROM the pretensions of duets with Nick Cave and songwriting with the Manic Street Preachers, Kylie has returned to the fluffy pop we ...
Gay Dad: "We're back. Don't tell your friends"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 March 2001
TWO YEARS AGO, when Gay Dad were at their most hyped, lead singer Cliff Jones predicted that his band's name would be remembered as "either ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Wardrobe, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 March 2001
IT'S 26 years since Linton Kwesi Johnson became the world's first and foremost dub poet with the single 'Dread Beat An' Blood'. For this rare ...
The Deftones, Linkin Park: Linkin Park/Deftones: Manchester Apollo
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 March 2001
The boy band, nu metal style ...
Laura Nyro: Songs in the Key of Life: Laura Nyro's Angel in the Dark
Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 6 April 2001
THIS ALBUM IS incomplete, but so was Laura Nyro's life. It is the project on which she was working when she died of ovarian cancer ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 April 2001
Cheek-sucking Muse camp it up ...
Shane MacGowan and Simon Napier-Bell: The Sound And The Fury
Book Review by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 14 April 2001
Black Vinyl, White Powder, Simon Napier-Bell (390pp, Ebury Press £16.99)A Drink With Shane MacGowan, Victoria Mary Clarke and Shane MacGowan (360pp, Sidgwick & Jackson £15.99) ...
Starsailor: Plain Sailing: Starsailor
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 April 2001
Starsailor have been tipped as the most exciting band since Coldplay. Has that been a curse or a blessing, asks Dave Simpson. ...
Cosmic Rough Riders: Fibbers, York
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 25 April 2001
RECENT MONTHS have seen Cosmic Rough Riders bask in an enviable reputation as rock critics have fallen over themselves to hail the band as the ...
David Byrne: "Therapy is like a lobotomy. Who wants to have all their edges shaved off?"
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 April 2001
HE'S ACCEPTED NOW, at last, that he'll always be known for one thing: the Big Suit. In 1984, David Byrne, the voice of New York ...
Kristin Hersh: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 28 April 2001
WITH HER NEW ALBUM, Sunny Border Blue, Kristin Hersh has done no harm whatsoever to her image as the Sylvia Plath of pop. While Hersh ...
Goldfrapp: "The Mercury prize? Oh God, that would be great. I deserve something"
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 May 2001
Singing sensation Alison Goldfrapp tells Dave Simpson why her time has come. ...
Ryan Adams: Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 May 2001
AS FRONTMAN of quasi-legendary "alt-country" band Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams found excitable listeners likening him to Gram Parsons or even Bob Dylan. Comparisons like these have ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 May 2001
THIS IS THE SECOND ALBUM REM have made since the departure of drummer Bill Berry, and (on disc at least) it finds them settling into ...
Outkast: Partners in Rhyme: OutKast
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 May 2001
One of them is a blonde-wigged, teetotal vegetarian who reads Pushkin. The other breeds pitbulls in his spare time. Together they have been called the ...
S Club 7: Pop's Magnificent Seven: S Club 7: Arena, Sheffield ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 May 2001
FOR THEIR FIRST TOUR, S Club 7 are taking risks. Dark-haired Hannah is lowered in on a parachute, while clean-cut Jon clambers out of the ...
Anoushka Shankar: Daddy's Girl
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 May 2001
If anyone was born to play the sitar, it's Anoushka Shankar. Adam Sweeting asks her about life in Ravi's shadow. ...
The Eagles: You can break up any time you like, but you can never leave
Report by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 June 2001
"WHILE THE BAND did break up in 1980, our music continued without us," wrote Eagles founder member Glenn Frey last year. "It was becoming increasingly ...
The Eagles: Eagles: Earls Court, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 12 June 2001
WITH MANY tickets costing £60, an official baseball top going for a mere £70 and queues of more than 30 minutes to enter Earls Court, ...
Rufus Wainwright: "My Parents the Folk Heroes"
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 15 June 2001
THE WITTIEST REQUEST from the crowd at Rufus Wainwright's New York show last week was for ‘Rufus is a Tit Man’, a song written aeons ...
Travis: Songs in the Key of Life: Travis
Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 23 June 2001
IF THERE IS ONE thing you can be completely sure of, it is this: at some point today, a U.K. radio station will play a ...
Paco de Lucia: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 June 2001
DESPITE ALL the detours in Paco de Lucia's career, his current seven-piece ensemble maintains links with his past. Still present from the group's original 1981 ...
Slaves to the Rhythm: Is Napster Dying?
Report by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 7 July 2001
After leading the digital music revolution, Edward Helmore says former fans won't flock back to Napster when it relaunches this summer ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 10 July 2001
IN 1961, into pop charts dominated by the likes of Elvis Presley, Connie Francis and Dion and the Belmonts came the novelty song, 'Mother-In-Law', whose ...
Wyclef Jean: Brixton Academy, London **
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 July 2001
...
Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 11 July 2001
HE WROTE ONE of the most famous songs of the late 20th century, but Fred Neil, who has died aged 64 of cancer, remains one ...
The Human League: Human Remains: The Human League
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 13 July 2001
Two decades after their synthpop assault on the charts, the Human League are back. ...
Erykah Badu: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 July 2001
I HAVE SEEN Bowie atop a giant glass spider and U2 stuck inside a lemon, but I cannot recall an entrance like Erykah Badu's. ...
Ashton, Gardner & Dyke: Tony Ashton, 1946-2000
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 19 July 2001
BORN OF A musical family in Blackburn, Ashton grew up in Blackpool. Before leaving school at 15, he was already a competent pianist and organist, ...
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 July 2001
A year ago, after a rumoured nervous breakdown, a rift within the band and a cancelled tour, the music press had consigned Cerys Matthews and ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, August 2001
ON MAY 28, 1998, Jonathan Donahue and Sean "Grasshopper" of Mercury Rev sat rather dejectedly in a diner in Woodstock, New York, and talked about ...
The Chameleons: Irish Centre, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 August 2001
THERE'S A WONDERFUL – if apocryphal – story about the major-label A&R team that was dispatched to Manchester in the 1980s with instructions to sign ...
Nerina Pallot: Borderline, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 August 2001
AS NERINA PALLOT OBSERVES, radio seems to get behind just one female singer-songwriter a year, making the odds against success about the same as winning ...
Primal Scream: Astoria, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 14 August 2001
HAVING LONG AGO meandered woozily across the line between inexorably naff and insufferably hip, Primal Scream find themselves approaching another musical crossroads. ...
David Krakauer, Roby Lakatos: An Evening of Klezmer/Gypsy Music: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 August 2001
THIS was a late-night dip into "the music of the diaspora and of the dispossessed", as the Proms brochure melodramatically put it. ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Leadmill, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 August 2001
LAST WEEK'S shock revelations that keyboard player Tony Rogers is suffering from testicular cancer was a rare occurrence of a rock band making the national ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 August 2001
The least driven man in rhythm and blues has somehow produced another album. Adam Sweeting gets the lowdown ...
Ben Christophers: Spitz, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 6 September 2001
TIMES ARE TOUGH right now for the musical descendants of Jeff and Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin and Talk Talk in their noodly period. Always on ...
Blade, Roots Manuva: The home boys: Roots Manuva and the UK posse
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 September 2001
Who needs Eminem and P Diddy when we've got perfectly good British rappers? Dave Simpson talks to Roots Manuva and the UK posse ...
War Within War: Black Americans And The Vietnam Conflict
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Guardian, 15 September 2001
The Vietnam war saw countless numbers of America's young men – both black and white – thrown into combat. They were there to fight the ...
The Residents: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 18 September 2001
"YOU'RE NOT the real Residents!" shouts a heckler. He may or may not have a point – there is no way of telling. Since 1972, ...
Ryan Adams: "I'm not a star to myself. I just make records"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 September 2001
THE YOUNG BOB DYLAN once said that the only way for an aspiring songwriter to develop was to write 10 songs every day, then throw ...
Preston School of Industry: Barfly, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 September 2001
IN THE EARLY 1990S dark ages before Britpop, homegrown guitar music was going through a painful obsession with America. At one point almost any Statesider ...
Richie Hawtin: Manchester Sankey's Soap
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 September 2001
ON THOSE RARE NON-DJ-ING NIGHTS, when Richie Hawtin sleeps, perhaps he dreams that he was part of the Detroit stable of artist-DJs who invented techno, ...
Spiritualized: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 3 October 2001
THE LIVE ALBUM is traditionally the wooden spoon of rock releases, dumped on the public either to fulfil a contract or bide time until the ...
Aphex Twin: Tank Boy: Aphex Twin
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 5 October 2001
From Limp Bizkit to Madonna, everyone wants to work with the Aphex Twin. But those high-paying jobs aren’t important, he tells Paul Lester. He’d only ...
Groove Armada: Leadmill, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 October 2001
ACKNOWLEDGED KINGS of chill-out, Groove Armada's music works best in certain environments, ideally a Mediterranean beach, hours after closing time. However, presenting chilled-out sounds within ...
Harold Budd, Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble: Jah Wobble's Solaris: Ocean, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 23 October 2001
NEVER AFRAID of embracing the cerebral, Jah Wobble's latest group project, Solaris, is inspired by Stanislaw Lem's 1961 science fiction novel and, especially, Andrei Tarkovsky's ...
Rock's Backpages: Blasts from the past
Report and Interview by Andy Farquarson, The Guardian, 1 November 2001
Your ancient copies of NME can go. Andy Farquarson reports on an online library of music journalism. ...
Alicia Keys: "I love Chopin… He's my dawg": Alicia Keys
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 November 2001
Stevie loves her, Oprah's after her and Prince is always on the phone. As Alicia Keys prepares to storm the UK charts, Ian Gittins meets ...
Freeheat: Who the hell are... Freeheat
Overview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 November 2001
A regular guide to new bands heading your way ...
The White Stripes: L2, Liverpool
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 November 2001
THE CURIOUS success of the White Stripes is proof that rock'n'roll fairy tales can still happen. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 November 2001
WATCHING STEPS brings to mind George Orwell's image of the future as "a boot stamping on a human face for ever". The band inhabit their ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: George Harrison: All Things Must Pass
Comment by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 November 2001
For those who grew up in the 60s, George Harrison's death further compounds the feeling that popular culture will never be as good again. ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: George Harrison 1943-2001
Obituary by Chris Welch, The Guardian, 1 December 2001
George Harrison, singer, guitarist, composer and filmproducer: born Liverpool 25 February 1943; MBE 1965; married1966 Pattie Boyd (marriage dissolved 1977), 1978 OliviaArias (one son); died ...
Delirious?: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 7 December 2001
DELIRIOUS?'s defining moment occurs at the close of their set. 'I'm Not Ashamed' is a Green Day-style, punky rock song. Singer Martin Smith, a slender, ...
Let's talk about me: Paul Gorman's In Their Own Write
Book Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 December 2001
The music industry is full of pompous bores – and that's just the writers. ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 December 2001
ALTHOUGH VIRTUALLY unknown here, this Florida post-grunge trio sold nearly 1m copies of Weathered in its first week of American release. Something in singer Scott ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 December 2001
THE COVER OF Cold House depicts the Yorkshire moors, blurred, as if something is happening just beyond the lens. This desolate region is best known ...
Marti Pellow: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 17 December 2001
HARDLY THE most hospitable venue at the best of times, a third-full Wembley Arena is a depressing place indeed. Such is Marti Pellow's lot post- ...
The Du-Tels: Gods, monsters and us
Interview by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 18 December 2001
THEY FOUGHT with Beefheart, lost Jeff Buckley and grew used to obscurity. But the Du-Tels just keep on going. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 December 2001
WITH ROCK'S CURRENT favourite flavour being the three-chord thrashing of the Strokes and White Stripes, the Hives couldn't have picked a better moment to offer ...
Clifford T Ward: Clifford T. Ward, 1944-2001
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 22 December 2001
Singer-songwriter whose work added melody and poetic sensibility to the pop scene ...
The Miles Hunt Club: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 January 2002
MODESTY WAS never regarded as one of Miles Hunt's attributes, and although his stadium-size years with the Wonder Stuff have receded into posterity's rear-view mirror, ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash
Interview by Frank Broughton, The Guardian, 26 January 2002
A RECENT SURVEY suggests that up to 62% of the world's population is now a famous DJ. In hotspots like Shoreditch, it's easier to find ...
Slipknot: Meet'n'Greet in Glasgow: Slipknot
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, February 2002
IT'S VALENTINE'S SAY afternoon in Glasgow and a strange kind of love is afoot. Outside the city’s Virgin Megastore, a tearful 13-year-old boy is gasping ...
Indigo Girls: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 1 February 2002
AMY RAY AND EMILY SALIERS can't quite remember the last time they played London. It may have been six years, or seven. Whatever, they tell ...
Mary J. Blige: "My Boyfriend Was Trying To Kill Me. There Were Weapons."
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 February 2002
THE WORLD LOVES a troubled diva, and for 10 years Mary Jane Blige has provided her public with a continuous flow of what her friend, ...
Alien Ant Farm: Manchester Academy
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 February 2002
EVERY POP movement worth its salt needs a bunch of pranksters. The hippies had Neil Innes's satirists the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, punk boasted the ...
Melissa Etheridge: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 February 2002
IT’S NOT every performer who could fill a theatre the size of the Dominion with just their voice and a guitar, but Melissa Etheridge pulled ...
Yann Tiersen: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 February 2002
BOOSTED BY the success of the rose-tinted flick Amelie, Yann Tiersen's fluffy and whimsical music is enjoying a surge of cultish popularity. ...
Ike Turner: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 February 2002
IF YOU didn't know Ike Turner was 70 before this show, you certainly did within minutes of his swaggering entrance. ...
Gwen Stefani, No Doubt: Gwen Stefani: "We'll make one more album, then I'll get pregnant"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 February 2002
Gwen Stefani and No Doubt are back. But maybe not for very long. She talks to Caroline Sullivan ...
Sam Moore: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 15 February 2002
OF THE MYRIAD SAD SIGHTS on the live circuit, none is more distressing than the wobbly of voice and stomach soul veteran vainly trying to ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 15 February 2002
Rebel who revitalised country music and recorded Nashville's first million-selling album. ...
Menlo Park: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 February 2002
THE FREAKISH Menlo Park suggests the sort of many-headed monstrosity you would be left with in the aftermath of a nuclear Armageddon. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 February 2002
IF SHAGGY wasn't called Shaggy, his whole career might not have happened. Bonky would have been too rude, Rumpy not suggestive enough. ...
Ian Brown: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 February 2002
IF THE STONE ROSES had not crumbled beneath him, Ian Brown would never have become a solo artist. Four years ago he was even considering ...
The Faint: Who the hell are ... The Faint
Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 February 2002
So, who the hell are they? Newer Romantics Todd Baechie (synths, vocals), Clark Baechie, Jacob Thiele (synths), Joel Petersen (bass) and the not inappropriately ...
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 28 February 2002
NASHVILLE-BASED JOSH ROUSE is not one to bare his soul. "People often ask me what this or that song means," he mutters, before stepping into ...
Joan Jeanrenaud: No strings: Joan Jeanrenaud
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 28 February 2002
Joan Jeanrenaud had the classical world at her feet as cellist with the Kronos Quartet. She tells Adam Sweeting how she finds life on her ...
The Electric Soft Parade: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 February 2002
DESPITE THE FERVOUR for hot American bands the Strokes and the White Stripes, Britain has not forgotten how to make effortlessly classic, exciting guitar-based pop. ...
Buzzcocks: Part-time Punks: The Buzzcocks
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 1 March 2002
The Buzzcocks were one of punk's most influential bands. Now, 25 years on, Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto are recording together again. Paul Lester meets ...
Femi Kuti and Positive Force: Ocean, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 11 March 2002
SAXOPHONIST FEMI KUTI fronts a 14-piece band, with drums, two percussionists, guitar, bass, keyboards, four horns and three singers. Like a soul review or a ...
Ali G: The joke's on you: Ali G's 'Me Julie'
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 March 2002
This week Ali G releases his first single, 'Me Julie'. Caroline Sullivan wishes he wouldn't. ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: "Everyone has their share of bad luck don't they?"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 March 2002
Their accountant ran off with £350,000, a keyboard player died on them, and now the lead singer has moved to LA. So what keeps the ...
Zero 7: The Teaboys Done Good: Zero 7
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 March 2002
Paul Lester meets Zero 7, the recording studio flunkies turned clubbers' favourites. ...
Ol' Dirty Bastard, Wu-Tang Clan: Ol' Dirty Bastard: Portrait Of The Artist In Jail
Report and Interview by William Shaw, The Guardian, 22 March 2002
He was the clown prince of hip-hop, famously appearing onstage with the Wu-Tang Clan while on the run from the police. Now Ol' Dirty Bastard ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 22 March 2002
Colourful critic who embarked on a mission to become a rock star. ...
Tony Wilson: Home entertainment: Tony Wilson on Factory Records
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 March 2002
The man behind Manchester's chaotic Factory Records, Joy Division and Happy Mondays takes us through his own back catalogue ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 March 2002
Sheryl Crow tells Caroline Sullivan about Britney, Beyoncé and the state of rock'n'roll — 'I worry about how these girls are sexualised at such a young ...
Dead Men Walking: Camden Underworld, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 March 2002
"THE RESISTANCE starts here!" according to a manifesto penned by Pete "Wah!" Wylie. "It's about the return of rock'n'roll... real songs, not manufactured pap that's ...
Review by David Hemingway, The Guardian, April 2002
NOEL GALLAGHER may attribute Oasis's success to having simply written unpretentious, uncomplicated songs on his guitar, but not everyone shares this fascination with six strings. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 April 2002
TWO YEARS AGO in this newspaper, Alan McGee decried the "bedwetters" of modern pop. Where, he asked, were "the characters" and "the great rock'n'roll music ...
India.Arie: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 12 April 2002
IN 1997, Erykah Badu's emergence briefly heralded a flurry of female acoustic soul singers. They dressed badly, enjoyed the smell of incense on stage and ...
Lester Bangs: Pills And Thrills
Retrospective by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 12 April 2002
ALTHOUGH HIS NAME is already starting to be listed among the ranks of the elite late 20th-century literary trailblazers, Lester Bangs – the fragile-hearted, drunken ...
Michelle Branch: The Spirit Room
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 April 2002
THE SONGWRITERLY BENT of the latest signing to Madonna's label will draw comparisons with Maverick's star turn, Alanis Morissette. The fundamental difference between the queen ...
Half Japanese, Teenage Fanclub: Teenage Fanclub/Jad Fair: Barbican, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 25 April 2002
"IS THIS A JOKE?" shouts a disgruntled heckler midway through this unsatisfying evening. "Get off". It doesn't seem to be a joke. The Barbican's Only ...
Lisa Lopes: Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 April 2002
Rebel hit singer notorious for breaking the old R&B rules. ...
Coil, Mouse On Mars, Plaid: Mouse on Mars, Plaid and Coil: Barbican, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 April 2002
THE FINAL CONCERT in the Barbican's Only Connect series sought to explore "the inspiration of the computer game on electronic music", or so it said ...
Elvis Presley, Otis Blackwell: Otis Blackwell 1932 - 2002
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, May 2002
Prolific writer behind some of Elvis’s greatest hits ...
Kosheen: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 2 May 2002
THE BRISTOL REVOLUTION of Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky seems almost a fiction of folk memory in these backwards-looking days of the Strokes and the ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 May 2002
LEADING LIGHTS of the electroclash movement, New York art-fashion strategists Fischerspooner come armed with a manifesto ("Style is substance", superficiality is something to be lauded), ...
The BellRays: Meet the BellRays
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 May 2002
POPTONES' last major release, the Hives' debut, was titled Your New Favourite Band, and it obligingly became the label's biggest seller to date. Prudently, the ...
Queen: Mercury Rising: We Will Rock You
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 11 May 2002
A new West End musical, We Will Rock You, plunders Queen's back catalogue for tunes. But, says Peter Paphides, it misses the chance to tell ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 May 2002
"IF YOU LOOK right through the centre of the Pyramid stage," says Michael Eavis, waving at the steel framework that squats surreally in the middle ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Hard Times: Arthur Lee
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 21 May 2002
Arthur Lee was once bigger than Hendrix or Jim Morrison. Back on the road after six years in jail, Love's frontman talks to Paul Lester. ...
Depeche Mode, Dave Gahan: Dave Gahan: New life
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 May 2002
In the early days of Depeche Mode, cider was Dave Gahan's worst vice. Then came speed, smack and a trip to hospital. Now, he tells ...
A. R. Rahman, Andrew Lloyd Webber: Bollywood by numbers
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 May 2002
When Lloyd Webber wanted a composer for his Indian musical, it had to be AR Rahman. ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Meet the Osbournes
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, June 2002
YOU KNOW THAT embarrassing scenario where you go round to visit a married couple and they end up having an unholy ruck in front of ...
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, June 2002
TWO YEARS AGO, Paul Oakenfold was getting profoundly bored. The original post-acid house superstar DJ, known to friends and relatives as ‘Oakey’ and to the ...
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 June 2002
Why would anyone want to turn punk classics like 'Pretty Vacant' and 'White Riot' into kids' lullabies? Dave Simpson reports ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 8 June 2002
People were often a bit sneery about Abba, born of Eurovision, duded out in satin and feathers, quintessentially pop. Only years after the group broke ...
The Libertines: Cockpit, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 June 2002
THE LIBERTINES are the latest group to be thrust into the ring as the industry tries to find a UK guitar band capable of taking ...
Television: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 June 2002
IT WAS SOMETHING of a coup to recruit Television for David Bowie's Meltdown festival. The glacial new-wavers made rock history with their 1977 debut album, ...
Obituary by Chris Charlesworth, The Guardian, July 2002
IN HIS POLKA-DOT bow tie, cream chinos and white buckskin shoes, Timothy White, who has died aged 50, cut a stylish figure in a profession ...
Charles Mingus, Eric Mingus: Eric Mingus: The big brand
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 July 2002
There's the Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra... and then there's Eric Mingus. He talks to Adam Sweeting about life in a jazz dynasty ...
Speedy Keen, Thunderclap Newman: Speedy Keen, 1945-2002
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 6 July 2002
SPEEDY KEEN, who has died suddenly aged 56, was a mainstay of Thunderclap Newman, the pop outfit responsible for the anthemic 'Something In The Air', ...
Beth Orton: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 July 2002
WITH A NEW album, Daybreaker, due at the end of the month, this one-off show was an opportunity for Beth Orton to shake down the ...
Baxter Dury: Len Parrott's Memorial Lift
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 July 2002
WARY OF THE FATE that befalls pop offspring who impersonate their parents (hello, Julian Lennon), Baxter Dury has journeyed as far beyond his dad Ian's ...
Isaac Hayes: A Black Woodstock: Wattstax
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Guardian, 20 July 2002
Intro: This is about 1000 words longer than the version published by The Guardian. There’s much more on the concert, more quotations and more on ...
Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Kim Weston: Loud and proud: Wattstax
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, The Guardian, 20 July 2002
When Los Angeles erupted in the bloodiest racial uprising of the 1960s, the black citizens of Watts sent a message to the world, demanding that ...
Senor Coconut y su Conjunto: El Baile Aleman (New State Recordings)
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 August 2002
DESPITE HIS name, his album title and the fact that his introduction is in Spanish, Senor Coconut is a German called Uwe Schmidt who fronts ...
Review by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 16 August 2002
THE RATHER inglorious tradition of shouty punk women began with the Slits, but trio Sleater-Kinney take their cue from long-forgotten compatriots Ut, whose celebration of ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 August 2002
TOPLOADER HAVE "good-time band" imprinted on their DNA. ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 18 August 2002
THE AMERICAN singer and pianist Rosco Gordon, who has died aged 74, was an obscure but influential figure, less in his own idiom of rhythm ...
Spandau Ballet: Wild Boy: Gary Kemp
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 August 2002
Spandau Ballet did more than provide a soundtrack for XR3i-driving Essex casuals in the 1980s. At least that's what Gary Kemp, the band's creative force, ...
The Crescent at 100 Club, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 September 2002
THE BUBBLING Liverpool scene has produced the weird (the Coral), the weirdly named (Hokum Clones) and the weirdly good (the Bandits). And then there are ...
Mudhoney: Boat Club, Nottingham
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 September 2002
BEING AN AMERICAN grunge rocker must be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Past incumbents, from Nirvana to Alice in Chains to ...
Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, The White Stripes: Jeff Beck and guests: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 17 September 2002
WHATEVER YOUR take on rock guitar heroics, Jeff Beck's three-night South Bank residency was certainly the most miscellaneous gig of the year, and a logistical ...
Avril Lavigne: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 September 2002
IT IS EASY TO SEE why Avril Lavigne was snapped up by a major label before she was old enough to drink at most of ...
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 September 2002
Beck's new album, written after a nasty split with his fiancee, is so forlorn that the music press is afraid for his health. But, he ...
Aqualung: Who the hell are ... Aqualung
Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 September 2002
Aqualung... dreaming of badass rap and bruising beats ...
Cathy Dennis, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Songwriters: Musical Chairs
Special Feature by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 21 September 2002
Today's pop stars, say their critics, aren't half as talented as their predecessors because they have little or nothing to do with writing their songs. ...
Wayne Shorter: After the storm
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 26 September 2002
Wayne Shorter made his name with saxophone pyrotechnics. But now it's all peace and tranquillity — unless you mention Wynton Marsalis ...
Beenie Man: Beenie There, Done That
Interview by Lulu Le Vay, The Guardian, 28 September 2002
One of the biggest stars of Jamaican dancehall, Beenie Man's outgrowing the reggae charts and going global. Lulu Le Vay meets him as he gets ...
Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, October 2002
THE WESTIN RIO MAR hotel in Puerto Rico is a textbook playground of the rich and famous. Way beyond merely luxurious, the baroque décor is ...
Queens Of The Stone Age: Monarchs of Rock: Queens of the Stone Age
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, October 2002
"I’VE BEEN CHASING my tail trying to have a good time on this tour," grumbles Josh Homme, the towering 6’ 4" frontman of Queens Of ...
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 October 2002
In it for the fame, the manufactured popstars didn't have so much as a slogan to fall back on when the going got tough. Caroline ...
John Otway: All aboard the Otway express
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 October 2002
The one-hit wonder behind 'Really Free' is returning to the charts, with a bit of help from Chiltern Railways, Mystic Meg ... and Adam Sweeting ...
Norah Jones at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 October 2002
At 23, Norah Jones is both old beyond her years and curiously insecure in front of an audience, even such a plainly partisan one as ...
The Coral: Newcastle University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 October 2002
THEIR EPONYMOUS DEBUT has made the Coral one of the most talked-about bands of the year. Despite missing out on the Mercury prize last month, ...
Robbie Williams: Robbie's £80m deal puts EMI on new path
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 October 2002
Record giant's move into entertainment business on wider front highlights changing situation at a time when classical market is faltering ...
Profile by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 5 October 2002
They raced from zero to inner-city heroes in one summer, then stalled in scandal. But don't write off So Solid – there's a serious business ...
Ginsberg's Flannel And Other Stories
Book Review by Ian Penman, The Guardian, 12 October 2002
In the Sixties, Barry Miles, 322pp, Jonathan Cape, £17.99 ...
Kathryn Williams: Dancehouse, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 October 2002
THIS IS THE MUSICAL EQUIVALENT of a late night on someone's sofa: where love and laughter come tumbling out with secrets. The stage set consists ...
Puressence: Liverpool University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 October 2002
AROUND A DECADE AGO, four scruffy Mancunian street urchins took to the stage of London's Tufnell Park Dome. Their music was raw and unformed but ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 October 2002
Caroline Sullivan is left breathless by Tom Jones's hip-hop makeover ...
Foo Fighters: One by One (Roswell/RCA)
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 18 October 2002
THE RADAR seems to have gone awry in the track sequencing: after sitting through the opening tracks — the blunt metal grunt of 'All My ...
Nickel Creek: Memorial Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 October 2002
AS ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES and careers advisers often tell us, presentation is everything. But nobody appears to have told San Diego four-piece Nickel Creek. Formed around ...
(British) Sea Power: British Sea Power: Night and Day, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 October 2002
IF TOP OF THE POPS depicts current pop as an endless procession of identically styled wannabes with no discernible individuality, British Sea Power are determined ...
Björk: “In England they think I'm one of the Teletubbies”: Björk
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 25 October 2002
Björk looks back on two decades of music, fame and scrapping with the media. ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 October 2002
BY THE END of 2001, Welsh rock mid-tablers Feeder had quietly amassed 14 top 75 singles, only one of which, 'Buck Rogers', was familiar to ...
Jeff Buckley: Keeper of the Flame: Jeff Buckley's Mum
Report and Interview by Mark Paytress, The Guardian, 30 October 2002
IT IS FIVE YEARS since Jeff Buckley took his final, mid-evening stroll into the Wolf River, a sleepy tourist spot on the outskirts of Memphis, ...
The Vines: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 30 October 2002
NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HYPE better than the Vines. Launched in a blaze of hyperbole earlier this year, they have been called everything from the "Australian ...
Justin Timberlake: Justified (Jive) **
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 November 2002
SOME SAY in all seriousness that this album of generic R&B crotch-grabbing will establish Britney's former squeeze as the new Michael Jackson. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 November 2002
IN A MYTHICAL COMPETITION to find more than seven wonders of the world, ZZ Top's beards must be in with a shout. Although this is ...
Blue (England): Blue: One Love
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 November 2002
BLUE'S MELANCHOLY All Rise, probably the only hit of 2001 to feature accordion as lead instrument, was such a sterling example of what thoughtful production ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 12 November 2002
Singer best known for his 1967 version of the anti-nuclear song 'Morning Dew' ...
Rhythm Kings: The Musicians of Motown
Essay by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 14 November 2002
So many things made the Motown sound special – the singers, the songs, even the food. But what about the musicians? ...
Jefferson Airplane: High Priestess: Grace Slick and ‘White Rabbit’
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, The Guardian, 15 November 2002
White Rabbit has just come out top in a poll to find the finest drug song ever. Mark Paytress discovers that its writer/singer Grace Slick ...
Report by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 16 November 2002
For adolescents, it was a thrill – the first music they owned. Singles survive in the CD age as bootlegs and indie specials. Their covers ...
Joni Mitchell: "I'm quitting this corrupt cesspool"
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 November 2002
Why Joni Mitchell has had it with the music business ...
New Order: "We've had it large"
Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, The Guardian, 22 November 2002
A five-year split, a suicide, financial ruin, heavy cocaine abuse... New Order have survived the lot – and they're nowhere near quitting. Ted Kessler meets ...
Sum 41: Does This Look Infected?
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 November 2002
EAGERLY AWAITED by fans of infant metal, Does This Look Infected? is custom-built to cash in on the success of its predecessor, All Killer No ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 November 2002
A DOVES GIG isn't exactly like witnessing Bon Jovi. There aren't any rising drum platforms, spinning motorcycles or banks of flailing hair. Nobody says "Rock'n'ROLL!" ...
The Cradle Will Rock: Punk rock for babies
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 23 November 2002
Nirvana and the Clash are the perfect bedtime listening for toddlers, reckons new label Punk Rock Baby. Anything for a good night's sleep, says Peter ...
Jesse Malin: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 November 2002
JESSE MALIN IS TELLING US A STORY. At 11, he says, he was obsessed with having sex with his babysitters. When he got $40 for ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 November 2002
EVERYTHING ABOUT Nickelback is huge — from their big rock, a more radio-friendly version of Nirvana, to the big truck that brings them to this ...
The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster: Rocket, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 November 2002
OF THE MANY odd pop movements born in the 1980s, few were quite so peculiar as psychobilly. A mutant blend of punk, rockabilly and Vincent ...
Patty Griffin: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 December 2002
AFTER COMPLETING A DOZEN DATES supporting Billy Bragg, who played his last gig of the tour at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, Patty Griffin moved around ...
Avril Lavigne, Pink: Riot Girls
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 9 December 2002
Goodbye cheerleaders, hello snarling, smoking punks. Dorian Lynskey on how Pink! made teen pop grow up ...
Fine Young Cannibals: Leadmill, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 December 2002
IN 1999, ROLAND Gift told The Guardian: "I'd rather shovel shit than live off my past." Three years on, as the lost soul singer reactivates ...
Girls Aloud: Females with Attitude
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 December 2002
Despite the hype, could reality TV's Girls Aloud be the first girl band to matter since the Spice Girls? ...
Groove Armada: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 December 2002
AT FIVE MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT, two stiletto-booted teenage girls were scurrying toward Brixton Academy, clutching each other's hands, as if Nonentity from Pop Idol awaited ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 28 December 2002
Original lyricist and founding father of the English chanson. ...
Report by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 3 January 2003
With Guns N' Roses, he was one of the biggest – and baddest – rockers on the planet. Now his new album is a decade ...
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 January 2003
DOES HIP-HOP glamorise gun culture? It depends who you ask. Guns have been part of the baggage of hip-hop since 1988, when Los Angeles's NWA ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 January 2003
THREE YEARS AGO Virgin records had the novel idea of importing a Mexican pop band. Titan were a wacky bunch. Their posters proclaimed a cross ...
The Libertines: 'We Believe In Melody, Hearts And Minds': The Libertines
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 10 January 2003
PETE DOHERTY and Carl Barat – joint singers, guitarists, songwriters and ideologues of east London-based quartet the Libertines – are having an argument about an ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 11 January 2003
THE NEWS THAT the Vines have been sent back to Australia, following a bout of Ricky Gervais/Grant Bovey-style pat-a-cakes onstage between singer Craig Nicholls and ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 13 January 2003
Richard Williams mourns "probably the first woman to write about pop music as though it really mattered". Below, some examples of what made Valentine such ...
Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 17 January 2003
IF ANYONE IS still wondering, more than a quarter of a century later, what Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music was all about, they need look ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 18 January 2003
A FEW WEEKS ago, a nationwide leap in gun crime was lent grim focus by the murder of two young women at a party in ...
Dashboard Confessional: Metro, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 January 2003
CRAMMED INTO THE SMALL SPACE in front of the Metro's stage were about 150 people, and half of them seemed to know every word to ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 January 2003
TAKE THREE FORMER MEMBERS of politically correct punk-rappers Rage Against the Machine and add the singer from proto-grungists Soundgarden, and you have got the first ...
Asian Dub Foundation: Rappers With A Cause: Asian Dub Foundation
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 24 January 2003
They helped secure the release of the warehouse worker Satpal Ram from prison. Now they're tackling domestic violence, asylum, the war on terror and the ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, The Guardian, 25 January 2003
America's favourite hip-hop artist Jay-Z is hanging up his mic. After all, what's left to talk about when you've achieved everything? Ted Kessler raps things ...
Hell Is for Heroes: The Neon Handshake
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 January 2003
NAMED AFTER A 1962 STEVE MCQUEEN war film, this London "post-hardcore" five-piece sound authentically irritated. Is it because their skater-boy wallet chains are slapping against ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 3 February 2003
AT FIRST it's hard to know how seriously to take The Faint. They look like they are re-enacting an episode of The Tube from 1981 ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 February 2003
A FEW YEARS AGO, someone suggested that one way to fill churches would be to throw the doors open to pop concerts. The idea was ...
The Bay City Rollers, Courtney Love: Courtney Love: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 February 2003
I WISH I'D saved the emails. There were eight, spanning December 1999 to April 2002, all written in unpunctuated lower-case. ...
Report by Toby Manning, The Guardian, 15 February 2003
Since the advent of the unholy trinity of internet, MP3 and CD burner, the music industry has gone into piracy tailspin. Toby Manning feels like ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 February 2003
BILLY CORGAN has been dreaming of Christina Aguilera, pop's best undressed woman. She was staying at the same London hotel as Corgan's new band, Zwan, ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 24 February 2003
THERE'S NOTHING about the outside of Adrian Sherwood's home in north London to explain why the likes of Sinead O'Connor, Sly and Robbie, Primal Scream ...
Norah Jones: Keeping up with Jones
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 28 February 2003
Multiple Grammy winner Norah Jones honed her skills in the clubs of New York — and now those dingy venues are bracing themselves for a ...
Turin Brakes: Ether Song (Source) ****
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 February 2003
THIS MERCURY- and Brits-nominated duo have a patina of hipness, but their appearance on the launch night of BBC3 unmasked them as aspiring David Grays, ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 1 March 2003
THERE ARE MANY reasons to see Live Forever, the new documentary about the 1990s Britpop years. Mostly they involve Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn being ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 3 March 2003
DESPITE THE EFFORTS of many producers and publicists, country music has resisted being severed from its roots in southern US working-class life. ...
Har Mar Superstar: Notting Hill Arts Club, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 March 2003
IF THE EXHIBITIONIST known to his mother as Harold Martin Tillman is, as yet, a superstar only in his own mind, it's not for lack ...
Linkin Park: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 March 2003
WITH EACH successive press release, the sales figures for Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory, spiral upwards remorselessly — 13m, 14m, now apparently as many ...
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 8 March 2003
To some, the Here And Now Tour is a has-beens cabaret, to others it's a harmless trip down memory lane. Peter Paphides reports from the ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 March 2003
AMERICA HAS LONG BESTOWED huge success on unlikely British groups who barely make it in their homeland: A Flock of Seagulls, the completely unmemorable Fixx ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 13 March 2003
PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED: Placebo's set at the Astoria was underpinned by the buzz of low-level hysteria. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 March 2003
NOT TO BE CONFUSED with the Thrills, the Kills emanate a frigid stylishness that dares anyone to scoff at their ludicrous stage names (somehow, it's ...
Liberty X: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 March 2003
NOTHING CAPTURES the British public's imagination quite like a victorious underdog. A year ago Jessica, Kelli, Tony, Michelle and Kevin were rejected by the Popstars ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 March 2003
IT SEEMS ALMOST QUAINT these days to protest that a band is derivative. Not so long ago bands would talk themselves hoarse in defence of ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 March 2003
WITH THEIR SECOND ALBUM, Mis-Teeq shift further from their garage roots towards the more internationally lucrative R&B. ...
The White Stripes: The Sweetheart Deal
Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 29 March 2003
"SPERAMUS MELIORA; resurget cineribus" – the motto of the city of Detroit translates as "We hope for better things; it will rise from the ashes". ...
Inspiral Carpets: Leeds University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 April 2003
OF THE SO-CALLED "Holy Triumvirate" that rescued British pop in the early 1990s, Inspiral Carpets always plays third fiddle to the Stone Roses and Happy ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 4 April 2003
AMONG THE CHANTS and songs accompanying this year's anti-war marches a reprised relic first sung by African American soul musician Edwin Starr, who has died, ...
Mull Historical Society: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 April 2003
ALTHOUGH COLIN MACINTYRE claims that there are no record shops on the isle of Mull, that doesn't appear to have prevented him from squeezing a ...
David Gates: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 April 2003
THOUGH GENERALLY OVERLOOKED in polls of top soft-rock songwriters, the former Bread frontman David Gates merits a place up there with Bacharach and the Bee ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 April 2003
BACK IN THE LATE 1980s, Andrew Roachford was signed to CBS and scored hits with the likes of 'Cuddly Toy', 'Family Man' and 'Kathleen'. Then ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 14 April 2003
IT WAS HARDLY an original piece of choreography, but 'The Loco-motion' was certainly one of the most impressive records produced by the early 1960s vogue ...
The Mars Volta: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 April 2003
NO MUSICAL GENRE unites generations in revulsion quite like prog-rock. Decades on, it remains the pariah of pop, the only 1970s style that has never ...
Fleetwood Mac: Excess Baggage: Fleetwood Mac
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 April 2003
Mental illness, drug abuse, affairs, breakups - it's a miracle that Fleetwood Mac are still alive. But here they are with a Rumours-era lineup, and ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 April 2003
WHILE BLUR AND OASIS can flit from mansion to stadium, fate has been less generous to Britpop's other leading lights. While many have abandoned pop ...
Cradle of Filth: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 April 2003
Can a "black metal" band be properly satanic if the bassist is called Dave? This is one of several contradictions posed by the genre's only ...
Review and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 25 April 2003
Backstage at L'Espace Clacquesin, a former brewery 20 minutes from the centre of Paris, Blur are relaxing. The band has just performed for 200 invited ...
Beck: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 2003
AS A PROFESSIONAL ENIGMA, Beck Hansen has a reputation to maintain, and it is tiring work. He feels compelled to stay one step ahead of ...
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, May 2003
THE WORDS ARE TALL, luridly colourful and carefully stitched onto a bed sheet, and the sentiment is unambiguous. As Busted guitarist Matt Jay’s eyes alight ...
Panjabi MC: The Album (Dharma/Showbiz)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 May 2003
PANJABI MC has already provided one of the most refreshing hits of the year with January's 'Mundian To Bach Ke', which fused bhangra, breakbeats and ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 May 2003
YOU COULDN'T ACCUSE Kieran Hebden, alias Four Tet, of lack of ambition. Now 25, he has already made eight albums, four as Four Tet and ...
Macy Gray: Shepherds Bush Empire, London ***
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 May 2003
HER RECORD COMPANY had spent the day warning everybody that she would be on stage at 9pm, not 9.15pm as advertised, but in the end ...
Neil Young: "Will I be deported?"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 May 2003
IT IS DIFFICULT to find supportive things to say about George Bush unless your construction company is rebuilding Iraq, but it would be a droll ...
The Dandy Warhols: Dandy Warhols: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 May 2003
WELL, HERE'S A THING. An Oregon band best known for adopting the Spinal Tap adage "Have a good time all the time" are enchanting an ...
Adam Masterson — Younger and wiser
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 May 2003
THE GLUT OF ARTISTS working in the alt-country and folk-rock areas might be a logical reaction against the treacly deluge of pubescent pop, but there ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 May 2003
EARLIER THIS WEEK it emerged that government expenditure of £650m has failed to make much of an impact on truancy. Perhaps it's time ministers consulted ...
Jason Mraz: Waiting for My Rocket to Come
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 June 2003
THE COVER DEPICTS the 25-year-old Virginia singer-songwriter sat in the gutter with a cockerel, haplessly waiting for the rocket of fame to hit him. ...
OK Go: Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 June 2003
WITH THE STROKES at one end of the spectrum and Busted at the other, powerpop is gradually replacing dance music as the chief currency in ...
Steely Dan: Everything Must Go
Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 13 June 2003
UNIQUE AMONG contemporary musicians, the post-comeback Steely Dan make records that are more fun to read than to listen to. ...
The American Song-Poem Anthology: Music By The Metre
Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 20 June 2003
SO YOU THINK it's only since the rise of manufactured pop, with its endless boy and girl bands, each a more faded and insipid photocopy ...
Happy Mondays: Shaun Ryder: "I look all right, don't I?"
Interview by Ted Kessler, The Guardian, 20 June 2003
Two years ago Shaun Ryder was finished. He had lost his money, his mates and the plot. With a new album out, he tells Ted ...
Bonnie Raitt: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 June 2003
IF SHE HADN'T SOLD MILLIONS of country-blues-rock records and won a stetson-full of Grammies, Bonnie Raitt could have had a career peddling the secrets of ...
Har Mar Superstar: Beats working
Interview by Simon Price, The Guardian, 21 June 2003
Life's just one long party for doughy exhibitionist Har Mar Superstar, as he heads to Ibiza for a weekly residency at Manumission. Simon Price helps ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 24 June 2003
THEY HAD A QUESTION about psychedelic California bands on University Challenge the other night, but the Seeds didn't get a mention. About all anybody can ...
Fun Lovin' Criminals: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 June 2003
THE NATURAL HABITAT of the Fun Lovin' Criminals is some sweat-soaked cavern like the Astoria, so the cool formality of the Festival Hall could easily ...
Kelly Osbourne: Rock City, Nottingham
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 June 2003
KELLY OSBOURNE URGES THE AUDIENCE to put their hands in the air. The boys are instructed to make fists and the girls to hold up ...
Good Charlotte: Astoria, London **
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 July 2003
THE MALADJUSTED young of the 1980s looked for comfort to the Smiths, whose main role was to assure British youth that, no matter how miserable ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 July 2003
BEFORE MARILYN MANSON and Nine Inch Nails, Chicago's Ministry pioneered industrial music and outrage. Journalists visiting the studio of Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker would ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 July 2003
THIS FORMER TEEN R&B SENSATION has spent the five years since her last album "dealing with my own development" — showbiz-speak for "pondering ways of ...
Yo La Tengo: City Varieties, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 July 2003
YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT with Yo La Tengo. The Hoboken veterans' 11 albums cover bouncy surf-pop, frazzled Velvet Underground noise and jazz doodling. ...
Kings of Leon: Electric Ballroom, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 July 2003
THE SUREST SIGN that Kings of Leon are having a moment is the 180 requests for this show's 40 press tickets. ...
Sparklehorse: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 July 2003
SPARKLEHORSE'S MARK LINKOUS had a dramatic start to an enduring career. In 1996, he was briefly clinically dead after an overdose of Valium and antidepressants. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 July 2003
KOSHEEN'S AMIABLE TRIP-HOP ticks all the Espace generation's boxes: the Bristol trio have been endorsed by Ronan Keating and nominated in the watered-down dance category ...
Terry Hall: Fun Boy Free: Terry Hall
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 July 2003
TERRY HALL asks if we can delay the first question until he's had a cigarette. He's not a big small talker, so there's an awkward ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 July 2003
Probably inspired by the pea-brained rantings of George Bush and his Bible-bashing cronies, Cracker decided the only way forward in these difficult times was to ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 July 2003
PROBABLY INSPIRED by the pea-brained rantings of George Bush and his Bible-bashing cronies, Cracker decided the only way forward in these difficult times was to ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 July 2003
SHACK'S MICK HEAD has had a few plaudits hurled his way: in 1999 the NME put him on the front cover and billed him as ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 August 2003
WITH BRITAIN'S OBSESSION with dance music finally dwindling, Bristol's Kosheen have ditched the million-selling formula of 2001's Resist for something altogether darker and rockier. ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 1 August 2003
JUST BECAUSE So Solid Crew are paranoid, it doesn't mean someone isn't after them. Since the 30-odd-strong UK garage cartel emerged from Battersea in south ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 2 August 2003
ON JULY 3, the House Of Lords failed to block government moves to introduce a new law requiring pubs, clubs and cafes to apply for ...
Dashboard Confessional: A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 8 August 2003
EMO IS THE VARIANT of punk-pop that favours sensitivity and intelligence over beer and boobies, and Dashboard Confessional are its leading lights. ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 11 August 2003
IT'S A GOOD TIME TO BE ASH. After the failure of 1998's leathery, unconvincing Nu-Clear Sounds, they were facing bankruptcy, destined to be remembered as ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 22 August 2003
ON TOUR LAST YEAR, Alien Ant Farm were involved in a bus crash in Spain, which left their driver dead and the band traumatised and ...
Seal: Linbury Studio Theatre, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 August 2003
SEAL'S GOLDEN VOICE is the stuff of which summer weekends are made, so he has missed a trick by scheduling his new album for September, ...
Snow Patrol: Witchwood, Ashton-Under-Lyne
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 August 2003
SNOW PATROL have had a curious journey. They began as Belfast popsters the Polar Bears. Then they moved to Glasgow and became fey, jangly contemporaries ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 September 2003
FOR NEBRASKA-BORN, Nashville-dwelling Josh Rouse, the choice of title is simple: "It's the year I was born." It was also the year his favourite Telecaster ...
The Rapture: A New York State Of Mind
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 September 2003
Out of time, ahead of fashion – the Rapture are the real sound of New York. If they can make it there, says Caroline Sullivan, ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 September 2003
PROBABLY NO other critic – not even the late William Mann of The Times, with his famous mention of pandiatonic clusters – contributed more to ...
Matchbox 20: Matchbox Twenty: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 September 2003
AS WITH AMERICAN GAS-GUZZLING CARS, the big blustery rock band is a species under threat. Stereophonics' new album is a mere platinum (its predecessor was ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 September 2003
LIKE ALL PROPER Dave albums, Bowie's 26th has at its core a concept, around which 11 songs uneasily cluster to articulate the master's daft vision. ...
The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: Birmingham NEC
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 September 2003
"ANYONE AWARE of the incident March 10?" asks singer Natalie Maines, referring to the band's last UK visit, when a remark that she was "ashamed" ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 September 2003
ERIN MCKEOWN is a singer-songwriter introvert who just happens to be partial to pop and a bit of jazz. She writes intriguing (if slightly fussy) ...
She Bop II: Rock Chicks Fight Back
Comment by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 13 September 2003
Lucy O'Brien reflects on her monumental history of the music business ...
Spiritualized: Leadmill, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 September 2003
THERE ARE RULES that generally apply at rock concerts. Artists tend to speak to the audience, if only to say "Hello", lead singers tend to ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 September 2003
ALTHOUGH PUNK ROCK is still reeling from the death of Clash icon Joe Strummer, the movement is probably in its healthiest commercial state for 25 ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 September 2003
Juggling a baby and a career is difficult enough for anyone – but how do you manage it when you're a pop star? Caroline Sullivan ...
Jamie Cullum: Bright Young Thing
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 September 2003
At 24, Jamie Cullum has a £1m record deal and a Mobo nomination. He talks to Caroline Sullivan about Nirvana, Prince William, and his mission ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 27 September 2003
BORN IN BATLEY, Yorkshire, and raised in Malta (his father was a naval officer), Palmer had a voice that could be suave and gritty by ...
The Band of Blacky Ranchette: Still Lookin' Good To Me
Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 2 October 2003
...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 October 2003
Fannypack are young, smutty and fresh — and they might just make hip-hop fun again. Caroline Sullivan meets them. ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 October 2003
EVER SINCE the Beastie Boys went serious and Salt 'n' Pepa pushed it as far as they could, the world has lacked an act who ...
The Electric Soft Parade: The American Adventure
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 October 2003
THIS BRIGHTON brother-act have survived a Mercury prize nomination (for last year's debut, Holes in the Wall), a Q award for best newcomer and a ...
The Thrills: Filesharing etc.: Money Pit
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 11 October 2003
Who are the victims of music filesharing? Peter Paphides reveals the real band of thieves ...
Damien Rice: Metropolitan University, Leeds ***
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 October 2003
DAVID GRAY achieved his first major success in Ireland, something else he has in common with Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice. They share the same management ...
Sugababes: Wanna be in our gang?
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 October 2003
Sugababes were 15 when they released their first single. Three years and one line-up change later, they are the coolest, smartest girl band in the ...
Thea Gilmore: "It's sad the lengths girls go to, pouting on the cover of their CD"
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 October 2003
Thea Gilmore has released five albums, received rave reviews and turned down endless offers from major labels. And she's still only 23. She talks to ...
Thea Gilmore, Adam Masterson: Thea Gilmore/Adam Masterson: Liverpool University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 October 2003
WITH SO MANY SINGER-SONGWRITERS around, establishing an individual identity has never been more difficult. When Adam Masterson cranks up his croaky voice and harmonica, the ...
Amy Winehouse: Dietrich with a nose-stud
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 October 2003
Her voice belongs in a 1940s jazz bar. But Amy Winehouse may be the future of hip-hop. Dave Simpson meets her ...
Hot Hot Heat: The Next Skinny Thing
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 November 2003
They're polite, prefer video games to groupies - and they're Canadian. Can Hot Hot Heat really be the new Strokes? Caroline Sullivan meets them. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 November 2003
ONE OF THE PROBLEMS with seeing "classic" bands some 20 years on is the physical decline, particularly in the case of a band like Blondie. ...
Chic, Tony Thompson: Tony Thompson
Obituary by Daryl Easlea, The Guardian, 15 November 2003
TONY THOMPSON, WHO has died of cancer aged 48, was among the finest of all pop/rock drummers. Although his name is frequently absent from the ...
Kylie Minogue: The Butt Stops Here
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 November 2003
So she's 35, but does that really mean Kylie should cover up, asks Caroline Sullivan ...
Michael Jackson: No more mileage in being Wacko
Comment by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 November 2003
MICHAEL JACKSON's efforts to maintain his self-proclaimed status as "the king of pop" are looking desperate as the passage of time and profound changes in ...
Ryan Adams: "I've Been Jumping Off Bridges"
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 21 November 2003
THE ONE GOOD thing about projectile vomiting is that at least your T-shirt stays clean. Ryan Adams's frat-house top is a spotless scarlet, its brightness ...
The Thrills: Weirdo Magnets: The Thrills
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 21 November 2003
IT IS A COLD but sunny Saturday lunchtime in Capitol Hill, a boho district of Seattle full of cafes and shops with names like Natural ...
Bob Dylan: Why I Love Bob Dylan
Comment by Martin Colyer, The Guardian, 25 November 2003
LAST SATURDAY IT was forty years ago that JFK was assassinated. Yet by November 1963, Bob Dylan had already been performing in Greenwich Village for ...
Last Christmas, I gave you my chart
Column by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 November 2003
Caroline Sullivan is appalled by this year's efforts for the Chrismas No 1, but finds some consolation in the thought that next year the singles ...
Stellastarr*: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 November 2003
TO HEAR THE GOTHY GUSHINGS of the current intake of New York art-rockers, you'd think the decade that inspires them, the 80s, began and ended ...
Wyclef Jean: "I preach to the streets"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 November 2003
Why did Wyclef Jean help Tom Jones do hip-hop? Why has he got 62 guns? And what's he doing with 20,000 songs on a Dictaphone? ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 29 November 2003
ACCORDING TO A body of instrument suppliers called the Music Industries Association, in the last 12 months the British people bought no less than 700,000 ...
Belle and Sebastian: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 December 2003
THE OLD "GREAT ON RECORD, BUT DON'T SEE THEM LIVE" adage could have been invented for Belle and Sebastian. Folk who've witnessed their gigs recount ...
Amy Winehouse: Bush Hall, London ***½
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 December 2003
YOU WAIT ALL millennium for a commercial but unembarrassing British female singer, then two come along within weeks of each other. ...
Explosions in the Sky: The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 December 2003
IF THE IDEA of an album of instrumentals filled with titles such as 'First Breath After Coma' sounds like heavy going, this Texan four-piece are ...
Electric Six: Leeds Metropolitan University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 December 2003
IN JUNE THIS YEAR, Detroit pranksters Electric Six crammed the traditional pop rise, fall and rise again into one bizarre moment when they split up ...
Basement Jaxx: Leeds University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 December 2003
THE MOOD OF CRISIS in dance music won't have been helped by this week's news that ecstasy use is in decline. For dance music's acts ...
Nickelback: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 December 2003
MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE they're from Vancouver, but Nickelback are a different species from the current wave of fashionable US metal. Whereas the likes of Korn ...
Gogol Bordello: Garage, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 December 2003
GOGOL BORDELLO'S UKRAINIAN GYPSY lead singer, Eugene Hutz, calls his band "an orchestra of fucking immigrants, jamming in A minor". Hutz has the kind of ...
The Durutti Column: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 December 2003
THE DURUTTI COLUMN were the first signings to Factory Records before the label went all Joy Division-shaped. Frontman Vini Reilly co-wrote Morrissey's first solo hit ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 16 December 2003
NINE MUSICIANS stroll on to a stage packed with stringed instruments, keyboards, horns and percussion. Four of them are wearing hats, and under the coolest ...
Saint Etienne: Palladium, London
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 16 December 2003
IN ANOTHER LIFE, Saint Etienne are pop royalty. In this one they practice a kind of pop-not-pop: exquisitely crafted and arranged songs that are always ...
Ed Harcourt: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 18 December 2003
THE SOUND MAN is got up as Santa and a roadie is dressed as an elf. There's tinsel around the mic stand and an inflatable ...
David Bowie, Neil Young: No More Heroes
Comment by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 19 December 2003
THE BEST THING you can say about 2003 is that it's almost over. ...
Michelle McManus: The stars in our eyes
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 December 2003
Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus may claim to be happy with her size, but pop's obsession with image could well put an end to that, ...
Elton John: How Sir Elton Recovered His Cool
Comment by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2004
WHEN THE VERY first psychedelic rock star, William Blake, declared that the fool who persists in his folly shall become wise, he hit on a ...
Scissor Sisters: Fun with Filth: Scissor Sisters
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 9 January 2004
They come from New York's shock art scene and they write songs about drugs, drag queens and cruising. Paul Lester meets clubland's hottest new act, ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 16 January 2004
BY THE STANDARDS of British hip-hop, Blak Twang (aka Tony Olabode) is a crusty old veteran. It's hard work playing the Americans at their own ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 16 January 2004
THERE'S NO MISSING the thrill of novelty that runs through recent coverage of Joss Stone. See! a white Devon teenager become America's newest soul sensation. ...
North Mississippi Allstars: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 January 2004
THE NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS are the "best blues-rock band in the world", according to Barry, the Borderline's promoter, and he's probably right. The Allstars first ...
Brian Wilson — Grin and bear it
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 23 January 2004
WHEN BRIAN WILSON had his nervous breakdown in the 1960s, he was working on a concept album called Smile. His fellow Beach Boys dismissed it ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 January 2004
NEWCOMERS RAZORLIGHT are proof that pop careers are being built ever faster. The London band were signed to the Vertigo label last year in the ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 February 2004
IS SIA FURLER destined to join the roll-call of great Australians, up there with Kylie, Edna Everage and Mel Gibson? She is probably too self-effacing ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 February 2004
IT MAY BE SYNONYMOUS WITH 1066 and the Battle of Hastings, but the Sussex town of Battle doesn't call much else to mind, least of ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 February 2004
ALTHOUGH SHE was born in the Bronx, and first came to prominence in the US with her 1963 hit 'Just One Look', Doris Troy, who ...
N.E.R.D., Pharrell Williams: The Hit Man: Pharrell Williams
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 February 2004
He co-produced nearly 20% of tracks currently being played on British radio. But he is also a star in his own right - as a ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 21 February 2004
YOU MAY HAVE heard this yarn – it's one of those things people email each other, that they might share a chuckle at the foibles ...
Atomic Kitten: Manchester Arena
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 February 2004
THE OFFICIAL LINE is that Atomic Kitten are taking time off mainly so that Natasha Hamilton can look after her young son, Josh. However, a ...
Brian Wilson: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 23 February 2004
SO HOW GOOD, finally, is Smile, the great lost song cycle that Brian Wilson kept the world waiting 37 years to hear? The only possible ...
Monster Magnet: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 February 2004
MONSTER MAGNET have always displayed an ability to be in the right place at the right time. Formed in 1989, when Nirvana's fury revitalised all ...
Bees, The (Isle of Wight): The Bees: ULU, London
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 24 February 2004
YOU'D THINK THAT A STRANGER emerging from a backstage area with four of the headlining band's guitars would look suspicious, but evidently not suspicious enough. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 March 2004
FEW ARTISTS CAN BOAST a number one album at the age of 19, but the most curious aspect of Katie Melua's success is her audience. ...
My Bloody Valentine: I Lost It: Kevin Shields Speaks
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 12 March 2004
In his first interview for 12 years, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields talks to Paul Lester about his madness, making Alan McGee cry - and ...
David Axelrod: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 19 March 2004
THE SNOWY-HAIRED, bespectacled 67-year-old on stage makes an unlikely hip-hop hero — but David Axelrod's funky, filmic back catalogue has provided rich pickings for producers ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 March 2004
EVERY NIGHT, Pink goes down on Christina Aguilera. She pins her to the floor and dominates her sexually before serenading her with one of her ...
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 25 March 2004
One of the greatest sitar players of his age ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 2 April 2004
Teen dream and surf-pop star ...
Morrissey: "Somebody Has To Be Me": Morrissey
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 9 April 2004
NOW 44, STEVEN Patrick Morrissey is, to quote one of his songs, a handsome devil. ...
My Chemical Romance: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (Polydor) ***
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 April 2004
ALTHOUGH My Chemical Romance have tried to spice up their image by nicknaming their patch of suburban New Jersey "the Crimezone", it would be surprising ...
Richmond Fontaine: Post To Wire
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 April 2004
RICHMOND FONTAINE frontman Willy Vlautin has a growing reputation as the writer of some of the most depressing songs in America. In his narrated snapshots ...
Essay by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 19 April 2004
THEY ASKED ME to write this piece about "self-destruction and its place in rock" and that immediately set me to thinking: what do they mean ...
Supergrass: Watching the 'Grass grow
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 April 2004
A decade in the music business hasn't hurt Supergrass. In fact, they're quite happy with their status as Britain's fifth favourite band, finds Ian Gittins. ...
Jolie Holland: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 May 2004
AMY WINEHOUSE happened to be playing around the corner when Jolie Holland was making her London debut, a fact worth mentioning because both singers are ...
John Martyn: The Lowry, Salford
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 May 2004
IF JOHN MARTYN hadn't become a folk/blues/rock legend, he could have knocked out a career as a mimic. At one point, he perfectly impersonates Alf ...
Earl Okin: The Unluckiest Man In Pop
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 May 2004
After 35 years in the business, Earl Okin is about to release his first album. He tells Caroline Sullivan why it's taken him so long ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 13 May 2004
OF ALL OF THE UNDERGROUND country artists from the Texas panhandle (Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, etc) none is as quite as maverick, ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 20 May 2004
A PROTEGE OF Jay-Z and Damon Dash, Kanye West is not one to hide his light under a bushel. ...
Jesse Malin: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 May 2004
JESSE MALIN'S THROUGH-A-BEER-GLASS-DARKLY take on American rock wouldn't be nearly as fashionable if it was sold under the name John Mellencamp. It just goes to ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 June 2004
AS HIS FIRST NAME SUGGESTS, Devendra Banhart's parents were "alternative" types. He has certainly done them proud, growing up into a folk-hippy with a beard ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 June 2004
The true spirit of Glastonbury is alive and well — but you'll find it at a farm in Leicester not Somerset. Dave Simpson meets Kasabian ...
Jamelia: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 June 2004
THERE'S OFTEN A GULF on the live circuit now between current acts with records to promote and returning veterans with back catalogues, which is unfortunately ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 June 2004
THE OLD Rock Stars' Home that is Sanctuary Records has a new resident in the former James singer, and on his first solo album he ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 12 June 2004
DURING THE 1960S, a generation of teenagers discovered America's hidden music of black blues, gospel and soul, and many of them promptly fissured into followings ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 June 2004
This Swedish eight-piece is half band, half cottage industry: they design their own sleeves, direct their own animated videos and, for good measure, are sending ...
The unfortunate incident of the log in the night-time: Glasto on the box
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 June 2004
Caroline Sullivan will be enjoying Glastonbury from the safety of her sofa. She explains why she's delighted ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 July 2004
THIS VENUE has recently hosted a succession of newish female songwriters — Polly Paulusma, Jolie Holland -—who are doing a good job of making Dido ...
Dogs Die in Hot Cars: Please Describe Yourself
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 July 2004
Shame it's too late to change their terrible name, because Dogs Die in Hot Cars will find it splashed all over the place if their ...
Slash, Velvet Revolver: Slash: "I died. I do remember that."
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 9 July 2004
When three battered ex-junkies from Guns N'Roses got together to form Velvet Revolver, the cynics got ready for a flop. Guitarist Slash tells Adam Sweeting ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 10 July 2004
THERE IS NO PERSON more deluded than he or she who has a song programmed into their mobile phone. ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 13 July 2004
Stevie Wonder's partner in music and (briefly) marriage ...
Burrito Deluxe: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 July 2004
Veterans don't come more gnarled and whiskery than the cast of Burrito Deluxe, whose five members have been plying their trade for decades. In steel ...
Burrito Deluxe: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 July 2004
VETERANS DON'T come more gnarled and whiskery than the cast of Burrito Deluxe, whose five members have been plying their trade for decades. In steel ...
Joss Stone: The Guardian profile: Joss Stone
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 July 2004
WITH HER ASTONISHINGLY MATURE, emotive black soul voice the Devon teenager is an R&B sensation in the US and a talent that knocks "reality-pop" for ...
Razorlight: Johnny Borrell: "I don't even look human"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 28 July 2004
He claims to be a better songwriter than Bob Dylan and has likened himself to Charles Dickens. But is there more to Johnny Borrell, the ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 30 July 2004
THIS GENERATION-crossing family outfit's second album was originally recorded for Nick Drake producer Joe Boyd's Hannibal label, but not released. It emerged in America two ...
Pete Doherty: Peter Doherty: Fez Club, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 31 July 2004
IN recent weeks, Peter Doherty has been reported as having racked up a heroin/crack addiction costing £250 a day, skipped out on three attempts at ...
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 August 2004
"WE LOVE PLAYING HERE," Gillian Welch told us more than once, and since she and her musical soulmate David Rawlings were on for more than ...
Pere Ubu, Spiritualized: Spiritualized/Pere Ubu: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 August 2004
THIRTY YEARS INTO their career, Cleveland art-punks Pere Ubu remain engaging mavericks. ...
Har Mar Superstar: Welly Club, Hull
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 August 2004
THE WELLY isn't a place you'd expect to find a "superstar". Its name implies somewhere you'd only really want to step into when it's raining; ...
Finn Brothers: The Finn Brothers: Everyone is Here
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 August 2004
THANKS TO THEIR COLLECTIVE experience with Crowded House and Split Enz, Neil and Tim Finn ought to have learned a bit about this songwriting malarkey ...
Hayseed Dixie: Borderline, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 12 August 2004
"I'M HERE TO TESTIFY", says front man Barley Scotch in one of many beer-fuelled, between-song spiels, "that Hank Williams' 'Lost Highway' and AC/DC's 'Highway to ...
The Dears: Who the hell are The Dears?
Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 August 2004
So, who the hell are they? Canadians Murray Lightburn (vocals/guitar), Natalia Yanchak (keyboards/vocals), Valerie Jodoin-Keaton (keyboards/flute), Martin Pelland (bass), George Donoso III (drums) and Patrick ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 31 August 2004
LAURA BRANIGAN, who has died of a brain aneurysm aged 47, was a powerful singer with a five-octave range who in an earlier generation would ...
Howe Gelb, Giant Sand: Howe Gelb: True Grit
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 3 September 2004
Howe Gelb, of Giant Sand, may be the hardest-working man in alt-country. But as he releases yet another record, he'd rather talk about mojitos and ...
Beenie Man: Tatchell v Beenie Man: Arrest This Development
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 4 September 2004
LET'S HOPE THAT no friends of the Jamaican dancehall artist Beenie Man have recently reminded him that the only thing worse than being talked about ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 September 2004
GENERATIONS OF HAPLESS YOUNG MEN have been attracted by the archetypal "girl next door" on the grounds that beneath that innocent exterior lurks some undiscovered ...
Girls Aloud: How I Became a Girl Aloud
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 September 2004
Caroline Sullivan spends a week in the shoes — the very painful shoes — of the UK's number one girl band ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 September 2004
ON PAPER, Interpol's second album should offer more grist to the mill of those who think they're too indebted to Joy Division. ...
McFly: Wolverhampton Civic Hall
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 September 2004
SIGNS IN WOLVERHAMPTON CIVIC HALL READ: "Tonight's concert will be very loud. Ear defenders are available on request." The danger comes not from McFly but ...
Estelle: "The only way I'm going on the cover of FHM is in a body bag"
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 September 2004
Estelle, the loudest new voice in hip-hop, talks to Dave Simpson ...
Manic Street Preachers: Not So Manic Now: Manic Street Preachers
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 1 October 2004
TOP OF THE POPS audience members are nothing if not versatile. Five minutes ago, on the last Friday evening in September, they were directing their ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 1 October 2004
Blending country music with mainstream pop ...
Two Lone Swordsmen: Basics, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 October 2004
FOR MOST OF THE LAST DECADE Andrew Weatherall was one of dance culture's prime movers. He produced Primal Scream's hallowed Screamadelica and lived it large ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 October 2004
"SOME GROUND RULES", says Electric Six's Dick Valentine, by way of introduction. "If you touch me, I'll kill you. If you're a homo and you ...
Dave Godin: Champion of Black Music who coined the term "Northern Soul"
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 20 October 2004
WHEN THE MUSICIANS and singers of the first Motown Revue – the Miracles, the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, "Little" Stevie Wonder and Earl Van ...
French Rock'n'roll: What – No Accordion?
Interview by David McKenna, The Guardian, 22 October 2004
CALL A COMPILATION Le Nouveau Rock'n'roll Français and, even now, you risk sparking associations with the figure most people take to represent the old French ...
The Detroit Cobras: Detroit Cobras: Baby
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 October 2004
DETROIT COBRAS' biggest fans include the White Stripes and Coca-Cola, who are currently using their take on Hank Ballard's 'Cha Cha Twist' in an advert. ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 30 October 2004
THE ONE AND Only, a hardback celebration of one-hit wonders by Tom Bromley, is a touch too self-satisfied a stocking filler, inviting us, not for ...
Handsome Boy Modeling School — Cartoon capers
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 4 November 2004
They found fame with Gorillaz and De La Soul. Now Handsome Boy Modeling School are taking inspiration from Batman to make surreal hip-hop. They talk ...
Handsome Boy Modeling School: White People
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 November 2004
IF THE IDEA OF HANDSOME BOY MODELING SCHOOL doesn't annoy, it should. An R&B prank comprised of two US rap producers using pseudonyms and famous ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 November 2004
DISAPPOINTINGLY for some of the boys in the crowd, the Corrs were one sister short, since drummer Caroline is recuperating after the birth of her ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 November 2004
Generally described as "cinematic" — code for "prone to moroseness; just add muted horns" — the Dears are more a horror double-bill tonight. As Montreal's ...
The Thrills: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 November 2004
WHEN THE THRILLS first blazed out of Dublin in 2002, there was something sweetly charming about a bunch of naive Irish lads writing eulogies to ...
Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 November 2004
THIS IS KRAUSS'S first studio album for three years, though in the meantime she's delivered a bestselling live album, won three Grammy awards, and made ...
Gwen Stefani: Love. Angel. Music. Baby. ***
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 November 2004
A GENUINE CHARACTER — which immediately distinguishes her from 90% of other successful pop females — Gwen Stefani has made a solo debut that's as ...
Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn: Jacques Levy, 1935-2004
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 26 November 2004
IN 1969, JACQUES Levy, who has died of cancer aged 69, became director of the erotic revue Oh! Calcutta!, off-Broadway. It was that show which ...
The Bravery: Roadhouse, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 December 2004
In the annual December search for next year's "next big thing", New York five-piece the Bravery are possibly in pole position. Signed to Island Def ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 6 December 2004
KEVIN COYNE was a singer-songwriter respected by his contemporaries but lacking their chart success. Nevertheless, largely through Radio One presenter John Peel's championing, he built ...
Xmas LPs: Worst Christmas On Record
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 11 December 2004
THE CHRISTMAS SINGLE is a thing of thudding familiarity - brace yourself again for Jona Lewie to make his annual re-emergence, bludgeoning you like a ...
Dimebag Darrell, Pantera: Just a Good Ol' Boy: Dimebag Darrell
Obituary by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 17 December 2004
Former Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered on stage by a lone gunman last week. Edward Helmore celebrates the life of the influential and charismatic ...
Hawkwind: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 December 2004
THESE PSYCHEDELIC VETERANS' 35-year career is not for the fainthearted. However, the original psych-rockers are showing few signs of slowing down. Surprisingly sprightly founder member ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 January 2005
Hanson want to be taken seriously as an alt-rock band. But will anyone forgive their teeny-bop past? By Caroline Sullivan ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 14 January 2005
ANTHONY GONZALEZ'S LAST ALBUM, Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts, triggered pages of prose purpler than Prince's wardrobe. Nobody actually used the phrase "sonic ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 January 2005
PLUSH'S LIAM HAYES isn't a man who does things easily. He released his first single in 1994, his first woozy LP in 1998, and didn't ...
Richard Buckner: Dents and Shells
Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 14 January 2005
THERE ARE THREE kinds of American folk artist: those who sit, contented, on a back porch contemplating America's landscape and ways; those for whom its ...
Adam Green: Joseph's Well, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 February 2005
"LET'S GET LOOSE," says Adam Green. "You guys are all going to get laid anyway. I'm just the lubrication." This is typical of the mischievous ...
Mindy Smith: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 February 2005
THERE ARE TIMES when every performer wishes that time could be spun into reverse, and particular performances erased. This was one of those occasions for ...
Hanson: Underneath (Cooking Vinyl)
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 February 2005
THE YOUNGEST Hanson brother was aged just 11 when the Tulsa trio released the mighty 'Mmmbop' in 1997. Now they've leapt into a kind of ...
The House of Love: You Only Live Twice
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 February 2005
Ten years ago, the House of Love fell apart, fists flying. They tell Dave Simpson what brought them back together. ...
Death from Above 1979: Cockpit, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 February 2005
WITH SO MANY FOUR-PIECE guitar bands clogging up the live circuit, Canada's Death from Above 1979 are certainly a bit different. A two-piece featuring the ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 11 February 2005
BAP KENNEDY used to front Energy Orchard, and then, with a bit of help from Steve Earle, he discovered the symbiotic qualities of Irish folk ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 14 February 2005
BORN IRENE Amburgey, the second of three sisters, Martha Carson was a guitarist in a troupe, led by her father, that entertained at functions close ...
Low: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 22 February 2005
FOR THE DEVOTED fan, watching Low rock out must be like watching Bob Dylan switch on the amplifiers at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 25 February 2005
WHILE EVERY THIRD BRITISH BAND mines 1979-80 post-punk, Arcade Fire, from Canada, have stolen a march by investigating the US "no wave" of the same ...
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 25 February 2005
The Manchester that Doves grew up in has disappeared. They take Dave Simpson on a guided tour of the city — and show him the ...
Natasha Bedingfield: Colston Hall, Bristol
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 February 2005
SURFING ON a tide of hit singles and a monster debut album, Natasha Bedingfield has leapt to the head of the female singer-songwriter queue in ...
Hunter S Thompson: Rock of Rages
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 26 February 2005
FOLLOWING HUNTER S THOMPSON'S suicide, many obituarists, looking for a representative snippet of the Doctor's bug-eyed vitriol, served up the following trenchant assessment of the ...
A Single-Minded Pair: Rescuing Radio 1's Official Chart Show
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 February 2005
Tuned-in kids are turning off Radio 1's chart show. Can a new double act help it shake off its staid image, asks Caroline Sullivan. ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 4 March 2005
LAST WEEK, Radio 4's Front Row applied itself to the thorny question of what label to slap on the current crop of young British guitar ...
Profile by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 March 2005
So, who the hell are they? Alexander Greenwald (vocals), Jacques Brautbar (guitar), Darren Robinson (guitar), Sam Farrar (bass) and Jeff Conrad (drums. Their absurdly catchy single, ...
The Beatles: Abbey Road: Where Magic Was Made
Profile by Paul Trynka, The Guardian, 11 March 2005
Paul Trynka looks back at the relationship between the biggest band of all time and the studio that helped them create their sound ...
Bright Eyes: Metropolitan University, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 March 2005
THERE ARE PROBABLY TEAMS of record-company scientists striving to create the perfect amalgam of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, but Bright Eyes singer ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 17 March 2005
AMONG MOBY’s many hats are producer, remixer, club DJ, techno-nerd and ambient maestro. For this one-off gig to mark the arrival of his new album, ...
Report by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 19 March 2005
IT'S NOT THE sort of job that often gets advertised. Michael Hutchence, notwithstanding his bizarre death, aged 37, in 1997, generally looked like he was ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 March 2005
"YOU ROCK!" SQUEALED AN AMERICAN VOICE, in a fit of either delusion or rank flattery. What this country-influenced LA quartet notably don't do is rock. ...
Nas: Hip-Hop Violence: Pop Goes The Weasel
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 March 2005
FOR THE RECORD: guns don't go bang but pop, a noise a lot like a jumbo bottle of champagne being opened. As this was a ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 24 March 2005
WITH A NEW ALBUM DUE IN APRIL, their debut for the Endeavour label after a stint with Chris Blackwell's Palm, Cousteau are hoping there's a ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 30 March 2005
THE PROBLEM with turning your life into your career is that you never get a day off. This irony dawns on Lady Sovereign tonight, as ...
Laura Nyro: Lady Lightning: Laura Nyro
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2 April 2005
"EXPERIENCED A catastrophe so profound that its effects would never quite fade" (Laura Nyro) ...
Sophie B. Hawkins: Sophie B Hawkins: Roscoe, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 April 2005
AN INTERNATIONAL pop star with 1992's smash 'Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover', Sophie Ballantine Hawkins has since fallen out with her record company ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 8 April 2005
CASEY SPOONER and Warren Fischer's first album met a sobering fate: their much-ballyhooed £1m deal was followed by commercial oblivion, which helped drive Ministry of ...
Joy Division: Deborah Curtis: "I was just besotted"
Retrospective and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 11 April 2005
Twenty-five years ago, Ian Curtis, lead singer of Joy Division, killed himself. His wife Deborah talks to Laura Barton about getting over him, obsessive fans ...
Chuck Prophet: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 April 2005
IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS since Chuck Prophet found himself lumped in with LA's neo-psychedelic "Paisley Underground" during his tenure with Green on Red. But since ...
Johnathan Rice: "I fought for this"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 25 April 2005
When Johnathan Rice got his record deal, he was too poor to eat. Now, along with his pop-star girlfriend, he's the toast of the US ...
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, May 2005
I HAVE JUST SPENT two weeks on the road with Mötley Crüe. Our sweep through Canada and the US Midwest took in Edmonton, Des Moines, ...
Black Eyed Peas: Brixton Academy, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 May 2005
ALMOST ALONE among hiphoppers, the Black Eyed Peas have a sense of humility, so they must cringe at their label's hype. Whoever decided this amiable LA fourpiece ...
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 12 May 2005
THE BRITISH FOLK scene has been characterised as insular, but African-American Dorris Henderson, who has died aged 70, disproved that. When she arrived in London ...
Comment by John Harris, The Guardian, 15 May 2005
Oasis's sixth album is out at the end of the month. John Harris wonders whether it can really be the promised return to form ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 May 2005
DESPITE THE INADVERTENT HILARITY France is likely to contribute to Eurovision, it has been unfashionable for several years to accuse the French of pop ineptitude. ...
Moloko, Roisin Murphy: Roisin Murphy: Her Time Is Now
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 May 2005
When Moloko split up, Roisin Murphy found herself without a band, a plan or a partner. She tells Caroline Sullivan how half an hour of ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 27 May 2005
LAST YEAR was the year grime failed to break big, and nobody failed to break big quite like Wiley. His excellent solo debut was festooned ...
The Tube: Sound Of The Underground
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 28 May 2005
THE RELEASE OF the first series of The Tube on DVD is a chance to give kudos to a groundbreaking programme that naively but bravely ...
Van Morrison: Johnny Rogan: Van Morrison – No Surrender (Secker & Warburg)
Book Review by David Sinclair, The Guardian, 28 May 2005
Johnny Rogan supplies everything you wanted to know about Van Morrison – and even more that you didn't. David Sinclair digests an almost comically unflattering ...
Live8: Just Another Gig – With Added Feelgood Factor
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 June 2005
NEARLY EVERY A-lister worth the name is doing their bit, making Live8 the first truly all-star charity show since Live Aid. Madonna! U2! Coldplay! You ...
Tanita Tikaram: "I Was An Odd Kid"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 June 2005
SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO, during her first flush of success as a precocious young songwriter, Tanita Tikaram was lampooned by 'Smash Hits'. Under a photo of ...
Laura Cantrell: Jazz Cafe, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 3 June 2005
WHEN YOU BURST INTO TEARS ON STAGE, forget the words to several songs and introduce your double bass player as a guitarist, chances are you're ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 10 June 2005
THE STAGE RESEMBLES THE TOMORROW'S WORLD studio circa 1980: you imagine Judith Hann appearing to introduce pop music of the future. Instead of glowing laptop ...
Billy Corgan: TheFutureEmbrace
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 June 2005
THE FORMER SMASHING PUMPKIN has long endured a deserved reputation as the most egotistical, whining man in rock. However, maturity and the clipping of Corgan's ...
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 June 2005
HAVING BEEN A SUPERHERO of alt.rock with Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan hasn't looked quite so sure of himself in his subsequent adventures. His potential new ...
Damien Rice: Palladium, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 June 2005
THE MANY superlatives dished out to Damien Rice stem primarily from his ability to wow live crowds. ...
Hayseed Dixie: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 July 2005
"WE'RE YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE — educated rednecks," announces Hayseed Dixie's frontman Barley Scotch, taking a giant gulp from a bottle of Newcastle Brown ale. You ...
The Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Television: Heaven or Las Vegas: CBGBs closes down
Report by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 8 July 2005
Laura Barton on what the closure of the world's most famous punk-rock club, CBGB's, says about the state of New York's live music scene. ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 July 2005
HIS MUSIC MAY bear scant resemblance to Ian's, but Baxter Dury seems to have inherited his father's grooming regime. Tousled, dog-eared and sporting a few ...
Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Dogg: Manchester Arena
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 13 July 2005
SEARCHING AUDIENCE MEMBERS with metal detectors as they file in suggests the authorities are expecting trouble. But the rapper who was once up on a ...
James Blunt: I was Blunt’s instrument
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 July 2005
"DOUBLE WHAMMY for Blunt," says a headline in this week's issue of trade magazine Music Week, acknowledging the fact that songwriter James Blunt is at ...
Richmond Fontaine: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 21 July 2005
FOR MORE THAN A DECADE, Richmond Fontaine have been plying their trade in the American northwest, turning out a string of albums which have gathered ...
Hayseed Dixie: Southern-Fried Metal
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 July 2005
Hayseed Dixie aren't your average AC/DC covers band: they come from Nashville, play banjos and read The Guardian. ...
Buck 65: Secret House Against the World
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 29 July 2005
Over the past decade, Rich Terfry, a former baseball player from Nova Scotia, has built an impressive cult following with his unique amalgam of hip-hop, ...
Chip Taylor: Lock 17, London ****
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 July 2005
EVEN BEFORE he met Carrie Rodriguez, Chip Taylor's life had the authentic ring of fiction about it. ...
Madeleine Peyroux: "I'm an outcast"
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 August 2005
Madeleine Peyroux could be the new Norah Jones – if she didn't find the idea insulting. She tells Caroline Sullivan about walking out on her ...
Ciara: Goodies (LaFace/Zomba) **
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 5 August 2005
WHY DO R&B divas keep losing their nerve? Destiny's Child's last album saw them regress from unstoppable robo-Amazons into simpering wifeys, and Atlanta newcomer Ciara ...
Kanye West: Natural Born Show-off: Kanye West
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 5 August 2005
PRESS PLAYBACKS tend to be uncomfortable affairs. A record label, eager to unveil its latest prestige release but terrified of a stray copy leaking on ...
Blur, Oasis: Britpop: Remember the first time
Retrospective and Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 12 August 2005
Without Britpop, would we have had hit guitar groups, stadium anthems or rock stars on Newsnight? Ten years on, John Harris looks back on how ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 12 August 2005
LAST WEEK, Gyles Brandreth gave an entertaining account of his first attempt to become a Conservative MP. Fresh out of university and bursting with his ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 August 2005
Once upon a time the Dandy Warhols lived a spartan existence, struggling from gig to distant gig. Then someone made an unflattering documentary about them. ...
Devendra Banhart: Cripple Crow
Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 16 September 2005
DEVENDRA BANHART, the itinerant Texan minstrel with a base in San Francisco, has come a long way since his low-fidelity, high-word-count debut Oh Me Oh ...
Laura Veirs: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 September 2005
THE RECENTLY COINED "AMERICANA" GENRE that Seattle songwriter Laura Veirs inhabits is underpinned by a yearning to reconnect with the land. In Veirs's case, this ...
Arctic Monkeys: Fast and Furious: Arctic Monkeys
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 30 September 2005
IT'S A RADIANT late September day outside a recording studio in rural Lincolnshire. Summer is still clinging on by its fingertips, a lawnmower purrs in ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 October 2005
Why insist on 50 minutes of music when you could have a perfect 10 — or better still, a single? ...
Guillemots: Madame Jo-Jo's, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 October 2005
THIS WEEK'S BAND-OF-THE-MOMENT make an entrance that can be classified as either an exciting piece of theatre or a takeover of the venue by a ...
Tom Vek: "Everything I'm doing is so cool"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 7 October 2005
Super-geek Tom Vek talks to Laura Barton about the silence between CD tracks, how his album 'just fell out of him' and what he gets ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 12 October 2005
"BUT ANYWAY, back to the album ... " This will prove the leitmotif of tonight's show, as the Roll Deep collective find themselves yo-yoing between ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 14 October 2005
A writers' champion, he spanned rock, royalty and robust trade unionism. ...
Cut Copy: 'It's Certainly Not Knob Twiddling'
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 October 2005
When they are not letting off fireworks in people's houses, or rugby tackling Mylo off the stage, Australia's Cut Copy are the future of synth-pop. ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 14 October 2005
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a Mercury nomination makes, as frontwoman Ninja discovers when she bounces on to the stage to announce "We're The Go! Team," and ...
Maximo Park: Tales of Woe and Vodka
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 October 2005
To get over the girls, he turned to drink. To get over the drink, he turned to music. At last, with Maximo Park, Paul Smith ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 22 October 2005
"FUCK THE GHETTO! Look to space!" That, according to Wayne Kramer of MC5, in a nutshell was the message of Sun Ra, as conveyed over ...
Arctic Monkeys: Have the Arctic Monkeys changed the music business?
Report by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 25 October 2005
THE ARCTIC MONKEYS swung toward the No. 1 slot this Sunday with an unstoppable momentum. ...
Animal Collective: Scala, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 29 October 2005
LIKE WATCHING SPEEDED-UP FOOTAGE of the dawn, you don't quite notice when one part of an Animal Collective set has ended and another has started. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 October 2005
POP MARK E SMITH IS MISSING, and whispers in the crowd ponder whether the notoriously unpredictable frontman has finally gone the way of the 40-odd ...
The Fiery Furnaces: ICA, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 31 October 2005
GREAT GIGS, LIKE GREAT DRAMA, require an element of conflict, and The Fiery Furnaces have the advantage on that one: they are brother and sister. ...
Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: 'I Was Speechless, Just Squeaking!'
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 November 2005
Burt Bacharach thinks she's fabulous, and Jools Holland said her voice made him melt. Dave Simpson meets Corinne Bailey Rae, the singer they are calling ...
Profile by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 12 November 2005
YOU'D IMAGINE THE minimal and portentous name 4AD, with its arcane, spiritual overtones (4AD is the year many historians believe Christ was actually born), to ...
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 November 2005
When You Can't Really Function You're So Full Of Fear, A Digital Downloader Is Something To Be ...
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 19 November 2005
IN SPRING 1981, in an act akin to James Brown relocating to Hull, a 42-year-old cash-strapped Marvin Gaye took the Southampton ferry to the Belgian ...
The Strokes: Rebirth of the Cool
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 25 November 2005
Once they were the hippest band on the planet; then it all went a bit quiet for the Strokes. They tell Laura Barton how they ...
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 28 November 2005
THEIR FRONTMAN is half of a celebrity couple and they're tipped to be as big as U2. But that doesn't mean Editors are happy. ...
Roots Manuva: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 28 November 2005
THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING of the drunk-uncle-at-a-wedding about Roots Manuva, so it's as much of a surprise for him as for us to see ...
The Bravery: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 December 2005
ABSURDLY SKINNY New York electro-poppers the Bravery have polarised music fans from the outset. For every acolyte lauding their self-titled debut album earlier this year, ...
Gogol Bordello: Night and Day, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 December 2005
NEW YORK-BASED "Gypsy punks" Gogol Bordello are providing an interesting spin on Beatlemania. A girl dancer clad in multicoloured Romany-type rags is hauled onstage specifically ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 December 2005
WITH ALMOST NO INFORMATION supplied by Adams, the advance publicity for 29 — the rootsy crooner's third album this year — amounted to a hotchpotch ...
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: And the crowd goes wild: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 December 2005
Earlier this year, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were struggling to sell more than five albums a day. Now they're selling out every venue they ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 16 December 2005
BETH ORTON has always been accompanied by a narrative of loneliness. The death of her parents inspired many of her early songs, which told of ...
The Fall: "Excuse me, weren't you in the Fall?"
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 January 2006
Mark E. Smith's band is legendary for its ever-changing line-up. Dave Simpson made it his quest to track down everyone who has ever been a ...
Wilson Pickett: Singer who revolutionised the sound of '60s Soul
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 20 January 2006
IN 1964 Wilson Pickett, who has died of a heart attack aged 64, was signed by Atlantic Records of New York. It was an era ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 25 January 2006
IN AN EXCHANGE which seems quite fair —we get the Scissor Sisters, the Americans get Gavin Rossdale — US acts often make it big here ...
Katie Melua: International Conference Centre, Harrogate
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 January 2006
KATIE MELUA is popular with men of a certain age. Producer (and former Womble) Mike Batt discovered her, Wogan and Parky championed her, and her ...
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever They Say They Are, That's What They Are
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 January 2006
EARLIER THIS week, the Times dealt the Arctic Monkeys the backhanded compliment of labelling them "spotty poets". It's the "poets" that concerns us here. ...
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 28 January 2006
WALK THE LINE, James Mangold's cinematic telling of the early life of Johnny Cash, takes its title from one of its subject's best-known songs. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 February 2006
WHEN PEOPLE SUGGEST that Pete Doherty would have been so much better without the drugs, they should listen to the Kooks. The Brighton-based foursome have ...
The Jam, Paul Weller: Paul Weller: "The Jam? They were a way of life."
Retrospective by John Harris, The Guardian, 3 February 2006
As Paul Weller prepares to receive a Lifetime Achievement Brit, John Harris salutes a giant. ...
Comment by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 10 February 2006
Miles Davis wouldn't have wanted his out-takes made public, so why all the box sets? ...
Isobel Campbell: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 February 2006
As an ex-member of the potentates of twee, Belle and Sebastian, singer/cellist Isobel Campbell can't be expected to stride across the stage like a rock ...
Isobel Campbell: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 February 2006
AS AN ex-member of the potentates of twee, Belle and Sebastian, singer/cellist Isobel Campbell can't be expected to stride across the stage like a rock ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 February 2006
REARED WITH THE USUAL HIP-HOP CV ("the projects", spells in the slammer), Jaheim Hoagland was so precociously naughty that, by age 16, he was already ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 27 February 2006
JD SALINGER CLAIMED he was a paranoid in reverse who suspected people of plotting to make him happy. The Concretes seem to be gripped by ...
Death Cab for Cutie: Astoria, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 March 2006
AFTER A NEAR-DECADE loitering on the college rock margins, Seattle four-piece Death Cab for Cutie saw an appearance on US teen soap The OC power ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 March 2006
THE CONCRETES' second album is as changeable as the seasons. Songs such as 'On the Radio' and 'Change in the Weather' are full of the ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 6 March 2006
WHERE DO OLD RAVERS GO when they retire? They get drunk and go to Lou Rhodes gigs. Tonight the Scala is a sea of dirty ...
Mark Morrison: ’I'm the most reallest black artist in England'
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 8 March 2006
After the court cases, the jail time and the unfounded rape allegation, Mark Morrison is keen to put his bad boy image behind him. He ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 March 2006
EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO, Embrace made the decade's least expected comeback when their aptly titled fourth album, Out of Nothing, reached number one. Their reappearance, after ...
Candi Staton: "I was so drunk I fell on to the stage"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 24 March 2006
DISCO DIVA CANDI STATON lost everything to alcohol and abuse, but the song she recorded for a diet video saved her. Now, at 66, she's ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 24 March 2006
ONE THEORY explaining the decline in dance music's capacity to shock and amaze points the finger at the DJ jetset's culture of professional good-blokery, which ...
Imogen Heap: "It's just a magic thing"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 28 March 2006
After being dumped by her label, singer Imogen Heap was broke and despondent. Then a surveyor, a TV soap and a lion came to her ...
Nada Surf: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 March 2006
OCCASIONALLY, an unknown band will be booked into a support slot months in advance, have a hit in the meantime and on the night find ...
Plan B: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 1 April 2006
THERE ARE THINGS that get said only for the shock factor, and then there are things that are just shocking. Plan B's subject matter, with ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 6 April 2006
FOR A ONE-HIT WONDER, Roachford sure has a lot of tunes. Gone are the early gigs, as a diehard fan reminds him tonight, where he ...
Salsa Celtica: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 12 April 2006
IT IS NOT OFTEN that a salsa concert takes a break for a bagpipe solo, but that juxtaposition is Salsa Celtica's unique selling point. As ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 April 2006
No one expected the Zutons to make it big - least of all themselves. Caroline Sullivan meets the best sci-fi trash-rock band in Britain. ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 14 April 2006
IF ANYONE BOUGHT A TICKET for tonight's show because of an advertisement, in which hundreds of coloured balls tumble gaily down a San Francisco hill, ...
The Zutons: Tired of Hangin' Around
Review by Mat Snow, The Guardian, 14 April 2006
CONFRONTED BY the first Zutons album in a blind test, experts might well have identified it as the work of some long-forgotten art school band ...
Placebo: Alexandra Palace, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 15 April 2006
WHEN PLACEBO FIRST HIT THE CHARTS in the mid-1990s, Brian Molko's thick black eyeliner and androgynous posturing caused a bit of a stir, as much ...
Comment by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 15 April 2006
THROUGHOUT MY CAREER as a music journalist, I've often found myself sharing the same orbit as some of the more maladjusted talents of the late ...
Daniel Johnston: "I know the darkness"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 21 April 2006
"I love that girl so much I can't get enough of her crazy love" ('Crazy Love', Daniel Johnston) ...
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: When Beauty Met the Beast
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 21 April 2006
What happened when Isobel Campbell teamed up with the wild man of rock, Mark Lanegan? The result, says Laura Barton, could make her Queen of ...
Josh Ritter: Songs of innocence and experience
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 28 April 2006
Mark Twain, Bob Dylan, Einstein and Thomas Jefferson – singer-songwriter Josh Ritter tells Laura Barton what makes him tick. ...
Panic! at the Disco: Astoria, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 29 April 2006
PANIC! AT THE DISCO'S DEBUT ALBUM may be called A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but tonight their obsessive fans are trying to do just ...
Hilary Duff: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 May 2006
ALL EXCEPT PUBESCENT GIRLS are entitled to ask: "Hilary who?" This 18-year-old actor/singer is a massive star in the eyes of Sugar magazine readers, but ...
Review by Mat Snow, The Guardian, 5 May 2006
SOUL IS crowded with beautiful voices who set their sights no higher than singing sweet nothings. ...
The Beta Band, King Biscuit Time: Steve Mason: 'I've Had Enough'
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 May 2006
Steve Mason, the former Beta Band frontman, should have been on tour this week. Instead, he's quit music — and disappeared. By Dave Simpson ...
The Futureheads: Grump Up The Volume
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 12 May 2006
The Futureheads have grown up and discovered how to write "classic tunes". But don't expect any airs and graces, says Jude Rogers ...
Hard-Fi: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 16 May 2006
BILLY BRAGG MIGHT SEEM an unlikely guest to support a pop-rock band like Hard-Fi, but both acts are often referred to as "of the people". ...
The Rakes: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 17 May 2006
IN THE CURRENT SURFEIT of guitar bands named after collective nouns, a group needs something singular if they are not to fall prey to NME ...
Grandaddy: Jason Lytle: "Stuff doesn't happen unless I'm alone"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 19 May 2006
The critics loved them. Their peers loved them. But Grandaddy never made the jump to stardom their contemporaries the Flaming Lips managed. Now the band's ...
Tunng: Comments of the Inner Chorus
Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 21 May 2006
Their sinister, retro-modern folk is Tom Cox's idea of bucolic bliss. Even if it scares the bejesus out of him. ...
Freddie & The Dreamers: Freddie Garrity, 1936-2006
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 22 May 2006
Clowning pop star with a series of '60s hits – and a zany dance – to his name ...
Martha Wainwright: Fire in her belly
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 22 May 2006
She grew up in one of folk's first families and tried to resist following them into a musical career. But then Martha Wainwright fell in ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 24 May 2006
"I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THAT, four years on, we're doing an arena tour!" announces Nadine Coyle with genuine astonishment. She's not the only one. While ...
Scritti Politti: Hearts and Flowers: Scritti Politti
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 26 May 2006
It's seven years since Green from Scritti Politti released an album – time spent boozing away in self-doubt. So what brought him back to his ...
Matthew Herbert: Fuelled By Outrage
Interview by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 27 May 2006
"CHECK THESE OUT," says Matthew Herbert aka Dr Rockit, Radio Boy, modern-day big-band leader, seductive deep-house purveyor, moments after answering the door to his studio-cum-pad ...
Hot Chip: King's College, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 3 June 2006
HOT CHIP are five white Englishmen who stand in a straight line across the stage, as if waiting to be shot. They claim to love ...
Orson: Metropolitan University, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 June 2006
THE HOME OFFICE has more to worry about than escaped prisoners trying to attack us in our beds. Our communities are being invaded by floppy-haired, ...
Bic Runga: Today New Zealand, tomorrow the world
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 June 2006
Is Bic Runga the next great chanteuse? Caroline Sullivan finds out. ...
Tom Waits, Neil Young: Jim Jarmusch: "Tom Waits said he would glue my head to the wall"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 June 2006
WHEN JIM JARMUSCH speaks, it is like a man emptying out his pockets. "Wild Zero. Guitar Wolf. Where they're killing zombies. Rude Boy. The Clash. ...
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 9 June 2006
In a bid to shake off their clean-cut image, Keane have been exploring murkier territory — and hanging around with Bret Easton Ellis and Irvine ...
The Automatic: Not Accepted Anywhere
Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 16 June 2006
BLAME THE AMERICAN EMO BANDS, or the palpable fury of those nu-metal teenagers who skulk around with stares that could kill kittens, but indie is ...
Busta Rhymes: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 17 June 2006
LOOKING AS IF HE'S BEEN STYLED BY MR T, and garlanded in enough bling to sink a small island, Busta Rhymes bounces on to the ...
Mary J. Blige: Mary J Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 19 June 2006
THAT MARY J BLIGE HAS BEEN THROUGH some troubles in her life is well known; it's what makes her an icon of strength and survival ...
Hype and glory: How to Create a Buzz
Report by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 June 2006
As Alan McGee books a made-up band, Dave Simpson looks at the science of creating a buzz. ...
The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: 'We Had A Song At No 1. The Next Day It Was At No 70'
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 June 2006
NATALIE MAINES has a little cluster of black teardrops tattooed on her lower leg, trickling from her ankle down to her foot. Dixie Chicks' poised ...
Don't Mention The War – Unless You're Over 50
Comment by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 23 June 2006
NEIL YOUNG'S latest album, Living With War, was supposed to be more than a collection of protest songs. To optimistic critics of the occupation of ...
Lostprophets: Liberation Transmission
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 June 2006
THEY'RE FROM SOUTH WALES and lumber songs with titles such as 'A Town Called Hypocrisy' and 'Always All Ways (Apologies, Glances and Messed-up Chances)', but ...
Guillemots: Through the Window Pane
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 July 2006
IS THAT PRONOUNCED "gillmots" or "gee-mo"? Arguments rage, but after three attempts to finish their debut, Birmingham's most oddly named band make the classic mistake ...
Gnarls Barkley: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 8 July 2006
"I WAS GONNA STRIP FOR ALL THE GIRLS tonight but they said I'd get locked up. You can have a little peep though," says Cee-Lo, ...
Essay by Michel Faber, The Guardian, 10 July 2006
GLEAMING METAL DOORS slide open noiselessly at the touch of a button, and I step into the secret subterranean studio of Brian Eno. The atmosphere ...
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 11 July 2006
Former lead singer of Pink Floyd whose drug-induced breakdown and reclusive retirement created a musical legend ...
Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett: Syd Barrett: Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Obituary by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 12 July 2006
Syd Barrett, the most famous recluse in rock, is dead. It would be easy to mourn the founder of Pink Floyd as a casualty of ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 July 2006
IT'S BEEN EIGHT YEARS since the last Golden Smog album, which may be down to the logistical problems of assembling a band including Wilco's Jeff ...
Pet Shop Boys: Jewel in the Crown: Pet Shop Boys
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 14 July 2006
ON A BALMY summer's evening, the grounds of the Tower of London shudder to the art-disco thunder of the Pet Shop Boys' 1988 hit 'Left ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: 'Before Us, There Was Nothing'
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 July 2006
Punk pioneers the New York Dolls imploded in a haze of heroin three decades ago. Now they're back – and this time, finds Ian Gittins, ...
Justin Timberlake: Hammersmith Palais, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 July 2006
WHEN Janet Jackson's bosom slipped out mid-song at the 2004 Super Bowl, only one person came out of the affair unscathed. ...
Erykah Badu: Somerset House, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 17 July 2006
IN HER BILLOWING WHITE ROBES, with hair piled into a gigantic afro mohican, Erykah Badu looks incandescent and remarkable against the night sky at this ...
Paolo Nutini: Night & Day, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 July 2006
NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Italian-Glaswegian Paolo Nutini used to work in his parents' chip shop. Then his debut single 'Last Request' crashed into the top five. His working ...
CSS: Cansai de Ser Sexy (Sub Pop)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 July 2006
IF A pile of 1979-80 disco and post-punk records washed up on a Brazilian beach, the lucky beneficiaries would party like CSS. ...
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 21 July 2006
He sharpened his teeth battling it out as an MC against Eminem. Now Rhymefest is taking on his toughest opponent yet: rap itself. Dorian Lynskey ...
Roberta Flack: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 July 2006
SHE'S WELL INTO her 68th year but Roberta Flack remains a strikingly prepossessing figure. A riot of comedic quips and acerbic asides beneath a leonine ...
The Costa del Sol: Elvis Has Left The Cantina
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 July 2006
ELVIS PRESLEY is having a grand time. He is cuddling up to tipsy girls and giving them individual verses of 'Return to Sender' as they ...
Christina Aguilera: Koko, London ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 July 2006
MAKING AN ENTRANCE worthy of Kylie, Christina Aguilera looks stunning. Having reined in her penchant for leather and cleavage and adopted a look inspired by ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 July 2006
For Peaches, the famously X-rated rapper, the personal has just got political. Caroline Sullivan hears about her beef with Bush ...
Michael Franti: "The troops thought: this guy's got balls"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 July 2006
IT'S ALL VERY well to sing anti-war songs in California — but in Baghdad? To American soldiers? Michael Franti tells Dorian Lynskey why he took ...
Lambchop: Hayward Gallery, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 28 July 2006
LAMBCHOP are one of those cult American bands that push all the right "alt" buttons: alt.country, alt.rock, alt.symphonic pop. Their approach to songcraft recalls the ...
Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 4 August 2006
THE NAMES ON THIS ALBUM might be unfamiliar to some, but their work is all-pervasive in the pop landscape. Whose Mary J Blige remix apparently ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee 1945-2006
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 August 2006
Flower-power myth maker who captured the dark side of the summer of love ...
Timbaland: "I'm up here. Everyone else is down there."
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 8 August 2006
TIM "TIMBALAND" Mosley, the most in-demand music producer in the world, is tired. But the task of staying awake is made easier because, right now, ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 11 August 2006
Katie Melua wants to crack America. Andrew Purcell hears how she plans to do it — from playing to overexcited housewives to targeting chat shows. ...
Eagles of Death Metal: The innuendo crowd
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 19 August 2006
Eagles Of Death Metal are here to sentence you to "death by sexy". But not before they've charmed you with their double entendres, finds Laura ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: 'I Can't Completely Let Go Of Drugs – And I Don't Want To'
Interview by Mat Snow, The Guardian, 23 August 2006
He was the golden boy of grunge, and then he threw it all away. Evan Dando tells Mat Snow why he wants to make a ...
Broken Social Scene: Just one big happy family, eh?
Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 25 August 2006
A BLEARY-EYED AMY MILLAN is winding her way across Toronto in a desperate search for coffee. The traffic lights switch to green and she scans ...
Ice Cube: Respectability? It Can Wait
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 August 2006
He went from gangsta notoriety to Hollywood stardom. Now Ice Cube has returned to the studio – to show today's rappers where they've gone wrong. ...
Metric: King's College, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 August 2006
FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS, the 20-strong music factory known as Broken Social Scene has been Canada's wellspring of all things indie. Metric are ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 September 2006
LIKE MOST American singers of her magnitude, Beyoncé speaks in life-coach soundbites that portray recording an album as a spiritual rite of passage. ...
India.Arie: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 September 2006
INDIA ARIE is so personable that, on meeting her a few years ago, Nelson Mandela began the conversation by asking if she had a boyfriend. ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 September 2006
THE THREE GIRLS on the south London station platform couldn't have been more than 13, and as they waited for the train, they were singing, ...
Devendra Banhart: Metropolitan University, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 September 2006
HALFWAY THROUGH Devendra Banhart's gig, something unusual happens. The singer, who has been slurping something strong from a bottle on his amp, gets into conversation ...
Patti Smith: The Lady's For Returning
Interview by Mark Paytress, The Guardian, 9 September 2006
PATTI SMITH knows a thing or two about rock'n'roll heroes. Emerging in a blaze of controversy with her epochal 1975 debut album, Horses, she wrapped ...
The Killers: Empress Ballroom, Blackpool ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 September 2006
YOU CAN ALMOST imagine the delight when some bright spark suggested the Killers launch their big comeback in the "Vegas of the North", and the ...
Amy Winehouse: Bloomsbury Ballroom, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 September 2006
WHILE AMY Winehouse has been off making the follow-up to her 2003 Mercury-nominated debut album, Frank, her role as the new kid on the block ...
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 15 September 2006
SWEDEN'S INDIE BANDS are invading the UK, armed only with talent, style, ambition and government grants. Time to surrender, says Jude Rogers ...
Johnny Jenkins, Otis Redding: Johnny Jenkins, 1939-2006
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 16 September 2006
Flamboyant musician who influenced Hendrix and Otis Redding ...
Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 September 2006
What do Pete Doherty, Justin Hawkins and Keane's Tom Chaplin have in common? All have been in rehab recently, some for the first time. But ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 September 2006
THERE'S NO DISPUTING Jamelia Davis's ability to turn out a fantastic single: her last album contained three of the best of that year in 'Superstar', ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 September 2006
FEW POP "retirements" have caused as many eyebrows to raise as that of Shawn Carter, aka Jay-Z. ...
The Horrors, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Sisters of Mercy: Back in Black: The Goth Revival
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 September 2006
THE FAVERSHAM, a pub close to Leeds University, is a brightly decorated bar, popular with lawyers and office workers. But a couple of decades ago ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 6 October 2006
STING'S LATEST artistic venture, despite being pregnant with pratfall potential, is a remarkable triumph. ...
Interview by Mark Paytress, The Guardian, 7 October 2006
WHEN PSYCHIC TV's Genesis P-Orridge walks out on stage at the Astoria this evening, on a rare visit to London, those who've followed the career ...
Ghostface Killah: Coronet, London ***
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 11 October 2006
"IF YOU listen to my lyrics, you'll know I'm a soul baby," confesses Dennis Coles midway through a typically eccentric set. "And you've got to ...
Lupe Fiasco: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 October 2006
LUPE FIASCO'S DEBUT LONDON HEADLINER was originally booked for the Scala, but transferred to the sterile Islington Academy after an unrelated shooting at the original ...
The Killers: Saints of Sin City: The Killers
Interview by Nick Kent, The Guardian, 20 October 2006
OVER THE COURSE of 50 years, we have borne witness to the on-going development of popular music, and many diverse faiths and cultures from all ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 October 2006
IN THE DAYS WHEN Bryan Adams bestrode the charts, Canadian music was a credibility free zone. So much so that the Dears' frontman Murray Lightburn ...
Damien Rice: 9 (14th Floor) **
Review by Mat Snow, The Guardian, 3 November 2006
A HEARTBREAK ALBUM for those who weep along to vintage Radiohead and Leonard Cohen rather than George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Damien Rice's 2002 debut, ...
Razorlight: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 November 2006
EVERY BUDDING BRITISH ROCK STAR fantasises about the night he or she will be able to say the three little words that mean they have ...
Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 6 November 2006
Want to know what to shout at Tony Blair when he makes his Farewell Tour next year? Then read on. ...
My Chemical Romance: Brixton Academy, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 November 2006
AT 9:45 ON SUNDAY MORNING, it wasn't surprising to see a queue already straggling down the side of Brixton Academy. ...
Gwen Stefani: The Sweet Escape (Polydor) ****
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 December 2006
THE NO DOUBT SINGER'S solo output should be the blueprint for any aspiring pop star who doesn't want to sacrifice credibility for the sake of ...
Kasabian: "We're for all the people stuck in crap jobs"
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 December 2006
Kasabian have crossed swords with Keane, the Stones and even Showaddywaddy. But really they're just a bunch of ordinary lads who want to be loved. ...
Katie Melua: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 December 2006
"JEFF BUCKLEY USED TO SING THIS SONG," says an earnest KatieMelua, crouched over her acoustic guitar. "It's called 'Lilac Wine'." As she begins to croon ...
The Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers: Bad news boys
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 8 December 2006
Tattoos, drugs, beatings, stalkers, prison, betrayal and years of making great music — could Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan be any more rock'n'roll? They talk ...
Randy Crawford: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 12 December 2006
I'VE ALWAYS HAD A SOFT SPOT for Randy Crawford. Ever since I caught her eye backstage at a recording of Top of the Pops and ...
Dion: "I saw the devil himself"
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 15 December 2006
He's been a doo-wop legend, a heroin addict, a protest singer and a Phil Spector protege: now Dion's a Grammy-nominated bluesman. Andrew Purcell met him ...
Nas: Why The Grammys Have Ditched Rap
Comment by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 15 December 2006
RAP MUSIC, and the commotion, fur and bling that often accompanies its biggest stars, will be noticeably absent from the Grammy awards in Los Angeles ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Richard Williams, The Guardian, 16 December 2006
A mogul who nurtured the careers of stars such as Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 December 2006
YOU DON'T NEED to know a thing about London's dubstep scene to find this cryptic debut the most mesmerising electronic album of the year. ...
Cold War KIds: New Band of The Week: Cold War Kids
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 9 January 2007
The best new band in America, according to NME, these Los Angeles blog-buzz boys sing about robbers, rapists and religion. ...
Deicide: Music Box, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 January 2007
FLORIDA MAY be the Sunshine State but it is forever shrouded in darkness as home to the world's leading proponents of satanic death metal. Deicide ...
The Hours: Back From The Brink
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 12 January 2007
The Hours have been through drugs, death and abandonment. But adversity has turned them into Britain's most powerful new band. Dave Simpson caught up with ...
Robyn: New band of the week — Robyn
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 January 2007
The Manga Missy Elliott from Sweden. ...
Kaiser Chiefs: Back to the Future in Kaiserworld?
Comment by John Harris, The Guardian, 19 January 2007
The backlash has begun for the Kaiser Chiefs, and their new song has no 'la la las'. But there's still a strong case for cheering ...
How To Beat The Difficult Second Album Syndrome
Comment by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 26 January 2007
SOPHOMORE SLUMP Or Comeback Of The Year? asked Fall Out Boy in a brilliantly prescient track on their 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree, ...
David Byrne: Imelda – The Nightclub Years
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 29 January 2007
DAVID BYRNE KEEPS a small black diary on his bookcase, with 'DB – Idears' written on the spine in gold ink. Without rifling through its ...
Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Blew My Cover: Pete Seeger
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 1 February 2007
ON THE FIRST Friday of the month, in fine weather and sometimes foul, you will find Pete Seeger, the folk-singing legend and pioneering environmentalist, in ...
Bloc Party: A Weekend in the City
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 2 February 2007
BLOC PARTY'S second album begins like an episode of Panorama, full of frowning portent and ambition to say something about The State of Britain Today. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 February 2007
"THE BIGGEST MIDGET IN THE GAME," all 5ft 1in of her, is no longer the gauche grime-girl from Wembley. Dropping in for one UK show ...
Arcade Fire: Why the Arcade Fire are molten hot
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 20 February 2007
Two weeks until Neon Bible hits the shops and the hype has hit Arctic Monkeys levels. But where are the sceptical critics to keep the ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 February 2007
GHOSTS ARE LIVING PROOF of the old adage about the tortoise and the hare. The bandmates' long and bewilderingly dubious past includes soft rock, Britpop ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 23 February 2007
Deep in Texas lies a town where everyone is a musician. So what's its secret? Jude Rogers tours Denton with its hottest property, Midlake, and ...
Wynton Marsalis: Shock of the New
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 2 March 2007
Wynton Marsalis almost explodes with rage when he talks about hip-hop. So why has the jazz stalwart recorded a track on which he breaks into ...
LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 9 March 2007
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM'S James Murphy is chiefly regarded as a man with a gargantuan record collection. ...
Nico: From the Velvets to the void
Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 16 March 2007
Nico was the original model/actor/singer. Unlike her successors she was absurdly talented, but she was also a violent racist, with an awful darkness at her ...
Pentangle: Britain's Grateful Dead
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Guardian, 16 March 2007
Folk pioneers Pentangle recently played together for the first time in 30 years. This is the perfect time for them to reform for good, says ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 March 2007
IT IS A TRIBUTE to Conor Oberst's force of personality that the name Bright Eyes is now associated with him rather than with the rabbit-eulogising ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 March 2007
KATE NASH could not be more "now" if she had been invented by MySpace geneticists. Her vintage dresses, breathless blog and peevish tunes are so ...
Cajun Dance Party: New Band Of The Day: Cajun Dance Party
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 29 March 2007
EACH DAY, Paul Lester puts on his hardhat and lowers himself into the mine shaft of modern music seeking sonic gold. Today, he emerges with ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 April 2007
RAZORLIGHT'S MOTORMOUTH FRONTMAN Johnny Borrell grabs the headlines, but the band's unsung hero is drummer and co-songwriter Andy Burrows. It's no coincidence that since he ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 April 2007
RECENT YEARS have not been kind to the 1990s megaclub generation. However, despite frequently threatening retirement, London-based collective Faithless have proved as difficult to shift ...
Laura Veirs: Manchester University
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 April 2007
"WE HOPE YOU LIKE our embroidered outfits," begins Laura Veirs. "We went that extra mile." She is referring to her floral dress and the suits ...
The Plastic People Of The Universe: Egon Bondy, 1930-2007
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 20 April 2007
Dissident Czech writer and lyricist for Plastic People of the Universe ...
Madeleine Peyroux: 'It's OK To Be Dark'
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 April 2007
Madeleine Peyroux made it big with intense reworkings of other people's tunes. Isn't it time she struck out alone? ...
Bob Dylan, King Crimson: Ian Wallace, 1946-2007
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 27 April 2007
Drummer with King Crimson and Bob Dylan ...
Review by John Harris, The Guardian, 27 April 2007
THE SEA AND CAKE have made a "rock album", It sounded like a bad idea — but by the end of the last track, only ...
Justin Timberlake: Arena, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 30 April 2007
LATELY, pop has been dominated by guerrilla gigs and scruffily clad bands — but no one told Justin Timberlake. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 11 May 2007
SHE STUDIED HARD, likes to stay in — and used to be such a stiff dancer people laughed at her. So how did Amerie become ...
The Watersons: "Feeling part of a dynasty in musical terms is a great feeling"
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Guardian, 12 May 2007
Author's note: The Guardian chopped this in half. It's better at full length – but then I would say that. This is the full-length one. ...
Von Südenfed: Tromatic Reflexxions
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 18 May 2007
Mark E Smith recently described his first encounter with LCD Soundsystem's Fall-influenced 'Losing My Edge'. "This sounds exactly like me," he told a hapless shop ...
The Fall, Mouse On Mars, Von Südenfed: Von Südenfed: Tromatic Reflexxions
Review by Ben Thompson, The Guardian, 20 May 2007
THE NAME VON SÜDENFED suggests a German First World War flying ace who went on to build a global pharmaceutical dynasty around a popular headache remedy. ...
William Orbit: 'People Will See My Heart And Soul'
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 23 May 2007
POP MUSIC has been good to William Orbit. Two decades at the top of his game as one of dance music's leading producers and remixers ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 May 2007
TALK ABOUT ADVANCE WARNING — the first three songs of their set are called 'Bones', 'Bullets' and 'Blood', so nobody can claim to be surprised ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 June 2007
Calvin Harris had a solid career in fruit and veg to look forward to. Then the charts, fame and Kylie Minogue got in the way. ...
Elvis Perkins: All About My Mother: Elvis Perkins
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 June 2007
Elvis Perkins tells Caroline Sullivan how the tragic deaths of his famous parents have shaped his melancholy pop. ...
Roky Erickson: The Man Who Went Too High: Roky Erickson
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 8 June 2007
THE MOST IMPROBABLE of rock comebacks began on the night of March 19, 2005 at an Austin, Texas restaurant called Threadgill's. Every year, the eatery ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 June 2007
THINGS HAVE COME to a pretty pass when the Feeling are influential enough to have spawned a genre of their own. ...
John Cale, LCD Soundsystem: John Cale meets LCD Soundsystem
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 15 June 2007
They are both stars of New York's music scene – pioneers of the coolest pop, separated by 30 years. James Murphy and John Cale get ...
Destiny's Child, Kelly Rowland: Kelly Rowland: Destiny Fulfilled
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 15 June 2007
Kelly Rowland reassures Angus Batey that, despite the all the conspiracy theories, she has not had a phantom baby, her new album isn't bitter about ...
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 15 June 2007
"WHEN I FELT like I needed profanity, I used profanity," Swamp Dogg begins. And as he cheerfully swears his way through his 50 years in ...
John Legend: Soul Food For Thought
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 20 June 2007
Feted by everyone from Kanye West to Paul McCartney, John Legend could easily rest on his laurels. But the cerebral singer/producer tells Angus Batey he's ...
Scouting for Girls: New band of the week: Scouting For Girls
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 June 2007
EVERY DAY, scoutmaster Paul Lester is out on campsites, chopping wood and erecting tents in the name of musical exploration. Today, he teaches three men ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 June 2007
JOINING EDITORS backstage at a gig in Amsterdam, Dave Simpson tries to solve the riddle of the band's songs: how can misery sound this good? ...
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 29 June 2007
THIS AFTERNOON I will meet Ornette Coleman, the world's greatest living jazz musician. Coleman is an iconoclast's iconoclast, Lou Reed's hero, a saxophonist who plays ...
Al Green: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 June 2007
AL GREEN IS the last of the American southern soul giants of the 1960s and 70s, a survivor where Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Sam ...
Talib Kweli: Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 9 July 2007
IF THERE ARE TO BE WINNERS AND LOSERS in what has become hip-hop's year of living introspectively, it would be difficult to think of a ...
The Go! Team: Elektrowerkz, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 July 2007
"IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK IN LONDON," says Ninja, the Go! Team's pocket dynamo frontwoman. "We've just been playing in China, so it's nice to ...
Steely Dan: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 10 July 2007
"HI YA KIDS," says Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, "we're going to play songs from the recent past, and going back to the deep 70s...if you ...
Elvis Perkins: New band of the week: Elvis Perkins
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 11 July 2007
WHO HAS PAUL LESTER dug up for us today? Why the singer-songwriter son of a psycho... No, The Psycho. ...
Sean Kingston: New band of the week: Sean Kingston
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 July 2007
Every day, that slippery Paul Lester is just one musical step ahead of you. Today, he introduces a fellow whose sugary reggae with a sour ...
The Boys Next Door, Radio Birdman, The Saints, The Scientists: Come the Revolution: Oz punk
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 20 July 2007
You thought punks in the UK had things to be angry about? Over in Australia, bands had a real fight on their hands, says Keith ...
Essay by John Harris, The Guardian, 20 July 2007
With lyrics like "Hotch-potch, hugger-mugger, bow-wow, hari-kiri, hoo-poo", how could anyone forget late '70s punk outfit LiLiPUT? ...
Chapterhouse, Moose, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive: Diamond Gazers: Shoegaze
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 July 2007
AT THE START of summer 2007 a supple, shimmery thread started darning itself through a long line of euphoric-sounding albums. From Maps to Blonde Redhead, ...
Fairport Convention: "There was a manic feeling in the air"
Retrospective and Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 3 August 2007
In 1969, reeling from the shock of a tragic car crash, Fairport Convention recorded an album that would change British folk for ever. John Harris ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 August 2007
Her mum was a heroin addict. Her dad kidnapped her from a foster home. But she conquered the chaos — and is now hitting the ...
Grant-Lee Phillips: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 August 2007
THE CALIFORNIA SONGWRITER who shares his first name with America's two main civil war generals is anything but combative. Given to gentle jokes mid-performance, the ...
Review by Mike Barnes, The Guardian, 12 August 2007
LIARS VOCALIST AND GUITARIST Angus Andrew reckons that this is the first album on which he has felt like a proper songwriter and admits he ...
Obituary by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 13 August 2007
Record label boss and broadcaster with twin passions: music and Manchester. ...
Robert Glasper: "I'd like Wynton to listen to my iPod"
Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 17 August 2007
Jazz may be pianist Robert Glasper's first love, but hip-hop deserves equal respect, he tells John Lewis ...
Frankmusik: New band of the week: Frankmusik
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 August 2007
Today, Paul Lester introduces a former beatboxer reborn as a bleeptastic alien. He's Mika on acid ...
Rilo Kiley: Academy 3, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 August 2007
TO WALK INTO A RILO KILEY GIG is to aurally enter a world of dangerous or illicit sex. Their song 'Smoke Detector' contains lines about ...
Scouting for Girls: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 August 2007
IF SCOUTING FOR GIRLS turn out to be notable for nothing else, they have at least saved the name Roy from extinction. But Roy Stride, ...
Sean Kingston: Instant Messenger
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 31 August 2007
Three months ago, no one had heard of Sean Kingston. Now he has a No 1 single and a MOBO nomination – all thanks to ...
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 31 August 2007
Confusing, tough and above all, exciting — that's how Go! Team want to sound. Dorian Lynskey puts the masters of sass to the test. ...
Ida Maria: New band of the week: Ida Maria
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 5 September 2007
PAUL LESTER introduces a band that sounds like a Sugarcubed Strokes or a less fluffy Cardigans. ...
Dizzee Rascal, The Klaxons, Amy Winehouse: The Mercury Prize: The agony and the ecstasy
Report by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 6 September 2007
How can you possibly choose just one winner from 233 albums? Mercury prize panellist Jude Rogers lifts the lid on the judging for the music ...
Kanye West: Graduation (Def Jam/Mercury) ****
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 7 September 2007
WHATEVER YOU THINK of Kanye West — genius, prat, prattish genius — chances are he has thought it first. ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 7 September 2007
Scissor Sister Ana Matronic idolises Siouxsie – so we brought the two together to discuss punks, parents and the male ego. By Caroline Sullivan ...
KT Tunstall: Wilton's Music Hall, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 12 September 2007
KATE TUNSTALL uses her initials for the same reason Joanne Rowling became JK — she thought a female name would generate preconceptions. Her music also ...
N-Dubz: New band of the week: N-Dubz
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 13 September 2007
TODAY, PAUL LESTER INTRODUCES a bunch of hoodies with harmony who not only David Cameron will want to wrap his arms around and squeeze. ...
Foo Fighters: "I've never gotten off on chaos"
Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 14 September 2007
FOO FIGHTER Dave Grohl talks to Keith Cameron about what kept him alive and kicking after the death of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. ...
Erasure: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 September 2007
THE UK TOUR that ended with this Albert Hall show saw Erasure touch down in Preston and Grimsby – towns at the bottom of most ...
PJ Harvey: Songs of innocence and experience
Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 28 September 2007
PJ Harvey sings like a child on her new, stripped-down album, but it's full of grim subject matter. John Harris hears how the elusive singer-songwriter ...
Joanna Newsom/Roy Harper/The Moore Brothers: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 October 2007
"CAN I GET the house lights on for a second?" Joanna Newsom rocks her harp on her heels, peers through her cameraphone at the raucous ...
Ani DiFranco: Bush Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 8 October 2007
ANI DIFRANCO MAY HAVE EMERGED in the grunge era but she is no slacker. Rejecting all major label blandishments, the politicised US singer-songwriter has self-released ...
James Brown, Bobby Byrd: Bobby Byrd, 1934-2007
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 9 October 2007
James Brown's right-hand man for 20 years ...
Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt: Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt
Retrospective and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 24 October 2007
"I COULD HARDLY recognise him at first," says Kevin Ayers. "But there, under that great beard, was Robert and he hadn't changed a bit." The ...
Roots Manuva: The war on jiggification
Report and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 26 October 2007
Stevie Chick on how UK hip-hop got its groove ...
Mötley Crüe: Ban this Sixx filth!
Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 October 2007
Thought Mötley Crüe's biog The Dirt was the ultimate rock read? Pah! Ian Gittins helped bassist Nikki Sixx write his gruesome journals. Those of a ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 3 November 2007
ROBYN’S WEBSITE makes the contentious claim that the Swedish singer is the "most killingest pop star on the planet", which will be news to, say, ...
Super Furry Animals: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 6 November 2007
THERE IS A theory tumbling around that the Super Furry Animals are the Welsh Beatles. ...
Maroon 5: The Band They Hate To Love
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 16 November 2007
They've sold 2m albums in the UK, 10m in the US. But they can't get a good review. Angus Batey goes backstage with Maroon 5, ...
Thom Bell, Blue Magic, The Delfonics, The Stylistics: Symphonic Soul: "You get more bees with honey"
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 16 November 2007
Take one soul ballad. Add a falsetto vocal, swooping strings, timpani and an oboe or two. That's symphonic soul. Paul Lester talks to the heroes ...
The Kissaway Trail: Roadhouse, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 November 2007
IF DANISH QUINTET the Kissaway Trail's live act were more like their tremendous eponymous debut album, there would be choirs and orchestras on stage. Swans ...
Amy Winehouse: Carling Academy, Newcastle
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 November 2007
FORTY-FIVE MINUTES after Amy Winehouse is due on stage, there is still no sign of the singer, which offers an opportunity to ponder the latest ...
(British) Sea Power: British Sea Power: Rock Needs To Get Back To Nature
Comment by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 20 November 2007
Cities have been done to death. More rock bands should take inspiration from countryside, mountains and rivers - like British Sea Power ...
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 November 2007
... and Lily, and Kate: there's a new star in town. Adele Adkins is only 19, but her voice has bewitched everyone from Jools Holland ...
George Pringle: The Social, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 November 2007
"JUST WAIT till my husband gets out of prison," sulks the skinny girl, poking a pinky into her mound of frothed hair. The audience titter ...
Jeff Beck: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 29 November 2007
IT IS DINNER time in Soho, but Ronnie's seems set for a fusion version of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. ...
Ida Maria: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 December 2007
IDA MARIA IS LIKE A CHILD in charge of a bucking bronco — the bronco being her unique voice. It's an ululating yelp speckled with ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 December 2007
CANSEI DE Ser Sexy (as they initially were until they gave in to the English-speaking world's lack of enthusiasm for other tongues) have already grasped ...
Crystal Castles: New Band of the Day: Crystal Castles
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 6 December 2007
Paul Lester hearts these darlings of the electronic underground, whose "songs" sound like a load of Gameboys going off all at once in your brain ...
Sia: King's College, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 December 2007
A GOOD HALF-DOZEN VOCALISTS have passed through the career-development lab that is Zero 7 (the dance act also known as producers of soft-furnishings pop to ...
James Taylor: "I used to check my bumpers for blood"
Report and Interview by Paul Sexton, The Guardian, 20 December 2007
He sang sweet simple tunes with deeply felt narratives, but James Taylor's demons almost tore him apart. The thrice-married ex-drug addict tells Paul Sexton how ...
Patrick Wolf: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 December 2007
SOMEHOW, WHILE NOBODY WAS LOOKING, Patrick Wolf has become a singular pop star. In his dreams, this gangly 24-year-old is a dazzling, chart-friendly hybrid of ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 2 January 2008
SOMETHING PECULIAR happened at the dawn of the 21st century: eccentric folk music of the late 1960s became covetable again. ...
Adele, Duffy: Adele and Duffy are products of the age of X Factor
Comment by John Aizlewood, The Guardian, 4 January 2008
You can thank Simon Cowell for the results of the BBC's The Sound of 2008 poll. ...
George Pringle: Hail, Hail, Rock'n'Roll: George Pringle
Essay by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 4 January 2008
I like my bus journey songs to have a narrative; 'cinematic mini-epics' as George Pringle might put it. Music for dreamers and loners ...
Adele, Duffy, Laura Marling: Adele, Duffy et al: This Year's Vintage
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 January 2008
Caroline Sullivan on 2008's big female voices ...
Carbon/Silicon: Inn on the Green, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 January 2008
IT IS HUGELY IRONIC that Mick Jones was fired from the Clash for "betraying the spirit of punk" as, three decades on, he has stayed ...
Amy Winehouse: How popular is crack?
Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 23 January 2008
FOOTAGE HAS emerged of the troubled songstress Amy Winehouse apparently smoking crack at her home in east London. The substance is widely regarded as the ...
Goldfrapp: Manure Rather Than Manicure
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 January 2008
After past glam excesses, Goldfrapp are turning to nature for inspiration. Jude Rogers heads for their country retreat and hears why they are English eccentrics ...
The Feeling, The Hoosiers, Scouting for Girls: Is radio whistling the right tunes?
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 January 2008
Things are changing on the airwaves. Caroline Sullivan finds Radio 1 ditching rock for "pop". ...
Laura Marling: "My songs are not pretty"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 4 February 2008
IN A RECENT POSTING on a music website, one of Laura Marling's growing army of fans described her output as "pretty folk songs about boys". ...
Adele, Duffy: Who's better – Duffy or Adele?
Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 4 February 2008
The national topic of conversation has shifted from speculating on the weather to a more pressing subject: the search for this year's Amy Winehouse. ...
Fleet Foxes: America's Next Great Band
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 11 February 2008
HOMETOWN: Xachua'Bsh, Washington.THE LINEUP: Robin Pecknold, Nicholas Peterson, Skyler Skjelset, Christian Wargo, Casey Wescott. ...
The Mountain Goats: John Darnielle — "I was a very pretentious young writer"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 15 February 2008
John Darnielle is an obsessive-compulsive who loves monsters, Black Sabbath and the word Wyoming — and he's also one of America's best lyricists. ...
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 February 2008
"THERE'S A LOVELY Welsh word, cynefin, which means 'habitat'. It's the idea that there are factors in your environment that have an influence on you ...
Crystal Castles: Astoria 2, London ***
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 18 February 2008
TORONTO DUO Crystal Castles appear intent on being the most cryptic band imaginable. Eschewing interviews and declining to divulge their ages, producer/keyboardist Ethan Kath and ...
MGMT: "We want to scare the squares"
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 February 2008
MGMT make "future '70s" music, want to be produced by Barack Obama and have played gigs as giant snowmen. Confused? You should be, says Dave ...
The Zombies: Album of the Living Dead: How the Zombies made Odessey & Oracle
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 February 2008
The Zombies recorded their last album in 1967, released it with a spelling mistake on the cover, then split up. But Odessey & Oracle has ...
Realistic Crew, Suhancos: "This is Hungary - we don't have stars": Realistic Crew and Suhancos
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 29 February 2008
Hungarian hip-hop has been going strong since 1984, and its musicians are keen to be recognised globally. The problem: they're just not Hungarian enough. Angus ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 February 2008
Rock drummer who graced the stage with Hendrix in his heyday ...
Bon Iver: Hail, Hail, Rock'n'Roll: Bon Iver
Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 29 February 2008
IF WE HAVE spoken in the past couple of weeks, I apologise. If you have poured out your heart and found me blank-faced, if you ...
Jane Birkin: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 March 2008
A CAREER as a muse comes with no promise of great longevity, yet 17 years to the weekend after the death of her infamous artistic ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 March 2008
ROCHDALE'S SEAN BOOTH AND ROB BROWN have become leading practitioners of what has been tagged "intelligent dance music", a term synonymous with former ravers who ...
Nickelback: My five-year feud with Nickelback
Essay by Ian Winwood, The Guardian, 5 March 2008
The band sent me flowers for my funeral, then challenged me to a fight. None of it caused me as much pain as their music. ...
MGMT: Oracular Spectacular (Sony BMG)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 7 March 2008
THIS IS THE first great pop record of the year, a fizzing cherry-bomb that sparkles with energy, ideas and a huge love for music in ...
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 14 March 2008
AS GIRLS GROWING UP IN OHIO, Kim and Kelley Deal weren't expected to do anything more musical than shake a tambourine. The duo tell Stevie ...
DeVotchKa: A Mad and Faithful Telling
Review by Charlie Gillett, The Guardian, 16 March 2008
Passion, desperation and a nifty accordion. Charlie Gillett reckons he's found something very special indeed ...
Jack White, The Raconteurs: Jacks White: Is Jack White Trying To Kill Music Journalism?
Comment by David Bennun, The Guardian, 18 March 2008
The new Raconteurs album is to be released without pre-publicity. Is this a gesture of fairness to the fans, or an attempt to silence the ...
Panic! At the Disco: University, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 March 2008
THE RED-HAIRED GIRL AT THE BAR is having a crisis: she has been declared too young to buy alcohol and furiously hurls an apparently bogus ...
Terry Callier: The Jazz Cafe, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 March 2008
ABOUT 40 MINUTES into this riveting performance, Terry Callier cuts to the chase. "We've talked about so much stuff now," he says with a shrug, ...
The Clash, Mikey Dread: Mikey Dread, 1954-2008
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 25 March 2008
A pioneering reggae artist and broadcaster, he worked with the Clash and UB40 ...
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 27 March 2008
Co-owner of L.A.'s Whisky a Go Go venue ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 28 March 2008
"I FIGHT BACK!" a grinning Alec Empire blurts, explaining why his iPod contains only three albums (by John Coltrane and Stockhausen) but has been filled ...
Kristin Hersh: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 March 2008
KRISTIN HERSH HAD A TRAUMATIC 1980S. She formed a band, US indie-rock icons Throwing Muses, when she was just 14, and thereafter had to deal ...
The Black Keys: Attack and Release
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 28 March 2008
IN THE SHADOW cast by the mighty White Stripes, blues-rock often lumbers between despair and excess. ...
The Kooks: Kooks: "I am a hit machine ... I just roll 'em out!"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 4 April 2008
Skinny jeans and catchy hooks have made the Kooks a "priority act" in the post-boyband world. Sophie Heawood follows them to Japan to find out ...
Adam Green, The Moldy Peaches: Adam Green: The Park Bench Balladeer
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 10 April 2008
Adam Green's music, featured in the movie Juno, has brought him fame. That's fine, he tells Laura Barton, but he'd rather be at home eating ...
Mumford & Sons: New Band Of The week: Mumford & Sons
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 14 April 2008
THESE LONDON-BASED LOVERS of folky Americana sound like Coldplay reincarnated as hillbillies. Apparently this is a good thing. ...
The Fratellis: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 April 2008
SECURE IN HIS STANDING as one of rock's greats, the Who singer Roger Daltrey, organiser of the annual week of Teenage Cancer Trust gigs, was ...
Death Cab For Cutie: Platinum unknowns
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 18 April 2008
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE may be the biggest-selling band that nobody recognises — even at their own gigs. Stevie Chick meets them. ...
The Long Blondes: Forum, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 April 2008
WINNING THE NME RADAR award for best new band in 2006 wasn't quite the turning point Sheffield's Long Blondes were entitled to expect. Their first ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 April 2008
PORTISHEAD'S THIRD album is initially more a record to admire than to love, its muscular synthesisers, drum breaks and abrupt endings keeping the tension high. ...
The Roots: It's Like A Jungle Sometimes...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 25 April 2008
They are a hip-hop purist's dream, constantly touring and constantly praised. But behind the scenes, the Roots have a fight on their hands. Angus Batey ...
Was (Not Was): Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 May 2008
IT'S CLOSE ON 20 years since Was (Not Was) last played in the UK, and Don Was is feeling nostalgic. "Is anybody here old enough ...
Howlin Rain — Did the earth move for you?
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 2 May 2008
THE PATRONAGE OF RICK RUBIN is considered a Very Big Deal within the US music industry. Aged 21, in 1984, this white heavy rock fan ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 May 2008
BANDS GENERALLY BREAK UP then reform some years later to trot out the hits to fill up their pension funds, but Wire have never played ...
Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 12 May 2008
Madonna demands 25 cases of Kabbalah water backstage at her gigs, not to mention 12 dozen boxes of strawberries and Yorkshire tea. But what absurd ...
Rain Parade: Remembering the Rain Parade
Retrospective by Alan McGee, The Guardian, 12 May 2008
JUST RECENTLY I've been taken back to the Paisley Underground scene of the early '80s and a band whose music still speaks to me today. ...
Girls Aloud: Brighton Centre ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 May 2008
GIRLS ALOUD long ago ceased to be a guilty pleasure, and are now just a pleasure. It defies the laws of reality TV that they're ...
Essay by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 May 2008
THE HYPING OF HER FIRST RECORD seemed a step too far. Can a new album restore this singer's popularity? ...
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 23 May 2008
HEARTBREAK OFTEN buckles sad records, turning sentimental confessions into whiny navel-gazing exercises. So thank heaven for Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who avoids this problem beautifully. ...
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 23 May 2008
A QUIET LEGEND before he was even out of his teens, Steve Winwood is one of a handful of musicians who shaped the way rock ...
Rihanna: Sweetness and Steel: Rihanna
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 23 May 2008
ON A HOT spring day, inside a large, airy studio in the town of Castaic, California, a group of men and women are watching paint ...
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 May 2008
Jason Pierce of Spiritualized gives Ian Gittins his perfect pop prescription ...
Kiss: Overblown, Overpaid And Over Here
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 May 2008
For the headliners of Download heavy metal festival, there are millions to be made, fans to ogle (and sometimes sleep with), and platform boots to ...
Dirty Pretty Things: Astoria, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 31 May 2008
EVER SINCE THE Libertines split in 2004, Carl Barât has been regarded as the more responsible of their two co-vocalists. ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 June 2008
American pioneer of rock'n'roll who influenced the Beatles and the Rolling Stones ...
Yellow Magic Orchestra: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 June 2008
JAPAN, the home of technology, was naturally going to produce its own Kraftwerk. We just never imagined Yellow Magic Orchestra, the original cyberpunks, would age ...
Cashier No 9: New band of the week: Cashier No 9
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 24 June 2008
Under the harsh glare of the spotlight today are a Belfast band who sound so 'baggy' their songs come with a free pair of Joe ...
The Fratellis: "We don't want to be a pop band"
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 June 2008
IT'S LATE AFTERNOON outside Amsterdam's Paradiso club, and the small group of teenagers hanging around on the steps have just seen something to get excited ...
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 11 July 2008
"I'LL BE HONEST with you, and I'll be honest with your paper," sighs Robert Diggs, managing to sound both emphatic and resigned at the same ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Guardian, 13 July 2008
ALL THE GREAT British writer/producers of the past two decades have found their own trademark equilibrium between guest vocals and backing tracks. ...
Wu-Tang Clan: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 17 July 2008
THE MOMENT WHERE IT ALL CLICKS INTO PLACE for the Wu-Tang Clan comes about halfway through their rambunctious, chaotic and uncommonly exciting 70 minutes on ...
Ne-Yo: 'Do I Have To Sell My Soul?'
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 18 July 2008
He's an R&B singer, and songwriter to the stars. But when the music stops, Ne-Yo vanishes from the spotlight. He tells Angus Batey why that's ...
My Morning Jacket: The Forum, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 July 2008
KENTUCKY'S MY MORNING JACKET used to be the adventurous alt.country cousins of Flaming Lips and Wilco, making music as dusty and wild as their beards. ...
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 22 July 2008
DEVOTCHKA, an American four-piece fronted by exuberant singer-guitarist Nick Urata, play what might best be described as "indie-world", or "Slavic punk". Their sepia website plays ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 July 2008
The biggest-selling artist in Britain this year? That would be Wales' Aimee Duffy, sales of whose Rockferry album passed the million mark a few weeks ...
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 25 July 2008
Musician and producer whose tastes covered folk, jazz and rock ...
Hot Chip, Todd Rundgren: Hot Chip/Todd Rundgren: That's one potent hot toddy
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 25 July 2008
Hot Chip gave Todd Rundgren his first hit in 35 years. Rundgren talks to the band's Alexis Taylor - and almost causes an international incident. ...
Katy Perry: On Music: Katy Perry — Voice of No Angel
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 August 2008
IT'S BEEN quite a week for sex, music and me. Take last weekend. There I was at the Big Chill festival, hot-browed and clammy-palmed, watching ...
Hank Williams: Don Helms, 1927-2008
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 26 August 2008
Steel guitarist who backed Hank Williams ...
Metallica: "Why hasn't anyone dethroned us yet?"
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 5 September 2008
FIVE YEARS AFTER the critical and commercial disaster of St Anger, they're back to save metal — and save themselves in the process. Stevie Chick ...
Keane: On Music: Keane – A Successful Turnaround
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 September 2008
Keane are no longer soundtrack material for middle-class tantrums. They now have the sound of a band turning their frowns upside down ...
Ladyhawke: Asperger's, allergies and aubergines
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 11 September 2008
Adored by Courtney and loved by Kylie, Ladyhawke is no ordinary pop star. The '80s throwback tells Paul Lester how music got her through a ...
Katy Perry: Water Rats, London **
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 September 2008
KATY PERRY has found the best way to ensure her debut UK gig is a sellout. Although she has had the No. 1 single for ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 September 2008
Keyboard player and founder member of Pink Floyd ...
Kimya Dawson: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 17 September 2008
KIMYA DAWSON has always traded in the infantile, and never more than now. The former Moldy Peaches singer, whose solo material tends towards the coy ...
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 18 September 2008
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons helped Run DMC, Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys make it big. But is his greatest talent self-promotion? Angus Batey meets ...
Katy Perry: One Of The Boys ** (Capitol)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 19 September 2008
IS THERE NOTHING lipstick lesbianism can't do for a 23-year-old former gospel singer? ...
Mercury Rev: "Let's try to corral this wild horse, fellas"
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Guardian, 19 September 2008
After years of chaos and in-fighting, Mercury Rev are back on track. They tell Mike Barnes how they reinvented their music — and themselves ...
Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr, The Temptations, The Undisputed Truth: Norman Whitfield, 1941-2008
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 19 September 2008
He co-wrote and produced some of Motown's greatest hits ...
Mercury Rev: Snowflake Midnight
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 26 September 2008
TEN YEARS after Deserter's Songs became a gorgeous Americana classic, Mercury Rev have made another masterpiece. ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 26 September 2008
1950s blues and R&B singer resurgent in the 80s and last year. ...
Natalie Cole: The Unforgettable Ms Cole
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 26 September 2008
Natalie Cole is the superstar's daughter who became a Black Panther, a cocaine addict – and a huge success in her own right. As she ...
50 Cent: From The Firing Line To The Firing Range
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 1 October 2008
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is in a strangely revealing mood as he discusses working with De Niro and Pacino, how getting shot harmed his record ...
Delphic: New band of the week — Delphic
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 1 October 2008
Delphic could be the best new band in Manchester, as they evoke the spirit of its Hacienda days in a forward-thinking, indie-rave type way. Are ...
Aswad, Jah Shaka: Franco Rosso's Babylon
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, The Guardian, 4 October 2008
Kieron Tyler celebrates that rare thing – a British movie about reggae ...
Kaiser Chiefs: Off With Their Heads
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 October 2008
THIS SUMMER, Mark Ronson brightly told us that Kaiser Chiefs' new album, their third in four years and the first on his watch, sounded like ...
Estelle: The Guardian profile: Estelle Swaray
Profile by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 17 October 2008
Mobo win is vindication for singer who had to move to US to find success. ...
The Dears: Porchester Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 October 2008
A WEST LONDON HALL that advertises itself as the ideal spot for weddings and birthday parties is a perverse place to find the Dears, a ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 October 2008
JENNY LEWIS IS A MISTRESS OF REINVENTION. Originally a child actor, with a string of bit-part roles in Roseanne, Baywatch and The Golden Girls, she ...
Fall Out Boy: Chemical Brothers
Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 24 October 2008
Fall Out Boy are the pin-ups of choice for an over-medicated, emo generation. But as election day approaches in the US, the band tell Stevie ...
Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., Hank Williams III: Go your own way: Hank Williams and his progeny
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 October 2008
Hank Williams changed the face of country music. How can his descendants live up to that? Angus Batey finds out. ...
Kaiser Chiefs: The Forum, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 October 2008
IN 2005, Kaiser Chiefs squeezed into a pop scene that was fixated on arch art-rockers. Today, the band are a neo-Britpop fixture, seemingly sent to ...
Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead, Merl Saunders: Merl Saunders, 1934-2008
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 27 October 2008
Keyboard wizard who often worked with Jerry Garcia, with or without the Grateful Dead ...
The Temptations: The Band That Took Motown Higher
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 31 October 2008
FORTY YEARS ago this month, the Temptations released a single that would change the face of Motown. Martin Luther King Jr had been gunned down ...
The Mothers Of Invention: Jimmy Carl Black, 1938-2008
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 4 November 2008
Drummer and sometimes lead vocalist who worked with Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart ...
Howe Gelb, Giant Sand: Howe Gelb: Enter Sandman
Interview by Everett True, The Guardian, 5 November 2008
"GIANT SAND is a mood," remarks singer Howe Gelb on the back of my promo copy of the new Giant Sand album, proVISIONS — what ...
The Killers: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 November 2008
THE KILLERS have sold 12m albums worldwide yet still find themselves at a crossroads. ...
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 7 November 2008
ERIK DARLING, who has died of lymphoma aged 74, led a rich and varied life in folk music and straddled many of the genre's definitions. ...
Herbie Hancock: Herbie Rides Again
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 7 November 2008
He has enjoyed electro, pop and funk incarnations but, as Herbie Hancock tells Andrew Purcell, it's all about playing one right note ...
Hot Chip: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 November 2008
"WELCOME TO the Hot Chip show," shouts guitarist Al Doyle, as if priming the crowd for a Vegas cabaret act rather than five Londoners whose ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 November 2008
REMEMBER THE days when boy bands were 10 a penny and schoolgirls would wage war over whether Take That or East 17 were more luscious? ...
Fleet Foxes: Why Is Our Radical Folk Heritage Ignored?
Comment by Luke Turner, The Guardian, 14 November 2008
Modern British music is so in thrall to Americana that our own treasure trove of radical traditional folk is in danger of being forgotten ...
The Big Pink: New band of the week: The Big Pink
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 November 2008
Today's bright young things take their name from The Band, and their inspiration from the early '90s. ...
The Big Pink: New Band Of The Week: The Big Pink
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 November 2008
TODAY'S BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS take their name from the Band, and their inspiration from the early 90s. ...
La Roux: New Band of the Day: La Roux
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 19 November 2008
Make no mistake, today's new artist is a solo female synth star in waiting. ...
Shontelle: New band of the week: Shontelle
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 November 2008
Today's new artist was once an army cadet forced to give Rihanna punishment push-ups for being late. Lucky old tarmac, eh? ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 November 2008
DIZZEE RASCAL, who in 2003 carried off the Mercury music prize, recently told Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman he was thinking of running for prime minister. He seems ...
Ryan Adams: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 November 2008
DESPITE WHAT Ryan Adams tells us tonight, it wasn't true that this was the first time he had ever played London "without being chemically challenged". ...
Live Music: Is This The End Of The Road?
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 November 2008
Gigs have been shoring up the ailing music industry – but they're not as popular as they once were. Caroline Sullivan reports on growing anxiety ...
Taio Cruz: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 December 2008
TAIO CRUZ HAS BEEN DESCRIBED as a British cross between Timbaland and John Legend — "British" being the operative word. A privately educated Londoner, Cruz ...
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Christmas wishes from Canada's psychic singer-songwriter
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 December 2008
DOWN THE WIRES from Canada comes Mary Margaret O'Hara, her voice as devastatingly delicate as shattering glass. ...
ABC, Heaven 17, The Human League: ABC/Human League/Heaven 17: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 10 December 2008
THERE ARE QUEUES around the building for the Sheffield groups who brought electro-funk (Heaven 17), orchestral disco (ABC) and synth pop (the Human League) to ...
Lady Gaga, La Roux: Slaves To Synth
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 December 2008
The male guitar band is dead. The future is electro, female, DIY – and very in your face. Caroline Sullivan talks to the solo acts ...
The Monochrome Set: Remembering the Band that History Forgot
Retrospective by John Robb, The Guardian, 9 January 2009
THERE HAVEN'T been many bands like the Monochrome Set. They should have been absolutely massive, but instead were sidelined by their post-punk peers and were ...
Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga: On Music: Lady GaGa and Florence Welch
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 16 January 2009
Lady GaGa and Florence Welch have been hailed as the new queens of pop. But why pretend they're anything more than cheap imitations? ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 18 January 2009
ON THEIR eponymous 2004 outing, Franz knew exactly what they wanted to do and they executed it to perfection. They conjured something fresh from Orange ...
Franz Ferdinand: Heaven, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 January 2009
FRANZ FERDINAND are back, but their advance publicity has been distinctly misleading. ...
David Bowie, The Rolling Stones: Guy Peellaert, 1934-2008
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 29 January 2009
Belgian artist most famous for his rock dreamscapes ...
Buddy Holly: The Angel with the Devil's Music: Buddy Holly
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 30 January 2009
Fifty years ago, Buddy Holly's life was sadly cut short. Richard Williams salutes the clean-cut 22-year-old who came to Britain and showed a whole generation ...
How The Fanzine Refused To Die
Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 2 February 2009
Blogs are the cheapest, fastest and easiest way to get your music writing out there — but that hasn't stopped a new generation of writers picking ...
Hudson Mohawke: New band of the week: Hudson Mohawke
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 2 February 2009
This 22-year-old Warp signing sounds like Crystal Castles holding a disco inside an early '80s Atari computer console with the entire crew of George Clinton's ...
Jacques Brel: Jacques The Lad: Jacques Brel
Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 6 February 2009
FIRST THINGS FIRST. Try to forget that Jacques Brel, the Belgian singer-songwriter, is indirectly responsible for Terry Jacks's 'Seasons in the Sun'. Forget also for ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 February 2009
Co-founder of the Cramps, exponents of trash culture and 'psychobilly' music ...
The Gaslight Anthem: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 February 2009
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM are doomed to be forever compared with Bruce Springsteen. Similarly hailing from New Jersey, this raw four-piece play muscular, taut rock'n'roll songs ...
Ellie Goulding: New Artist of the Day — Ellie Goulding
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 16 February 2009
THIS CURRENTLY UNSIGNED Welsh lass is a cross between a singer-songwriter and a synth-pop starlet. Is she another Kate Nash? A kooky British Lykke Li? ...
Secret Machines: Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 February 2009
IN AN IDEAL WORLD, the Secret Machines would be playing in a volcanic crater at Pompeii, or taking the stage in the Rocky Mountains as ...
The Ting Tings: The Day-Glo Duo: The Ting Tings
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 February 2009
"ALL I'VE BEEN thinking about," says Jules De Martino, the male half of the Ting Tings, seated in a swish Manchester restaurant, "is steak and ...
Single Vision: Fierce Panda Records
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 February 2009
THE NEW WAVE OF NEW WAVE was never really much cop. It was an early 1990s music press-concocted punk revival scene based around a handful ...
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: Grandmaster Flash: All Hands On Deck
Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 27 February 2009
They thought he was mad, they spat him off stage, he hit the drugs... But Grandmaster Flash gave 'DJ' a whole new meaning. Andrew Purcell ...
Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear: Grrrl Power
Retrospective and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 4 March 2009
The Riot Grrrl scene brought feminism to alternative rock in the '90s. Fifteen years on, the aftershocks are still making waves, says Laura Barton. ...
The Rev. Claude Jeter, The Swan Silvertones: Claude Jeter, 1914-2009
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 12 March 2009
CLAUDE JETER, who has died aged 94, pioneered the technique of falsetto singing in African American music, as leader of the gospel group the Swan ...
John Legend: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 March 2009
AS befits a singer who decided that his original surname, Stephens, didn't capture his essence, John Legend precedes his entrance with black-and-white footage of himself ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 March 2009
Alan Wendell Livingston, businessman, born 15 October 1917; died 13 March 2009 ...
Island Records: The Secret Of Its Success
Comment by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 23 March 2009
The legendary label, which celebrates its 50th birthday in May, managed in its heyday to achieve that rare feat: combining commercial success with artistic integrity ...
All Bands on Deck: Pirate Radio and The Boat That Rocked
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 27 March 2009
FOR A FEW WEEKS last spring, a corner of Shepperton Studios became the nerve centre of the fictional pirate station, Radio Rock. Mounted on a ...
Mastodon: Blood, Sweat and Beards: Mastodon
Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 27 March 2009
IN THE TWO DECADES and change since Metallica's landmark Master of Puppets album debuted, heavy metal has charted an ascendant course, from derided, marginalised and ...
Brian Eno, David Byrne: The Business is an Exciting Mess: Brian Eno and David Byrne
Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 27 March 2009
DAVID BYRNE IS sitting outside the ladies parlour, upstairs at the Tampa theatre, one of the most spectacular 1920s movie palaces in the US, in ...
Ray Parker Jr.: Who you gonna call? 118 118
Comment by Johnny Sharp, The Guardian, 4 April 2009
Ray Parker Jr is the latest ad/pop crossover. Johnny Sharp wants more ...
Diamanda Galás: "My performance is catharsis"
Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 April 2009
Death, disease, loss and exile — Diamanda Galás covers it all. Ian Gittins meets an extraordinary singer who is still fighting injustice ...
Jason Mraz: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 April 2009
WHILE THE WORLD has been going about its business, Jason Mraz has quietly sold 3.5m copies of his Grammy-nominated 2008 album, We Sing, We Dance, ...
The Bay City Rollers: Tam Paton
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 April 2009
Bay City Rollers manager who was mired in scandal ...
Jeffrey Lewis: The Neurotic from New York: Jeffrey Lewis
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 13 April 2009
A FEW YEARS AGO, Jeffrey Lewis wrote a song called 'Sal's Pizza Has Sold Out To The Yuppie Scum', complaining about the rising cost of ...
The Enemy: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 April 2009
ANYONE WHO THINKS "the kids" are an apathetic lot who would rather vegetate in front of their Xboxes than start a revolution should see the ...
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 April 2009
GIVEN THAT THE HOURS' SINGER Antony Genn lost much of his life (and dental work) to drug addiction, he's hardly going to let a setback ...
The Noisettes: "We've come to clean up the indie landfill"
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 17 April 2009
NOISETTES ARE in a TV studio just outside Paris – along with the Sugarhill Gang and singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. They are just some of the ...
Paloma Faith: New Band of the Week: Paloma Faith
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 April 2009
This former burlesque performer updates Amy Winehouse's tourch-song soul with a vampish, theatrical flair ...
Lady Sovereign: 5 Cavendish Square, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 April 2009
LADY SOVEREIGN operates on hip-hop time, so it's compulsory for her to be an hour late for this low-key comeback show, at — oddly enough ...
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 22 April 2009
GRIME IS THE NEW POP. The screams that greet support act Tinchy Stryder are shrill enough, but when N-Dubz bound on they're almost deafening. The ...
Girls Aloud: Sheffield Arena ***
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 April 2009
THE RECESSION does not appear to be affecting Girls Aloud, whose entrance involves pyrotechnics, hydraulic platforms and the whipping-off of glittering white ballgowns to reveal ...
The Barron Knights: Duke D'Mond, 1943-2009
Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 28 April 2009
Singer whose group's top 10 hits brought parody to 1960s pop ...
The Chills, The Clean: Nuns at the Altar of Rock: Flying Nun Records
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, May 2009
"THERE'S SOMETHING about the antipodes that irritates Britain," reckons Martin Phillipps, on the phone from Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island. Almost 25 years ago, ...
Jackie DeShannon: Return Of The Starry-Eyed Girl
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 May 2009
IT'S LUNCHTIME at Claridge's, and a glamorous blonde in sparkling stilettos shimmers out of the lift. No one bats an eyelid, but then she starts ...
The Horrors: Primary Colours (XL)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 1 May 2009
THEY LIVE! Left for dead after a hype overdose two years ago, Southend's ghost-train garage-rockers have risen again with a second album so daring and ...
Report and Interview by Pat Long, The Guardian, 2 May 2009
New wave oddballs Devo used to warn that consumerism was crumbling. Now they're back to say we told you so. Pat Long tips his funny ...
Taylor Swift: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 May 2009
COSY PLACES SUCH AS the Shepherd's Bush Empire can't figure much in Taylor Swift's schedule these days — the US's top-selling artist of 2008 must ...
Shontelle: "The army brought out my tough side — but I wanted to be fabulous"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 11 May 2009
WHEN SHONTELLE LAYNE got a call last year saying that her song 'Battle Cry' had been picked for Barack Obama's campaign album Yes We Can, ...
Local Natives: New band of the week — Local Natives
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 3 June 2009
ONE OF THIS YEAR'S SXSW hits, this "vocal group" are like Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes and Arcade Fire in one hairy package. ...
Robyn, Röyksopp: "There's This Idea That You're An Oddball, Far Up At The Top Of The World"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 June 2009
Love songs to robots, cement-mixer music, trios with houses on their shoulders… No wonder Scandinavian artists get noticed. Jude Rogers kicks off our Scandipop special ...
Ornette Coleman: Mister Anything Goes
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 10 June 2009
He's taken jazz where it has never gone before — playing with pipers, punks and divas. As Ornette Coleman arrives in Britain, Patti Smith, Moby ...
Faith No More at The Brixton Academy
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 June 2009
FAITH NO MORE's first gig in 11 years starts on a promisingly high note. A keyboard tinkles a lullaby melody, a spotlight picks out singer ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Guardian, 14 June 2009
THE GENRE that was once called "college rock" is currently drifting in a distinctly post-graduate direction. But for those who find 2009's US indie vanguard ...
Ornette Coleman, The Roots: The Roots with Ornette Coleman: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by John Lewis, The Guardian, 17 June 2009
IT SEEMS fitting that Philadelphia hip-hoppers the Roots should help kick off Ornette Coleman's Meltdown festival. ...
Retrospective by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 18 June 2009
The "Disco Sucks!" campaign in 1979 had racist and homophobic undertones — and, 30 years on, has proven to be a resolute failure ...
Kraftwerk: Ralf Hütter: "I got a new head, and I'm fine"
Interview by John Harris, The Guardian, 19 June 2009
The bikes ... the robots ... the dream of man and machine in perfect harmony. How is the Kraftwerk vision of the future shaping up? ...
Crystal Fighters: New band of the week: Crystal Fighters
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 June 2009
This East London five-piece bring traditional Basque folk music screaming and kicking into the 21st century by fusing it with heavy dance rhythms and synthesisers. ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 June 2009
The self-styled King of Pop, whose musical gift was overshadowed by his private life ...
Bruce Springsteen: Why Indie Nerds Love The Boss
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 26 June 2009
Springsteen, a tweepop hero? ...
Lady Gaga: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 July 2009
THE 23-year-old formerly known as Stefani Germanotta must be pop's most ruthlessly effective self-promoter since Madonna. ...
Spinal Tap: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 July 2009
NO MATTER how witty they may be, few satires or novelty songs repay repeated listening. So how come a packed Wembley is rocking to the ...
Metric: The mellow mania of Metric
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 6 July 2009
They made their name with spiky, angry songs perfect for sweaty clubs. Now Metric are finding their lighter side. Will the band's fans go for ...
Vincent Gallo: How Vincent Gallo taught me to love Yes
Profile by Alan McGee, The Guardian, 14 July 2009
THE POP-CULTURE POLYMATH has used his spectacular tastes to introduce people to much-maligned musical genres. But if only he could get around to releasing his ...
The Mars Volta: Somerset House, London
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 15 July 2009
THIS MAY HAVE TAKEN PLACE in the idyllic environs of Somerset House, and the band might describe their latest album, Octahedron, as "acoustic", but reports ...
The Ting Tings: Somerset House, London
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 16 July 2009
WITH LA ROUX, that other boy-girl synthpop duo, currently dominating the charts, the Ting Tings have started to look a bit, well, 2008. ...
Shakira: On Music: Shakira – The She Wolf Bites
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 17 July 2009
Shakira's howling alter ego is properly, wonderfully strange, going back to the old rules of pop star alternate personas ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: Why Half Man Half Biscuit are wholly terrific
Profile by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 23 July 2009
WITTY AND DRY, sardonic yet never cynical, the lyrics of Half Man Half Biscuit are an undiscovered treasure trove. It's time this great Birkenhead band ...
Sugababes: 'We Took Our Eye Off The Ball'
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 July 2009
After a brush with self-doubt, the Sugababes are back on form. Keisha Buchanan, Amelle Berrabah and Heidi Range talk about their new album, Get Sexy ...
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 27 July 2009
This electro-pop boy-duo look as though they've been styled by Helmut Newton, directed by Anton Corbijn and produced by Trevor Horn on a Martin Hannett ...
U2: Ego Warriors: U2 Speak Out On Rock-Star Hypocrisy
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 30 July 2009
Over the years, U2 have taken many a kicking. But the band believe they're unjustly maligned for their unique brand of "stadium activism" ...
ZE Records: 'It Was Like A Fairytale'
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 30 July 2009
The extraordinary story of the trail-blazing New York label that launched Was (Not Was), Kid Creole and Suicide ...
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 31 July 2009
ALL GUSHING JET-black hair, radiant smiles and shining eyes, Buffy Sainte-Marie looks fabulous. "Do I? Why thank you..." ...
Speech Debelle : Is Speech Debelle Really "Not Black Enough"?
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 31 July 2009
Speech Debelle seems to be yearning for another vision of blackness, rather than settling for being "urban" and making race redundant ...
Will the Indie Chart rise again?
Report and Interview by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 31 July 2009
In its 1980s heyday, the indie chart was a beacon of top alternative music. Then the majors took over. Now it may get a new ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, August 2009
NOT LONG AFTER Ellie Greenwich, who has died at the age of 68, met her future husband and songwriting partner Jeff Barry at a Thanksgiving ...
Beth Jeans Houghton: New band of the week — Beth Jeans Houghton
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 6 August 2009
This quirky newbie could easily be dismissed as just another kooky songstress were it not for the quality of her music and voice. Oasis fans ...
Toro y Moi: New Band Of The Week: Toro Y Moi
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 13 August 2009
THOUGH HE DOESN'T SOUND like the Flaming Lips, this multi-instrumentalist whiz-kid blurs the boundary between electronica and Americana in the same way. ...
The xx: xx — A Teen Band With A Difference
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 13 August 2009
The minimalist four-piece band from a Notting Hill garage are equally awed by Pixies and Aaliyah ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 August 2009
BEHIND EVERY star there is a great producer, musician or record company A&R man. Barry Beckett, who has died aged 66 after a series of ...
Ellie Greenwich: Remembering Songwriting Legend Ellie Greenwich
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 August 2009
SHE CHANGED the shape of 60s pop by writing some extraordinary songs, including 'Be My Baby' and 'Da Doo Ron Ron' ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 28 August 2009
WHEN IS MUSIC too much? I'm not talking about the torrent of songs that surround us every day – I've argued how we should work ...
The Duke & the King: Testifying with American royalty
Profile and Interview by James Medd, The Guardian, 3 September 2009
Are they a revivalist folk-soul band or a religious cult? Either way, this charismatic three-piece are on a mission from God. ...
Coldplay, Jay-Z: Coldplay/Jay-Z: Lancashire Cricket Club, Manchester
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 September 2009
THERE ARE only a few bands big enough to ask artists who are at the very top of their own genres to work as their ...
Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear: The 10 Myths of Riot Grrrl
Comment by Everett True, The Guardian, 14 September 2009
YOU READ a lot of stuff about Riot Grrrl, most of which isn't true. Things such as ... ...
Editors: 02 Birmingham Academy
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 15 September 2009
THE FACT THAT THIS was the opening night of Birmingham's new Academy meant there was already a buzz. There was added excitement because Editors are ...
Peter, Paul & Mary, Mary Travers: Mary Travers obituary
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 17 September 2009
PETER, PAUL AND MARY were the most successful vocal group of the American folk revival of the 1960s. In particular, they were responsible for bringing ...
Peter, Paul & Mary, Mary Travers: Mary Travers, 1936-2009
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 17 September 2009
Singer with the 1960s hit-making American folk revival trio Peter, Paul and Mary. ...
Florence and the Machine: Academy, Birmingham ****
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 September 2009
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE'S musical ascent has been remarkably precipitous. ...
La Roux: 'Of course Lady Gaga's not my thing'
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 24 September 2009
IT IS MORNING, and 21-year-old Elly Jackson – or La Roux, arguably the biggest new pop star of the year – is on the Eurostar ...
Music's intellectual-property eviction notice
Essay by John Pidgeon, The Guardian, 24 September 2009
What made old singles so great? Session musicians, that's what. So why are those players finding their royalties disappearing? ...
Esben and the Witch: New Band Of The Week: Esben and the Witch
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 25 September 2009
BRIGHTON TRIO ESBEN AND THE WITCH channel literature, nature and sorrow to create hauntingly ethereal tales of dark, foreboding romance. ...
Spandau Ballet's Reunion: Once More With Girdles
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 October 2009
With 10 top 10 hits, Spandau Ballet were the epitome of 80s pop. After much bitterness and a court case, the band are reunited again ...
Fat Freddy's Drop: Boondigga & the Big BW
Review by Charlie Gillett, The Guardian, 4 October 2009
WARNING: of the nine tracks here, only two run for less than six minutes, and both of them stretch way past five. You had better ...
Chase and Status: New band of the week — Chase and Status
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 5 October 2009
HAILED BY PHARRELL, Snoop and Jay-Z as go-to remix guys, this drum'n'bass duo capture a mood of high-energy menace ...
Thom Yorke and Flea: Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 5 October 2009
THE NEWS THAT THOM YORKE had come to Los Angeles and formed a temporary supergroup with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was surprise ...
Nick Drake: Robert Kirby, 1948-2009
Obituary by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 7 October 2009
IN HIS FIRST YEAR as a music student at Cambridge University, Robert Kirby sought to join Footlights, the undergraduates' fabled arts and drama club. He ...
Age of Chance's Bangers and Mash-ups
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 8 October 2009
Sampling, dance-rock, cross-genre cover versions ... Age of Chance did it all 20 years ago, but no one was listening. As their back catalogue goes ...
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 October 2009
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC is the neglected child of rock and pop — but it's the absence of a human presence that can make it so interesting. ...
Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Ultravox: One Nation Under a Moog: How Britain Went Synthpop
Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 10 October 2009
As new BBC4 documentary Synth Britannia shows, the synthesizer first dehumanised then re-humanised British pop, fulfilled the DIY promise of punk, and changed how bands ...
Egyptian Hip Hop: New band of the week: Egyptian Hip Hop
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 12 October 2009
This Manchester band have never set foot in Cairo and don't rap on their records, so they're perfectly named then ...
Gavin Bryars Ensemble: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by John Lewis, The Guardian, 19 October 2009
THIS OPENS a series of concerts raising money for Margins, a charity for London's homeless, and there's something grimly appropriate about tonight's choice of material. ...
Dizzee Rascal: Roundhouse, London ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 October 2009
"DIZZEE RASCAL for prime minister, yeah?" As if to emphasise that he is more than just an east London grime MC these days, Rascal ended ...
Robbie Williams: Writing Off Robbie Williams Is Unfair And Premature
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 22 October 2009
Expectations of immediate success are threatening to strangle Robbie Williams's comeback at birth, even when his single is selling well and the new album is ...
Phoenix: By the Time They Get to… Phoenix
Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 23 October 2009
GROWING UP IN Versailles, an affluent suburb of Paris, the four boys who would eventually form Phoenix bonded over their love of American pop culture. ...
Sufjan Stevens's symphony for New York
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 27 October 2009
THE BROOKLYN-QUEENS EXPRESSWAY is a miserable stretch of road. The BQE, as New Yorkers call it, has narrow lanes, no hard shoulder, countless potholes, and ...
JLS: 'We Became An Unshakable Force'
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 October 2009
X Factor runners up don't usually win Mobos — but JLS were always meant for more than talent shows ...
Obituary by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 2 November 2009
Nightclub owner who acted as a catalyst for the LA punk scene ...
Bon Jovi: Alan McGee meets Jon Bon Jovi
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 November 2009
When Creation boss and Oasis mentor Alan McGee confessed his admiration for veteran rocker Jon Bon Jovi on a Guardian blog, we just had to ...
Ellie Goulding: First Sight: Ellie Goulding
Guide by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 November 2009
WHO IS SHE? The 21-year-old future of pop, if you believe the hype. Born in Hereford and brought up in rural Wales, she now makes ...
Journey: Why is Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' Back in the Charts?
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 5 November 2009
The 17th bestselling track in the country is the power ballad 'Don't Stop Believin'' from 1981. How did Journey get so popular? ...
Just Jack: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 November 2009
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT if Jack Allsopp had picked a stage name with a bit more brio — Barnstorming Jack, say — he might have fulfilled ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
Rather than treating them like national treasures, let's hope musicians stretch their prejudices about what older artists can do ...
John Mayer: 'You can't make music as a famous person'
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
"I BASICALLY VISUALISED a record called Battle Studies as a way to sum up the last two years of my life: what I've learned and ...
Badly Drawn Boy, Goldfrapp, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Rock Stars Storm the Movie Soundtrack World
Overview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
From Goldfrapp to Badly Drawn Boy, from Karen O to Nick Cave, more and more big names are lining up to write music for films. ...
Cheryl Cole: Twist and pout: Cheryl Cole's new album cover
Essay by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
If the pose seems vaguely familiar, it may be that side-on, over-the-shoulder look. Laura Barton has certainly seen it somewhere before. ...
Cocteau Twins: Elizabeth Fraser: the Cocteau Twins and me
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 26 November 2009
FOR 18 YEARS, she was the "voice of God" in the Cocteau Twins. Now Elizabeth Fraser finds it too difficult even to think about her ...
Newton Faulkner: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 November 2009
NEWTON FAULKNER seemed a whimsical choice to headline the final night of the annual Mencap Little Noise series — previous shows had featured more obvious ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
In the last 10 years, The X Factor and its ilk have bucked record-buying trends and breathed new life into a dying industry. We talk ...
Little Boots, Gary Numan: When Gary Numan met Little Boots
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
He arrived in 1979, bringing synthpop to the masses. She is part of the bold new wave reinventing the genre for the 21st century. So ...
Beach House: New Band Of The Week — Beach House
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 7 December 2009
It is only a matter of time before these US alt-rockers will be acclaimed for their slow, atmospheric lo-fi lullabies. ...
The Bravery, Girl Thing, Andrew WK: Yesterday's promising music stars: where are they now?
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 December 2009
THEY HAD THE RIGHT BACKERS and the buzz, but suddenly ... nothing happened. What went wrong with these three much-touted noughties acts, Girl Thing, the ...
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 12 December 2009
"I KNOW THESE cups look dirty," says Ellie Goulding, frowning at the two floral mugs she carries across the room, "but really they're not. It's just ...
Essay by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 17 December 2009
Can Bob Stanley listen to every No 1 song from the noughties and escape with his sanity intact? He recalls a musical decade that ranged ...
Travis: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 22 December 2009
GLASGOW FOLK-POPSTERS Travis named themselves after the psychotic Robert De Niro character in Taxi Driver, but anyone chancing on them halfway through their sold-out Christmas ...
Simon Reynolds's Notes On The Noughties: Clearing Up The Indie Landfill
Comment by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 4 January 2010
At the start of the noughties, indie was seen as the rubbish dump of contemporary music. But by the end of the decade, it had ...
Vampire Weekend: 'They're Attacking A Version Of Us That Doesn't Exist'
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 7 January 2010
VAMPIRE WEEKEND are being mobbed in California. By teenage girls. In a skate park normally frequented by crystal meth addicts. What makes this so unexpected ...
So Solid Crew: 'What We're Doing Is Bigger Than Music'
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 14 January 2010
After a dramatic rise and a messy, destructive fall, So Solid are back. This time they intend to keep the tunes – and the money ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 15 January 2010
THE ROCK'N'ROLL CLASSICS 'See You Later, Alligator' and 'Walking to New Orleans' are among the compositions of the Louisiana-born singer-songwriter Bobby Charles, who has died aged ...
Summer Camp: New Band Of The Week — Summer Camp
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 January 2010
This secretive boy-girl duo have so far retained a sense of anonymity and mystique, but not for much longer — they are going to be ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate McGarrigle: obituary
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 19 January 2010
Folk singer and songwriter at the heart of an innovative music-making family ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate McGarrigle remembered
Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 20 January 2010
THERE ARE TWO words that have always epitomised the voice of Kate McGarrigle for me – they came in a Rolling Stone review that followed ...
Laura Veirs: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 January 2010
LADY GAGA HAS A BRA FIRING SPARKS; La Roux has that gravity-defying quiff. Pacific north-western chanteuse Laura Veirs's only visual prop is the large bulge ...
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 22 January 2010
THERE'S AN OLD adage in the trades (the music business, newspapers and magazines) that value glamour and novelty: two's a coincidence, three's a scene. In ...
Manchester's Music Scene Now Has Everything Everything
Overview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 22 January 2010
Never mind the Buzzcocks... or Stone Roses, or New Order: Manchester can stop trading on its former glories. Three new bands explain how they are ...
Lonelady: Paul Morley's showing off … Lonelady
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 22 January 2010
Paul Morley meets Warp's new Mancunian signing Lonelady, who he would never tip as the next big thing, but might, for those missing a certain ...
Marina and the Diamonds: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 January 2010
AS 2009 DAWNED, the critical consensus held that female-fronted art-pop would dominate the year's musical landscape. This prediction proved remarkably prescient, with Florence and the ...
Midlake: 'I Wish I'd Heard Black Sabbath in High School'
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 28 January 2010
Texas rockers Midlake grew up playing jazz, but fell headlong into a love affair with vintage rock. Here they talk about their latest fixations, and ...
Lonelady: New artist of the week — Lonelady
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 29 January 2010
This solitary singer's bad-mood music conjures the dark, dour Manchester of Ian Curtis and Ian Brown. ...
Flexipop!'s shameless pop legacy
Retrospective by Tim Lott, The Guardian, 4 February 2010
Trashy, silly and unashamedly puerile, Flexipop! only lasted two years. But, says novelist Tim Lott, who started the magazine, its revolutionary spirit can still be ...
Stornoway: "We once won a giant bowl of fruit"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 4 February 2010
From gigs in camper vans to being on TV with Jay-Z, it's been a rollercoaster of a ride for Stornoway so far. No wonder they ...
The Low Anthem: The Folk-Rockers Who Sing About Darwin
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 4 February 2010
"I HOPE PEOPLE don't think we're just relics," says Ben Knox Miller, sincerely, dressed in a jacket fashioned from an old burlap flour sack, and ...
Mumford & Sons: The Almighty Power of Mumford & Sons
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 11 February 2010
THE PUB IS filling up: City boys in pinstriped suits, women clutching dry white wines; candles are lit on upstairs tables, voices rise to fill ...
Lissie: New artist of the week — Lissie
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 12 February 2010
A guitar-toting Americana lovechild who belongs to the 1970s, and whose new single is more freeway rock than floaty folk. ...
Syd Arthur: New Band of the Week: Syd Arthur
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 15 February 2010
These funky folkies are sons and heirs of those Canterbury musicians who did whimsical things with psychedelic and progressive rock. ...
Lostprophets: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 February 2010
THE SINGER WEARS A CHANEL WATCH and dates TV presenters, his bandmates have the angular facial planes of male models, and you can bet they ...
Ronika: New band of the week — Ronika
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 18 February 2010
THIS CANDY-COATED QUEEN might look like Gwen Stefani, but her sugary surface conceals a deeper link with underground dance. ...
Hot Chip: Academy, Newcastle ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 February 2010
HOT CHIP walk on to deafening applause… on tape. Then the real audience start clapping, not just at their arrival, but at the audacity of ...
Fionn Regan: My Way or the Highway
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 22 February 2010
His debut album was nominated for the Mercury prize – then his label locked away the follow-up. For his third album, Fionn Regan is going ...
Whitney Houston: Why someone in Whitney Houston's condition shouldn't be on stage
Report by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 24 February 2010
WHITNEY HOUSTON has a problem. In fact, she seems to have a lot of problems. According to reports from Monday night's concert in Brisbane, Australia ...
From Mod to Emo: Why Pop Tribes Are Still Making a Scene
Overview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 February 2010
Like-minded music fans have been herding together for half a century — but are die-hard pop tribes now a thing of the past? Do today's ...
BBC 6 Music: The Beauties and the Beast
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 February 2010
Passion, intelligence and wonderful tunes — 6 Music has it all, and found many fans despite its tiny budget. So why on earth is it ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 February 2010
WHEN Air first appeared with their 1998 debut album, Moon Safari, the French duo seemed to define the musical zeitgeist. ...
Fingers Inc.: Fingers, Inc: 'Mystery of Love' (Club Version)
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 2 March 2010
FIRST RELEASED in 1985 (on Alleviated Records), then remixed by Larry Heard for a DJ International 12", 'Mystery of Love' seemed to come out of ...
Elvis Presley: The Return of the King
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 4 March 2010
Elvis Presley left the army 50 years ago this week, to suggestions that the music he pioneered had died in his absence. The truth turned ...
Kate Nash: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 March 2010
ONE OF POP'S most curious phenomenons sees formerly squeaky pop stars rebelling against what made them famous. Just as the manufactured Monkees ended up singing psychedelic songs ...
Sparklehorse: Mark Linkous, 1962-2010
Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 9 March 2010
THE AMERICAN singer-songwriter Mark Linkous, who has killed himself aged 47, worked with the Flaming Lips, Daniel Johnston and Danger Mouse, but is best known ...
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 10 March 2010
This mysterious crew appear to be some kind of strange Manc cult, full of quasi-spiritual fervour and revolutionary intent. ...
Frightened Rabbit in the headlights
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 11 March 2010
Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison was so shy he was kept back a year at nursery — but now fame in American beckons, writes Jude Rogers. ...
Lady Antebellum: New band of the week: Lady Antebellum
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 17 March 2010
There's no denying their huge success in the US, but the polished country-rock trio are simply not worthy of an iPod slot next to the ...
Joan Jett, Kristin Hersh, Le Tigre, Throwing Muses: What Happened To Angry Female Music Stars?
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 25 March 2010
Are there any angry women left in rock and pop? Joan Jett, riot grrrl figurehead Kathleen Hanna and others talk about where it went wrong ...
Frank Zappa, Tom Waits: Herb Cohen: Combative label boss and manager of Frank Zappa and Tom Waits
Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 1 April 2010
HERB COHEN, who has died aged 77 of complications from cancer, did not elicit much affection from the artists he managed, but he played a ...
The Cranberries: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 April 2010
BANDS GIVE ALL sorts of reasons for reuniting, but the Cranberries' must be the most novel: in 2009, after five years apart, they decided to have ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 7 April 2010
THE 21-YEAR-OLD south London grime MC and rapper Tinie Tempah spent two weeks at No. 1 last month with his abrasive single 'Pass Out', and ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 8 April 2010
N-DUBZ SHOW that pop's generation gap is alive and well. For anyone over 21, the north London trio's trademark hats look like the sort of ...
Obituary by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 April 2010
THE IMPRESARIO and iconoclast Malcolm McLaren, who has died aged 64 from the cancer mesothelioma, was one of the pivotal, yet most divisive influences on ...
Paolo Nutini: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 April 2010
PAOLO NUTINI has quietly become a commercial A-lister. His second album, Sunny Side Up, made the Paisley singer-songwriter the bestselling British male artist of last ...
I Am Arrows: New Band Of The Week: I Am Arrows
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 15 April 2010
FORMER RAZORLIGHT DRUMMER Andy Burrows turns clever multi-instrumentalist — with surprisingly listenable results. ...
She & Him: A Musical Marriage Made in Heaven
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 15 April 2010
"HOW'S THE SOY cappuccino?" asks Zooey Deschanel, sliding back into her seat and peering over at the white cup and saucer set before M Ward. ...
Dee Dee Bridgewater: Barbican, London
Live Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 19 April 2010
DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER has a technique and musicality that bests most performers of her generation, and her understanding of the "great American songbook" makes pretenders ...
The Duke & the King: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 April 2010
"AIN'T NO DUST CLOUD from heaven can keep us from our congregation! Can I get an 'amen'?" demands the Duke & the King's leader, Simone ...
John Grant: Queen of Denmark (Bella Union)
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 April 2010
JOHN GRANT used to front the Czars, whose failure to translate acclaim into sales no doubt further fuelled his supersized self-loathing. ...
The National: Gloomy … with a Hint of Sunshine
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 22 April 2010
IT WAS PAST SIX in the morning, in the bar of Bono's hotel in Dublin. The members of the National and REM were seated around ...
LCD Soundsystem: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 April 2010
HAVING VOWED to disband LCD Soundsystem when he turned 40, James Murphy – who reached that milestone in February – is currently on his (presumably) ...
Pavement Get Back On The Horse
Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 29 April 2010
Pavement's reunion tour is a gamble in more ways than one — especially for its horse-racing drummer ...
Usher: "The fans want my soul"
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 29 April 2010
Baring his soul is second nature to R&B superstar Usher, but although he has documented his recent divorce on a new album, he's got to ...
Fool's Gold: The Cockpit, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 May 2010
FROM VAMPIRE WEEKEND TO FOALS, afrobeat has become a part of pop lately, but there's nothing quite like this. Fool's Gold aren't — as one ...
Foals: "I built a fortress around myself"
Report and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 May 2010
IN AN AMSTERDAM square, tourists all around, Yannis Philippakis is pouring his heart out. The singer of Foals is describing how he has kept a ...
Kris Kristofferson: A Nashville Rebel Reminisces
Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 6 May 2010
THERE'S SOME wonderful YouTube footage of Kris Kristofferson receiving a gong at the 1970 Country Music Association awards. He lopes on stage with his hair ...
Interview by John Lewis, The Guardian, 7 May 2010
Composer, conductor, vocalist, YouTube inspiration: you can't pin Bobby McFerrin down. His latest idea? Completely improvised concerts ...
Joanna Newsom: "Is It Time For A Glass Of Wine?"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 9 May 2010
She models for Armani, enjoys a game of baseball and likes to stay out drinking cocktails. Jude Rogers meets Joanna Newsom, the outspoken singer making ...
Scouting for Girls: Academy, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 May 2010
AFTER MEETING AT SCHOOL and in the cub scouts, Harrow three-piece Scouting for Girls have become absurdly successful. Their 2007 debut went double platinum and ...
Cameron Carpenter: Rhinestone Cowboy
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 20 May 2010
Organist and showbusiness are words rarely put together. But Cameron Carpenter is a man on a mission, and, watch out, he's developing a secret weapon ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 23 May 2010
WITH THE BLANCHED, haunting Hospice, New York trio the Antlers made one of the most devastating albums of last year. Written by 23-year-old singer and ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 May 2010
HOOKING UP with Jay-Z for 'Empire State of Mind' has elevated Alicia Keys to a level of stardom where it will no longer do to ...
Everything But The Girl: Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt: Everything But The Grief
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 May 2010
They wrote sad songs, survived serious illness and fell out of love with pop. Now Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt are back. ...
Grizzly Bear: Freed From Captivity
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 May 2010
Grizzly Bear are the cult indie group that suddenly got rather big. Jude Rogers talks to their frontmen. ...
Comment by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 28 May 2010
To Paul Morley's left, '80s Chicago dance DJ Marshall Jefferson. To his right, Orlando from up-and-coming producers Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. Can Morley find the ...
Lauryn Hill: Whatever happened to Lauryn Hill?
Essay by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 28 May 2010
THE FORMER FUGEE won five Grammys for her chart-topping solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, in 1998. But we are still waiting for the ...
Rage Against the Machine: Finsbury Park, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 7 June 2010
LAST CHRISTMAS a Facebook campaign powered Californian rap-metal veterans Rage Against the Machine to the top of the singles chart, pipping The X Factor victor ...
Brad Paisley: A Different Kind of Cowboy
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 10 June 2010
Brad Paisley is not your usual Nashville country star. He talks about how Obama made him proud to be American – and why he dreams ...
Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant: Going veggie with Robert Plant
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Guardian, 20 June 2010
It wasn't easy grabbing a decent stew in Carnaby Street with the Led Zeppelin singer, says Caroline Boucher. ...
Frank Sidebottom: Chris Sievey 1955-2010
Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 22 June 2010
Musician, entertainer and alter ego of the cult comedy creation Frank Sidebottom. ...
The Gaslight Anthem: Manchester Academy
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 June 2010
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S GUEST APPEARANCE with the Gaslight Anthem at last year's Glastonbury cemented the UK's continuing relationship with sweat-soaked Americana and further propelled New Jersey's ...
Grizzly Bear: Hyde Park, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 29 June 2010
NOW IN ITS SECOND YEAR, the Serpentine Sessions festival is the absolute obverse of Glastonbury's sprawling eclecticism. With audience numbers capped firmly at 3,000, this ...
Lady Gaga and the New World Order
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 1 July 2010
Lady Gaga's music videos are undoubtedly elaborate — but is there any truth to one blogger's claims that they are loaded with occult references and ...
Mystery Jets: Somerset House, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 July 2010
FOUR YEARS AFTER THEIR FIRST ALBUM, Mystery Jets must be resigned to the knowledge that, unless the music world tilts on its axis, their quirky pop ...
The Black Keys: "It's ridiculous to say that we play the blues"
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 9 July 2010
FOR EIGHT MONTHS NOW, since the end of a relationship, the Black Keys drummer Pat Carney has been living in New York's Lower East Side. ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 July 2010
Prolific Jamaican musician who was a pioneer of dancehall reggae ...
Little Axe: From blues to hip-hop and back
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 July 2010
SKIP MCDONALD was playing a gig in Portugal, billed as just him and guitar. A fair portion of the audience had seen the billing and ...
Bill Frisell, Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny: Manfred Eicher: The Sound Man
Profile and Interview by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 17 July 2010
Admired by Radiohead, friend of Godard, Manfred Eicher is the founder of ECM, one of the most successful jazz labels in the world. He tells ...
Katy B – New artist of the week
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 19 July 2010
This Brit School graduate is to dubstep what Tracy Thorn was to trip-hop — the go-to girl for those wanting classy female input. ...
Rumer: New band of the week — Rumer
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 21 July 2010
FOUR NEW SONGS prove that forthcoming single, 'Slow', isn't just a beautiful fluke for this soulful, Karen Carpenter-esque vocalist. ...
Erykah Badu: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 July 2010
THE LOT OF AN ERYKAH BADU fan isn't always a happy one. In the long queue outside Brixton Academy, two women are indignantly discussing the ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 5 August 2010
US singer-songwriter whose greatest hit – much recorded by others – was 'Sunny'. ...
Lady Antebellum: Shepherd's Bush Empire
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 August 2010
THE GULF BETWEEN UK AND US MUSICAL TASTES is epitomised by Nashville's Lady Antebellum. Back home, the trio's emollient country-pop — which, to British ears, ...
Nicki Minaj: New Band of the Day: Nicki Minaj
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 16 August 2010
Can Nicki Minaj challenge the likes of Lady Gaga when it comes to future-female pop star? Or will her super-sexualised persona seem dated in six ...
Dylan LeBlanc: "Songs are like headstones to me"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 19 August 2010
Dylan LeBlanc has crammed the baggage of his 20-year-old life — lost loves, southern living and breakdown — into his music. Now the new Neil ...
Stromae: New Band of the Week: Stromae
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 19 August 2010
You don't need a degree in French to realise this Belgian exponent of mournful Euro disco is not a happy bunny ...
LCD Soundsystem, The Pixies, The Zombies: Why Your Favourite Band Should Split Up
Overview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 19 August 2010
From the Pixies to the Zombies, Jude Rogers talks to the bands who chose to burn out, not fade away ...
Janelle Monáe: Sister From Another Planet
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 August 2010
Inspired by sci-fi novels and Afro-futurists, Janelle Monáe is a cyber diva taking R&B into far-out places. Dorian Lynskey meets the most compelling new character ...
The Last Poets: After The Party: Music and the Black Panthers
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 2 September 2010
ONE DAY LAST DECEMBER, Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets attended a gathering in Chicago to commemorate local Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, ...
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 September 2010
IT'S DARING of Belgian rapper Stromae to give his first album a title that encourages gags about it being a load of fromage, and equally brave to ...
Caitlin Rose: Slaughtered Lamb, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 September 2010
"THERE SURE ARE A LOT OF YOU HERE TONIGHT," observes Caitlin Rose, gazing out at the packed cellar-bar of this London folk club. There's a ...
Bruno Mars: New Band of the Day: Bruno Mars
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 13 September 2010
From adoration to zzzzzzzzz, purveyor of mellifluous pabulum Bruno Mars runs the whole gamut of romantic cliche ...
Rumer: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 September 2010
RUMER'S PRISTINE VOICE — a dead ringer for Karen Carpenter's — is best suited to the kind of luxurious easy-listening treatment that sold millions of ...
Black Lace, Jive Bunny, Stock Aitken Waterman: Novelty Records: When pop goes bad
Retrospective by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 22 September 2010
The excruciatingly catchy novelty song was a hallmark of the 1980s. Is it back? And how do you write one? Dave Simpson talks to the ...
Bruce Springsteen: "People thought we were gone. Finished."
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 23 September 2010
Hobbled by legal wrangles, a frustrated Bruce Springsteen turned Born to Run's optimism on its head – and Darkness on the Edge of Town was ...
The Duke & The King: The Duke and the King: Long Live the Duke and the King
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 September 2010
ONLY A YEAR after their acclaimed debut, Simone Felice's post-Felice Brothers band's follow-up is undeniably lovely. ...
CeeLo Green: Cee Lo Green: "I'd do a lot more damage if I could"
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 30 September 2010
There aren't many musicians who would consider releasing an expletive-laden viral hit to be selling out in some way. Angus Batey meets the remarkable pop-soulster ...
Mark Ronson and the Business Intl.: Hackney Empire, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 September 2010
IT'S NO LONGER UNUSUAL for producers to become artists in their own right, but Mark Ronson looks like he hasn't quite thought the whole thing ...
of Montreal: Academy 2, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 October 2010
THE STAGE IS DOMINATED by a large, caped figure, wearing a three-foot goldfish on his head, and firing fake guns at the crowd. This bizarre creature ...
Blade, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Ruthless Rap Assassins: The hip-hop heritage society
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 7 October 2010
Why aren't Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and other classic hip-hop acts lovingly reissued in the same way as other genres? Because guardians of rap's ...
These New Puritans: A Band Like No Other
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 7 October 2010
Part high-concept innovators, part wannabe pop moguls, These New Puritans are a band entirely apart from their peers. Dorian Lynskey asks what makes the difference. ...
Hurts: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 October 2010
WITH GEORGE OSBORNE channelling the economic policies of Geoffrey Howe, Manchester duo Hurts appear equally enamoured of the ways of the early 1980s. Their fixation ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 October 2010
ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREAT American soul singers and songwriters, he scored a huge hit with 'Everybody Needs Somebody to Love'. ...
Brandon Flowers: Academy, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 14 October 2010
FROM THE STROKES' Julian Casablancas to Mick Jagger, rock frontmen have often stumbled over the transition to solo singer — but Brandon Flowers has never ...
Nadine Coyle, Girls Aloud: Girls Aloud's Nadine Coyle On Her Solo Debut
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 October 2010
Often hailed as the best singer in Girls Aloud, now Nadine Coyle is going solo — with a little help from Tesco's. So is this ...
John Legend, The Roots: John Legend and the Roots: Hearts, Minds and Soul
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 19 October 2010
John Legend and the Roots' album of '60s and '70s protest songs is no mere history lesson – it's an open letter to a divided ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 20 October 2010
ROBYN CARLSSON is one of a rare breed who bridge the divide between pop fluff and cool electro. Her throbbing electronic music nods to mainstream ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 21 October 2010
Drugs, M.E. and despair sent the poor urchins of Britpop their separate ways in 2003. Now Suede have come roaring back to life. ...
Tony Wilson: A Fitting Headstone For Tony Wilson's Grave
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 October 2010
A memorial headstone for Factory Records founder Tony Wilson has been unveiled in a Manchester cemetery this week. ...
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 28 October 2010
IT'S THE CONTRASTS between Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, clearly visible from any seat in the Barbican tonight, that you notice first. Campbell, stage left, ...
Retrospective by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 29 October 2010
PAUL MORLEY re-introduces Heaven 17 as they dive into the nostalgia circuit. ...
Profile by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 29 October 2010
IT'S ALREADY POSSIBLE to read so much about slippy, trippy new boy-meets-girl pop group Summer Camp in that online otherworld where this kind of hyper-smart, ...
Shirley Collins/Alasdair Roberts/Trembling Bells: Cecil Sharp House, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 1 November 2010
IT'S HALLOWEEN weekend in Camden, north London, and ghosts are rising at Cecil Sharp House. ...
Egyptian Hip Hop: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 4 November 2010
SINGER LA ROUX recently pronounced the electro genre "over" — perhaps because of an upsurge of balding 1980s originals whose careers have been revived by ...
Paramore: "We're not just teenybopper superstars"
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 November 2010
Noisy guitars, angsty lyrics, inter-band romance, a little light rebellion — it's a formula that has made Paramore huge. Paul Lester meets their star singer ...
Jamie Woon: New Band Of The Day: Jamie Woon
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 5 November 2010
You'll love the dark side of the Woon, a Brit School singer-songwriter moving towards dubstep. But his smoother songs ... ...
Obituary by Pat Long, The Guardian, 7 November 2010
Accomplished soul singer and frontman of mod band the Action ...
Bobby Jameson rages against the Vietnam war
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 10 November 2010
A FANFARE OF slow, church organ chords – straight out of a horror film – resolves into a brutal Bo Diddley beat. A few blasts of ...
Local Natives: Clockwork from Orange County
Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 11 November 2010
After years of honing their tight harmonies, southern Californians Local Natives are breaking out. But they've suffered a few comparisons too many. ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 November 2010
IF DIE Antwoord are a joke, they're a painfully acute one. This over-the-top South African rap-rave trio, comprising rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser and a ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 November 2010
THEY'VE HAD A NO 1 ALBUM with Brand New Eyes and have sold out their UK arena tour, but Paramore aren't on the musical radar ...
Jedward: Grand Opera House, York
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 17 November 2010
"BY DAY WE HAVE FLAT HAIR, at night we stick our hair up and become superstars," shrieks the John Grimes half of Jedward, explaining the ...
Overview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 18 November 2010
Ostentatiously intellectual and scornful of rock'n'roll cliche, the likes of OMD and Heaven 17 briefly set 80s pop alight – and now they're back in favour. ...
Niki & the Dove: New Band Of The Week: Niki & the Dove
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 19 November 2010
THIS SWEDISH GROUP'S goth-tinged electro-pop is full of witchy darkness and mystical allure. ...
McFly: Paul Morley's showing off McFly
Profile by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 26 November 2010
Paul Morley describes McFly's ascent from guitar-toting teeny-boppers to 'entertainment hosts' for the multimedia generation. ...
Interview by Paul Morley, The Guardian, 26 November 2010
Paul Morley steps into the sleepy, mysterious, terrifying world of LA rock band Warpaint. ...
Johnny Flynn's Special Relationship
Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 2 December 2010
Johnny Flynn followed his childhood sweetheart to New York, then came back and fired up the English antifolk scene. He tells Andrew Purcell about a ...
Daft Punk's robots aren't the only ones rocking the multiplex
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 December 2010
AT THE END of the trailer to forthcoming movie Somewhere, we are given just two pieces of information: 1) that the film was written and ...
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Somewhere Over the Rainbow… lies a crock of gold
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 5 December 2010
A cover version of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow', by a ukulele-playing, morbidly obese Hawaiian called Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, has become an unlikely multimillion-seller hit. ...
Wyclef Jean: "Fans are calling me the new Dylan"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 5 December 2010
WHAT SCUPPERED Wyclef Jean's bid to be president of Haiti? Well, it wasn't modesty. On the eve of the election result, the rapper talks death ...
Shakira: Manchester Arena ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 December 2010
"I'M HERE to please you," begins the Colombian superstar Shakira. Then, wearing what may be a coat of paint rather than trousers, she hauls girls ...
Guide by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 16 December 2010
From Elvis to Shakey, from Cliff Richard to Mark E. Smith, every pop star worth their salt has sung a song of Santa at some ...
Plan B: 'Strickland Banks may be soul, but it's still real life': Plan B
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 December 2010
THE INTERNATIONAL lingua franca of Christmas TV is fromage and France's leading commercial channel, TF1, is no exception. Having arrived in Paris on a lunchtime ...
Ke$ha: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London ****
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 17 December 2010
IT'S EASY TO dismiss Ke$ha as a Primark take on Lady Gaga, but such an appraisal disregards the fact that 23-year-old Kesha Sebert this year ...
Obituary by Caroline Boucher, The Guardian, 18 December 2010
DON VAN VLIET, better known as Captain Beefheart, who has died aged 69 of complications from multiple sclerosis, was one of the most influential American ...
Captain Beefheart: A tour through Captain Beefheart's back catalogue
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 22 December 2010
Don Van Vliet shouldn't be seen as a "weirdo" – he had pop tricks up his sleeve and his most difficult music entered the top ...
The Humblebums, Gerry Rafferty, Stealers Wheel: Gerry Rafferty, 1947-2011
Obituary by Michael Gray, The Guardian, 4 January 2011
Singer and songwriter known for 'Stuck in the Middle With You' and 'Baker Street' ...
Cradle of Filth: Is Dani Filth Suffolk's greatest icon?
Comment by Johnny Sharp, The Guardian, 5 January 2011
When the county's tourist board launched a poll, it didn't count on it being hijacked by Cradle of Filth fans ...
The Decemberists: The Changing of the Seasons
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 6 January 2011
A year ago, the Decemberists' Colin Meloy retreated to a house in the woods of northern Oregon. He tells Laura Barton about the effect it ...
Leadbelly: John Szwed: The Man Who Recorded the World – A Biography of Alan Lomax
Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011
Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...
Book Review by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 8 January 2011
Richard Williams hails the man who devoted his life to recording the songs and soundscapes of America and beyond. ...
Drake: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 January 2011
DRAKE was one of 2010's more singular success stories. ...
Broadcast: Trish Keenan: obituary
Obituary by Pat Long, The Guardian, 18 January 2011
TRISH KEENAN, who has died from pneumonia aged 42, was best known as the singer and songwriter for Broadcast, the cult band that she and ...
The Archies, The Monkees: Don Kirshner
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 January 2011
IT IRKED Don Kirshner, who has died of heart failure aged 76, that he was never inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ...
Gang of Four: Old punks, new Content
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 20 January 2011
Post-punk masterminds Gang of Four are back with their first new recorded material since their 2004 return to action. But why does it come packaged ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 28 January 2011
THE SINGER AND guitarist Charlie Louvin, who has died aged 83, was half of one of country music's best-loved and most influential double acts. ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 31 January 2011
Composer most closely associated with the golden age of James Bond but whose scores ranged from Midnight Cowboy to Dances With Wolves ...
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 February 2011
Cardiacs singer Tim Smith suffered a heart attack and a paralysing stroke two years ago, and musicians are now flocking to cover his strange, unique ...
The Bravery: Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 February 2011
THERE WAS A TIME, back in 2005, when it looked as if the Bravery would overtake the Killers as the US's premier purveyors of synthy, ...
The White Stripes: Detroit's Rock Heroes Remembered
Retrospective by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 5 February 2011
THERE WAS AN outpouring of grief this week when the White Stripes announced they were to split. Stevie Chick explains their magic while photographer Ewen ...
Arcade Fire: "It's a lot easier to get smaller"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 10 February 2011
WITH A No. 1 album on both sides of the Atlantic, Arcade Fire are on the verge of U2-scale stardom. But, ever the provocateurs, they ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 10 February 2011
June Tabor's new album draws inspiration from the sea. But dogs, cows and a margarine ad also featured when Pete Paphides met her. ...
Lady Antebellum: Grammys 2011: Why can't Lady Antebellum find success in the UK?
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 14 February 2011
COUNTRY-POP TRIO Lady Antebellum were The King's Speech of last night's Grammys, winning six awards (compared to Firth and Co's seven at the Batfas), including ...
Lady Gaga, Valentino: Lady Gaga's New Gay Anthem
Comment by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 14 February 2011
Has Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way' got what it takes to be a classic gay anthem? Jon Savage on the debt she owes to a ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 15 February 2011
IT'S THE DAY before Conor Oberst's 31st birthday but a spontaneous audience rendition of 'Happy Birthday' has left the Nebraska singer-songwriter grimacing. "Well, it's one ...
Jason Derulo at Academy, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 February 2011
"You're the one for me," sings Jason Derulo, into the eyes of a girl hauled from the audience on to the stage. They embrace so ...
Maggoty Lamb goes behind the barricades in Rock Writers' Class War
Comment by Ben Thompson, The Guardian, 23 February 2011
Journalists would have us believe it's public-school leavers v the salt of the earth in the battle of the charts. Is that really the case? ...
Amanda Ghost: not in Kansas any more
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 February 2011
NO ONE WAS MORE SHOCKED than singer-songwriter Amanda Ghost when she was asked to run Epic Records. She talks about what peeking behind the music-industry curtain taught ...
Foo Fighters, CeeLo Green: Foo Fighters/Cee Lo Green: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 February 2011
ONE-OFF shows throw up some bizarre juxtapositions, and at this NME-sponsored Big Gig, CeeLo Green was painfully aware he was not the support act that ...
Talk Talk: How Talk Talk Spoke To Today's Artists
Retrospective by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 28 February 2011
IN HIS WEIGHTY 2010 TOME Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, Rob Young charted a century's worth of musicians who helped define British folk. In ...
Kenny Gamble: "Philadelphia was the party with a tormented soul"
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 3 March 2011
Philly Soul's sweet sound hid masked warnings about growing chasms in 1970s American society ...
Lupe Fiasco: "I have the right to speak out"
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 3 March 2011
"SOLZHENITSYN PUT IT VERY QUAINTLY," says Lupe Fiasco. "Basically, there's a duality in everything — there's two sides to every story. Sometimes they complement each ...
Justin Bieber: NIA, Birmingham
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 6 March 2011
JUSTIN BIEBER fans will tell you there are two only kinds of people in the world: "Beliebers" and the rest of us. For those who ...
Deerhunter: The Psychedelic South: Deerhunter's Atlanta
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 10 March 2011
NOTE: In 2011, I flew to Atlanta, Georgia, to spend the weekend with Bradford Cox, frontman of the city's great neo-psychedelic rockers Deerhunter, for the ...
Chase and Status: Chase & Status: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 13 March 2011
IN THE LATE 1980S, Wimbledon FC became known as the least aesthetic but most effective of football teams. Eschewing all nuance or subtlety, they played ...
Rumer: The persistence of Rumer
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 17 March 2011
Sarah Joyce was given a mission by her dying mother: to make peace with her past. She talks about the journey to Pakistan that freed ...
Katy Perry: Hammersmith Apollo, London ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 18 March 2011
KATY PERRY is strutting across the stage, a giant spray of feathers fanning out from her tiny backside, and she's singing, "I wanna see your ...
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, The Shadows: Jet Harris, 1939-2011
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 21 March 2011
The first and greatest bass guitarist of the Shadows, he also topped the charts with drummer Tony Meehan. ...
Folk's man of mystery: is Cecil Sharp a folk hero or villain?
Retrospective by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 24 March 2011
IT SOUNDS LIKE some hideous TV reality show dreamed up by Simon Cowell and Andrew Lloyd Webber during a night on the lash. Dump eight ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 24 March 2011
Her voice made 'Ride on Time' a smash hit in 1989 ...
The Hoosiers: Pop 'til you're dropped: The Hoosiers' major-label woe
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 March 2011
How tight is the margin between being the toast of your record company and being a failure? One chart place, as the Hoosiers found out ...
Kyuss: Kings of the Stoner Age
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 25 March 2011
"I DIDN'T THINK THAT at 40 years of age I would still be talking about generator parties," Kyuss frontman John Garcia says with a puzzled ...
Kylie Minogue: Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 March 2011
KYLIE MINOGUE's Aphrodite – Les Folies tour, which arrived in Britain with two dates in Cardiff last weekend before taking up a five-night residency at ...
Crystal Fighters: Bringing Basque the beats
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 28 March 2011
The UK's Crystal Fighters are reinventing Spanish folk. How? ...
The Unthanks: Howard Assembly Room, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 March 2011
THE UNTHANKS' startling folk has all the eerie power of their native Northumbria's coast. Backed by trumpet, drums and a female string section reminiscent of ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 31 March 2011
ONE NIGHT in London, even a night at the O2, is small beer compared to Taylor Swift's record-breaking success back home in the US. ...
Destroyer: New Band of the Week: Destroyer
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 1 April 2011
Rescuing qualities such as "good playing" from critical hell, Dan Bejar's band serve up a feast of unironic '80s fetishism. ...
Black Eyed Peas, Taio Cruz: Never Mind The Balearics: The Ibiza-ification Of Pop
Comment by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 14 April 2011
From Black Eyed Peas to Taio Cruz, much recent pop looks to Ibiza for inspiration. And yet for all the hands-in-the-air moments, this music is ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 April 2011
EVEN IF Adele Adkins's record-breaking 11 weeks at the top of the album chart ends on Sunday – and it looks like the Foo Fighters ...
David Bowie, Kraftwerk: Taxi zum Klo's Berlin is a sexual playground
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 21 April 2011
Bowie, Christiane F and Taxi zum Klo: these are the things that made Berlin so alluring to the British pop culture of the late '70s ...
R Kelly: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 April 2011
IT HAS been more than a decade since R Kelly, the self-proclaimed King of R&B, last passed through London – time enough for his original ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 26 April 2011
THE SUPPOSEDLY marginal, insular London grime scene keeps throwing up mainstream pop stars. In the wake of Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempah, 20-year-old Tottenham rapper ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 May 2011
IT'S NOT HARD TO GUESS that Katy B, for all her success in taking her personable version of UK funky into the Top 10, isn't ...
Steve Reich: Musicians, Composers and Artists pay tribute
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Guardian, 5 May 2011
STEVE REICH is a major influence on today's musicians, artists and film-makers. As the Barbican pays tribute, we ask some of them why – and ...
Wild Beasts: Sex-Obsessed and Scrupulously Polite
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 5 May 2011
ON A BALMY APRIL MORNING in east London, Hayden Thorpe is remembering the night last September when Wild Beasts failed to win the Mercury Prize ...
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 7 May 2011
Tyler the Creator touches down to talk goblins, chillwave and the trouble with saying stupid stuff ...
Friendly Fires: Heaven, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 May 2011
DESPITE A GOLD DEBUT album and Brit and Mercury nominations, Friendly Fires are still a long way from household-name status — something the St Albans ...
Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: Snoop Dogg: Forum, London
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 18 May 2011
LIKE LAW & ORDER stalwart Ice-T and Are We There Yet? star Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg is proof that one generation's corrupter of morals is ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 23 May 2011
FOR A TIME in the mid-1960s, the band of the great rhythm and blues tenor saxophonist King Curtis contained two guitarists. The first, Jimi Hendrix, ...
Laurel Halo: New band of the week: Laurel Halo
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 May 2011
This ambient artist cites the "asymptotic quantification of memory" among her influences. A Wire cover star is born ... ...
White Denim: Between Indie Rock and a Hard Place
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 26 May 2011
"WE'VE TALKED ABOUT starting another band and just writing really straightforward, boring pop songs," says White Denim bassist Steve Terebecki, sitting in a London bar. ...
Kaiser Chiefs... but Under Your Control
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 3 June 2011
Burned by past leaks, Kaiser Chiefs release their new album today after exactly zero buildup – and it might well be the world's first bespoke ...
Civil Wars, the: New band of the week: The Civil Wars
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 3 June 2011
We have Adele to thank for introducing us to this Americana duo, whose songs deal with affairs of the heart and lives lived hard ...
Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Chubby Checker, Joey Dee & the Starliters: Let's Twist again
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 4 June 2011
Fifty years ago, a new dance craze swept the world and changed for ever the way people move. Richard Williams, up on his feet when it ...
Bon Iver: "I'm really confused right now"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 June 2011
Bon Iver's first album brought Justin Vernon success beyond his comprehension. With his hugely anticipated second album out soon, Laura Barton asks – can he ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 June 2011
NAMED AFTER A ROXY MUSIC SONG and enthusiastically endorsed by Brian Eno, Ladytron's art-rock credentials are impeccable. However, 12 years into their career, and with ...
The Coasters: Carl Gardner, 1928-2011
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 13 June 2011
Singer and founding member of the R&B hitmakers the Coasters. ...
DJ Kool Herc DJs his first block party
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 13 June 2011
DJ Kool Herc DJs his first block party (his sister's birthday) on 13 August 1973 at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York ...
Retrospective by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 13 June 2011
AMONG hip-hop's canonical creation myths, few are as perfectly formed as Grand Wizard Theodore's invention of scratching. ...
Arctic Monkeys Make The Fastest-selling Debut Ever
Report by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 14 June 2011
23 January 2006: Number 48 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of indie music ...
Bad Brains, Minor Threat: Ian Mackaye meets Bad Brains and invents hardcore
Retrospective by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 14 June 2011
NO MERE THREE-CHORD punk dullards, Washington DC's Bad Brains had chops to spare. They'd started as jazz-fusion quintet Mind Power, worshipping at the altar of ...
Fleet Foxes: How Fleet Foxes are handling high expectations second time around
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 16 June 2011
Huge success began a steep learning curve for the Seattle band. Bandleader Robin Pecknold explains how the second album put the band in a "dark ...
The Horrors: Academy 3, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 18 June 2011
THE HORRORS are true pop chameleons. ...
Hip-Hop and Festivals: An Awkward Relationship
Comment by Ben Myers, The Guardian, 23 June 2011
When they get it right, rappers can rival stadium rock acts. But a mere gust of wind can expose how few MCs can hack festivals ...
Kings of Leon: Hyde Park, London
Live Review by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 June 2011
IT HAD BEEN pouring with rain all day, but by the time Kings of Leon came on stage, the dark clouds had gone – they ...
Prince: "I'm a musician. And I am music"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 23 June 2011
RINGTONES ARE EVIL. Islamic countries are fun. The internet is like "a carjacking", where there are no boundaries. Prince on being pop's "loving tyrant" ...
The Byrds, David Crosby, Chris Hillman: Jim Dickson, 1931-2011
Obituary by Rob Hughes, The Guardian, 27 June 2011
Producer and manager behind the Byrds ...
Toto: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 June 2011
LAST YEAR saw veteran American soft-rockers Journey enjoy an Indian summer with their 1980 hit 'Don't Stop Believin''. A full three decades after its initial ...
Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat: Bill Wells: "I've more in common with indie"
Report and Interview by Mike Barnes, The Guardian, 30 June 2011
Snubbed by Scotland's jazz scene, guitar virtuoso Bill Wells has teamed up with ex-Arab Strap man Aidan Moffat for a panoramic meditation on life and ...
Mowest, Mo' Problems: The Glorious Failure Of Motown's Californian Outpost
Profile by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 30 June 2011
In 1971 Motown set up a Californian arm, Mowest. As a new compilation shows, it put out some terrific music, but it was a commercial ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 June 2011
IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE that OK Go shows are studiedly eccentric affairs. The US band's emergence in 2006 was fuelled not by their music but by ...
Report by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 30 June 2011
Gone are the days when bands would be scorned for getting into bed with corporate sponsors and brands, so what ever happened to "selling out"? ...
Björk: Is Björk the last great pop innovator?
Comment by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 4 July 2011
EARLIER THIS YEAR I interviewed Amanda Brown of cult band LA Vampires and was surprised when she announced that "every day I wake up and ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 15 July 2011
MANCHESTER ELECTRO-DUO Hurts are so in thrall to new-romantic stylishness that one review of last year's debut album, Happiness, suggested that even their gigs were ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 July 2011
Singer with a soul-steeped voice whose instantly successful Back to Black album reflected her tormented experience of love ...
Justin Townes Earle: Boogaloo, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 29 July 2011
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE has some serious musical heritage to live up to. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter is not only the son of multi-Grammy-winning US country singer, ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 15 August 2011
GENE MCDANIELS, the American singer and songwriter, who has died aged 76, began and ended his career as the smoothest of vocal stylists. His hits ...
Ashford & Simpson: Nick Ashford, 1941-2011
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 23 August 2011
Singer and songwriter who had a string of hits with his wife, Valerie Simpson, during Motown's heyday. ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: Ten Myths About Grunge, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain
Guide by Everett True, The Guardian, 24 August 2011
KURT COBAIN loved Abba, wasn't from Seattle and didn't invent grunge. Everett True, the man who pushed the singer's wheelchair on stage for his last ...
Crowded House, Pajama Club: Pajama Club: No more Crowded House
Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 25 August 2011
Once their children had left home, Crowded House songwriter Neil Finn and his wife found themselves with too much time on their hands — and ...
David "Honeyboy" Edwards, 1915-2011
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 30 August 2011
Blues singer and guitarist with an enthralling style, he played with Robert Johnson. ...
Honeyboy Edwards: David Honeyboy Edwards: obituary
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 30 August 2011
Blues singer and guitarist with an enthralling style, he played with Robert Johnson. ...
King Creosote and Jon Hopkins: Diamond Geezers: King Creosote and Jon Hopkins
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 30 August 2011
POP IS FULL of odd couples, but this year's Mercury prize shortlist contains a particularly compelling one. Jon Hopkins, 31, is baby-faced and fashionably dressed, the image ...
Laura Marling: "I've got the confidence now"
Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 1 September 2011
AT JUST 21, folk star Laura Marling is already three albums into a career built on furious talent and untempered ambition. She talks to Laura ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 September 2011
"THIS IS ANOTHER ONE of those, er, singalongs," says Beirut's Zach Condon, sounding slightly embarrassed by what's going on around him. Once again, the cavernous ...
August Darnell, Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole: "I'm not a party man anymore"
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 7 September 2011
He was a zoot-suited wise guy who crooned out hit after hit. Now Kid Creole is back. Paul Lester meets the man who blew a ...
Ultrasound: The reformation of Ultrasound: "In an instant, it felt necessary"
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 8 September 2011
Say what you like about the second coming of Ultrasound – this is one reformation that isn't driven by money. ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 14 September 2011
Distinguished and subtle New Orleans arranger and musician ...
Report by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 15 September 2011
The extension in copyright law is hailed as a victory for musicians. But while it will surely benefit Cliff, the Beatles et al, it will ...
Childish Gambino: New band of the week — Childish Gambino
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 30 September 2011
As comedians dabbling in rap go, Donald Glover has lot more going on than Will Smith. ...
Tony Bennett: Palladium, London *****
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 4 October 2011
THIS IS HOW to do it. At 85, Tony Bennett scampers on to the Palladium stage in a perfectly pressed suit, a folded red hankie ...
Bert Jansch: A Modest Man with an Immodest Talent
Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 6 October 2011
"REMEMBER ASKING Bert, 'When you were doing it, did you know that you were like … heavy? Heavier than all those bands that were heavy? ...
Frankie Knuckles: The House That Frankie Knuckles Built
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 13 October 2011
Frankie Knuckles is back, minus a foot but loaded with plaudits including a street named after him in Chicago ...
Other Lives: The Prairie Stories of Other Lives
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 13 October 2011
Inspired by the landscape of their native Oklahoma, Other Lives combine their rustic rock with classical minimalism. Martin Aston meets a band without limits. ...
Lou Reed, Metallica: "It has so much rage": Metallica And Lou Reed Talk About Their New Album
Interview by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 20 October 2011
It's a collaboration that has prompted much head-scratching, but Lou Reed and Metallica tell Edward Helmore that teaming up to make their new album was a ...
The Stone Roses' reunion: What's the worst that can happen?
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 October 2011
The Stone Roses are the latest in a long line of bands to get back together. Shameless profiteering? Or the chance to heal old rifts ...
Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 24 October 2011
THE AMERICAN photographer Barry Feinstein, who has died aged 80, made his most famous series of images when he accompanied Bob Dylan and the Band ...
Lady Leshurr — New artist of the week
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 24 October 2011
Birmingham MC Melesha O Garro is making a creditable crack at being a homegrown Nicki Minaj or Missy Elliott. ...
Florence and the Machine: Hackney Empire, London ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 October 2011
PARENTS WHO worry that their teenage daughters have few pop role models other than the intemperately sexual Rihannas of the world should be pleased that ...
My Morning Jacket: "We had to work it out ourselves"
Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 27 October 2011
THEY STARTED out in a barn in Kentucky, and became one of rock's great cult success stories. My Morning Jacket's Jim James talks to Stevie Chick ...
Ryan Adams: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 November 2011
WHAT DOES A HELLRAISER DO when he reaches 37 and finds little hell left to raise? For Ryan Adams, whose unpredictability has kept fans enthralled ...
Foxes: New Band Of The Week — Foxes
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 November 2011
Does the world really need another big-voiced belter of witchy gothisms? Foxes doesn't make a wholly convincing case it does. ...
Cabaret Voltaire, Richard H. Kirk: Warp Records: Richard H Kirk looks back on a futuristic life
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 5 November 2011
RICHARD H KIRK spent much of his career waiting for the future. He remains a resident of Sheffield, a city with a rich tradition in ...
Heavy D. & the Boyz: Heavy D: obituary
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 9 November 2011
THE RAPPER HEAVY D, who has died suddenly aged 44, after collapsing at his home, was among a handful of hip-hop stars from the 1980s ...
R.E.M.: "There's a good chance we'll never play together again"
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 10 November 2011
After 31 years, R.E.M. are no more, after an amicable, mutual decision to split. But is it really what they all wanted? And is it ...
Lianne La Havas: Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 16 November 2011
THE LATEST ARTIST to appear on Later With Jools Holland before releasing a note, Lianne La Havas is a Paloma Faith backing singer turned major ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 17 November 2011
LANA DEL REY may become the most recognised stage name since fellow New Yorker Lady Gaga, but it's just as possible it will end up ...
Retrospective by Martin Aston, The Guardian, 17 November 2011
Its writer refused to record it. Pat Boone almost killed it. Then it was resurrected as a B-side to an indie prestige project. Martin Aston on how ...
The Rolling Stones: Why a Rolling Stones bootleg is one of my albums of the year
Comment by John Harris, The Guardian, 22 November 2011
Their recent reissues might be rubbish, but 1973 bootleg Brussels Affair shows the Stones at their onstage peak. ...
Andrew Bird's sonic arboretum reminds me of the natural music we are losing
Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 24 November 2011
IN CHICAGO'S MUSEUM of Contemporary Art this December, there will sprout up a peculiar kind of forest: 50 horned speakers, each standing between 19 and ...
Those Darlins: New Band Of The Week — Those Darlins
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 28 November 2011
ONCE HEAVY on the hillbilly, these southern girls have ditched yee-haws and ukuleles to be a power-pop proposition. ...
Jill Scott: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 December 2011
"I HAD AN album out this year," Jill Scott informs a chokingly full Brixton Academy. The congratulatory bellows have hardly faded before she tartly adds: ...
The Black Keys "We've put in more hours than anyone
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1 December 2011
THE BLACK KEYS' singer/guitarist, Dan Auerbach, surveys his surroundings — a five-star hotel in one of the more salubrious parts of London — and seems ...
Howlin' Wolf, Hubert Sumlin: Hubert Sumlin, 1931-2011
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 5 December 2011
Revered blues guitarist who combined musically with Howlin' Wolf "like gasoline and a lit match" ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 11 December 2011
American singer and songwriter held in special affection by Northern Soul fans ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 15 December 2011
Country singer whose biggest hit was 'Blanket on the Ground' ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 December 2011
RIZZLE KICKS'S MUSIC is not a place to search for hidden depths. The Brighton duo of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule went top ...
Simply Red: Here's to Mick Hucknall's amazing voice
Memoir by John Harris, The Guardian, 21 December 2011
Admitting I liked Simply Red didn't fit with the NME's Maoist indie conspiracy, but Hucknall's repertoire is studded with triumphs ...
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 5 January 2012
Watch out, Nicki Minaj, there's a host of feisty, eccentric female rappers on your trail – and not all of them are here to pay their ...
Guided By Voices: Don't give up the day job
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 5 January 2012
Riven by addictions and family problems, Guided By Voices' late blooming was a double-edged sword. So why, after 15 years, has the classic lineup reunited? ...
One Direction: Hammersmith Apollo, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 January 2012
"SCREW BIEBER FEVER," tweeted a fan on the afternoon of this boy band's first London headline gig, "I've got a One Direction infection." ...
Ani DiFranco: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 January 2012
MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD have impacted on Ani DiFranco's productivity. Having released 18 albums in as many years, the prodigiously driven and prolific US singer-songwriter has ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 15 January 2012
IT'S 2AM on Sunday morning in this club night, but Plaid are here to move minds, not feet. ...
Indie Rock's Slow and Painful Death
Report by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 16 January 2012
Sales figures suggest alternative rock is in a dismal place right now. Will it ever recover? And should we care? ...
Enter Shikari: Borderline, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 17 January 2012
IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE a less appealing musical template than sixth-form politics and bludgeoning metal riffs welded to cack-handed Skrillex-style electronic beats. It is therefore ...
Gym Class Heroes, Stooshe: Koko, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 31 January 2012
THE ONLY GIRL BAND tipped in the BBC Sound of 2012 poll, Stooshe have been excitably described as "Salt-n-Pepa meet Odd Future". But the comparison ...
Beth Jeans Houghton: Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 2 February 2012
IT'S NO surprise to learn that Beth Jeans Houghton has synesthesia, a condition that causes her to "taste" colours (red is just like Safeway crisps, ...
Snow Patrol: The O2, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 February 2012
WHEN SNOW PATROL released Fallen Empires, the 2011 album that comprises a substantial part of this gig, singer Gary Lightbody revealed that the new record ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 February 2012
Superstar singer credited as the first 'pop diva', whose compelling talent was lost to drug addiction ...
Perfume Genius: "I've learned not to trust myself"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 16 February 2012
Porn footage and his mum were two of the inspirations for songs on Mike Hadreas's second album, which, yes, features the same themes of lurid ...
Greil Marcus: A Life In Writing
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 17 February 2012
GREIL MARCUS lives in a newly built, cedar-shingled house on the border between Oakland and Berkeley. ...
Simple Minds: "Maybe we shouldn't have cashed in…"
Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 23 February 2012
A COUPLE OF YEARS ago a young, anonymous musician approached Jim Kerr in a Glasgow rehearsal studio and began humorously haranguing him. "He was like, ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 February 2012
THE WORD OF MOUTH about Django Django is growing deafening. As the London-via-Edinburgh quartet head towards the end of their first UK tour, the venue ...
Marina and the Diamonds: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 February 2012
MARINA "AND THE DIAMONDS" DIAMANDIS is about to release the follow-up to 2010's top-five debut album The Family Jewels, but there's something so exuberantly off-kilter ...
Davy Jones, The Monkees: Davy Jones, 1945-2012
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 29 February 2012
Former child actor who became a star with the '60s pop group the Monkees. ...
Sinéad O'Connor: "I define success differently"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 March 2012
From her public search for a husband to attempted suicide and hospitalisation, the Irish singer has had a turbulent year even by her own standards. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 1 March 2012
THEIR ONE-ALBUM ALLIANCE with Johnny Marr ended last year, but if the Jarman brothers from Wakefield, who comprise the Cribs, never repeat the Top 10 ...
Sade: Why Sade is bigger in the US than Adele
Profile by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 13 March 2012
BRITAIN MAY have all but forgotten her, but 80s popstar Sade is a huge star in the US since her 2010 comeback. So what's the ...
HAIM: New Band of the Week: HAIM
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 23 March 2012
A band featuring three sisters, who combine the wafty whimsy of folk with R&B beats. It shouldn't really work. It does ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 March 2012
WHO COULD HAVE predicted not one but two X Factor boybands would exceed their allotted 15 minutes? The onus is now on JLS to out-dazzle ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 29 March 2012
Banjo player with a breathtaking style who shaped bluegrass and explored other genres ...
Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend: Jim Marshall, 1923-2012
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 5 April 2012
The "Father of Loud", he gave his name to the world-famous, ubiquitous amplifier. ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 April 2012
A DECADE AFTER the acrimonious split documented in last year's Steps Reunion TV series — which painted the group as living a budget version of Fleetwood ...
Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd: Alabama Shakes: The Saga of Southern Rock
Comment by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 6 April 2012
IT WAS ONLY a matter of time before BBC4 green-lit a Friday night documentary about the sub-genre Southern Rock. The subject is irresistible to connoisseurs ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 April 2012
EVEN ON HER FIRST HEADLINING TOUR, Cher Lloyd isn't constrained by lack of confidence: she wants nothing less than for fans to feel that "this is ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 11 April 2012
"THE MADONNA OF THE MIDLANDS", as Nottingham singer/producer Ronika Sampson has been unenviably labelled, is having an intriguing effect on a quartet of young women ...
Martina Topley-Bird, Tricky: Tricky
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 18 April 2012
Seventeen years ago, Maxinquaye made Tricky an unlikely pop star, and made him angry and unhappy. Now, though, he and Martina Topley-Bird are ready to ...
Hall Of Mirrors: New Band Of The Week — Hall of Mirrors
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 April 2012
BOASTING A MAGICAL retro-60s sound, Jessica Winter's pretty nightmares are enchanting. Think Julie Andrews in hell. ...
Bow Wow Wow: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 May 2012
THE SEX PISTOLS were not Malcolm McLaren's only situationist prank. After the demise of the Pistols, McLaren managed an early incarnation of Adam & the Ants; he then ...
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 6 May 2012
Gaz Coombes, once the cheeky, cheery Supergrass frontman, now reads French authors and writes brooding songs about bombs. ...
Grimes: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 9 May 2012
"I'VE GOT NO VOCALS," begins Grimes, aka 24-year-old Montreal-based artist Claire Boucher. It turns out she isn't plugged in, but the gig's beginning is only ...
Happy Mondays: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 May 2012
IF YOU DISCOUNT HIS PROPENSITY for using the f-word, you could call Shaun Ryder a solid citizen these days. The Happy Mondays' leader is slim, ...
Palma Violets: New band of the week — Palma Violets
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 17 May 2012
GROUNDED IN GARAGE ROCK and psych, Palma Violets struggle to achieve the epic and intense — but they'll still be hailed as heroes. ...
Jay Z, Kanye West: Jay-Z and Kanye West: O2 Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 May 2012
JAY-Z AND Kanye West are hip-hop's current two main players, and they are pathologically keen to celebrate the fact. ...
Alt-J: New Band of the Day: Alt-J
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 24 May 2012
This Cambridge four-piece not only write clever music and boast more references than a jobs agency, they've also set tongues wagging with their rapturously received ...
Rumer: St James's Church, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 May 2012
"I SPOKE TO PF SLOAN himself on the phone the other night, and he said, 'I'm praying for you.'" It's three songs into Rumer's set, ...
Beach House: Village Underground, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 May 2012
THE EARLY 1990S SHOEGAZE SCENE is not widely regarded as British music's finest moment. Peopled by bands such as Lush and Slowdive — who crafted ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 30 May 2012
FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS, Doc Watson, who has died aged 89, was the most illustrious name in traditional American folk music. A superb, original guitarist ...
A$AP Rocky: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 7 June 2012
"I WANT EVERYONE TO GET THEIR MONEY'S WORTH," says A$AP Rocky, the self-described "pretty motherfucker from Harlem". "I want someone to leave here passed out." ...
Lee Ranaldo: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 June 2012
THE APPARENT END of Sonic Youth has produced the unlikely emergence of the band's co-founder as a sweetly tuneful rocker. After 30 years crafting walls ...
The Stone Roses: Hultsfred festival, Sweden
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 15 June 2012
SO THIS is the Third Coming. Their first was at the much-mythologised tail-end of the 80s, when indie and dance music swaggered together, and the ...
Van Dyke Parks: Return of a Musical Maverick
Profile by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 15 June 2012
AS THE SMALL, white-haired, bespectacled man in a sleeveless cardigan took his seat a few rows from the front of the stalls in London's Royal ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 18 June 2012
...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 June 2012
ONE OF POP'S great delights is its unpredictability: a month ago, who could have foreseen an unknown Cambridge art-rock quartet landing in the top 20 ...
The Stone Roses: Why I won't be going to see the Stone Roses
Comment by John Harris, The Guardian, 23 June 2012
Since their magical peak in 1990, the band has delivered only disappointment and disaster. So is their latest reunion a chance for them to finally ...
Chvrches: New band of the week: Chvrches
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 26 June 2012
With their super-heavy brand of "Neon Gold pop", we have nothing but praise for this Scottish indie group. ...
Nic Jones: What the folk! Nic Jones is back
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Guardian, 28 June 2012
Thirty years after the car crash that almost killed him, folk hero Nic Jones is returning to the stage. He talks about his rebuilt body ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 July 2012
MATTHEW WARD is set to bid farewell to his cult status. After a decade spent forging a solo career in the cosy backwater of the ...
Robert Ellis: New band of the week: Robert Ellis
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 July 2012
Gram Parsons is long dead, but those with a taste for LA country might sense the return of the Grievous Angel in this singer ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 5 July 2012
FORMED IN 1986, the Swedish duo Roxette were one of the biggest pop phenomena of the 1980s and 1990s. In 2012, the vast arena isn't ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 17 July 2012
The "Queen of Country Music" in the post-war era, she had her first hit with 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels'. ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 18 July 2012
One of the last surviving members of the Funk Brothers, the backbone of Tamla Motown ...
Damian Marley: 30 minutes with … Damian Marley
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 July 2012
THE REGGAE STAR on the bittersweet pleasure of watching footage of his father, why people have started calling him "Gong Zilla", and how Jamaica has ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 31 July 2012
PLAN B'S THIRD album, Ill Manors, went straight into the album chart at No. 1 this week, despite being a spectacular musical contrast to the ...
Deadmau5, Skrillex: EDM: How Rave Music Conquered America
Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 2 August 2012
After 20 years, electronic dance music has made it big in the US. And big means big. With Las Vegas's Electric Daisy Carnival grossing $40m, ...
Dinosaur Jr.: J Mascis: "I never took it that seriously"
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 3 August 2012
The godfather of grunge on being rock's least loquacious talker, the merits of free dental care, and whether his band Dinosaur Jr were the Chuck ...
Kendrick Lamar: New band of the week: Kendrick Lamar
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 3 August 2012
Independent, idiosyncratic 25-year-old rapper from Compton who's been making waves in hip-hop circles and has just cooked up a recipe for the big-time ...
MF DOOM: Doom: "It's all new, all fun"
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 16 August 2012
Rapper (MF) DOOM is back in London, the city where he was born, with Key to the Kuffs, an album that references rhyming slang and ...
Mick Jagger: Christopher Andersen: Mick – The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger
Book Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 17 August 2012
Christopher Andersen's biography of Mick Jagger is little more than an anthology of juicy gossip. ...
The Lumineers: New Band Of The Week — The Lumineers
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 17 August 2012
With a cornucopia of campfire singalongs, this Colorado crew are poised to paint the world sepia with their rousing, rustic folk. ...
Amanda Palmer: "Thank God my best friend's a therapist"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 19 August 2012
She lets fans scrawl on her naked body and she crowd-funded her new LP to the tune of a record-breaking $1.2m. Is Amanda Palmer the ...
Razorlight: Myrtle Park, Bingley
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 2 September 2012
IN THE DAYS when Razorlight's Johnny Borrell happily compared himself to Bob Dylan and Charles Dickens, he would not have expected to rock up at ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 6 September 2012
It's not easy for women to survive in the macho world of country. Some of those who did, such as Jean Shepard and Bonnie Guitar, ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 12 September 2012
American singer and songwriter best known for 'Games People Play' ...
Carly Rae Jepsen: Kiss (Polydor) **
Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 20 September 2012
THIS Canadian Idol runner-up's super-hit 'Call Me Maybe' — the UK's second-biggest single of 2012 — was a polarising experience. ...
Biffy Clyro: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Guardian, 24 September 2012
TWO SONGS down and there's a fight on — a small whirlpool of boys in the crowd headbutting each other's sternums. As they fall into ...
Mumford & Sons: Mumford and Sons: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Guardian, 25 September 2012
MARCUS MUMFORD is likely to be found starving, bleeding, dying, sighing, fading, sinning, hopeless, "in the dark" or — as the new song 'Broken Crown' ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 26 September 2012
Popular crooner who sold more than 100m albums in a career that spanned eight decades ...
Ultravox: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 September 2012
REFORMED BANDS almost always find it nigh-on impossible to recapture the musical glories they routinely summoned up in their pomp. Ultravox may be a unique ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 3 October 2012
Session guitarist with more than 50 chart toppers to his name ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 7 October 2012
CANADIAN ROCKERS Nickelback aren't universally popular. Some 55,000 American football fans once signed a petition to attempt to stop them playing at half time. A ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 October 2012
A RECENT bit of rebranding has seen Cheryl Cole styling herself as just "Cheryl", the inference being that she's reached a level of fame where ...
Mika meets Dita Von Teese: "I've had to work hard to stay like this"
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 11 October 2012
The flamboyant singer and the burlesque performer share their thoughts on fetishism, sexuality and pop as the ultimate masquerade. ...
Dirty Projectors: Gorilla, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 October 2012
WHEN ALICE COOPER recently accused today's rock stars of lacking testosterone and "playing from the brain", he could have had David Longstreth in mind. ...
Grizzly Bear: Academy, Manchester
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 19 October 2012
GRIZZLY BEAR DON'T HAVE LAVISH VIDEOS featuring big cars and girls, expensively produced songs about bling or even an easily recognisable frontman. However, none of ...
Chilly Gonzales: Barbican, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 October 2012
"HARMONY'S FRENCH, but the melancholy melody's so Slavic," raps Chilly Gonzales, words tumbling out in a Canadian-accented torrent. "Whether I rap fast or slow, the ...
Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra: Manchester Cathedral
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 25 October 2012
AMANDA PALMER IS NO STRANGER TO CONTROVERSY. The former Dresden Dolls singer writes songs about her experiences of date-rape and abortion. She somehow coaxed her growing ...
Matthew E. White: New band of the week
Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 25 October 2012
So in thrall to the golden age of country-soul is White that you'll find yourself using the phrase "tasty licks" without irony. ...
Massive Attack: Blue Lines: Massive Attack's blueprint for UK pop's future
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 28 October 2012
In 1991, the laidback Bristol collective roused themselves to unleash their debut album. Reissued 21 years on it remains a landmark. Here, an early champion ...
Dead Can Dance: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 October 2012
IN THE LATE 1980S, effusive music journalists were in the habit of eulogising spectacularly ornate or baroque pieces of arthouse music — particularly on the 4AD ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 October 2012
FROM HIS BEGINNINGS in jazz, folk and soul music onwards, the singer and guitarist Terry Callier, who has died aged 67 after suffering from throat ...
Civil Wars, the: The Civil Wars at Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 31 October 2012
On paper, the Civil Wars shouldn't work at all. Joy Williams is 29, brought up in California and grew up on blues and country. John ...
Robyn: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 2 November 2012
LENA DUNHAM KNEW WHAT SHE WAS DOING when she deployed Robyn Carlsson's peerless 'Dancing on My Own' during an emotionally conflicted sequence in Girls. Like ...
Gil Evans: Purple Hazer: The Many Lives of Gil Evans
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 7 November 2012
His cool, luminous sound redefined jazz. Then he threw it all in for Jimi Hendrix. Richard Williams on the brilliant and mercurial Gil Evans. ...
Bon Iver: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 November 2012
IT STARTED IN a log cabin and it has led to Wembley. When little-known singer-songwriter Justin Vernon retreated to his father's Wisconsin woodland hideaway late ...
Book Review by Michel Faber, The Guardian, 9 November 2012
GIVEN THE VASTNESS of the subject, calling a treatise How Music Works seems intellectually arrogant, but it could also be seen as disarmingly frank, a ...
Retrospective by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 13 November 2012
Sixty years ago on Wednesday, the first singles chart was published in Britain – turning pop music into a competitive sport. Bob Stanley on how ...
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Guardian, 14 November 2012
HE'S RIDDEN A DEATH CAB, worked for the Postal Service and ventured into alt-country. Ben Gibbard picks the songs he's written that explain him best. ...
The Penguins: Cleve Duncan, 1935-2012
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 15 November 2012
Singer and founder member of the Penguins, noted for their hit 'Earth Angel' ...
10cc: "It was a tragedy we didn't stay together"
Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 20 November 2012
They made some of the cleverest and most inventive music of the 70s, but split up at the height of their success. 10cc come together ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 26 November 2012
YOU WAIT YEARS for a Bobby Womack show, and two turn up at once. Unfortunately, that is not as good as it sounds. The 68-year-old ...
Beth Orton: Memorial Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 28 November 2012
"GOOD EVENING Shef-f-f-f-f-iel-d-d-d," begins Beth Orton, as an incorrectly set microphone makes her voice sound as if it has been remixed by King Tubby. Then ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 2 December 2012
Versatile American guitarist who had a million-selling hit with 'Love Is Strange' ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 December 2012
ELBOW HAVE BEEN describing this end-of-year arena tour as their "farewell party", and the reason for their sabbatical is a curious one. Frontman Guy Garvey ...
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 10 December 2012
"C'MON," says Seal, holding back the first verse of his signature tune 'Killer' until the audience is clapping from front row to back. Then he leaps ...