Hi-Fi News & Record Review

Steve Earle, The Del McCoury Band: Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band: The Mountain

Review by Fred Dellar, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, May 1999

PREDICTABLY FOR the unpredictable Earle, his tribute to bluegrass mainman Bill Monroe contains no material actually penned by Monroe. ...

Supertramp: Vinyl Icon: Supertramp's Breakfast In America

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, June 2010

WHEN SUPERTRAMP released their sixth album, Breakfast In America, on March 29, 1979, the two core members of the band, Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies, ...

Steely Dan: Vinyl Icon: Gaucho

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, July 2010

GAUCHO, THE FINAL ALBUM Steely Dan recorded before they broke up in 1981, is still regarded as a masterpiece by aficionados, but making it put ...

Gerry Rafferty: City To City

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, March 2011

THE RECENT, TRAGIC, DEATH of Gerry Rafferty reminded thousands of fans just how vital his contribution to the '70s was, first as a member of ...

Deep Purple: Vinyl Icon: Machine Head

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, March 2010

TO GET THE POINT of Machine Head you must first understand what it is not. ...

The Clash: Vinyl Icon: The Clash

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, May 2011

UNUSUALLY, FOR AN ALBUM awarded Vinyl Icon status, the "fi" of The Clash's eponymous debut is not of the highest. It is, however, an album ...

Steve Miller: Vinyl Icon: The Steve Miller Band's Fly Like An Eagle

Report and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, May 2011

FLY LIKE AN EAGLE was the album which, in 1976, transformed San Francisco-based Stevie "Guitar" Miller from acclaimed critics' favourite to global superstar. ...

Ry Cooder: Bop Until You Drop Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, September 2010

GUITAR GURU Ry Cooder's eighth album, Bop Till You Drop, released at the very end of July 1979, gave him his first British chart entry, ...

The Bee Gees: 1st Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, June 2011

ON JANUARY 3, 1967, failed Australian pop trio The Bee Gees set sail for England, aboard the SS Fairsky. By the middle of that summer, ...

Bob Dylan: Blonde On Blonde Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, January 2010

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, lies 750 miles south west of Bob Dylan's first stomping ground, New York City. It's just a two-hour plane ride but, when Dylan ...

Cat Stevens: Tea For The Tillerman Vinyl Icon

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, January 2010

TEENAGE SINGER-SONGWRITER Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) hit the ground running in 1966 with a string of memorably catchy hits, including 'I Love ...

The Police, Sting: Vinyl Icon: The Police's Synchronicity

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, November 2009

IN 1977, a virtually unknown trio called The Police recorded their debut album, Outlandos D'Amour, in a village hall that had been converted to a ...

Gerry Rafferty: City To City Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, March 2011

THE RECENT, tragic, death of Gerry Rafferty reminded thousands of fans just how vital his contribution to the 70s was, first as a member of ...

Elvis Presley: Elvis' Christmas Album Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, December 2009

IN 2007, the Recording Industry Association of America revealed that, having notched up 12m sales, Elvis Presley's Christmas Album had become the top-selling holiday release ...

Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Welcome To The Pleasuredome Vinyl Icon

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, February 2010

IT STARTED in jail. In the spring of 1982, Mark O'Toole, bassist of fast-emerging Liverpool band Frankie Goes To Hollywood, was jamming on a new ...

Phil Collins: No Jacket Required Vinyl Icon

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, April 2011

TO DESCRIBE No Jacket Required as an era-defining album is almost an understatement. ...

Pink Floyd: Vinyl Icon: Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, September 2010

IT'S WRIT large in pop history that The Beatles spent the spring of 1967 recording their classic Sgt Pepper album in EMI's Abbey Road Studio ...

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours Vinyl Icon

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, September 2009

RUMOURS WAS the eleventh album by Anglo-American rock giants Fleetwood Mac, one of an elite cadre of bands which not only survived the loss of ...

Michael Jackson: Vinyl Icons: Michael Jackson's Thriller

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, October 2009

WHEN MICHAEL Jackson started recording Thriller, he must have wondered how on earth he could top the extraordinary achievements of Off The Wall, his previous ...

Dusty Springfield: The Making of Dusty in Memphis

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, July 2015

IN 1967, DESPITE international success and her status as the UK's undisputed queen of blue-eyed soul, Dusty Springfield found herself stifled by the career path ...

Paul McCartney, Wings: Vinyl Icon: Paul McCartney & Wings' Band On The Run

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, August 2015

KNIFE-WIELDING ATTACKERS, primitive recording facilities, medical emergencies – for sheer unadulterated behind-the-scenes drama and bizarre shenanigans, no other Paul McCartney album comes even remotely close ...

B.B. King: Vinyl Icon: B.B. King's Live at the Regal

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, August 2015

ON NOVEMBER 21, 1964 Chicago's historic Regal Theater became the recording location for B.B. King's incendiary in-concert album Live at the Regal, which would not ...

The Band: Vinyl Icon: The Band's Music From Big Pink

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, January 2014

IN 1965, BOB Dylan chose a hoary and somewhat grizzled rock'n'roll combo, the Hawks, as his backing group when he famously "went electric". ...

Boz Scaggs: Vinyl Icon: The Making of Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, February 2016

NOBODY WOULD HAVE thought that a former Steve Miller Band sideman whose name sounded like a disease of sheep would suddenly, after six failed solo ...

The Doors: Vinyl Icon: The Making of the Doors' L.A.Woman  

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, January 2015

AS 1970 DREW to a close, The Doors were widely considered a spent force. ...

Electric Light Orchestra: Vinyl Icon: ELO's Out Of The Blue

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, February 2014

MUSIC THAT was reviled by the critics in its day frequently proves to have lasting merit which only reveals itself in the fullness of time. ...