MOJO
MOJO is a UK-based monthly magazine first published in October 1993, providing in depth coverage of classic rock music via features, interviews and reviews. It is also available online.
1,644 articles
List of articles in the library
Live Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, November 1993
AT THE BACK OF the hall stood a tall and bulky figure, taking light refreshment and delivering his expert verdict on the performance of the ...
The Factory, Lowell George: Lowell George & The Factory: Lightning Rod Man
Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, November 1993
I WAS FORTUNATE enough to meet Lowell George close on 20 years ago. He was a charming great bear-like man rumpled and a little worse ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, November 1993
A RIOT OF SEQUINS and studded belts, of thick foundation and fringed pastel jackets, of monstrous boots and massive hair, Nashville's old – and new ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, November 1993
ACCORDING TO MOST rock histories the late '70s were defined by punk rock and the Sex Pistols. Commercially speaking, however, the awful truth is that ...
Moby Grape: Vintage: The Very Best Of Moby Grape
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 1993
MOBY GRAPE BEGAN IN 1966, arguably the decade's peak; they fell apart in 1969, a time of madness, desolation, dread. Between the optimism of ‘Hey ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Live Seeds
Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, November 1993
THE LIVE ALBUM is a tricky beast to handle. More often than not it's a contract filler, a pause for thought when the ideas have ...
Rickie Lee Jones: The War Of The Berets
Interview by Rob Steen, MOJO, November 1993
England gives Rickie Lee Jones the creeps. We are unkind, unhappy, un-rhythmic, tight-arsed and extremely white. ...
Afghan Whigs: The Afghan Whigs
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1993
"The perfect cv: liquor, pugnacity, political incorrectness, Catholic guilt and incorrigible horndoggery..." ...
Captain Beefheart: "Yeah, I'm Happy. Happy as a clam."
Retrospective by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, December 1993
He is alive. A recluse. Painting in seclusion up near the Oregon border. There have been weird signals through the ether since he stopped making ...
Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa: Captain Beefheart: Dropout Boogie
Retrospective by Miles, MOJO, December 1993
IT WAS 2am, September 1969, and I was having a cup of styrofoam coffee with Don Van Vliet in the 24-hour automated snack-bar of TT&G ...
Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, December 1993
HAS TIME STOOD STILL? Fifteen years on and Jackson Browne's running on empty again. He's out of love yet surviving, holding himself together but now ...
Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, December 1993
THIS SUMMER'S VELVET UNDERGROUND reunion inevitably recast John Cale in the role of Lou Reed's foil. After all, while the Velvets clearly depend on the ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1993
BH: Looking back, John, was the Little Village experience – you, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner – as much of an anti-climax for you ...
10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant: Natalie Merchant: Little Sister Syndrome
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 1993
MOJO: YOU'VE BEEN described as "interminably serious". Is that accurate? ...
Interview by Rob Steen, MOJO, December 1993
WITHOUT WISHING to take anything away from the Fabulous Furry Finn Brothers, it’s hard not to feel a bit sorry for Squeeze. With a little ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, December 1993
BETWEEN NICK CAVE AND THE FALL maybe; or separating early Dexys from mid-peri-od Pogues; or even right back alongside Lee Hazlewood and Leonard Cohen – ...
John Lennon, Elvis Presley: Albert Goldman: Double Fantasy?
Obituary by Miles, MOJO, 1994
The late Albert Goldman wrote two vicious character profiles, of Elvis and Lennon, and was crucified for his pains. He claimed their fans simply couldn't ...
Harry Nilsson: Singer, Songwriter, Fab-Across-The-Water 1941-1994
Obituary by Derek Taylor, MOJO, 1994
John and Paul were asked to name their favourite artist. "Nilsson." And band? "Nilsson." ...
Albert Collins: Blue Guitarist, Singer, Iceman, 1932-1993
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, January 1994
ALBERT COLLINS WAS ROUGH. THAT'S ROUGH AS IN 'NICE 'N' rough', as opposed to 'mean 'n' rough'. He demonstrated the difference to perfection a couple ...
Aphex Twin: The Mozart of Techno
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, January 1994
"Is this the sound of old languages breaking up? Or of new ones forming?" ...
Björk: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1994
LAST TIME I SAW BJÖRK ON STAGE SHE WAS WITH THE Sugarcubes and I didn’t really see her at all: either Einar the Irritating or ...
Boulevard of Broken Dreams: A Trip Down the Sunset Strip
Guide by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1994
SUNSET BOULEVARD: the very name is synonymous with dreams, unrealities, tableaux of palm trees and convertibles in the golden light of southern California. Billy ...
Santana: Carlos Santana: Sacred Fire
Interview by Rob Steen, MOJO, January 1994
THE VERY LEAST YOU CAN SAY ABOUT CARLOS Santana is that he has always been a pleasant plucker. Surely no-one has ever coaxed as much ...
The Band: Heart & Soul: The Band
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1994
MENTION THE BAND TO PEOPLE IN 1993 and the chances are they'll say: "What band?" So much for the enduring legacy of the finest group ...
James Booker: The Unsung Piano Genius with Star-spangled False Teeth
Profile by Ben Thompson, MOJO, January 1994
"IF ALL AMERICAN PIANO PLAYERS LINED UP IN A ROW, each knowing the other’s abilities and talents, all would take a step back to recognise ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, January 1994
I FIRST SAW MADNESS EARLY IN 1980 IN A SAN Francisco club. It was the city's mecca of punk but the locals didn't know quite ...
Mazzy Star: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, January 1994
IN THE PRIVACY OF ONE'S OWN HOME, CALIFORNIA'S MAZZY Star can sound like an American bar band performing at half-speed at the bottom of a ...
Microglobe: Easy Dance & Musichall, Frankfurt an der Oder
Report by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, January 1994
IN THE CRAMPED LITTLE DJ BOOTH AT THE EASY DISCO, Frankfurt an der Oder – east Germany city of flatblocks and border posts – Berlin ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, January 1994
MUSIC ALWAYS SEEKS TO BREAK THE BOUNDS of language: indeed, the language of words is often inadequate to describe what music does as it enters ...
Steely Dan: Remastered - The Best Of Steely Dan (MCA)
Review by Nick Hornby, MOJO, January 1994
"Who was The Razor Boy? What is The Boston Rag? Where is Mizar-5?" ...
Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, January 1994
They were suburban loners who saw the potential for beauty inside the tawdry and extravagant. Together they won attention and success. As Suede step into ...
Report by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1994
Barney Hoskyns visits the idyllic Catskill mountain retreat colonized by The Band, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and fellow bohemians. ...
Review by Simon Reynolds, MOJO, March 1994
THESE DAYS, ALTERNATIVE = ANTIQUATED. Almost all alternative rockers pay homage to a bygone golden age (although they disagree about which is the genre that ...
ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: Texan Rabbi From Hell
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, March 1994
QUICK! APART FROM long beards, grotesque guitars and cheap sunglasses, what do ZZ Top and our dearly beloved and highly respected Prime Minister have in ...
Frank Zappa: Dr Zircon's Secret Lab
Memoir by Miles, MOJO, March 1994
I FIRST MET FRANK Zappa in July 1967, outside the Garrick Theater at 152 Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village. He was standing on the sidewalk, ...
Janis Joplin: Janis (Columbia/Legacy)
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, March 1994
DYLAN FELL OFF his motorcycle, The Beatles broke up and Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin paid the full price of ‘60s rock stardom ...
Lester Bangs: Rock 'n' roll as literature, literature as rock 'n' roll.
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1994
Whither Rock Gomorrah, the great gonzo hack's unpublished swansong? ...
Pavement: Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, March 1994
THERE WAS MUCH wailing and rending of hair throughout the land at the news that Pavement had parted ways with their crazed 40-something drummer Gary ...
Obituary by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, March 1994
[NOTE: This was part of Mojo’s obituary for Frank Zappa, and was published in March 1994. The brief was simply to look at his career ...
Eric Clapton: The Odyssey: The Making Of Eric Clapton
Retrospective and Interview by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, March 1994
Of all the legends of the land of Greece, few are as epic and ill-starred as the tale of Eric Clapton, his five mates and ...
Voodoo Queens: Voodod Queens: Chocolate Revenge
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, March 1994
UNREPENTANT BAD GIRLS with a taste for culinary and bibulous excess, the Voodoo Queens have cannily put their career back on track with a debut ...
Cypress Hill: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, April 1994
THERE'S A KID slumped at the top of the Brixton academy stairs, his head poised vomitatiously over a large plastic bin. All you can see ...
Emmylou Harris: Pieces Of The Sky
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1994
WHEN GRAM PARSONS 'DISCOVERED' Emmylou Harris in late 1971, she was working as a folkie in Washington DC, and singing the occasional country tune like ...
Primal Scream: Hell's Angel: Primal Scream
Memoir by Tim Tooher, MOJO, April 1994
Last year Primal Scream's pilgrimage to the holiest sources of the Devil's music brought them to Memphis, where they recorded their newest album Give Out ...
Kirsty MacColl: Pillar To Post
Interview by Rob Steen, MOJO, April 1994
A TIP. DON'T TELL KIRSTY MACCOLL SHE IS OUR FINEST FEMALE songwriter. Not even if you are besotted with Titanic Days, her latest and greatest ...
Interview by David Sinclair, MOJO, April 1994
THEY SAY THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD. BUT HE'S ALWAYS hard to spot because he looks so normal. Quiet, polite, a little shy even. You ...
Tim Buckley: Live At The Troubadour 1969
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1994
HE WAS, ABOVE all, a beautiful boy. Sure, the album sleeves show those impossible good looks steadily thickening into manhood and by 1974's Look At ...
The Rolling Stones: Twilight in Babylon: Adventures with the Rolling Stones
Retrospective by Nick Kent, MOJO, April 1994
THE FIRST THING you need to know about my adventures with the Rolling Stones is that they pretty much all took place once the basic ...
Van Morrison: The Great Hall, Exeter University
Live Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, April 1994
MAN. VAN. THE. UNTIL NOW THE ONLY WELL-KNOWN PHRASE or saying into which these three words could be re-assembled has been a synonym for irascible ...
The Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts: Charlie Watts: The Rock
Interview by Robert Sandall, MOJO, May 1994
INTERVIEWS WITH CHARLIE WATTS were once memorably described as being "as rare as rocking horse shit". Like many of the jazz players he admires so ...
Blossom Toes, Chicken Shack, Deep Purple, The Pink Fairies, Ten Years After: GEROFF!
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, May 1994
Born too late for The Beatles, too early for punk. 1969 was not a good year to be starry-eyed and 17. So tell us, Tom ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Peter Green: The Supernatural
Retrospective and Interview by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, May 1994
PETE MOODY Former bass player with The Grebbels – "We were support band to The Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy and Peter used to come along ...
Retrospective and Interview by Robert Sandall, MOJO, May 1994
Three decades and 140 million albums later, the sheer familiarity of the Pink Floyd phenomenon obscures the strangeness of it all. Unlike any of their ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, May 1994
FORGET EVERYTHING you know about what great music is – Bessie Smith, The Beatles, Neil Young, Al Green, all gone (not forever, just for 40 ...
XTC: Andy Partridge Confronts His Lifelong Enemy - Stagefright!
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 1994
This is an interview with Andy Partridge. ...
Review by Ian Birch, MOJO, June 1994
"I love Dusty Springfield. I wanted to name our daughter Dusty but I knew we couldn't because, I mean, Dusty Springsteen...She had a nice big, ...
Nirvana: Kurt Cobain 1967-1994
Obituary by Nick Kent, MOJO, June 1994
NIRVANA SINGER AND SONGWRITER. THE FIRST TRUE ROCK AND ROLL STAR OF THE NINETIES. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, June 1994
WHEN NICK DRAKE'S Five Leaves Left first came out in 1968, albums with gatefold sleeves by moody songwriters accompanied by orchestras were almost two a ...
Sonic Youth: Experimental Jet Set, Trash & No Star
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, June 1994
THIS IS SONIC Youth's tenth album in all, bootlegs excluded, and it finds them making a determined and ultimately successful effort not to settle into ...
Ray Davies: Three Minutes: Ray Davies
Interview by Stuart Maconie, MOJO, June 1994
It's an exacting, exhilarating discipline: everything you want to say condensed into 180 seconds. "It's the ultimate song structure and I hope it'll never die." ...
Report and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, July 1994
Blues with just a soupcon of psychedelia. Dash of raga-rock. R&B to taste. Put in blender. Heat, serve. Repeat as required. ...
Eddi Reader: Hush (Blanco Y Negro)
Review by Nick Hornby, MOJO, July 1994
EDDI READER WAS THE SINGER IN FAIRGROUND Attraction. Fairground Attraction had a Number 1 hit single with 'Perfect'. 'Perfect' annoyed the hell out of you, ...
J.J. Cale: No Name, No Number, No Pack Drill
Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, July 1994
HE IS THE MOST unrecognizable man in pop music; success, it seems, comes to him only when he wants it. And a major part of ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: L.A.M.F.
Review by Nina Antonia, MOJO, July 1994
THIS IS NOT PUNK: THIS IS EDDIE COCHRAN and Gene Vincent dragged screaming into 1977. ...
Joy Division: Someone Take These Dreams Away
Retrospective and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, July 1994
HERE ARE THE young men, a weight on their shouldersHere are the young men, well where have they been?We knocked on the doors of hell's ...
The Factory, Little Feat: Little Feat: The One That Got Away
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1994
OK, SO THERE aren't many of them, but Little Feat's 1975 show at the Rainbow Theatre was one LEGENDARY GIG EVERYONE SAYS THEY SAW that ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, July 1994
AS FAR AS I KNOW, Smokey Robinson and Frank Zappa never met. However, if they had, five'll getcha ten they'd have ended up talking ...
Syd Barrett: The Madcap Laughs/Barrett/Opel
Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, July 1994
IN A RECENT EDITION OF A MAGAZINE THAT SHALL REMAIN nameless, some clever-dick had this to say: "No-one likes Syd Barrett except for the kind ...
The Damned: Eternally Damned: The Very Best Of (Music Collection)
Review by Miles, MOJO, July 1994
THE DAMNED WERE THE FIRST PUNK band to release a single ('New Rose') and to get an album out and in the charts, but it's ...
Review by Susan Compo, MOJO, July 1994
The Undertones/Hypnotised/Positive Touch/The Sin Of Pride /The Peel Sessions Album ...
The Who: 30 Years Of Maximum R&B
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, July 1994
APART FROM THE BARRON KNIGHTS AT BERTRAM MILLS Circus, the first group I ever saw live was The Who: It could have been Spooky Tooth, ...
Review and Interview by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, July 1994
WOOSTOCK BEGAN ON A GOLF course. Three years before they were to be responsible for Governor John Rockefeller declaring the Woodstock Festival area "a state ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Cult Classic
Review by Susan Compo, MOJO, August 1994
NERDY menace dogs this murky compilation, which sounds like it's coming from an eight-track player in a gas guzrler stuck beneath a muddy stream. ...
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1994
I'M MARTIN," SAYS THE ONE WITH THE CURLY HAIR. "D'you know Ken Dodd's dad's dog died?" ...
Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, August 1994
"DO 'TOAD'!" THAT WAS THE TENDER CATCHPHRASE THAT every youth used to yell at Ginger Baker every time he took his place behind his amazing ...
Jeff Buckley: In At The Deep End
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 1994
AWARE HE COULD be unfairly accused of trading on the family name, Jeff Buckley, Tim Buckley's 27-year-old son, has spent the last three years honing ...
James Brown, Valentines Park, Ilford
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 1994
TEN MINUTES BEFORE JAMES BROWN IS DUE TO APPEAR ON AN English stage for the first time since his release from prison, there is an ...
Review by Susan Compo, MOJO, August 1994
JULIAN COPE is even more twisted than his infamous mikestand. ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 1994
LEONARD COHEN'S LITTLE NICHE IN THE marketplace has expanded somewhat over the last decade – and mercifully so. Being the bedsit prophet of gloom is ...
Oasis: Everything Rock Delights In
Report and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 1994
THE MARQUEE, about a month ago. the place is solid with grinning loons, many of whom hold should-know-better jobs in the music business. I'm here ...
Robert Wyatt: Going Back A Bit – A Little History of Robert Wyatt (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, August 1994
HE IS A GREAT ENGLISHMAN, a pragmatic jazz buff, a witty and wise lyricist, an ingenious instrumentalist; but it's by his singing that Robert Wyatt ...
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, August 1994
IF THERE WAS ONE PIVOTAL EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE Clash's assault on the USA it was the season of 17 shows they played ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, August 1994
Joe Strummer talks to Chris Salewicz ...
The Eagles: Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, California
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, August 1994
THE BEST – AND CERTAINLY MOST SUCCINCT – REVIEW OF this, the opening night of the reunited Eagles' concert tour, came midway through guitarist Joe ...
Interview by David Cavanagh, MOJO, August 1994
For the High Llamas it's simple. Use a sock to muffle the bass. ...
The Rolling Stones: VooDoo Lounge
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, August 1994
CONFRONTED BY THE FIRST STUDIO ALBUM IN NEARLY FIVE years, for most Stones fans the question is not, Is it as good as Exile/Beggars/name your ...
Spin Doctors: The Spin Doctors
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, August 1994
AT FIRST GLANCE there is little to distinguish the 150,000 revellers gathered on the opening day of the 1994 Glastonbury Festival from the millionaire rock ...
Buffalo Springfield : Expecting To Fly
Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 1994
WHEN NEIL YOUNG arrived in February 1966, Los Angeles was the pop capital of America. For a city so derided, usually by its Californian rival ...
Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, September 1994
OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS Jeff Buckley has become a contender. A minor critical furore greeted his first live mini-LP, while a handful of mesmeric ...
John Entwistle, The Who: John Entwistle
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 1994
MY GENERATIONA LOT OF THE SOLOS I PLAYED WERE MUCH FASTER AND MORE interesting than the ones that finally went on the record. ...
Johnny Cash: American Recordings
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, September 1994
SOMETIME IN THE LATE '80S, Columbia Records unceremoniously dropped Johnny Cash. No matter that Cash had been one of Sun's Million Dollar Quaret, alongside Elvis ...
Neil Young: A Conversation with Elliot Roberts
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1994
FEW OTHER artist/manager relationships have endured as long as the one between Neil Young and Elliot Roberts. It is nearly 30 years since the lanky, ...
Comment by Dave Marsh, MOJO, September 1994
"Coming to the conclusion that he was a second-rank artist scared the hell out of even a veteran heretic like myself." Neil Young unpraised by ...
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1994
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after it was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, 'Cinnamon Girl' sounds like it was cut the day before yesterday on a ...
Essay by Ben Thompson, MOJO, September 1994
"Last night I dreamt I kissed Neil Young / If I was a boy I guess it would be fun." Sonic Youth, Creme Brulee, 1992. ...
The Only Ones: Only Ones: The Peel Sessions Album
Review by Nina Antonia, MOJO, September 1994
IF THERE WAS ONLY ONE SONG IN THE universe and it was 'Another Girl, Another Planet', I would still have all I ever wanted. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1994
OK, PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR A SHOCK. PRINCE'S new album – a last gasp from his 16-year career on Warner Brothers – is about sex. It ...
Strange New Ways To Kill A Rock Critic
Overview by Paul Gorman, MOJO, September 1994
PREHENSILE Monkey-Tailed Skink? Screeching Weasel? PopDefect? Anus The Menace? Never heard of 'em? You may well yet, because these are the American bands being championed ...
Retrospective by Susan Compo, MOJO, October 1994
AS NORMAN MAILER ONCE SAID, "All blondes are natural blondes." Look it up in any book of pop quotes and you'll probably find a picture ...
Review by Susan Compo, MOJO, October 1994
AS NORMAN MAILER ONCE SAID, "ALL blondes are natural blondes." Look it up in any book of pop quotes and you'll probably find a picture ...
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1994
WHEN BOZ SCAGGS MADE HIS FIRST tentative steps back into the music industry that he had abandoned for most of the '80s, he found his ...
Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, October 1994
BRYAN FERRY SHOULD NEED LITTLE introduction. The first five Roxy Music albums – Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure, Stranded, Country Life and Siren – defined ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1994
WHILE BRITAIN WAS IN THE THROES of blues-boom mania in the late '60s, American youth had little time for that particular shade of black music. ...
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde
Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, October 1994
IT IS JUST POSSIBLE, I SUPPOSE, THAT SOMEWHERE IN Chrissie Hynde's attic, there lurks a portrait of a withered old crone hunched over an electric ...
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 1994
"ONE THING I'VE NOTICED driving around in this part of Switzerland is that there are no flowers. It's relentlessly green in Geneva – they must ...
Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, October 1994
"MUSHING, UH, I MEAN MOSHING," says Joe Cocker when asked to explain the difference between Woodstocks '69 and '94, after playing a standout festival opener. ...
Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson: Jim Dickinson: Earth Father
Retrospective and Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, October 1994
Backwoods, Mississippi. Home to Jim Dickinson, the revered producer and professional redneck whose work spans the story of Southern music from Sun Records to Big ...
John Martyn: The Boy Can't Help It
Interview by Nick Coleman, MOJO, October 1994
Rambunctious loons, Soave-swilling romantics, tireless anarchists, people who fill baths with dead fish, all detect in him some sort of kindred spirit. John Martyn by ...
Marvin Gaye: The Classics Collection/Dream Of A Lifetime/Romantically Yours
Review by Nick Coleman, MOJO, October 1994
IN 1985, a year after his death, Gaye's Dream Of A Lifetime and Romantically Yours appeared in the CBS catalogue to confirm what we already ...
Peter Gabriel: Electric Disneyland
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, MOJO, October 1994
Peter Gabriel is developing an interactive self-therapy device. He talks of machines that can interface with plants. He sees himself not as a musician, more ...
Sinead O'Connor: Universal Mother
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1994
AN ALBUM ABOUT MOTHERS – MOTHER as God, mother as Ireland, mother as sex, mother as violence, giver of life, saver of life, withholder of ...
Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship: Up The Revolution? F**k The Revolution!
Review and Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, October 1994
PLANEBRANES. THAT'S WHAT obsessive aficionados of Jefferson Airplane and all that venerable group's offshoots – Jefferson Starship, Starship (two different enterprises, confusingly enough), Mickey Thomas's ...
Grant Lee Buffalo: The trio from Paranoid City
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 1994
ONE GLANCE AT the music and movie tastes of acclaimed rock trio Grant Lee Buffalo would tell you that their home town is Los Angeles. ...
Liz Phair: Fresh outta Guyville
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1994
NO-ONE WAS MORE SURPRISED THAN LIZ PHAIR when her precocious double-album debut became the alternative-rock succès d'estime of 1993. "I was just a neighbourhood kid ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 1994
YOU CAN JUST HEAR THE PHONE CALL. "The album's ready. Hire the Irish castle!" When the world's biggest bands have something to promote, money's no ...
Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor: Trent Reznor
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, November 1994
"IF YOU'RE NOT ready for it, it's terrible, it's noise. It's the most uncommercial record that's ever been in the Top 50," says Trent Renzor ...
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1994
THE INTRINSIC NICENESS OF JOAN BAEZ is proving a problem for David Gray. "Yes, she's very nice," he admits again, shaking his head as if ...
Elvis Presley: Love Him Tender, Love Him True
Book Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, December 1994
Peter Guralnick: Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley ...
Deep Purple, Ian Gillan: Ian Gillan
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 1994
THE THIRD VERSION OF DEEP PURPLE TO FEATURE Ian Gillan on lead vocal has just toured the world. Shortly before the Japanese leg, guitarist Ritchie ...
J.J. Cale: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 1994
WHISPERING BOB Harris introduces him as "very simply a legend", this grizzled geezer who's spent the intermission on stage with his back to the audience ...
Joni Mitchell: Our Lady of Sorrows
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1994
SHE ALMOST bounds into the room, this dowager duchess of American rock, fresh from whooping it up for Mojo's photographer on the street outside manager ...
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 1994
AT A TIME WHEN X-CHROMOSOME COUNTRY has never resided further from the factory floor, honky-tonk and dreamed-of mansion on the hill, Joy Lynn White sings ...
New Order: The Best of New Order (London)
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 1994
LESS A SUCCESSOR TO THE SUBSTANCE compilation than an update, The Best Of New Order takes a very short-term view of the group's career, reprising ...
Nirvana: Unplugged In New York
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, December 1994
IT SEEMS A PARTICULARILY VICIOUS IRONY:THAT A BAND THAT electricity seemed to flow through, a band who at their best could fling the weight of ...
Orbital: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, December 1994
THE WAY THAT ORBITAL wanted to make music, one of the Hartnoll brothers said last year in a rare theoretical moment, was like an idealised ...
Jimmy Page/Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin: Page and Plant
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 1994
THE DATE: Thursday, September 29,1994. THE PLACE: a table outside a café in Tottenham Street, London W1. THE CAST: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Mat Snow ...
Percy Sledge: A Beautiful Life
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 1994
ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1967, THE MACON, GEORGIA, office of Phil Walden and Associates, management and booking agents, was thronging with the most heavyweight soul ...
Prefab Sprout: Phone Home: Paddy McAloon
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1994
"I'M ACTUALLY going for the record of being the longest hold-out character on the face of the earth. I'm trying to evaporate into a realm ...
Pink Floyd: Earl's Court Exhibition Centre, London
Live Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, December 1994
WE'RE THREE minutes in and the family in front of me (mother, father and two smaller facsimile editions thereof, dressed identically in Division Bell T-shirts) ...
Humble Pie, The Small Faces, Steve Marriott: Steve Marriott: All Or Nothing
Retrospective by Cliff Jones, MOJO, December 1994
The late Steve Marriott was, in his prime, a writer of transcendent English pop songs. He was, to the end, a blues and soul shouter ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, December 1994
FORBIDDEN PLEASURES ARE GETTING harder to find. What price true rebel music when disco, metal, mid-'70s pop and all the grizzled outlaws of yesteryear are ...
The Creation: "Red with Purple Flashes"
Retrospective and Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, December 1994
Thus guitarist Eddie Phillips described the sound of the short-lived band who inspired everyone from Jimmy Page to Alan McGee. Please welcome the second dawn ...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, December 1994
Combustible blues, not as in Delta 12-bar, but as in Beefheart, braggadocio and Mick Jagger’s dick. ...
Todd Rundgren: The Forum, Kentish Town
Live Review by Rob Steen, MOJO, December 1994
THE ANKLE-LENGTH SKIRT AND black-and-white mane threw us at first, but not for long. The Runt always was a dead ringer for Charlie George. Besides, ...
10cc, R.E.M.: Conference Call: Mike Mills talks to 10cc!
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1995
ON THE receiving end of the PR’s pointy red fingernail: Sylvie Simmons... ...
David Bowie, Morrissey: David Bowie/Morrissey: London, Wembley Arena
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1995
THE THIRD OF four nights of two thinnish white pop Dukes with great barbers and a well-honed sense of alienation. Seventies icon Bowie and 80s ...
Home Taping Is Saving Music: Joe Foster’s Rev-Ola
Report and Interview by Paul Gorman, MOJO, 1995
From the Shaggs to... Bruce Forsyth? Joe Foster’s Rev-Ola label, born of "frenzied tape-swapping," is home to all manner of retro-oddities. ...
Review by Edward Helmore, MOJO, 1995
FROM AN ABANDONED whorehouse 50 miles outside of Austin, Texas, comes Filth Pig, the latest sonic roadkill of heavy-riffing industrial grooves and big beats from ...
The Cramps: World of the Interiors
Interview by Susan Compo, MOJO, 1995
Parakeets, serial killer art and "flame-jobs" at the local boneyard. Yep, it’s the return of The Cramps. ...
Sam Dees: Whaddya Mean, You've Never Heard Of... Sam Dees?
Guide by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, 1995
AT SIX FOOT FOUR and two-hundred-plus pounds, Sam Dees is a soul giant in more ways than one. One of black America’s premier songsmiths, he ...
Sheryl Crow: As Sheryl Crow Flies
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1995
EIGHT YEARS BACK, a young music teacher from Kennett, a tiny Bible Belt town ("Twin Peaks. Three stop lights, one police station, one high school.") ...
Donovan: Sunshine Superman/Mellow Yellow/The Hurdy Gurdy Man/Barabajagal
Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, January 1995
HOW WAS IT that our "Celtic" hippie friend put it to Queen magazine in 1967? Oh, yes: "Pop is the perfect religious vehicle. It's as ...
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1995
The deep and enduring influence of Mr Soul. ...
Randy Newman: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1995
HE IS TEN SECONDS into his second song, 'Yellow Man', when a bank of spots from Miss Saigon bathes him in a hepatic yellow light. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1995
SAR was Sam Cooke's dream of an R&B empire. It nearly came true. ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, January 1995
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS on from their demise, The Beatles continue to exercise a hypnotic spell as the ur-myth of modernist pop culture. As befits the group ...
The Black Crowes: Stoned Soul Picnic
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, January 1995
MUSIC SEEPS OUT of the streets in Memphis. It's everywhere, in bars and clubs, but also somehow just hanging in the air, almost as if ...
Sam Cooke: The Soul Stirrer: Sam Cooke
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1995
FEW ENTERTAINERS have fallen quite so far from grace as Sam Cooke did when he died, 30 years ago, at the Hacienda Motel in south-central ...
Meat Puppets: When Kurt Met Curt: Meat Puppets
Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, MOJO, January 1995
IF YOU WANT TO know why Meat Puppets touched Kurt Cobain so deeply that he covered not one but three of their songs for Unplugged ...
Willie Nelson: The Buddha of Texas
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1995
He is both The Great Elder of his tribe — a man of fabled serenity — and country music's most celebrated outsider; fond of the ...
Profile by Andy Gill, MOJO, February 1995
Prolific post-grunge Dylan type records dozens of songs for several labels, then rolls-up and smokes the rejects. ...
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, February 1995
Berry Gordy has finally told his own story. Harvey Kubernik met him in LA. ...
Billy Fury: Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache
Retrospective by Bob Stanley, MOJO, February 1995
"There's only ever been two English rock'n'roll singers – Johnny Rotten and Billy Fury." – Ian Dury, 1978 ...
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run
Retrospective by Ed Ward, MOJO, February 1995
LORD, WHAT DID I EVER SEE IN BRUCE Springsteen? But I did once see something, and even went on record as having seen it. In ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis: Father, Son & Hillbilly Cat
Essay by Mick Farren, MOJO, February 1995
Boy-King/Fertility God brings wonder and prosperity to the land, is cut down but manages to transcend death... The ballooning Cult of Elvis is turning into ...
Hank Marvin, The Shadows: Four-Eyes, One Vision: The Shadows
Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995
BRIAN RANKIN GREW UP IN NEWCASTLE: WHEN he was 16, in 1957, he travelled to London with his school friend Bruce Welch "in an attempt ...
Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995
HELEN SHAPIRO WAS BRITAIN'S FIRST TEENAGE FEMALE pop star. Born in 1946, she made her first record at the age of 14, for Norrie Paramor ...
Laura Nyro: Union Chapel, Islington, London
Live Review by Rob Steen, MOJO, February 1995
WHEN LAURA PLAYED MONTEREY, nerves and rushed rehearsals saw her flounder as the hairies waited for Hendrix. Tonight there are enough baldies in the pews ...
Move It! The British Rock 'n' Roll Explosion
Overview by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995
FOR MOST PEOPLE OF 40 AND UNDER, British pop begins with The Beatles: this is the view that has been encouraged by rock writers ever ...
Cliff Richard, The Shadows: Move it! The Butch Rock 'n' Roll Explosion
Retrospective by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995
FOR MOST PEOPLE OF 40 AND UNDER, British pop begins with The Beatles: this is the view that has been encouraged by rock writers ever ...
Graham Parker: Phone Home: Graham Parker
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, February 1995
I HAVE A PLACE HERE IN THE Catskill mountains in New York state, about nine miles away from Woodstock. I've had it since 1988, before ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Rapture
Review by Susan Compo, MOJO, February 1995
A FEW SPEED BUMPS DOWN THE TIMELINE OF rock, past the new wave of new wave and the return of baggy, and it seems the ...
Marty Wilde: The Blackheath Jungle
Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995
MARTY WILDE WAS, ALONG WITH CLIFF, BRITAIN'S BIGGEST ROCK star from 1958 through 1960: there was even a girl's comic named after him. Born Reginald ...
Cliff Richard: The Great Pretender
Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 1995
CLIFF IS THE ARCHETYPAL BRITISH POP STAR. Born in 1940, his extraordinary career began with the release of his first record, 'Move It', in autumn ...
The Stone Roses: Second Coming
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, February 1995
IF THE BYRDS HAD BEEN WELSH; IF Lenny Kravitz shopped at Kwik Save; if the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin or Wishbone Ash or Eddie ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, February 1995
RETURNING TO COLLECTIVE ACTION after last year's earth-shaking individual effort Hips N Makers, Kristin Hersh sounds happy to have some back-up noise behind her again. ...
Fats Domino: ‘Fats’ Domino: A Free Ride For The Fat Man
Report by Charlie Gillett, MOJO, March 1995
Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino is making a killing from a song he had nothing to do with. Charlie Gillett tells the story of a bizarre credit ...
Berry Gordy: To Be Loved – The Music, The Magic, The Memories Of Motown (Headline)
Book Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 1995
AT THE get-go, Berry Gordy states that "the misconceptions about me and Motown have become so great I finally had to deal with them." Four ...
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band Greatest Hits
Review by Rob Steen, MOJO, March 1995
THE VOICE IS ALL GRAVEL AND FIVE o'clock shadow, crumbling with every line. The piano caresses. The organ surges and swirls. The guitar soars like ...
Interview by Susan Whitall, MOJO, March 1995
High in the US charts with his Greatest Hits album, leather-lunged god of heartland AOR Bob Seger talks to Susan Whittall about punk rock, "ferocious" ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Burnin': Bob Marley and the Wailers take Britain
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1995
Babylon is freezing. The Wailers arrive on a mission to ignite below-zero Britain. Thus begins the demise of the original band and the rise of ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Can't Fight The Youth: Bob Marley's Early Years
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, MOJO, March 1995
1945. THE PREGNANCY WAS PROBLEM-FREE. On the first Sunday of February, 1945, Cedella Marley went to church as usual. The next day she hoped to ...
Dan Penn: Once More With Feeling
Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, March 1995
Otis. Janis. Aretha. Gram. Each cut classic songs by the hallowed Dan Penn. Coaxed out of retirement, he recorded last year’s universally acclaimed Do Right ...
Elvis Presley, Leiber and Stoller: Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller: By Royal Appointment
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, March 1995
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the greatest rock 'n' roll songwriting team of all time, have their songs celebrated in the musical Smokey Joe's Cafe ...
Odysseys and Oddities: Jon Savage compiles the definitive Space-Rock Tape
Guide by Jon Savage, MOJO, March 1995
MUSIC AND THE cosmos have a special relationship, bound by mathematics, spirituality and that basic human need to get out there. Just as important as ...
Patti Smith: Early Work 1970-1979 (Plexus)
Book Review by Susan Compo, MOJO, March 1995
ROCK'S MOST evocative lines from the 1970s involved religion: "I am an anti-Christ/I am an anarchist". . . "Jesus died for somebody's sins/But not mine." ...
The Blue Nile: Paul Buchanan Phones Home
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1995
WE'VE BEEN IN ALL sorts of places for a couple of years, just meandering around the world on a fairly frugal basis – America, Italy, ...
Remembering Rock Dreams: Guy Peellaert and Nik Cohn
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Rambali, MOJO, March 1995
DO YOU STILL have a copy of Rock Dreams? If you were a rock fan in the early ‘70s, when it was first published, you ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, MOJO, March 1995
Chicago’s infamous Royal Trux have finally made the major-label album of "low-down Sticky-Fingered raunch ‘n’ roll" they’ve always threatened to. Does the big time beckon? ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1995
Rock 'n' roll treated her mean, but Ruth Brown is back with a vengeance. ...
Book Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, March 1995
IMAGINE BEING able to skip through time and witness historv first-hand. On my own list of happening temporal destinations would be McGoo's Pizza Parlour in ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, March 1995
SUCCESS SWEPT OVER SANTANA WITH A suddenness which might have destroyed a less durable group. ...
Stevie Wonder: Radio City Music Hall, New York
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, March 1995
WHEN STEVIE WONDER EASES INTO 'YOU AND I', ACCOMPANIED only by his acoustic grand piano, the whole auditorium goes quiet. Not just silent, like nobody's ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, March 1995
THIS IS A brilliant record: densely layered, full of barely controlled nervous energy, paranoid under surveillance, at times more intimate than you’d wish – like ...
Retrospective by Richard Cook, MOJO, April 1995
Four decades on from the premature death of Charlie Parker in March 1955 the world remains split between the dazzled – including fans as disparate ...
Chris Whitley: Bloody Valentines
Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, April 1995
After the spooked country blues of his debut, Chris Whitley returns with an album of "psychosexual" songs about breaking up with his wife. ...
Fairport Convention: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1995
TWO FAIRPORTS STILL STICK IN my mind from the late '60s, early '70s. The first was London's answer to Jefferson Airplane, furiously eclectic and frequently ...
Linda Ronstadt: Homecoming Queen: Linda Ronstadt
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 1995
Thirty years ago Linda Ronstadt left Tucson for the folk-rock Mecca of Los Angeles. Now the first lady of softly streamlined country returns to the ...
PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1995
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT PJ HARVEY IN A dress that doesn't quite gel and that's the something that she's chafed and worried at in her bruising, ...
Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons: Soul On Ice: Clarence Clemons
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 1995
HE'S HUGE, AS A LEGEND SHOULD BE. Solid as a monument. A big man, built like the American football player that be was before a ...
Stevie Wonder: Conversation Peace (Motown)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 1995
SO UNIQUE, SO ADVENTUROUS WAS Stevie Wonder in his ‘70s heyday that it’s especially upsetting to hear the occasionally hackneyed modern model. Not that we’ve ...
Comment by Lindsay Hutton, MOJO, April 1995
BEFORE THE RELEASE OF Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Dick Dale was simply "the man who invented surf music" and his craft remained generally unknown outside ...
The Black Crowes: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Nina Antonia, MOJO, April 1995
WELCOME TO THE DUDE ranch aka the Royal Albert Hall. Legions of longhairs, clutching their Amorica Or Bust tour posters, strut into the luscious red ...
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, April 1995
"Hear this, and remind yourself why pop music was invented in the first place." ...
Various: The Complete Sun Singles Vol 1 (Bear Family)
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, April 1995
SUN RECORDS HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN the history – or, if you never took to Presley, the demonology – of popular music, and the ...
The Wilde Flowers: Wilde Flowers: Tales Of Canterbury: The Wilde Flowers Story (Voiceprint)
Essay by Rob Chapman, MOJO, April 1995
Caravan, Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers & The Whole World: all grew from the stem of the legendary Wilde Flowers. Rob Chapman tells their story. ...
Interview by Rob Steen, MOJO, May 1995
Chris Isaak is back with a surprisingly angst-ridden album. Give a big hand to the ex-pug with a broken heart. ...
El Vez: Greetings From Graciasland: El Vez
Report and Interview by Paul Gorman, MOJO, May 1995
TAKE A LIBERAL DOSE of Chicano consciousness and apply it to fully-realised musical pastiche, and what do you have? El Vez, the Mexican Elvis, no ...
Teenage Fanclub: Mojo Rising: Teenage Fanclub
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 1995
MAYBE IT'S OPTIMISM born of the knowledge that they have a marvellous new album in the can, but Teenage Fanclub reckon that Spring has arrived. ...
Rod Stewart: Reasons To Believe
Guide by Nick Hornby, MOJO, May 1995
A fevered fan replays Rod's most ecstatic moments: hear the RBP playlist on Spotify! * ...
Rod Stewart: Roderick Of Hollywood...
Retrospective by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, May 1995
ROD STEWART IN THE '80S? HERE'S WHERE THE MEMORIES really fly. While it's true that the man had just produced some of the most commercially ...
Rod Stewart: Soddy In Gomorrah
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1995
"The '90s saw a new rock piety rise up against Rod Stewart and his 10 gallons of come." (Stephen J Malkmus, 'Vedder As Merton: 2001', ...
Interview by Mick Brown, MOJO, May 1995
THE WOMAN FROM ROD Stewart's management office suggests we should meet at her office in Beverly Hills; she would lead the way to Rod's house, ...
Ruben and the Jets: Ruben & The Jets: For Real, Con Safos
Review by Miles, MOJO, May 1995
WHEN FRANK ZAPPA released his 1968 Cruising With Ruben & The Jets album of parodies of '50s R&B and doo wop, a number of radio stations mistook ...
Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers: Scott Walker: “That Francis Bacon, In-The-Face Whoops Factor...”
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 1995
TWENTY-TWO YEAR OLD Noel Scott Engel was on the run from Uncle Sam. He was fleeing from a country that would never connect with his ...
Jack Bruce: Sound Your Funky Horn: Jack Bruce
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 1995
Jack Bruce selects the high points of his illustrious career. ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: That's Entertainment: Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Retrospective by Bill Millar, MOJO, May 1995
Psst. Hey, bud, you want "cryptic tales of mojo-bones, constipation, the Mau Mau, cunnilingus and flannel lipped, bald-headed women"? You got it! Ladeez and gennelmen, ...
Review by Miles, MOJO, May 1995
THE MOVE CAME from Birmingham but got their start at the Marquee in 1966. The band – Roy Wood (guitar/vocals), Bev Bevan (drums/vocals), Carl Wayne ...
The Stooges: Night of the Iguana
Retrospective by Paul Trynka, MOJO, May 1995
When Iggy Pop fled to New York in 1971, he was a rock pariah. Then came a notorious photoshoot and a rebirth. ...
Tindersticks: The Tindersticks' Second Album
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, May 1995
THERE'S A WONDERFULLY hushed, still quality about Tindersticks that pulls you closer to the speakers. Casually overheard, much of this album sounds like little more ...
Billy Childish: And In His Spare Time… Billy Childish
Report and Interview by Paul Gorman, MOJO, June 1995
JAMES BROWN CAN stick his tag as "the hardest working man in showbiz". When it comes to the most productive performer in punk, painting and ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1995
POP IS BACK, rock is dead (again). That, at any rate, is one conclusion we could draw from the success of Bjork Gudmundsdottir. ...
Brian Eno: The Oblique Strategist
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 1995
You’d like your album smoothly airbrushed with the minimum fuss, and expertly streamlined to slot into a tidy marketing profile? Don’t phone Brian Eno then. ...
Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: His Own Private Realm: Roky Erickson
Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, June 1995
Come with us now to the home of erstwhile 13th Floor Elevator Roky Erickson: a little shack on the outskirts of reality. And marvel how, ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 1995
BY 1969, JIMI HENDRIX HAD COMPLETELY LOST the plot. He'd dumped all the English guys — apart from Mitch Mitchell — who'd been the best ...
Pavement: Mojo Rising: Pavement
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1995
WE SHOULD HAVE seen it coming, really. While other leading practitioners of lo-fi American rock – Beck, Sebadoh, Royal Trux, The Grifters, Guided By Voices ...
Jimmy Page/Robert Plant: Page & Plant: Meadowlands Arena, New Jersey
Live Review by Dave Lewis, MOJO, June 1995
THE LONG-AWAITED PAGE/PLANT reunion provokes the concert season's most testing question: can two of rock's former prime players, now with a combined age of nigh ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, June 1995
THE BUCKFAST BEATLES, THE Belshill Beach Byrds: whatever you want to call them, the Teenage Fanclub are back. And their new album (their sixth, if ...
The Band: Live at Watkins Glen
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 1995
"They got their own thing together that takes you to a certain place. Takes you where they want to go... they play their things on ...
Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Willie Mitchell: Tell’Em Willie Boy Was Here
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, June 1995
Willie Mitchell, maestro of the Memphis soul sound that gave the world Al Green, has his life’s work celebrated by the box set Hi Times: ...
Obituary by Penny Reel, MOJO, July 1995
In January, Penny Reel witnessed the last British appearance by Delroy Wilson. Here he pays tribute to the reggae ruler famously namechecked by The Clash. ...
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, July 1995
'Laura We're On Our Last Go Round'Single 1962 (Youngstown) ...
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, July 1995
WHEN BLUES PEOPLE WAS PUBLISHED in 1963, LeRoi Jones became the first black American to have written a book about the blues. It did not ...
Marvin Gaye: The Master 1961-1984 (Motown)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1995
BIOGRAPHER DAVID RITZ HAS WRITTEN thousands and thousands of words on the ineffable talent of Marvin Gaye. This is possible. So all-encompassing are the pleasures ...
Supergrass: Mojo Rising: Supergrass
Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, July 1995
Now trespassing in the charts, three princes of rascal rock… ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, July 1995
SHE'S BARELY IN HER THIRTIES, SHE became the voice and face of 10,000 Maniacs as a 17-year-old and yet there's always been something olde-worlde and ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, July 1995
At first it was barely a string of fairy lights. Then it was something called an Azimuth Converter. And then a giant screen, a Spitfire, ...
Portishead: Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1995
"That," says a chap in the gents after the show "was THE oddest gig I've ever seen." ...
Robert Cray: Blues Pour L'Homme
Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, July 1995
MOJO catches up with handsome devil Robert Cray in that traditional milieu of the blues hero: on the road in Anchorage, Alaska… ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones in Hyde Park # 1
Memoir by Mark Cooper, MOJO, July 1995
THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE VERY nature of being a schoolboy that necessitates getting caught. In the summer of 1969, I was boarding in the lower ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones in Hyde Park # 2
Memoir by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, July 1995
MENTION THE STONES IN THE PARK to me or a dozen or so other guys from Stationers' School in Hornsey and, chances are, we'd start ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones in Hyde Park # 3
Memoir by Penny Reel, MOJO, July 1995
IT IS OF COURSE A memorable occasion among the many I experience during years in pursuit of musical diversion, although in truth I barely remember ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones, The: Rolling Stones in Hyde Park # 4
Memoir by Mick Farren, MOJO, July 1995
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, my date for the Stones concert in Hyde Park was Germaine Greer, although I remember, once we arrived there, I spent ...
Russell Simmons: The Emperor Of Rap
Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, July 1995
SO WHY DO THEY CALL RUSSELL Simmons 'Rush'? The Def Jam emperor loses little time in answering this question. ...
Review by David Quantick, MOJO, July 1995
I Should Coco begins with one bloke muttering "know wot I mean?", another shouting "ONE TWO FREE FAW!" and an almighty shower of drumming. It ...
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, July 1995
IN 1965, THE LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE CHEETAH dubbed three emerging singer-songwriters – Jackson Browne, Steve Noonan, and Tim Buckley – 'The Orange County Three'. ...
Tim Buckley: Talking In Tongues
Interview by Steve Turner, MOJO, July 1995
IF TIM BUCKLEY was alive today I'd probably get in touch with him to apologise. You probably don’t remember me, I'd say, but I interviewed ...
Andy Summers, The Police: Andy Summers
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 1995
TOWARDS THE END OF The Police, I thought we were turning into a backing group for Sting. I thought, I've got more going than this ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, August 1995
"IT STARTS OFF WITH A BIG CHUNK OF WOOD," says Ben Harper. And it's not Nick Nolte's acting technique he's talking about, or the history ...
Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1995
DODGY'S PRECOCIOUS QUOTABILITY, from the early "Rock'n'roll's been making love to the world for 40 years – we're the band to make it come" to ...
Dr. John: Dr John: The Very Best Of (Rhino)
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 1995
IF THIS COMPILATION ULTIMATELY fails to live up to its title, it's at least partly due to the strain of trying to encapsulate a career ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, August 1995
WHEN JOY DIVISION'S UNKNOWN PLEASURES was released in June, 1979, it sounded like it came from another planet. Of course, it's easy now to historicise ...
Brian Wilson: Lost In Music: Brian Wilson
Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, August 1995
Some call him a tortured genius. Others say he’s just insane. Some claim he’s suffering through an extended hiatus between transcendent works. Others reckon he’s ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, August 1995
It revolves slowly and with a dignified air of formality, and when light shines on it you get a strange dappled effect. That effect, for ...
Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, August 1995
ON THE CHOPPY WATERS OF THE J PERCY PRIEST RESERVOIR, just outside Nashville, the recreational boats on what's called the Redneck Riviera sport more Confederate ...
Steve Peregrin Took, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Steve Peregrin Took: Staring At The Stars
Memoir by Mick Farren, MOJO, August 1995
Mick Farren remembers his friend Steve Peregrin Took, sidekick to Marc Bolan in Tyrannosaurus Rex and pursuer of an elusive fame... ...
Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band: Men Behaving Badly
Book Review by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, August 1995
Midnight Riders: The Story Of The Allman Brothers Band Scott Freeman (Little Browne) ...
The Pretenders: Jacob Street Studios, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 1995
MIDWAY THROUGH, Chrissie Hynde turns to her audience of mainly invited guests and smiles. "This is easy, isn’t it? This is obviously the way to ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, August 1995
LONGEVITY, STABILITY, COMMITMENT – this is what has enabled the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead to become the biggest draws in ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 1995
If anyone has done it his way, it is "that gonzo party guy" Warren Zevon. And over the years such luminaries as Dylan, Neil Young ...
Alanis Morissette: Alanis Morrisette
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 1995
IF ANY SONG THIS YEAR CAN BOAST A million-dollar couplet, it is 'You Oughta Know' from the album Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. "Is ...
Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, September 1995
CHARLIE HADEN — bassist in Ornette Coleman's epochal late '50s quartet and former leader of the politically charged Liberation Orchestra — has spawned some mighty ...
Obituary by Charlie Gillett, MOJO, September 1995
CHARLIE RICH, who died in Memphis on July 25, was the ultimate square peg in a round hole: a jazz pianist promoted as a rock ...
Dr. John: Doctor John: An Incantation to the Jollamallawalla Gods
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1995
A QUARTER OF A CENTURY HAS PASSED SINCE MALCOLM Rebennack, trading under the sinisterly exotic stage name "Dr John The Night Tripper", descended the steps ...
Review by David Toop, MOJO, September 1995
WITH A FEW notable exceptions, Jungle has thus far been a music for singles and endless drum 'n' bass compilations. As the genre's first high ...
Jane Siberry: The Woman Who Scared Herself
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 1995
Your new LP, Maria, sounds very different to your other albums. I gather it was recorded fairly spontaneously. ...
The High Llamas, Mercury Rev: Mercury Rev/ The High Llamas: LA2, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, September 1995
THE DECOMMISSIONED DISCO dungeon that is LA2 is hardly the best place to see a group like The High Llamas. ...
Buffalo Tom: MOJO Rising: Buffalo Tom
Report and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 1995
FIVE ALBUMS into what they now recognise as "a career", erstwhile garage rapscallions Buffalo Tom suddenly find themselves, well, kinda mature. ...
Will Oldham: Palace Music: Viva Last Blues
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, September 1995
The albums of Palace eminence Will Oldham do not take long to listen to (this one lasts just over half an hour), but there is ...
Procol Harum: The Giant Shadow
Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, September 1995
What happens when the crowd invades the pitch in adulation just microseconds into the match? Nearly three decades after ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’, Procol Harum ...
Sandy Denny: The Attic Tracks 1972-1984
Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, September 1995
AT THE RISK of winning an all-comers hyperbole award, I shall begin and end by stating that Sandy Denny was the greatest female singer/songwriter Britain ...
Stephin Merritt: The Pocket Symphonist: Stephin Merritt
Interview by Simon Reynolds, MOJO, September 1995
Stephin Merritt is the standard-bearer for a new pop aesthetic. "Music isn’t about performing out your soul," he avers. "It’s about making pretty objects you ...
Colin Blunstone: Some Years (Legacy/Epic)
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 1995
SOME YEARS BURSTS open with an old Zombies song, 'She Loves The Way They Love Her', delivered in a distinctive, creamy tone, suggesting a delicious ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 1995
"Fuck art, let's concept," suggests former Dame to his chrome-domed chum. "Umpteenth comeback is a corker!" cries a passing Charles Shaar Murray ...
Jimmy Cliff: Dread Inna Dean Street
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, October 1995
"I HAVEN'T KILLED ANYBODY...YET." Jimmy Cliff is joking. We think. Although at 8.45am in the Groucho Club in Soho's Dean Street it's difficult to he ...
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci: Aberconwy Centre, Llandudno
Live Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, October 1995
WITH ITS BARDS, novelists and massed choirs, the Eisteddfod is the central event in the Welsh cultural and social calendar: what is less well known ...
Gregory Isaacs: That Easy 127th Album
Review and Interview by Penny Reel, MOJO, October 1995
SEEMS LIKE EVERY TIME you turn around, as Bob Dylan so succinctly put it, there's another hard-luck story you're gonna hear. Most would appear to ...
Pulp: His Little Percolations: Pulp's Jarvis Cocker puts the T in Britpop.
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1995
You came through the '70s revival relatively unscathed. Did it look like becoming a millstone? ...
Review by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, October 1995
IF I WERE CASTAWAY alone on a desert island, my luxury item would be Jack Bruce's voice — the perfect backdrop to the many moments ...
Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia: The Last Post
Obituary by Joel Selvin, MOJO, October 1995
SERENITY KNOLLS lies at the bottom of a dead end road in northern Marin County, California. The main building stands above a parking area surrounded ...
Jethro Tull: Roots To Branches
Review and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, October 1995
ONE CAN NEVER SPEAK with confidence for the entirety of Jethro Tull's following — and certainly not for the Ian-is-God element — but speaking as ...
Neil Young, Pearl Jam: Neil Young: The Reading Festival
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 1995
IT'S THE END OF SUMMER, and the temperature is plummeting. A vicious wind whips up the dustbowl that the Reading Festival site has become over ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 1995
IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME coming, but Newman’s Faust is finally here. Complete with choirs, orchestras, and stellar rock’n’roll guests, it’s surely the most ambitious ...
Big Star, Alex Chilton, Jim Dickinson: Robert Gordon: It Came From Memphis (Secker & Warburg)
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 1995
"WE HAD poetic furor," says Memphis scenester Randall Lyon, a key figure in Robert Gordon's new book about the music of his home town. "I ...
George Jones, Tammy Wynette: Stand By Your Ex: George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1995
Wait till I get you home...to Splitsville, Tennessee, where George Jones and Tommy Wynette have resided since the classic song D.I.V.O.R.C.E. came true following perhaps ...
Steely Dan: The Return Of Steely Dan
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1995
ONCE UPON A TIME, they were the odd couple in rock. They wrote songs that featured knuckle-knotting chords and brain-twisting lyrics. They welded jazz and ...
Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: Peel Slowly And See
Review by Lenny Kaye, MOJO, October 1995
The brief, brilliant life of The Velvet Underground, from jug-band rags to hypercool chronicles – experiments, cast-offs, fights and all – on five CDs. Immortal, ...
Blur: Floral Hall, Winter Gardens, Eastbourne
Live Review by David Quantick, MOJO, November 1995
"Blimey," says Damon Albarn as he takes the stage. How apt, Blur, as even tiny children in their prams know, are the current monarchs of ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Looking Back
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, November 1995
It is but one of life’s minor ironies that both Sid James and Lee Brilleaux, two of England’s best-loved and most sadly-missed postwar icons of ...
George Jones, Tammy Wynette: George Jones & Tammy Wynette: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1995
LONG AGO, in the days before hats and hi-tech rednecks, country music was a soap opera and George Jones and Tammy Wynette were its Dirty ...
Jodeci, Mary J. Blige: Jodeci/Mary J. Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, November 1995
TO YER AVERAGE SOUL traditionalist, the notion of New Jack City as today's Muscle Shoals is tantamount to heresy. But the point is that hip ...
The Beatles, John Lennon: My Blue Period: John Lennon
Interview by Miles, MOJO, November 1995
WE DID THESE interviews on September 23 and 24, 1969, at Apple. When Allen Klein fired Ron Kass, the head of Apple Records, John and ...
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 1995
WHATEVER PAUL McCARTNEY is on in 1995, they should dump it in the water supply. Talcum-pink of complexion and trim of figure, only a curious ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Professional Confessions: Loudon Wainwright
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, November 1995
INTELLECTUAL SINGER-songwriters, doncha jus' luv 'em? LW3 has been at it for 20 years, spilling his guts, sharing his fears and generally earning a living ...
Review by Bob Stanley, MOJO, November 1995
JARVIS COCKER, THE WORLD'S least likely sex symbol!" If I read that line one more time I'll scream. Give the man a break. He's svelte ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 1995
Behind every great Beatles track is a version not quite so good. But not necessarily less interesting... Jon Savage listens to the outtakes. ...
Review and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, November 1995
GIVEN THE CHOICE that exists in the Golden Earring department, it's scandalous that we've been forced to wait this long to hear War on CD. ...
Arthur Alexander: No Direction Home
Retrospective by Richard Younger, MOJO, December 1995
The Beatles, Stones and Dylan covered his songs. As a singer he was rated alongside Otis and Orbison. So whatever happened to Arthur Alexander? ...
Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks: Brian Wilson And Van Dyke Parks: Orange Crate Art
Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, December 1995
BH: Was it hard getting Brian involved in the making of Orange Crate Art? ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 1995
SPRINGSTEEN'S GOT HIS BOTTLE back. After the diverse dissatisfactions of Human Touch, Lucky Town, the point-defeating In Concert: MTV Plugged, and the unnecessary Greatest Hits, ...
Cypress Hill: III – Temple Of Boom
Review by David Toop, MOJO, December 1995
HIP HOP innovations are so swiftly assimilated and processed into cliché that their initial impact can become lost in foggy video memories of oversized hats, ...
David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails: David Bowie/ Nine Inch Nails: Meadowlands Arena, New Jersey
Live Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, December 1995
SOMEWHERE, ROUGHLY TWO THIRDS OF THE WAY through the non-linear-Gothic-drama-hyper-cycle-murder-mystery known as David Bowie's Outside, the seasoned pro lost his audience. What began with the ...
Neil Young: I Build Something Up, I Tear It Right Down: Neil Young at 50
Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, December 1995
"IN THE FIELD OF opportunity/it's ploughing time again" crooned Neil Young back in the late 70s. Yet at no time have those eager sentiments seemed ...
Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, December 1995
Hit compilations from ‘80s-into-’90s soul megastars. ...
Julian Cope: Krautrocksampler: One Head’s Guide To The Great Kosmiche Musik - 1968 Onwards
Review by Simon Reynolds, MOJO, December 1995
Since it deals with that most fetishised of genres, Krautrocksampler is appropriately enough an intensely fetishisable object. Purportedly the first of a whole line of ...
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1995
'Shake Your Moneymaker'From Fleetwood Mac LP 1968 (Blue Horizon) MY INEPTNESS TO do separate things at speed became my style of drumming. When it got ...
Roxy Music: They Came From Planet Bacofoil
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, December 1995
Brought together by musical differences, they looked into the future — and it was dressed to kill. They were Roxy Music, and this is the ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: The Immediate Years (Charly)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 1995
MOD, SCHMOD: THE SMALL FACES WERE SO MUCH more. For a start they were a great band for kids. I should know, I was one. ...
Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, December 1995
ADORE OR despise Billy Corgan's unmistakable musical shitstorm of hubris and angst – and he is a walking ammunition stockpile for both positions – it ...
Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, December 1995
Far out, too much: people still sneer at The Grateful Dead, using these phrases as a kind of sardonic shorthand to dismiss high-‘60s ideals. But ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1995
GOT LIVE If You Want It... ...so bragged The Rolling Stones of their first live album, recorded at the ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1996
Donovan’s comeback album, produced by bearded eccentric Rick Rubin, owner of American Records and the man behind The Beastie Boys, Slayer and Johnny Cash’s acclaimed ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1996
Set List: Everything’s Fine Right Now/ Lonely Exile/ Tom & Alexei/ Scotland Yet/ Red Hair/ October Song-Maya/ Favourite Sins/ Killing The Dragon/ Fathers/ Love Letter ...
Willie Nelson: The Barbican, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1996
HE STEPS out onstage to a standing ovation and his grizzled, beautifully-ruined face breaks into that huge grin. For a moment the spindly bloke looks ...
Alan Hull, Lindisfarne: Alan Hull 1945-1995
Obituary by Chris Ingham, MOJO, January 1996
WHEN I WAS 15 – AND FIVE YEARS AN EX-PAT GEORDIE – MY contemporaries idolised Strummer and Weller. I wanted to be like Alan Hull. ...
Bruce Springsteen: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, January 1996
"I KNOW THIS IS LA," ANNOUNCED BRUCE Springsteen at the start of his concert, "so I hope I don't have to go out there and ...
David Sylvian: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1996
ACOUSTIC GUITAR, DHOTI, sensible shoes. Who'd have thought it, back in the techno tailor's dummy days of lipstick, peroxide and synthesizers? ...
Roxy Music: The Thrill Of It All (Virgin)
Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, January 1996
THERE WERE GROUPS OTHER THAN THE Beatles back long ago, and one of them was Roxy Music. Their awkward early steps in 1972 were almost ...
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, January 1996
ANTHOLOGY IS RIGHT. HERE IS A SEQUENCE of snap shots that just so happen to have been taken in the six years from 1958's toddling ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Playback (MCA)
Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, January 1996
Ben Edmonds rewinds 20 years of Tom Petty ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, February 1996
COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH are doomed to be best remembered for that old crowd-pleaser they churned out at Woodstock in August, 1969. No matter ...
Joe Cocker: The Long Voyage Home
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, February 1996
MARTIN KEELEY'S front cover photo for Joe Cocker's first album – named, of course, for his transformative cover of ‘With A Little Help From My ...
Marianne Faithfull: Berliner Ensemble, Berlin
Live Review by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, February 1996
THE SET IS SIMPLE: black curtain, grand piano, chair and table, snifter of brandy and pack of Marlboro Lights. She’s nervous stepping on to it, ...
DJ Krush, DJ Shadow, La Funk Mob, Money Mark, UNKLE: Mojo Rising: James Lavelle
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, February 1996
Being head of exploding hip-prog record label Mo'Wax is nothing to sneeze at. ...
Teenage Fanclub: The Forum, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1996
ONE HESITATES TO USE the word "heartwarming" about the endurance of the unassuming Scotsmen who go by the name of Teenage Fanclub, but at a ...
Mink DeVille, Willy DeVille: Willy De Ville: Loup Garou
Review by Rob Steen, MOJO, February 1996
IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE A one-hit wonder, you might as well serve up a concoction as delicious as ‘Spanish Stroll’: Lou Reed goes finger-poppin' ...
Burt Bacharach: "Do you know the Way to Monterey? Santa Fe? Whitley Bay?"
Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 1996
Thankfully, Messrs. Bacharach and David got there in the end, polishing yet another pop gem and putting an unremarkable California city on the map forever. ...
Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground: A Dark Prince at Twilight: Lou Reed
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1996
THE DAY DOES not begin auspiciously. The first flakes of a snowstorm descend as I open the curtains in my hotel room, adding yet another ...
Curtis Mayfield: People Get Ready!
Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, March 1996
THE LAST FIVE YEARS HAVE SEEN THE BOX-setting of James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Bob Marley and a fair few other giants of black ...
Frank Zappa: The Lost Episodes
Review by Dave Rimmer, MOJO, March 1996
DESCRIBED BY UTILITY Muffin Kitchen engineer Spencer Chrislu as a "sort of stealth project", this excellent little album of studio leftovers was put together by ...
Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, March 1996
CLOSE TO a quarter-century after his debut, Jackson Browne still can't settle down. His love life might not bother him the way it once did ...
The Carpenters: Interview with Richard Carpenter
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1996
For the grisly details of pill addiction, anorexia nervosa and blue velvet jackets, try Ray Coleman's book. Today, Richard Carpenter talks to Chris Ingham about ...
Cocteau Twins: Milk And Kisses (Fontana)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1996
AN UNFORGIVABLE THING happened in 1994. The Cocteau Twins released arguably their finest album to date, Four Calendar Cafe, only to have it roundly ignored ...
Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler: Mark Knopfler
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 1996
"I’m always conscious of... how hard life is for a lot of people," says Mark Knopfler. The eight-bar rest midsentence is characteristic. Likewise, the right ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 1996
Sting cannot be escaped. He's on TV (a commercial for Rover cars) in a film (The Grotesque), on two movie soundtracks (Leaving Las Vegas and ...
The High Llamas, Stereolab: The High Llamas: Hawaii; Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1996
UPON OBSERVING A SMALL dog walking on its hind legs, Doctor Johnson famously noted that it was less remarkable how well the cur in question ...
Palace Music, Will Oldham: Will Oldham's Palace
Comment by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1996
THERE IS A STRANGE subcurrent in the American rock music of the mid-'90s: a subcurrent of lo-fi, willfully inept, not-quite-country rock that stretches from the ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 1996
PACKAGING HAS RARELY had more to say about the content of an album. Older's booklet interleaves lyrics with full-page shots of George Michael frowning, hanging ...
J.J. Cale: Guitar Man (Virgin/Delabel)
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 1996
THERE'S SOMETHING IMMENSELY comforting about Cale's stubbly resistance to musical fashions, and that warmth spreads easily through this album, which has the same intimate feel, ...
k.d. lang: National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
Live Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 1996
BIG-BONED BOTTICELLI GIRL K.D. LANG IS LYING ON the floor. Knees up to her chest, hands clasped round the back of her head, she rocks ...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 1996
IN THE catering trailer, the tables are jammed with people so disparate it’s hard to believe they belong to the same species. The ones wearing ...
Ben Folds Five: MOJO Rising: Ben Folds Five
Report and Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, June 1996
THERE ARE ROUGHLY two kinds of pop musician: two-bit hacks who try to squeeze everything they can out of hokey harmonies and three threadbare chords ...
Claire Martin: Mojo Rising: Claire Martin
Profile and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1996
CLAIRE MARTIN may well be the best British jazz singer for a generation, but she drives like a maniac. "Nervous?" she cackles, slamming into third, ...
Pete Townshend: Cooltalkingsmoothtalkingstraightsmokingfirestoking (Atlantic)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 1996
DEAR DEAR PETE, ROCK'S leading luvvie: it's been so temptingly easy to take the piss out of him for his earnestness, his artistic ambition and ...
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1996
ON A STARRY SUMMER NIGHT at Bearsville Studios, New York, the four members of Phish are bracing themselves for the inevitable Grateful Dead question. ...
The Byrds: Mr Tambourine Man, Turn! Turn! Turn!, Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1996
ROCK HISTORY IS striated by the influence of the Byrds. Theirs is one of the great stylistic lineages, forever shadowing those of the Fabs and ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 1996
BACK IN THE EARLY '60s, in their Golden Eagle residency days, The Spencer Davis Group played the whole gamut of American R&B from John Lee ...
The Blue Nile: Above It All: The Blue Nile
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1996
When life dishes it out, Paul Buchanan and his group The Blue Nile pack a bag, settle somewhere new and, every half-decade or so, make ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, July 1996
There's nothing more mild-mannered than a mild-mannered Canadian. But rub one up the wrong way and the consequences can be dramatic. And profitable. Just ask ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, July 1996
SONGS ABOUT buying armfuls of Kit-Kat from the all-night garage; songs about lying drunk in the grass and seeing a face in the stars ("He's ...
Blind Faith: Born Under A Bad Sign
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, July 1996
IN THE EVENING COOL OF JUNE 6, 1969, almost 7,000 people made their way to Hyde Park, where they slept under stars to be sure ...
The Isley Brothers: It Don't Mean A Thing...
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, July 1996
...if it ain't got that swingbeat, say The Isley Brothers, who have updated their sound with producers R. Kelly and Keith Sweat. Andy Gill asks ...
Retrospective by Paul Trynka, MOJO, July 1996
NOVEMBER 1995: Johnny "Guitar" Watson Is Halfway through a slick set at Oakland's Henry Kaiser Arena. He's wearing a luminously glossy white suit, trademark jewelled ...
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Broken Arrow
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, July 1996
WELL, AT LEAST IT'S NOT THE THREATENED LIVE souvenir of Neil's time with Pearl Jam, which comes out later this year; and mercy of mercies, ...
Ocean Colour Scene: Camden Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1996
OCEAN COLOUR SCENE have got booking the supports sussed. Liverpudlian veterans The Real People turn in a tuneful set. Good call. The DJ gets the ...
Focus, Jan Akkerman: Phone Home: Jan Akkerman
Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, July 1996
"AFTER FOCUS I MADE a record called Eli and toured Britain. The record was a success but the tour was a disaster. I did one ...
Charlie Watts, The Rolling Stones: Ten Questions for Charlie Watts
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 1996
Long Ago And Far Away, standards performed by jazz quintet, string orchestra and vocalist, sounds like a continuation of your last album, Warm And Tender. ...
Metallica: The Alternative Metallica
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1996
THEY MAKE THE ODDEST OF rock couples, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Watching them at work in Manhattan’s Right Track Studios, it’s hard to imagine ...
The Who: Betrayed by Rock'n'Roll
Comment by Dave Marsh, MOJO, July 1996
Fan and friend Dave Marsh celebrates Pete Townshend's most puzzling work, Quadrophenia, written in an era full of possibilities which,"ended badly". Could it be that ...
Al Green, Ann Peebles, Willie Mitchell: Various Artists: Royal Memphis Soul – Hi Records
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1996
When Muscle Shoals went flabby and Stax couldn't pay their taxes, Hi Records took up the soul baton. Barney Hoskyns says hello to a collection ...
Electronic: Raise the Pressure
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1996
FIVE YEARS after cementing their partnership as the coolest Mancunians on the planet, Messrs Marr and Sumner return with a dreadfully disappointing album. Raise The ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, August 1996
ONE OF THE GREAT maverick stylists of British music, John Martyn has been out on a limb in recent years, marooned first by some increasingly ...
Serge Gainsbourg: Old Cabbage Head Is Back: Serge Gainsbourg
Retrospective by Paul Gorman, MOJO, August 1996
"I WOULD LIKE to fuck 'er." With these six words, slurred in the heaviest of French accents, Serge Gainsbourg sealed his reputation as the scourge ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 1996
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: GROINHEAD GOES TO FLORIDA. A sort of musical honeymoon, one presumes: flushed with post-nuptial bliss after snatching mighty Mayte, the abdominal show-woman ...
Report by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1996
Last year's Monster tour almost killed them. They have dispensed with the services of their "fifth" member. They now live time zones apart. On the ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, August 1996
BT: Listening to your debut album Fuzzy Logic, there seems to be a hint of British '60s psychedelic legends Dantalion's Chariot about it. ...
ZZ Top: Ten Questions For ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, August 1996
Antenna and the new album Rhythmeen: returns to form for ZZ Top? ...
The Black Crowes: Three Snakes and One Charm
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 1996
The band's fourth album, recorded over a two-month period in a house in Atlanta. Jack Puig co-produces once again. ...
Patti Smith: The Rebel: Patti Smith
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, August 1996
To R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, she is "one of the premier artists of my lifetime – I’ve blindly stolen from her for years." To Bob Dylan, ...
The Sex Pistols and Friends: Finsbury Park, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 1996
IS THERE ANYTHING WHICH THE RECONSTITUTED Sex Pistols – freeze-dried, just add money – could possibly have done at their "comeback" show which would have ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: "I'm Peter Green"
Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, September 1996
OUTSIDE IT'S RAINING, THE KIND OF slick, greasy rain you only get in cities. The atmosphere is oppressive. Inside the Brewer's Inn, Wandsworth – a ...
Mose Allison: A Chat with Mose Allison
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, September 1996
Where do you think your vocal style come from? ...
Brian Wilson: The Story of Sweet Insanity
Retrospective by Bill Holdship, MOJO, September 1996
SOMEHOW – PRIMARILY BECAUSE I took the trouble to talk to Brian and his then ever-present psychotherapist-turned-manager and collaborator, Eugene Landy at a star-studded Hollywood ...
George Clinton: The Brother From Another Planet
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, September 1996
From the ancient civilization of Doo Wop he came, stopping off via Cosmic Soul and the Acid Rock asteroid to found the P-Funk Galaxy, his ...
Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Phoenix Festival, Long Marston, Stratford-upon-Avon
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 1996
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER field. Phoenix smells of tent-rubber and scorching skin, the crowd red and sweating like vacuum-packed beetroot. They’ve survived the eight-hour, 12-mail tailbacks. ...
The Animals: Obituary: Chas Chandler
Obituary by Keith Altham, MOJO, September 1996
Eric Burdon had the temerity to scribble the new loggia he’d designed for the Animals all over my virginal blotter. Bass player Chas caught my ...
Review by Dave Marsh, MOJO, September 1996
IT'S NOT HARD to understand why some folks hate Pearl Jam. Isolate just about any element from the band's mix — Eddie Vedder's vocals and ...
Radiohead: T In The Park, Strathclyde
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 1996
WHOEVER PUT "great" and "outdoors" in the same sentence was not a rock fan. Rock needs four walls and a roof. In the case of ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, September 1996
THE BEST INTRODUCTION TO Sebadoh comes in the form of an 11 minute cut-and-paste manifesto, tacked – without the benefit of a title – onto ...
Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett: The Crazy Diamond: Syd Barrett
Retrospective by Cliff Jones, MOJO, September 1996
He was Pink Floyd’s astral voyager who went too far, the star-child of psychedelia who never returned from his journey to inner space. Nearly 30 ...
Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: The Shape I'm In: Peter Green
Profile by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 1996
IT'S MID-WINTER 1968. The five members of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac are huddled together, holding hands on the floor of the Gorham Hotel on West ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Songs And Music From The Motion Picture She's The One
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 1996
TOM PETTY WAS BORN to be a classic runner. The only question with each new release is whether he's out for a canter or the ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 1996
Asked to provide one song for a film soundtrack, Tom Petty rather overshot the brief and wound up laying down an album’s worth. ...
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 1996
ARGUABLY the most intense and most intensely English musical experience to have arisen from the brief heyday of the new wave that succeeded punk, XTC ...
Beck: Ogden Street Concert Hall, Buffalo, NY
Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 1996
"Who are you?" a voice asks Beck not long into the goofball savant’s utterly delightful new album O-de-lay. "I’m the Enchanting Wizard of Rhythm," he ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1996
IN THE GOOD old bad old days,Christy Moore was the Brendan Behan, the Shane MacGowan, of his generation. A wild troubadour lashing out at himself ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 1996
DRIVING THROUGH the sheeting rain from the miniature airport that serves Martha’s Vineyard, the guy at the wheel informs me that we’re heading towards the ...
The Fugees, Lauryn Hill: Fugees: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Cliff Jones, MOJO, October 1996
COOL ALWAYS HAS CONTEXT. Tonight that context is the growing awareness that hip hop and black American music in general have embraced a new set ...
Cream, Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Hendrix And Cream
Report and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, October 1996
Eric Clapton, arms hanging limp at his side, stared in disbelief at the outlandishly garbed guitarslinger who had just joined the Cream for an impromptu ...
Gil Evans, Miles Davis: Miles Davis and Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 1996
THEIR CURIOUS YET inspired partnership resulted in music of rare beauty. Ben Edmonds salutes a landmark box set that fully captures the genius of Miles ...
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 1996
EVERY FEW YEARS AN ALBUM IS MADE IN LOS Angeles of such wistful sunniness that it sets up shop on the radio for months on ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 1996
THE SONG WAS CALLED 'Becoming X'. We gave it a turn on the office stereo, not expecting much. But, about a minute into the dark, ...
The Beatles: The Apple Scruffs: "We're waiting for The Beatles"
Retrospective by Cliff Jones, MOJO, October 1996
Spookily present wherever The Beatles went and finally immortalised in song by George, the Apple Scruffs bore a privileged witness to all the highs and ...
The Beatles: "We're a damn good little band"
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 1996
On the eve of the release of Anthology 3, Paul McCartney casts his mind back to The Beatles' glorious sunset. * ...
Ian Hunter, Mott The Hoople: The Gentleman Of The Road
Review and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, October 1996
Ian Hunter: Diary Of A Rock And Roll Star ...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion: Now I Got Worry (Mute)
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, October 1996
• Spencer et al recently backed Holly Springs bluesman R.L. Burnside on his superb A Ass Pocket Of Whiskey — a Hooker'N'Heat for the '90s. • ...
Review and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, Mat Snow, MOJO, October 1996
JUST WHEN THE TOP WERE sounding like they'd run out of juice a mere 26 years into their career, they pull out a plum. Could ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 1996
On December 10, 1968, some of the most exciting talent in rock history gathered for an event all the more legendary for having been quietly ...
Joni Mitchell: Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell's Hits and Misses
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1996
• First-ever attempt to compile a "best of" the former Roberta Joan Anderson.• Simultaneously released albums of "hits" - songs successful either for Mitchell or ...
Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, November 1996
"I WANNA TELL Y’ALL SOMETHING," Carlene Carter notifies the young country audience that’s braved an outdoor venue on an unseasonably cold and wet September evening. ...
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, November 1996
IT'S A LAZY MONDAY NIGHT IN LOS ANGELES, AND A few blocks east of Beverly Hills an inconspicuous sign adorns a shadowy building, quietly proclaiming ...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 1996
Turning tears on her pillow into pearls ...
Pearl Jam: Downing Stadium, Randalls Island, New York
Live Review by Edward Helmore, MOJO, November 1996
With last year’s histrionic battles with Ticket-master, Eddie Vedder’s exhaustion and the loss of a drummer now all behind them, Pearl Jam embarked on a ...
Steely Dan: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 1996
THEY QUIT TOURING IN '74; broke up in '80. Now the arch hipster auteurs of literate, cynical, smart-ass rock jazz – the creators of some ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 1996
"WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ALL THAT?" ENQUIRES PAUL McCartney after half a dozen silly-voice choruses of ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road’. ...
Charlatans, The (US): The Charlatans: The Amazing Charlatans (Big Beat CDWIKD 138)
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 1996
First legitimate release of much-bootlegged material by the first San Franciscan psychedelic group. Features album recorded for Karma Sutra in 1966, plus demos from late ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 1996
Second album by Deep Purple’s mark II line-up of Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Roger Glover and Ian Paice, rereleased on its 25th anniversary. ...
Ed Sanders, The Fugs: Ed Sanders and the Fugs
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
Lester Bangs called The Fugs "the first truly underground band in America". 30 years later, their leader is waging war against Newt Gingrich... ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 1996
"WHEN I WAS VERY SMALL," says Holly Palmer, "my dad used to say, 'Holly, you're buzzing'. There'd be these funny noises coming from my mouth. ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: New Daisy Theater, Memphis
Live Review by Robert Gordon, MOJO, December 1996
JERRY LEE LEWIS turned 61 and his seventh wife, Kerrie, threw him a party on Beale Street in his adopted hometown of Memphis. But Beale ...
Johnny Cash: A Law Unto Himself
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
WE'RE PASSING through Andover, Kansas, scene of one of the worst tornadoes in American history: a monstrous twister that levelled the little town and took ...
Kula Shaker: The Kilburn National, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 1996
JUST WHEN we’d accepted that Camden Town was the new Jerusalem and Noel and Liam God’s chosen, just when we declared we were glad to ...
The Subway Sect: Leaders Of The Opposition
Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, December 1996
Subway Sect: We Oppose All Rock & Roll (Overground) Jon Savage listens to Subway Sect's brief recorded legacy, and talks to frontman Vic Godard. ...
Manic Street Preachers: More!!
Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1996
Cambridge Corn Exchange, October 11, 1996 ...
Amy Rigby, Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw/Amy Rigby: Park West, Albany, NY
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
ON THE first date of an East Coast mini-tour, Marshall Crenshaw and Amy Rigby are playing things semi-safe: Park West is a club sandwiched between ...
The Lightning Seeds: Dizzy Heights
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1996
IF MORE OF THE SAME SOUNDS insulting, think in terms of more of the same but better, because that's essentially what Ian Broudie delivers with ...
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
"WHAT IS Soul?" sang Ben E. King in 1967, a year that began with Aretha Franklin’s first Atlantic session and ended with the death of ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1996
Twenty years ago this month, the Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned, Heartbreakers and Buzzcocks embarked upon the Anarchy Tour. What followed more than lived up to ...
Smashing Pumpkins: The Smashing Pumpkins: American Gothic
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, December 1996
The music of the Smashing Pumpkins has brought the dark night of the soul to the wide open spaces of America’s arenas and radio waves. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, Spring 1996
MOJO: Does making albums get harder or easier with time? ...
Esquivel, Jeff Buckley: Conference Call: Jeff Buckley interviews Esquivel
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, Summer 1996
Take a ride on the mood music elevator as MOJO’s favourite young lion Jeff Buckley enjoys a transcontinental chinwag with space-age septuagenarian Esquivel. ...
John Coltrane: Honk If You Love Jesus! The Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
Report by James Maycock, MOJO, 1997
EVERY TUESDAY afternoon, Sister Deborah spreads Coltrane consciousness through the San Francisco airwaves. ...
Guide by John McCready, MOJO, 1997
UNLIKE THE Hoover, a similarly undisputed brand leader which describes any vacuum cleaner as all vacuum cleaners do the same thing, all synthesizers are, over ...
Danny Gatton, Robert Gordon: Robert Gordon with Danny Gatton: The Humbler (NRG)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, 1997
Designer rockabilly ignited live by squat suicidal Telecaster virtuoso ...
Review and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, 1997
Soft Machine and Matching Mole legend makes triumphant return. Sterling work from all-star supporting cast Paul Weller, Brian Eno, Evan Parker, Annie Whitehead and Phil ...
Kiss: Palace Of Auburn Hills, Detroit
Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, January 1997
CAN NOTHING stop these brutes? ...
Red Snapper: Mojo Rising: Red Snapper
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, January 1997
IT COULD HAVE gone so wrong. A trio of thirtysomething musos with jazz/hip-hop tendencies and chops to spare, take to jamming in Hammersmith and decide ...
Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, January 1997
One hundred and eighty! Minutes that is. The Artist Formerly Known As Prince gets out of his contract in triplicate. Paul Trynka, the writer formerly ...
Sonny Rollins: Ten Questions for Sonny Rollins
Interview by Richard Cook, MOJO, January 1997
On Milestones, Rolling Stones and Maintaining Mystique ...
The Doors: Absolutely Live (Elektra)
Review and Interview by Dave DiMartino, Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, January 1997
THOUGH IT EMERGED to mixed reviews in July 1970 – not least from the band, who thought the set middling – Absolutely Live is an ...
The Electric Prunes: 'I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)'
Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, January 1997
From the "mind-expanding" opening to the screaming-droning guitars to the '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'-derived drums, The Electric Prunes' 'I Had Too Much To Dream ...
Fairport Convention: Now Be Thankful...
Overview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, February 1997
…for 30 years of Fairport Convention. Jim Irvin gets a guided tour through their scrapbook of joy, tears, beers, jigs, reels and panties. ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1997
"Got 29 acres and one ginnie mule," complain dustbowl balladeers Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Barney Hoskyns investigates their sharecropper chic. ...
? and the Mysterians: Phone Home: ? and the Mysterians
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 1997
"WHOA! IT'S WILD that you called today. Little Frank, the original organist in The Mysterians, has just rejoined the band. He was down in Texas ...
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1997
"I am not a woman, I am not a man/I am something that you’ll never understand..." ...
Prince: The Best of the Patchy Years
Guide by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 1997
IN MANY WAYS the ultimate ‘80s self-made man, Prince spent the decade inventing and reinventing himself. The scope of the man’s ambition was mindboggling; the ...
Prince, Wendy And Lisa: Prince: The Purple Gang
Retrospective and Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, February 1997
Outside the studio he was reticent. Inside he became the most ambitious, audacious auteur of the '80s. Marc Weingarten talks to his key collaborators to ...
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1997
AFTER A great deal of wandering throughout the 40 years of her life - from smalltown South Dakota to Ontario to San Francisco to New ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1997
ON A WARM January afternoon of the kind that’s almost unique to Los Angeles, an enormous lime-green 1969 Chevrolet pickup is lumbering noisily up a ...
Ben Folds Five: Whatever and Ever Amen (Sony)
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 1997
Piano/bass/drums trio whose 'Underground' was a summer Top 40 hit. This is their second album, their first for Sony. They are, wouldn’t you know, big ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 1997
Fifth album in six years; as ever a Stephen Street production. Change of ’direction’ hears Blur muss up their sound and back-pedal into the future. ...
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, March 1997
Is jungle exploration the right career move for a 50-year-old pop star who plans to float himself on the Stock Market this year? ...
Laura Nyro: Stoned Soul Picnic: The Best Of Laura Nyro
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, March 1997
Most comprehensive Nyro compilation to date, features extensive booklet with her own notes and unseen photographs – not to mention guest appearances over the years ...
Obituary by Max Bell, MOJO, March 1997
RANDY CALIFORNIA, THE GUITARIST AND songwriter of West Coast group Spirit, drowned after swimming off the Hawaiian island of Molokai on January 2. ...
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, March 1997
Every month we navigate the highwater marks, rapids and stagnant ponds of a prolific artist’s CD output, so you don’t have to. We begin with... ...
Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, March 1997
Here they come. Walking down the street. Spouting more long words than they ever did on TV. Tom Hibbert meets The Monkees, re-formed and playing ...
Velvet Underground: Time Machine: Velvet Underground
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, March 1997
Launched largely from a platform provided by their association with the decade’s most celebrated artist, Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground without Nico had become New ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco
Live Review by Joel Selvin, MOJO, March 1997
AFTER MORE THAN FIVE YEARS OF THE IMMENSE SUCCESS THAT followed the popular breakthrough of Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty wondered what to do. His ...
Obituary by Robert Gordon, MOJO, March 1997
AT TOWNES VAN ZANDT’S FUNERAL, HIS longtime friend and fellow songwriter Guy Clark stepped to the microphone and, adjusting a guitar around his neck, said, ...
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, March 1997
U2 have a fine sense of event and how to tweak it. Preceded by advance publicity suggesting more than enough stylistic innovation to maintain the ...
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1997
All the single hits (1970-1986) and ‘Une Nuit A Paris’ from Manchester's art-pop maestros, famously named after the average volume of the male ejaculation. Plus ...
Pink Floyd: Alexandra Palace 1967: Syd Barrett Wasn’t Feeling At All Well...
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, MOJO, April 1997
He was seeing things that others only eyed in kaleidoscopes. But he was aware that Roger Waters was dragging him on-stage; dawn was breaking and ...
Retrospective and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
AT ONE TIME, it seemed like everyone in Germany was in Amon Duul. ...
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
WITH THEIR SECOND album, Being There, already being hailed as the record of the year, and flattering, if fanciful, comparisons to such as Exile On ...
Can: Art Terrorism! Sensory Derangement! Holistic Vomiting! Available Weekends…
Retrospective and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
CAN ALWAYS added to more than the sum of their experience and influences. When the group made the seminal Monster Movie in 1968, three of ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 1997
THE SOUND IS delicate and strange: the same weirdo innocence as the saucer-eyed little girl on the sleeve — and the melodies mostly downbeat. But ...
Faust: Deconstructing the nuts, bolts and girders of rock - or simply having a smashing time?
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
A DAY OR TWO after their Queen Elizabeth Hall concert, my ears are still ringing when I go to interview Jean-Hervé Peron, one of the ...
Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young: Fred Goodman: The Mansion on the Hill (Times Books)
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 1997
Deny it all we might, the truth is that music is a business. And its richest players have made billions without ever striking a single ...
Retrospective and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
Do the men play the machines? Or the machines play the men? How four humanoids with one vision revolutionised pop. ...
Retrospective by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
IT'S SOMETIME IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER OF 1973-4, and Faust are playing Sheffield City Hall. ...
The Supremes: Mary Wilson on The Supremes
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, April 1997
"ONE DAY IN mid-April we were all summoned to berry’s home on Outer Drive," remembers Mary Wilson of The Supremes. "As I drove there, I ...
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, April 1997
CHICAGO IN THE FIRST DECADE after World War II spawned record labels like a salmon on fertility drugs. Many of them dealt with blues, some ...
Phish: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Max Bell, MOJO, April 1997
BECAUSE OF THEIR FOLLOWING, THE FACT that they laugh in the face of set-lists and encourage bootlegging, these Burlington blues boys are often compared to ...
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, April 1997
IT'S LOOKING GOOD. Gary's got his hands down inside the front of his trousers and Dom's rolling a skinny little one on the table. These ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
Chilly symphonies and misty synth-scapes: the Gothic revival starts here ...
The Kinks, Ray Davies: Ten Questions for Ray Davies
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1997
What's happening in Kink land? ...
The Black Crowes: The Garage, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 1997
CHRIS ROBINSON HAS perfected the skinny, rollin'-eyed, raggedy Jesus look you don't see outside of by-pass protests and early '70s festival documentaries. ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, April 1997
The Byrds fall out, run off and get back to the country. The second batch of remastered reissues in the Legacy series. Each features extra ...
The Chemical Brothers: Dig Your Own Hole
Review and Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, April 1997
AT ABOUT 1.15 ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 7, 1966, pop music went and changed forever. The Beatles had just completed the first day's work ...
Mighty Diamonds, The Twinkle Brothers: The Mighty Diamonds/The Twinkle Brothers: The Forum, London
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, April 1997
IT'S A RARE THING THESE DAYS THAT Ralston Grant, the guitar-playing half of The Twinkle Brothers, leaves Jamaica, and for the last decade or so ...
Willie Nelson: How To Buy Willie Nelson
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, May 1997
TWO THINGS. Willie Nelson is not a country singer but a singer who just happens to fit neatly in the country section for those of ...
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1997
KEITH RICHARDS says he’d never thought of making a solo album until Mick Jagger announced that he didn’t want to tour to promote the Rolling ...
Manic Street Preachers: NYNEX, Manchester
Live Review by John McCready, MOJO, May 1997
FOR A group who have long flirted with the traditional tricks of "rawk", this is really a hell of a risk. The potential for misunderstanding ...
Prefab Sprout: Andromeda Heights
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, May 1997
ONCE, WHILE LISTENING To Prefab Sprout's Protest Songs, wide-eyed in admiration at the musical facility, the poetic imagination, the sheer individuality of it all, my ...
Steve Winwood, Traffic: Steve Winwood
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, May 1997
IT WAS NOT UNTIL 1993, 30 years after he first heard Ray Charles sing, that Steve Winwood met his lifelong idol. Winwood happened to be ...
Supergrass: In It For The Money (Parlophone)
Review and Interview by Max Bell, MOJO, May 1997
IT SEEMS UNLIKELY THAT SUPERGRASS will ever scale the wails of hype built around those British bands whose media inflated self-importance exceeds their artistic merit. ...
P.J. Proby: That's Torn It! The Story of P.J. Proby
Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, May 1997
P J. PROBY, SURVIVOR OF 30 YEARS OF fame, purgatory, and sporadic redemption, is holding court on one of his favourite subjects. "From Graceland to ...
Fountains of Wayne: The Fountains of Wayne: Mojo Rising
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1997
CHRIS COLLINGWOOD and Adam Schlesinger have waited a long time to see their pure-pop/power-pop dreams realised. The duo were penning addictively hummable songs as long ...
Aretha Franklin: Time Machine: Aretha Franklin
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, May 1997
The most crucial moment in Aretha Franklin's career ...
ABBA: Welcome to the Palindrome
Review by Nick Hornby, MOJO, June 1997
Reissues: Their entire oeuvre freshly silvered, remastered and mid-priced. RING RING/ WATERLOO/ ABBA/ ARRIVAL/ THE ALBUM/ VOULEZ VOUS/ SUPER TROOPER/ THE VISITORS/ ABBA LIVE Agnetha, ...
Skip Spence : Alexander 'Skip' Spence: Oar (Columbia US)
Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, June 1997
Tracks: Little Hands/Cripple Creek/Diana/Margaret-Tiger Rug/Weighted Down/War In Peace/Broken Heart/All Come To Meet Her/Books Of Moses/Dixie Peach Promenade/Lawrence Of Euphoria/Grey/Afro ...
Obituary by Miles, MOJO, June 1997
ALLEN GINSBERG and I were friends for over 30 years, and even though I am his "official" biographer, it is hard to sum up so ...
Review and Interview by Richard Cook, MOJO, June 1997
Head boy's follow-up to 1994's David Byrne finds him working with a variety of producers, including DJ Hahn Rowe, The Black Cat Orchestra and Morcheeba. ...
Jimi Hendrix: First Rays Of The New Rising Sun/Are You Experienced?/Electric Ladyland
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 1997
HAVE WE BEEN HERE BEFORE? WE CERTAINLY HAVE. In 1993, the dilapidated Hendrix CD catalogue was overhauled by Alan Douglas, then artistic director of the ...
Obituary by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 1997
LAURA NYRO DIED OF OVARIAN CANCER, AT HOME IN Danbury, Connecticut, on April 8. Of all the revered ‘60s singer-songwriters, she was the one whose ...
Love Story: Alone Again, or Arthur Lee
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1997
HIGH UP in Laurel Canyon, with all of Los Angeles spread out around him, Arthur Lee would sit and stare and contemplate death – "sitting ...
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1997
According to the man himself, Paul can bash out a song in the time it takes Linda to whip up a soyasome supper. But is ...
Peter Green: Still got the Greens…
Review and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 1997
The Peter Green Splinter Group: Splinter Group Giant step back to the world for the best of the '60s Britbluesers.CSM meets Peter Green and ...
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, June 1997
Ben Edmonds finds out what happened when acid hit blue-collar America. WHEN POET JOHN SINCLAIR was released from the Detroit House of Correction in August ...
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, June 1997
IT COULD BE SAID THAT THE POSTER ART WAS THE best thing that ever happened to psychedelic music. As concert posters they didn’t just advertise ...
Psychedelia: The 100 Greatest Classics
Guide by Jon Savage, MOJO, June 1997
Back by public demand, and even more mind-expanding, Jon Savage takes a trip through psychedelia’s golden years to compile the ultimate six-hour flashback. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, June 1997
Oh what larks they had. Psychedelic poesy with a May Ball beat. Jolly Japes with Jimi Hendrix. Frolics with the Floyd. Soft Machine: a very ...
Spiritualized: Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 1997
THE CULMINATION OF A SEVEN YEAR mission to empty his crowded mind onto tape, Ladies And Gentlemen...is Jason Pierce's clamorous meisterwerk. A record that's splendidly ...
The Beautiful South: The Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 1997
PLAINLY NOT RUGGED T-SHIRT-IN-A-SNOW-storm northerners, The Beautiful South's vocal frontline take to the stage for their second night at the RAH in a winter collection ...
The Summer of Love's Counterculture Butterflies
Overview by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 1997
Who were they? Where are they now? ...
Aerosmith, Kula Shaker: Aerosmith and Kula Shaker On The Road
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, July 1997
The raddled and the fresh-faced. The stellar and the starry-eyed. The seen-it-all and the wannabes. Perhaps, harsh to say, the past and the future. It ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Crazy Horse: Ralph, Billy, Poncho... and Neil
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 1997
THERE'S A SCENE in Year Of The Horse, looks like one of those scenic theme park rides, where Neil Young and crewperson are sitting talking ...
Going Down Memory Lane with Jenny Fabian
Interview by Tom Hibbert, MOJO, July 1997
BEFORE JENNY FABIAN, groupies hardly existed...well, they probably did, but the general public, ie Mr and Mrs Beswick of Pursey, knew nothing about them (even ...
Aretha Franklin: How to Buy Aretha Franklin
Discography by Fred Dellar, MOJO, July 1997
DURING 1956, a 14-year-old Aretha, daughter of gospel superstar the Reverend C.L. Franklin, sang and played piano before an enthusiastic congregation at her father's new ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, July 1997
CONTINUING THE HIGH STANDARDS of Perfectly Good Guitar and Walk On, but with a lighter heart and a jauntier spring to its step, Little Head ...
Neil Young: The Year Of The Horse
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1997
2-CD, 13-track live document of last year's Broken Arrow tour, recorded mainly in America but featuring tracks from Berlin, Toronto…and downtown Saskatchewan. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 1997
Neil Young plus electricity plus us, the ticket-holders. It's been a volatile but vital combination for over three decades. On the eve of the great ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1997
ONCE UPON a time, Papas Fritas were just another dweebish lo-fi band from Massachusetts, growing up in the shadows of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr.. But ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1997
Thom Yorke tells Jim Irvin how OK Computer was done. ...
Review by Nick Kent, MOJO, July 1997
A year in the making, the follow-up to their multi-poll-topping classic, The Bends. ...
Radiohead: Zeleste Club, Barcelona
Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1997
FOR THE EUROPEAN launch of their brilliant but peculiar third LP, OK Computer, Radiohead have opted to take it reasonably easy, hang out in one ...
Ron Sexsmith: Other Songs (Interscope)
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Mat Snow, MOJO, July 1997
Follow-up to 1995's self-titled debut, again produced by Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake. ...
Teenage Fanclub: Sporty, Scary, Posh & Ginger
Report and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 1997
Thursday, May 30, 1996 ...
Ben Harper: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 1997
THERE'S SOMETHING going on here. Before he's even played a note, Ben Harper is treated by a jam-packed house to a standing ovation of Messianic ...
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, August 1997
A considerable portion of the German experimentalists’ output re-released on CD and limited issue vinyl: 24 albums spanning 1968-1994, including original issues, anthologies, compilations, and ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Bill Holdship, MOJO, August 1997
IT'S TOUGH to be hip all the time, or as Brian Wilson once said, "sometimes it hurts your head". So it wasn't at all unpleasant ...
Report by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1997
Roger Cook's flawed investigation into chart rigging failed to address the real problem afflicting the singles chart. Johnny Black plays detective... ...
Jeff Buckley: "It's Never Over"
Obituary by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 1997
JUST BEFORE 9PM ON THE EVENING of Thursday, May 29, Jeff Buckley and his friend Keith Foti realised they were lost. ...
Pink Floyd: David Gilmour Could Tell His Friends Were Having Problems…
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1997
GILMOUR, GUITARIST for the locally popular Cambridge band Joker's Wild, was in London during May 1967. Knowing that fellow Cambridge outfit Pink Floyd were recording ...
Roger McGuinn: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 1997
A BLACK EXECUTIVE chair sits in the middle of an empty stage in a in a puddle of swirling, blobby, cod-psychedelic lights. It’s as if ...
Spiritualized: The Astoria, London
Live Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, August 1997
SPIRITUALIZED'S SIMPLE, sublime Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space has gained untold credibility by being nominated 'this year's drugs album' – a shorthand ...
The Box Tops: House Of Blues, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, MOJO, August 1997
ADDING YET another layer of cracked lustre to lead singer Alex Chilton's legendary cult-star, The Box Tops popped on-stage, pumping out a pluperfect-for-frat-parties version of ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 1997
Isley; Get Into Something; Givin' It Back; Brother, Brother, BrotherFour long-lost albums, each one worth £20 or more on vinyl. Originally on the Isleys' own ...
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1997
AFTER A bunch of friends, including a young Jackson Browne, figured that singing Bill Monroe and Mississippi John Hurt songs in the back of McCabe's ...
Tupac Shakur: Rebel For The Hell Of It: The Life Of Tupac Shakur Armond White (Quartet)
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, September 1997
TWENTY OR so years ago, in 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais', The Clash sang disapprovingly of those they deemed to be "turning rebellion into money". ...
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, September 1997
COMPARED TO his tremendous gigs at Ronnie Scott's a year or two ago, when Dr John was accompanied by a horn section that included Alvin ...
Fleetwood Mac: The Way We Were
Report and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, September 1997
IT IS DEJA VU of the very strangest sort on this May night in Burbank, California. Thrilled to be at this invitation-only event, each and ...
Henry McCullough, Wings: Hello, Goodbye: Henry McCullough & Wings
Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, September 1997
Author's Note: Both Trevor Hodgett and myself wrote a fair amount about local guitar legend Henry McCullough during the '90s. Indeed, Trevor still does. When ...
The Beach Boys: How to Buy The Beach Boys
Discography by Fred Dellar, MOJO, September 1997
THE GOOD NEWS is that the racks are full of Beach Boys CDs. The bad news is that many of them are not the ...
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1997
“Unplugged” versions of ten Webb staples, performed at the grand piano by The Man Himself. Vocal cameos by Shawn Colvin (Didn’t We), Marc Cohn (If ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, September 1997
WHAT ARE Oasis for? They were Built To Be Big. Their Long-Awaited-All-Important-Third-Album, Be Here Now, is about as big as a rock record can get. ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 1997
FEBRUARY 1992. The Melody Maker's young Oxford correspondent pops up Cowley Road to the old Co-Op dining hall, a glamour-free venue – small stage at ...
Review and Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, September 1997
The marriage of beat poetry with hip hop beats. Released in the UK on September 29 before one-off London show on October 13. ...
Steve Miller Band at the Greek Theatre Los Angeles
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, September 1997
THIRTY YEARS in the rock 'n' roll business. A man without a record label. A man who packed the Greek Theatre playing absolutely nothing from ...
Taj Mahal at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, September 1997
HENRY ST. CLAIR FREDERICKS named himself Taj Mahal with good reason: he's a monument who can dance with an easy grace and joyful lightness delightfully ...
The Jayhawks: Riviera Theatre, Chicago
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1997
DESPITE SERIOUS competition from an important Chicago Bulls game, the gilded relic that is the Riviera is close to packed tonight for a double-header by ...
Todd Terry: Ready For A New Day (Manifesto)
Review by John McCready, MOJO, September 1997
Disco legends guest on album that's mostly club deity and his drum machine. ...
World Party: At Shepherd's Bush Empire
Report by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 1997
"I WISH he'd stop wiping his nose," moans the guy in the next seat. Even without his nasal hygiene tic, the object of this ...
Bjork: Homogenic (One Little Indian)
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 1997
JUST HOW good is Bjork? Artists appearing fully-formed, uncompromisingly individual, interesting but often disturbingly idiosyncratic – think of Thelonious Monk or even Kate Bush – ...
Elton John: Sound Your Funky Horn
Interview by Cliff Jones, MOJO, October 1997
Elton John blows his own horn ...
Fairport Convention 30th Anniversary: Cropredy Festival, Oxfordshire
Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, October 1997
IF SOMEBODY back in the "summer of love" had told Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson and Judy Dyble – members of North London's premier Jefferson Airplane ...
Johnny Cash: How To Buy Johnny Cash
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, October 1997
COLLECTING ALBUMS by Arkansas' Man In Black is a doddle. For starters, he's never made any really bad ones. And most of the ...
Obituary by David Toop, MOJO, October 1997
"MUSIC IS THE HEALING FORCE OF the universe," So said saxophonist Albert Ayler, whose body was found floating in New York’s East River many years ...
Ocean Colour Scene: Marchin' Already
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, October 1997
OCEAN COLOUR SCENE stir mighty passions in the breasts of some — Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher being the conspicuous celeb celebrants — and leave ...
Portishead: You Only Live Twice
Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, October 1997
They inspired with Dummy. And nearly expired making its successor. As Portishead finally deliver their eagerly-awaited second album. Paul Trynka uncovers the turmoil behind their ...
The Rolling Stones: Bridges To Babylon
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1997
EMBOLDENED BY the success of both Voodoo Lounge and Stripped, the Stones have retained Don Was as co-producer for their third album in succession, a ...
Review by John McCready, MOJO, October 1997
I CAN'T HAVE BEEN ALONE in not being convinced. Yet there were people from day one and the debut LP A Storm In Heaven making ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, November 1997
THE RICKETY HAMMERSMITH RESIDENCE WHICH houses TFI Friday’s dressing rooms is an alarming place to find yourself, and not just because there’s a chance of ...
Caravan, Kevin Ayers: Caravan/Kevin Ayers: London, Astoria
Essay by Rob Chapman, MOJO, November 1997
IT'S THE gathering of the Canterbury faithful. The main event is the original — as near as dammit — Caravan line-up. That other former Wilde ...
The Beatles: Derek Taylor: Obituary
Obituary by Richard Williams, MOJO, November 1997
IN 1963, WHEN BRIAN EPSTEIN INVITED HIM TO HANDLE the Beatles' PR, Derek Taylor was a 31-year-old national newspaper reporter with a suit and tie. ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: How The South Rose Again: The Soaring Flight and Tragic Fall of Lynyrd Skynyrd
Retrospective and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, November 1997
THE DAY BEFORE THE SECOND MOST FAMOUS plane crash in rock history, the right engine of the 1948 Convair aircraft carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd backfired over ...
Billie Holiday: How to Buy Billie Holiday
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, November 1997
TIME WAS when Billie Holiday records were hard to come by. But Motown's filmed version of her life, based on a dubious autobiography to which ...
Jackson Browne: The Next Voice You Hear — The Best Of… (Elektra)
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, November 1997
Jackson Browne gives a track by track rundown to Andy Gill ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: How Do You Stop?
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1997
"DON’T BE MISLED!" shouts the faded 8" x 8" flyer propped up on a baby grand piano in the mansion Keith Richards is renting in ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, November 1997
Fourth album in three years from Kurt Wagner's Nashville swingers is a pithy eight tracks in duration, including an instrumental title number and three compositions ...
Leonard Cohen: More Best Of (Columbia)
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 1997
A CATCH-UP collection of the best of the past couple of decades for those who fell in love with, or to, early Len and may ...
Oasis, The Verve: Oasis/The Verve: London, Earl's Court
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 1997
AS PAUL Du Noyer wrote recently, somewhere along the road to epoch-making Oasis "took it as their job to cheer the country up". To which ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1997
RICHARD DAVIES is cooped up in the Turtle Creek barn, a hallowed old recording studio haunted by ghosts of Woodstock past and present. (A picture ...
The Beach Boys: The Pet Sounds Sessions
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 1997
The stereo mix, outtakes, session excerpts, stack o' tracks, stack o'vocals: more Pet Sounds you couldn't hope for, on 4 CDs. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, November 1997
EVEN THE MOST MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION of early publicity shots of bookish, bespectacled quintet The Zombies yields no clue that these middle class English boys in ...
Todd Rundgren: With A Twist (Emi/Guardian)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1997
Challenged to re-record a number of his 'greatest hits' – by a label which has tried the same experiment with Jimmy Webb and Alice Cooper ...
Biff Rose: Whaddya Mean You’ve Never Heard of Biff Rose?
Profile by Rob Chapman, MOJO, November 1997
IF YOU KNOW THE NAME at all it's probably for ‘Fill Your Heart’, the jaunty item that kicks off side two of David Bowie's Hunky ...
The Doors: 10 Questions for The Doors’ Ray Manzarek
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 1997
EVER SINCE Jim Morrison’s death there have been many Elvis-style, alive-and-well-and- pumping-gas ‘sightings’. Has it ever crossed your mind they may be right? ...
Boz Scaggs: My Time: A Boz Scaggs Anthology
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 1997
STILL REGARDED over here primarily as a kind of lounge-lizard soulman — sort of Bryan Ferry with roots — thanks to his hugely successful mid-70s ...
Burt Bacharach: The Look Of Love
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1997
Three-CD box packing 75 examples of highly-crafted pop magic and spanning four decades. The gang’s all here — Dionne, Dusty, Cilla — with only Aretha’s ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby Stills & Nash: At the Universal Amphitheater, 1997
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, December 1997
"I DIDN'T CUT IT," David Crosby announced from the stage of LA's Universal Amphitheater, a pained grin on his face. "It's falling out." And indeed, ...
The Pixies: Hello Goodbye: Joey Santiago & The Pixies
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 1997
HELLO – September 1986 CHARLES [FRANCIS] and I were suite-mates rather than room-mates at the University of Massachusetts. Like me, he'd gone to college in the ...
Jimi Hendrix: South Saturn Delta
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, December 1997
IN WHICH the new management of Planet Hendrix takes its first steps into the marginal, semi-canonical hinterlands of the Great Man's recorded legacy and returns ...
Led Zeppelin: The BBC Sessions (Atlantic)
Review and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 1997
Led Zeppelin's first official all-live release since 1976's The Song Remains The Same. The 2-CD set is drawn from sessions recorded for the BBC before ...
Oasis: Big Brother Is Watching You
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, December 1997
...but we are not allowed to watch back. Nick Kent tells the story of the TV documentary the band don't want you to see. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1997
Luscious five-CD box of gospel/country/blues/soul classics spanning five decades and thirteen labels in the genre-busting career of Brother Ray. ...
Roni Size and Reprazent: Roni Size & Reprazent: Academy, Manchester
Live Review by John McCready, MOJO, December 1997
I'D STOOD in the same spot a month or so ago watching David Bowie — an old man using drum'n'bass as a kind of fashionable ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1997
4-CD grab-bag of rarities, outtakes, live recordings and fave tracks selected by the surviving Doors ...
Review and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, December 1997
TO ANYONE who never saw Tony Secunda's little scam-mongerers in their psychpop pomp, the clip of The Move that turned up on VH1's Beat Beat ...
Cornershop: When I Was Born for the 7th Time
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, Fall 1997
THIS IS A GOOD party record: loose, funny, warm – exemplary genre-trashing by musicians who have a great recollection (as they chant on 'Brimful ...
Johnny Thunders: Born To Lose: A Film About Johnny Thunders
Report by Paul Gorman, MOJO, 1998
NINETEEN YEARS in gestation, Born To Lose – which matches the addled life and times of its subject Johnny Thunders by being simultaneously intriguing and ...
De La Soul: Bar Cuba, Macclesfield
Live Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, 1998
As part of a British mini-tour ahead of an album set for September, America’s most innovative hip hop outfit came to a small, friendly club ...
Gene Clark: Flying High (Polydor)
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, 1998
UNTIL RECENTLY, Gene Clark has been one of rock's best kept secrets. Harassed by his Byrd colleagues, ignored as the real inventor of country rock ...
Sheryl Crow: Abbey Road Studios, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1998
IT'S ALL very odd. A big, tall, whitewashed room with padded walls: at one end sits Sheryl Crow with longtime guitar player Tim Smith – ...
The Beta Band: Moody, Groovy, Big and Bouncy
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, 1998
Line-up: Robin Jones (drums/percussion), Steve Mason (Vocals/guitars/percusssion), John McLean (samplers, percussion), Richard Greenstreet (bass). ...
Caetano Veloso: Tropicalia CDs: Samba takes a trip
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, 1998
ON THE DAY that man first trod upon the moon, Brazilian stars Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were bidding a reluctant farewell to their homeland. ...
Beck: El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, January 1998
BECK MAY be Modern Rock's master ironist, but he takes his roots music very seriously. They're just very gnarled roots, is all. ...
Belle and Sebastian: The Ever-So-Secret Seven
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 1998
"IT ALL STARTED at open stage sessions at The Halt Bar in Glasgow," recalls Belle & Sebastian bassist Stuart David. "Drunken Saturday afternoon shambles ...
Captain Beefheart, Jeff Morris Tepper: Hello Goodbye: Jeff Morris Tepper & Beefheart's Magic Band
Retrospective and Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, January 1998
Hello: August 1975 I WAS UP in the California Redwoods to check out housing and schools, and I saw Don drive by in this orange pumpkin-coloured ...
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, January 1998
Every month we navigate the high-water marks, rapids and stagnant ponds of a prolific artist’s output, so you don’t have to. We continue with... ...
Jane's Addiction: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco
Live Review by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, January 1998
Set list: Ocean Size/Ain't No Right/Then She Did/Stop/Three Days/Mountain Song/Summertime Rolls/Jane Says/Classic Girl/Chip Away/Ted,Just Admit it/I Would For You. ...
John Fred And His Playboy Band
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, January 1998
IF JOHN LENNON'S diction had been just a bit clearer, John Fred And His Playboy Band might never have scored their US Number 1 hit, ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1998
The complete JD story, from Warsaw to 'Atmosphere', compiled by the band’s surviving members with Jon Savage and including dozens of outtakes, unreleased demos, and ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1998
Kiss/ Hotter Than Hell// Dressed To Kill/ Alive!/ Destroyer/ Rock And Roll Over/ Love Gun/ Alive II/ Double Platinum/ Dynasty/ Unmasked/ Music From The Elder/ ...
Missy Elliott: Missy "Misdemeanour" Elliott: Supa Dupa Fly (EastWest)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, January 1998
Hip hop's hottest singer/rapper/producer cuts her own album. Mixes original music, samples, beats, big name guest rappers and singers. Result: modern urban black music of ...
Them: The Story Of Them Featuring Van Morrison (Deram)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, January 1998
SOMEHOW THE legend has grown up that Them comprised one stone genius and a bunch of hapless fools, dispensable at whim. It's understandable, as said ...
Blossom Toes: "Get in there and experiment!": Blossom Toes: We Are Ever So Clean
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, February 1998
Thus the instructions to four young men as they were handed the keys to a King's Road '60s communal pad… ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 1998
AC/DC's box- set tribute to late vocalist Bon Scott comes in packs of four or five CDs (remastered Back In Black optional). Includes rare and/or ...
Electric Light Orchestra: Light Years
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, February 1998
Mid-priced, 2-CD, 38-track collection of all their singles. ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 1998
"I WAS MERELY a pawn in a big chess game," said Frankie Lymon, just months before he died of a heroin overdose on February 28, ...
The High Llamas: High Llamas: Cold And Bouncy (Alpaca Park)
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, February 1998
IF YOU LOVE The Beach Boys and other purveyors of the pocket symphony as much as the highest Llama Sean O'Hagan obviously does, then Hawaii ...
The High Llamas: High Llamas: Sean O'Hagan on Cold And Bouncy
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 1998
Sylvie Simmons talks to Sean O'Hagan ...
Mark Hollis, Talk Talk: Mark Hollis on Mark Hollis
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, February 1998
Why all-acoustic this time? ...
Spiritualized: The Mile High Club: Spiritualized in the Sky
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1998
SPIRITUALIZED: a concoction of the cosmological and the pharmaceutical enjoying high times in Britain. Now Jason Pierce is spending two months turning on America. Barney ...
Todd Rundgren: "Go Ahead, Ignore Me!"
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1998
HELLO, it’s him. ...
Yes live at Los Angles Universal Amphitheater
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, February 1998
IT'S ALWAYS seemed a tragic waste of snottiness that some safety-pinned '70s punk combo never thought to take the early, pre-Roger Dean Yes logo – ...
Anne Briggs, Bert Jansch: Anne Briggs: In Search of the Wild Rover
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, March 1998
Richard Thompson wrote a song about her. Jimmy Page unplugged on her account. Singers from June Tabor to Kate Rusby revere her as the queen ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 1998
Supposedly one of his "parenthetical" releases in the vein of Stereoscopic Soul Manure and One Foot In The Grave. The "official" follow-up to Odelay is ...
Bert Berns: The Soul Man with a Huckster's Heart
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1998
HE WAS, said Jerry Wexler, "a paunchy, nervous cat with a shock of unruly black hair". He looked like a vaguely disreputable cross between Gene ...
Blue Oyster Cult: California Club Caprice, Redondo Beach, CA
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, March 1998
WHEN ONE plopped down the appropriate coinage for the self-titled debut of the Blue Oyster Cult in 1972, one prepared to enjoy the hard-edged glory ...
B.B. King: How to buy B.B. King
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, March 1998
HE’S FILED under ‘Blues’. Which is convenient. But Riley ‘Blues Boy’ King can be anything you want him to be — king of the juke ...
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow/Crown Of Creation/Volunteers
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, March 1998
Straight mid-price reissues of the Airplane's second, fourth and sixth albums – first time in the UK for Surrealistic Pillow ...
Holger Czukay: No Borders Here: Holger Czukay’s Movies and On The Way To Peak Of Normal
Review and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, March 1998
Mute’s admirable disinterring of the entire Can-related catalogue reaches Holger The Bassman’s first two solo albums. ...
Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 1998
Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, aged 25 on March 23, is one of the great monuments of rock history – as overwhelming aesthetically ...
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1998
FIRMLY IN the tradition of orch-pop mavericks like Scott Walker and Jimmy Webb, Plush caused a minor commotion three years ago with the Drag City ...
Village People: Young Men! The Village People
Retrospective and Interview by Peter Silverton, MOJO, March 1998
"YOUNG MAN!" IT BUTTONHOLES YOU. And then it requires that your body shapes the letters which form the acronym for the Young Men’s Christian Association. ...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 1998
THE BARRICADES on the pavement outside Claridges are draped with small girls in big Dr Martins who are gazing at a door. The door is ...
Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, James Brown: Bootsy Collins on Bootsy Collins
Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, April 1998
‘Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine’James Brown (King single, 1970) ...
Obituary by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, April 1998
CARL WILSON didn't get to record his first lead vocal for the Beach Boys until April 30, 1965, almost four years into the group's career. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 1998
WHITE GUYS from the '60s R&B generation don't get the same latitude as black "originals" to spend their last 20 or 30 years nestling back ...
Nina Simone: How To Buy Nina Simone
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, April 1998
IN SOME WAYS, things haven't changed overmuch since Eunice Waymon opted to change her name to Nina Simone so that her mother wouldn't find out ...
Jewel, Sarah McLachlan: Lady’s Day: Lilith Fair
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, April 1998
AT RISK OF PROVOKING EITHER THE TRADITIONAL yawn or a punch in the face whenever it is suggested that this is the year of women ...
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, Rob Chapman, MOJO, April 1998
IF YOU spent the early '70s worshipping false idols with feet of clay when you could have been listening to these finely crafted records then ...
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 1998
2-CD set coupling the electro-duo’s 1977 debut with the infamous 23 Minutes Over Brussels flexi-disc and an unreleased 1978 live set from CBGBs. ...
Jack Nitzsche: Ten Questions For Jack Nitzsche
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, April 1998
HOW DID YOU first meet Phil Spector? ...
B.B. King, Lowell Fulson, Robert Lockwood Jr.: B.B. King: Bright Lights Big City
Report and Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, May 1998
Fifty years ago B.B. King arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, and found himself in the eye of a musical hurricane. Today he celebrates the giants who ...
Bonnie Raitt: Fundamental (Capitol)
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, May 1998
First album in four years from the premier bluesmeistress. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 1998
They were young. They were feral. They played unfeasibly good rock music. And they hit the road hard. It could only end in heartbreak. Phil ...
Rod Stewart: How to Buy Rod Stewart
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, May 1998
"A WHITE person can sing the blues with just as much conviction as a negro. All these negro singers singing about 'walking down the railroad ...
I Feel Like I Win When I Lose: The Eurovision Song Contest
Retrospective by Rob Chapman, MOJO, May 1998
WHAT HAVE FRANCOISE HARDY, Esther Ofarim, and Ofra Haza got in common? Answer, they are all fine singers. But before they got such deserved reputations ...
Jimmy Page/Robert Plant: Jimmy Page and Robert Plant: Walking Into Clarksdale
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Mat Snow, MOJO, May 1998
WHEN, IN 1994, MTV approached Robert Plant – otherwise engaged making records with unknown youngbloods, and saying rude things about Jimmy Page for working with ...
Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love: Kurt Cobain: Double Fantasy
Report by Dave Thompson, MOJO, May 1998
Kurt Cobain, the rock martyr; Courtney Love, the widow who wants it all. In the years since his death, the question "What really happened?" has ...
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, May 1998
Eagerly-anticipated follow-up to 1994’s Protection, 64 minutes of guitar-driven downbeats, featuring the toppermost tonsils of Horace Andy and the angelic ambience of Liz Fraser on ...
Pulp: No Success Please, We're British: Pulp: This Is Hardcore (Island)
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, May 1998
At it since 1983, missus! Can they keep it up now the camera's on them? ...
R.L. Burnside: R. L. Burnside: Live in Detroit
Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, May 1998
"WELL, WELL, WELL..." ...
The Electric Eels: The Eyeball Of Hell
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, May 1998
THE ELECTRIC Eels operated in a no-man's land that now seems fascinating: that mid-'70s moment between glitter and punk rock. It wasn't as though they ...
Tori Amos: From The Choirgirl Hotel
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 1998
IT'S NOT at all what I expected. I'd spoken to Tori just before the album was completed, and the few finished tracks I'd heard were ...
Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, Fotheringay: Angel Of Avalon: Sandy Denny
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 1998
Revered by everyone from Frank Zappa to The Spice Girls. Led Zeppelin's one and only guest star. One of Britain's greatest singers. Yet her true ...
Brian Eno: To Infinity and Beyond
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 1998
THESE DAYS, you have to catch Brian Eno as and when you can. Always peripatetically inclined, he now spends even more time abroad — ...
Brian Wilson: Let's Go Trippin!
Memoir by David Dalton, MOJO, June 1998
IT WAS JULY 1967, the Summer of Love, on Zuma Beach, California that I first met Brian Wilson. It was one of those loony episodes ...
Eddi Reader: Angels And Electricity (Blanco Y Negro)
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1998
EVEN ALLOWING for our response to singing being largely subjective, some voices just do the job, don't they? For me, Eddi Reader is up there ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 1998
"I'LL TELL you something," offers Shirley Manson conspiratorially at the start of this second load of Garbage, "I am a wolf, but I like to ...
Report by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 1998
SOMETIMES IT'S BEST to wipe the slate clean, in music as well as in life. Such was the philosophy of Harry Partch (1901-1974), one of ...
Jeff Buckley: Sketches (For My Sweetheart The Drunk) (Columbia)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 1998
FANS OF Grace might find this album tough going. For one thing, it's hard to divorce the circumstances of its existence from the music – ...
Paul McCartney, Wings: Linda McCartney
Obituary by Miles, MOJO, June 1998
Rock photographer turned legendary other half ...
Peter Green: Ronnie Scott's Club, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, MOJO, June 1998
THE FIRST time I ever reviewed Peter Green in concert, he was with Fleetwood Mac at the Albert Hall in the '60s; a lean, bearded ...
Saint Etienne: Good Humor (Heavenly)
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 1998
FACED WITH Sarah, Bob and Pete's latest creamy confection, smothered in schmaltz and techno-lite topped off with Astrud Gilberto vocals, it's easy to dismiss them ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1998
BILLY CORGAN certainly had his work cut out for him after 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. ...
Tammy Wynette: First Lady Of Country
Obituary by Fred Dellar, MOJO, June 1998
TAMMY always stood by her fans. Often at the end of a gig, she'd just sit around signing autographs. Once, when her life was threatened, ...
Tricky: Angels With Dirty Faces (Island)
Review by Nick Coleman, MOJO, June 1998
A fourth album for the Bristolian angst-meister, now removed to the US and working with real instruments played by real musicians. ...
The Plasmatics: Wendy O. Williams — Punk Dominatrix
Obituary by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 1998
"I LIKE THE sound of a gun, Wendy O. Williams once said. "It terrifies me. It makes the experience a little more intense." The gunshot ...
Bobby Womack: 10 Questions for Bobby Womack
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, July 1998
What were you up to in the studio last night? ...
Apres Nous Le Deluge: The Nouvelle Vague Of Pop Francaise
Report and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, July 1998
"THERE’S NOTHING HAPPENING in England right now. It’s like 1975. Deep Purple for me are like The Prodigy. Led Zeppelin are Chemical Brothers." Daniel Auxerre, ...
Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison at the Pauley Pavilion, UCLA, Los Angeles
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, July 1998
Set List Van Morrison: Sweet Thing/You Make Me Feel So Free/Burning Ground/It Once Was My Life/Cleaning Windows/Vanlose Stairway/That's Life/Days Like This/Sometimes We Cry/Moondance/This Weight/Tupelo Honey/Why ...
Massive Attack: Dark Side of the Spliff: Massive Attack
Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, July 1998
"ME AND ANGELO, our guitarist, got stuck in a cave in Padstow," says Massive Attack’s Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja, talking about one particularly eventful sojourn ...
Gram Parsons: The Good Ol’ Boy
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1998
ON A WARM fall night in the tie-dyed rock’n’roll town of Woodstock, with the maple leaves turning to gold and purple on the mountains that ...
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, July 1998
LONG AFTER YOU AND I HAVE RETURNED to sub-atomic dust particles, Sun Ra will probably be acclaimed as the greatest composer of the 20th century. ...
Elliott Smith: Mojo Rising: Elliott Smith
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1998
IS THIS a fairy tale or a corporate rock nightmare? Taciturn 28-year-old indie songster is taken up by maverick movie director and wakes to find ...
Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, July 1998
THE SOPHISTICATED BEGGAR, the Valentine, the Loony On The Bus... Roy Harper has worn these and other Lifemasks for more than 30 years now and ...
Prince: 18 Questions for THE ARTIST (still generally known as Prince)
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, August 1998
How did you spend your 40th birthday? ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: Hello Nasty (Grand Royal/Capitol)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1998
Partying rights might not be at the top of their list of priorities these days. So how exactly does a Beastie Boy grow up? ...
Overview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, August 1998
JUST ACROSS HOLLYWOOD Boulevard from Mann's Chinese Theatre, where the stars imprint their hands and feet in cement, stands the Roosevelt Hotel. A showplace hotel ...
Live Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, August 1998
AFTER THE quagmire of 1997 it surely couldn’t be Pop Passchendaele II could it? Oh yes it could. Unlike last year, when the Glasto monsoon ...
Ry Cooder: How to Buy Ry Cooder
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, August 1998
BETTER KNOWN for bottleneck than even the M25, Ryland Cooder remains a cult figure despite appearing on records by the Rolling Stones, the Monkees, Johnny ...
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1998
"How do you stop... before it’s too late?" ...
Randy Newman: "I Love You, You C**t!"
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1998
THE FOLK singer Dave Van Ronk called him "the Hoagy Carmichael of the ’60s". His boyhood friend and longtime producer Lenny Waronker tagged him "King ...
Joni Mitchell: The Unfiltered Joni Mitchell
Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, August 1998
IT'S A SATURDAY NIGHT IN Burbank, California, and perhaps 200 invited guests are sitting in a circular arrangement of plush chairs, overstuffed sofas, even cross-legged ...
Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968
Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, September 1998
Groundbreaking garage-punk compilation expanded into a 4-CD box: over 100 big hits, hip misses, influential tracks, cultural oddities and sonic abominations. ...
The Creatures, Siouxsie & The Banshees: 10 Questions for Siouxsie Sioux
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 1998
Is it true that you split the Banshees because the Sex Pistols reformed? ...
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, September 1998
DIGNITY OR DESPAIR: How are these funk giants confronting the present day? ...
Keith Moon: Patent British Exploding Drummer
Profile and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, September 1998
BOY, HOW WE CHERISH ROCK'S foundation myths. The idea that merchant seamen brought back rare R&B records to Liverpool docks and fuelled the Merseybeat ...
Willie Nelson: 10 Questions for Willie Nelson
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1998
Does writing and making records get harder or easier with time? ...
Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello: Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
Review and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, October 1998
Two years in the making, the full-on follow-up to ‘God Give Me Strength’, their collaboration from the soundtrack to Grace Of My Heart. ...
Manic Street Preachers: This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1998
FOLLOW-UP TO 1996's chart-topping Everything Must Go. Named after a line in a speech by miner's son and NHS founder Aneurin Bevan. ...
Mott The Hoople: All The Young Dudes — The Anthology
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 1998
Triple-decker sandwich of hot Mott. All the hits, all your faves and all the other stuff too. Odds’n sods included Bowie’s guide-vocal version of 'Dudes'. ...
Rory Gallagher: Ballad of a Thin Man
Retrospective by Colin Harper, MOJO, October 1998
"HE SUFFERED A LOT. His health was bad. He had a problem with drink. His relationships with women were all messed up because of his ...
Sheryl Crow: The Globe Sessions
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, October 1998
Too country for pop? Too poppin’ for rock? Or, rather gorgeously, just right? Sheryl Crow’s third album: the debate continues. ...
Aretha Franklin: The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time: #1 Aretha Franklin
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 1998
"She has all the Olympian leaps and trills, plus what's so often missing from others — believability." Eddi Reader "The essence of human spirit." Vic Chesnutt "I'm ...
The Walker Brothers:Take It Easy/Portrait/Images
Review by Richard Williams, MOJO, October 1998
Their first three albums, remastered for CD, each almost doubled with extra tracks. ...
Chic, Donna Summer: Your Booty, My 12-Inch: Disco Revisited
Guide by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 1998
YOWSAH, YOWSAH, YOWSAH. Twenty years after the dizzy heights of Discomania, the monster is back in our midst – in movies like Paul Thomas Anderson’s ...
Bob Dylan: Live 1966 - The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert
Review by Richard Williams, MOJO, November 1998
SO HERE it is, the Holy Grail of rock'n'roll, famed in song and story for a generation, finally on sale at your local record store. ...
Hootie and the Blowfish: The Roseland Ballroom, New York NY
Live Review by Edward Helmore, MOJO, November 1998
TENS OF millions of records sold, arena shows packed to the rafters, a following of right-minded music fans for whom Hootie and the Blowfish deliver ...
How to Buy Greenwich Village Folk
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, November 1998
TOM PAXTON recalls that he, along with Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, David Blue, Eric Andersen, Pat Sky and Phil Ochs, once called the Village home. ...
Jobriath: I'm Ready For My Close-Up
Retrospective by Rob Cochrane, MOJO, November 1998
Glam rock was a movie in search of a soundtrack. Today, Velvet Goldmine is that movie, but 25 years ago the publicity machine roared into ...
John Lennon: The Lennon Anthology (Parlophone)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 1998
Four CDs of unused takes and unreleased post-Beatle home recordings, divided into four periods: Ascot, New York, The Lost Weekend and Dakota. Comes with intriguingly ...
Wizz Jones, John Renbourn: John Renbourn & Wizz Jones: Famous Grouse House, Edinburgh
Live Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, November 1998
FOR SEASONED Renbourn watchers, there was little in the great man's own set tonight that surprised, but much that delighted. Booker T's 'Sweet Potato' has ...
Kiss & Make-Up: The Perfect Glam Rock Soundtrack
Guide by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 1998
IN THE OPENING minutes of todd Haynes's Velvet Goldmine, a gaggle of lads hurtle down a drab city street, tottering in their platforms, clad in ...
Maria McKee: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 1998
SITTING COMFORTABLY? Sexy, tear-duct prickling songs in voice that defies science. ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, November 1998
HERETOFORE, MERCURY Rev have trodden that fine line between order and chaos with a, shall we say, idiosyncratic sense of equilibrium. Part of the appeal ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1998
On her last proper album, 1995’s very fabulous To Bring You My Love, P.J. Harvey slipped on a slinky red dress and covered up the ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 1998
R.E.M., MORE than just about any band you can name, were whacked mightily with the Great Rock Dilemma stick: how does an intelligent, introspective, underground ...
Taj Mahal: The Birth Of His Blues: Taj Mahal
Review and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, November 1998
Tracks: Leaving Trunk / Statesboro Blues / Checkin' Up On My Baby / Everybody's Got To Change Sometime / E Z Rider / Dust My ...
Frank Zappa: I was a Teenage Moose Freak!
Report by Rob Chapman, MOJO, December 1998
FREE-FORM RADIO was one of the great innovations of the American Underground. From 1966, when the Federal Communications Commission freed up the FM band, to ...
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, MOJO, December 1998
He couldn't read. He couldn't write. He couldn't stop screwing up. Yet Hank Williams is a giant of popular music without whom rock'n'roll might never ...
Pete Townshend, Noel Gallagher and friends at the Sound Republic
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 1998
WHEN WORLDS kaleid... It’s the second "launch" night at Sound Republic, all chrome and cocktails and biz/media chatterati who won’t shut their yap no matter ...
Beck: The Shock of the Old: Beck and the New Roots Explosion
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1998
"...to be an American (unlike English or French or whatever) is precisely to imagine a destiny rather than to inherit one; since we have always ...
Skip Spence : Alexander Spence: Oar (Sundazed)
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, 1999
THE PASSING OF TIME has edged some psych esoterica into the mainstream, and Oar is a shining example. At once individual confession, generational narrative, and ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 1999
SO EFFICIENT, SO all-pervasive has been Canadian pianist-singer Diana Krall's rise in the jazz world (and beyond, in sales terms), an American jazz magazine offered ...
Iggy Pop: London, Shepherds Bush Empire
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 1999
HE WALKS through the cones of striped, sick-white lights, shirt off, a graceful, sinewy man with an impossible six-pack and road-map veins. He sits down ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, 1999
KAK'S ONE and only album – released in the US during January 1969 – captures the Bay Area boom at its furthest outreach. ...
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, 1999
Tangled webs, anyone? Rock’n’roll’s got them by the skein, especially when it comes to money. But the case of The Verve, Allen Klein and Andrew ...
The Olivia Tremor Control: Olivia Tremor Control: Black Foliage (Blue Rose/ V2)
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, 1999
THE GOOD NEWS is that this double album maintains the high quality of OTC's Dusk At Cubist Castle, which updated the methodology of classic psychedelia ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Regrets? I’ve Had A Few: Dexys Midnight Runners
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, 1999
This is the full version of an interview with Kevins Rowland and Archer published in MOJO in 1999. ...
Obituary by Jon Savage, MOJO, 1999
ROGER EAGLE was an unsung hero of British pop, with ground-level involvement in successive youth/ musical subcultures from the Twisted Wheel and Northern Soul in ...
Frank Sinatra: The Best of Frank Sinatra: A Home Taping Special
Guide by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 1999
BECAUSE OF THE near-flawless nature of a handful of albums (Wee Small Hours, Songs For Swingin' Lovers, A Swingin' Affair, Only The Lonely), it would ...
Mercury Rev: 5 For '99: Mercury Rev
Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, January 1999
HOW MANY BANDS ARE THERE who have made their best records after losing their lead singer? Whoever said "Marillion", go and sit in the corner, ...
Air, Sean Lennon: Air/Sean Lennon: Ritz, Manchester
Live Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, January 1999
SOMEONE ONCE said of Dylan's Renaldo & Clara that, while it didn't convince you that he was a great film-maker, it did confirm that he ...
The Black Crowes: Black Crowes: By Your Side
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 1999
THIS ALBUM rocks. And rolls. And nigh on rollicks. Where their last album loped, this one struts. The record it's most like is their 1990 ...
Book Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, January 1999
IT WAS during the '50s and early '60s that a young trumpet-player from York – ambitious, steeped in jazz tradition but possessing a unique pop ...
Herbie Hancock: The Complete Blue Note '60s Sessions
Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, January 1999
THESE DAYS he's an avatar of jazz-funk, but Hancock's salad days offered a lot more than apprentice-work. Only 24 when he composed and recorded the ...
Bruce Springsteen: It's a Vet's Life: Bruce Springsteen and Born in the USA
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 1999
It was Springsteen's most epic moment – and his most misunderstood. Phil Sutcliffe uncovers the double life of Born In The USA. ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1999
THE WAY Lucinda Williams sighs "Hi" down the phoneline from Florida instantly communicates a deep fatigue. She and her band have just motored up from ...
Roy Harper: Vicar Street, Dublin
Live Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, January 1999
ROY ASSURES ME that it only happens in Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin. "It" being the verge-of-chaos spectator sport and crowd participation version of what would ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Greatest Band In The World?
Profile by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 1999
"With Bruce, you wind up treating those four hours on stage as if someone said, You’ve got four hours left on Earth. What are you ...
Roy Orbison: The Lonely Blue Dream of Roy Orbison
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1999
HE STANDS stock-still, or nearly so. His right hand mechanically strums a black Gretsch, and his left leg slightly trembles. He could be a waxwork ...
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1999
WITH THE MTV Unplugged era now firmly behind us, Beck is at some pains to explain that tonight’s show – one of only two in ...
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1999
"And you don’t stop/Do the punk rock..." ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Trenchtown Rock
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, February 1999
DOVETAILING NICELY with the recent 3-CD set from JAD Records, Trench Town Rock presents the most wide-ranging account yet of the second chapter of The ...
Harry Partch's Original Invented Instruments: Barbican, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, February 1999
IT'S NOT every day – or every decade, come to that – that UK audiences get a chance to witness Harry Partch's bizarre instruments "in ...
Can: Hildegard Schmidt and Wolf Kampmann: Can Box: Book
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, February 1999
IN 1968 CAN walled themselves up in a Cologne studio and, give or take the odd defection, stayed there for the next nine years making ...
Semisonic: Feeling Strangely Successful – At Last
Report and Interview by Marc Weingarten, MOJO, February 1999
DAN WILSON received a hostile email late last year. "It was from a fan in Minneapolis who was basically writing to tell me it's all ...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 1999
THERE'S NOTHING BILL Callahan likes better than watching a Polaroid develop, "struck in this transition state, always surprising me". Some might say he needs to ...
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings at Aberdeen Music Hall
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, March 1999
ALL THINGS considered, the chilly, windswept environs of Aberdeen are probably not the best place to start your UK tour. At this remove from the ...
The Del McCoury Band, Steve Earle: How Blue Was My Grass? Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 1999
DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT from 1997’s El Corazon, this excellent album is, in essence, a tribute to the late ‘Father of Bluegrass’ Bill Monroe, performed with Monroe’s ...
Ennio Morricone: How to Buy Ennio Morricone
Guide by Rob Chapman, MOJO, March 1999
ENNIO MORRICONE single-handedly redefined our musical definition of the Western. Nobody can make jew’s harp and whistling sound more awe inspiring or one duck-call and ...
Robert Wyatt: Nothing Can Stop Robert Wyatt: An Interview
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1999
THE DAY before I drive up to Lincolnshire to interview Robert Wyatt, there is a march through the streets of Santiago - a procession of ...
Randy Newman: Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 1999
NEWMAN FANS have been baying for this kind of set for a while, especially as the songwriter's back catalogue has been unavailable on CD for ...
Todd Rundgren: Rundgren Reissued
Review and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, March 1999
Remastered reissues of the original one-man band's first five Bearsville albums – Runt; The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren; Something/Anything?; A Wizard, A True Star; Todd; ...
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 1999
Like the set of a James Bond finale, the cavernous, converted power station of Metropolis Studios is all walkways, bridges and industrial lifts. At the ...
Cassandra Wilson: Fellow Traveller
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
Chris Ingham: What was the selection process for your Miles Davis tribute album Travelling Miles? ...
David Sylvian, Japan: David Sylvian
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 1999
He was the sensitive soul who fronted south London’s dodgiest glam-rockers, the World’s Most Lovely Man who chose tortured sainthood, pop’s preening popinjay who reinvented ...
King Tubby: "This is a journey into sound"
Retrospective by Lloyd Bradley, James Maycock, MOJO, April 1999
Sonic visionary, dancehall supremo and obsessive money-launderer, he played the sliders like Jimi played a Fender. Lloyd Bradley and James Maycock chronicle the crowning glories ...
Wings: Paul McCartney And Wings: Band On The Run
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
25th anniversary 2-CD edition of 1973 classic, featuring US-related album (including 'Helen Wheels') plus audio documentary CD. ...
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 1999
Seventh album from Lou Barlow and chums, following up 1996’s Harmacy and featuring new drummer Russ Pollard. ...
Jeff Beck: The Jeff Beck Interview
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, April 1999
WHEN JEFF BECK WALKS INTO A PUBLIC SPACE, PEOPLE TURN and stare. They're seeing a fit-looking 50-something with stubble and an archetypal rock'n'roll haircut, wearing ...
Tom Waits: What's He Building In There? An Interview with Tom Waits
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 1999
TOM WAITS squats down on the fender of his blue Coupe de Ville and tells a joke. ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1999
IN THE immediate post-Beatles period, Paul McCartney was a critic's whipping boy. Compared to the lustrous pop of Abbey Road, the open-hearted panoply of All ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: 10 Questions for Tom Petty
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, May 1999
What's your fascination with San Francisco? Two years ago you staged 20 shows at the Fillmore, and now you're here for seven days. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 1999
THEY HAD a dream. ...
Ben Folds Five: The Unauthorised Biogrpahy Of Reinhold Messner
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, May 1999
Piano-led trio’s third album proper. ...
Dusty Springfield: England's Lady Soul
Obituary by Lucy O'Brien, MOJO, May 1999
ON MARCH 2, 1999, Dusty Springfield died of cancer at her home in Henley-on-Thames. She was 59, just six weeks short of her 60th birthday. ...
Obituary by Colin Irwin, MOJO, May 1999
JACKSON WAS ONCE DESCRIBED AS "the most famous folk singer no-one ever heard of and that was about right. He met Elvis, was Sandy Denny's ...
Lee Hazlewood: The Ol' Sonofabitch
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1999
ON A PERFECT Florida afternoon in late February, Lee Hazlewood is wedging himself into a large grey couch and eyeing a rather sad plate of ...
Lloyd Johnson: Aloha From Noting Hill
Profile and Interview by Paul Gorman, MOJO, May 1999
GLAD-RAGS: Britain's premier rock'n'roll tailor has dumped leather'n'denim for the typically tropical. ...
New Radicals: Mojo Rising: New Radicals
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, May 1999
The cat in the hat with a heart full of soul. ...
Neil Young: At the Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, May 1999
A MAN less heard unadorned than in context – be it with Crazy Horse, Pearl Jam, The Bluenotes, the Stray Gators, the Shocking Pinks, ...
New Radicals: Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too (MCA)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 1999
Gangling Grosse Pointe wunderbrat finds commercial footing by reviving Utopian white soul. ...
Can, Holger Czukay, Irmin Schmidt: The Can Founders: Columbiahalle, Berlin
Live Review by Richard Cook, MOJO, May 1999
Running order: Holger Czukay/Michael Karoli's Sofortkontakt/Irmin Schmidt & Kumo/Jaki Liebezeit's Club Off Chaos ...
The Rolling Stones: But what can a poor boy do?
Report and Interview by David Sinclair, MOJO, May 1999
IN AMERICA, THE STONES' JUGGERNAUT ROLLS ON UNSTOPPABLY. BUT BACK HOME THEIR STOCK HAS HIT ROCK BOTTOM. AS THE BAND'S STRIPPED-DOWN NEW SHOW DEFIES THE ...
Book Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, June 1999
Party like it's 1977. In the depressed 1970s, one musical movement dared to say (mirror)balls to despondency. Don't get down, get down! urges Jon Savage. ...
Moby Grape, Skip Spence: Alexander "Skip" Spence
Obituary by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, June 1999
"I'LL TELL YOU A GOOD ONE, a realy good one," says Jerry Miller, long-time guitarist with Moby Grape, warming to the subject of his former ...
Bad Company: The Original Bad Co. CD Anthology
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 1999
After a period of bad blood and bad music Bad Company's founding foursome reconvene around a two-CD retrospective. ...
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band: Grow Fins
Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, June 1999
"That’s right, the Mascara Snake." And even if it isn’t, someone will put it in a box set one day. A feast of leftover Beefheart ...
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, June 1999
Every month we navigate the high-water marks, rapids and stagnant ponds of a prolific artist’s output, so you don’t have to. We continue with... ...
Lauryn Hill: Theatre at Madison Square Garden, NY
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1999
DID SOMEONE say breakout hit? Anyone who doubts the massive crossover impact of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill need only cast an eye across the ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 1999
NOBODY COULD accuse Pavement of being rock archetypes. Take the group’s frontman Stephen Malkmus, who spends much of his spare time flyfishing virgin rivers and ...
Ben Folds Five: Steinway to Heaven: The Ben Folds Five
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1999
On a three-man mission to revive the grand piano’s sex appeal ...
Ben Folds Five: The Ben Folds Five: Steinway to Heaven
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 1999
IT'S TEMPTING TO IMAGINE that in eschewing guitars and positioning the grand piano as the centrepiece sound of their three maverick alt-pop albums, the Ben ...
Duke Ellington: Black, Brown, Beige and Sacred: A Journey through Duke Ellington
Guide by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 1999
IT'S HARD to overstate Duke Ellington's stature as a 20th century musician. Honoured by world leaders, respected by legit' cats and revered by jazz musicians ...
Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones: Brian Jones: The Bittersweet Symphony
Retrospective by Rob Chapman, MOJO, July 1999
Rolling Stones founder, Rolling Stones reject; ruthless controller, helpless passenger; blues obsessive, dabler in the exotic; countercultural networker, paranoid recluse; adored Prince Charming, vicious heartbreaker; ...
The Chemical Brothers: Chemical Brothers: Heeeere we go!
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, July 1999
The Chemical Brothers: Surrender First album since 1997's chart-topping Dig Your Own Hole features guest vocals from Noel Gallagher, Hope Sandoval, Jonathan Donahue and Bernard ...
David Toop: Exotica: Fabricated Soundscapes In A Real World
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, July 1999
IF EXOTICA is, to quote a much used definition, nostalgia for places you've never visited, then the term has potentially universal application. Bearing in mind ...
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, July 1999
TERROR TWILIGHT'S penultimate track is a five and a half minute epic called 'The Hexx'. It begins with Stephen Malkmus taunting one of the swallows ...
Book Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, July 1999
Leaping to his own defence, Ike makes a great witness for the prosecution ...
Wilco: 4.00 - 5.00pm: soundcheck/5.00 - 6.00pm: local press/6.00 - 6.05pm: cigarette break
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, July 1999
IT'S DARK IN an alley just off Hamburg's notorious Reeperbahn, a faint neon glow filters in from the street to reveal a gaggle of noisy ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1999
What impact did the breakup of your marriage have on Avenue B? Curiously, once my back was up against the wall and I was really ...
Macy Gray: Lady Sings The Blues: Macy Gray’s On How Life Is
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, August 1999
Striking debut album from LA singer-songwriter. ...
Screaming Lord Sutch: Loony Institution: Screaming Lord Sutch
Obituary by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1999
BRITAIN'S LONGEST-SERVING political party leader and rock'n'roll aristocrat has died at home in Harrow, Middlesex, on June 16. ...
The Ramones: Hey! Ho! Let's Go! — The Ramones Anthology
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, August 1999
I DON'T KNOW if they ever made a Ramones pin-ball machine, but if not, they missed a trick. Just imagine: the ritual chant of "Hey!Ho! ...
Scritti Politti: This Week I am Mostly Wearing Soren Kierkegaard: Scritti Politti
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 1999
GREEN STROHMEYER-GARTSIDE, to give him his full and slightly fantastical name, is feeling decidedly below-par on this muggy Manhattan afternoon. Clasping a Rolling Rock in ...
Alison Krauss: Forget About It
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 1999
The German immigrant’s daughter from Illinois, who somehow became a bluegrass child prodigy, moves on from purism to pure beauty. ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, September 1999
FOR OVER A YEAR, Santana had built a reputation the hardest but most reliable way, by word of mouth. In their home town of San ...
Charles Manson, Dennis Wilson: Into the Heart of Darkness with Dennis Wilson
Retrospective by David Dalton, MOJO, September 1999
(If Christ Came Back as a Con Man, Or How I Started Out Thinking Charlie Manson Was Innocent and Almost Ended Up Dead...) ...
Macy Gray: Where Billie meets Janis
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, September 1999
AS THE MINISTRATIONS OF interchangeable soul divas turn what used to be soul music into an increasingly formulaic music experience, it’s a pleasure to be ...
Simon Reynolds: Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1999
IT SAYS MUCH about our compulsive pre-millenial navel-gazing that several tomes about the past decade's "ecstacy culture" - Matthew Collin's Altered State, Jane Bussman's Once ...
Stereolab: Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage In the Milky Night (Duophonic)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, September 1999
Double-vinyl-length opus from the enduring and indefatigable South-east Londoners, half of it co-produced by Tortoise’s John McEntire, half by ex-Gastr del Sol member Jim O’Rourke. ...
Nina Simone: Stocky And Wild-Eyed: Nina Simone at the Royal Festival Hall
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, MOJO, September 1999
"EVERY GENERATION has to discover Nina Simone. She is evidence that female genius is real," says Germaine Greer, introducing tonight’s show, one of the highlights ...
Profile by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 1999
How Tom Rapp, of cult psychsters Pearls Before Swine, resurfaced thanks to a UK fanzine. ...
Bryan Ferry, Roxy Music: 10 Questions for Bryan Ferry
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1999
Geordie space-crooner considers glam, going to the pictures with Eno, playing tennis against Tony Blair and life before rock. ...
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1999
A fourth helping of blue stew. Fourth album finds gifted slide guitarist broadening his approach. ...
Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967-1969
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, October 1999
They Flew the Flag for Homegrown R&B ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1999
Named after the NY street where Iggy and the ex Mrs Pop lived. Ten songs and three spoken word pieces recorded in a former East ...
Johnny Dowd: He’s About a Remover
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1999
"I’M REAL GOOD AT LOADING equipment. It’s funny ‘cos that’s always one thing that musicians gripe about, but it’s almost a relief for me after ...
Elvis Costello, Georgie Fame: Last Night a Record Changed My Life: Attack of the killer organ
Memoir by Colin Irwin, MOJO, October 1999
Elvis Costello was a scrawny 12-year-old — until Georgie Fame opened the door to hipness. ...
The Beatles, Paul McCartney: Paul McCartney: Run Devil Run
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 1999
THE LURE had been the chance of a lengthy one-on-one with Paul McCartney discussing all his solo albums. "You could turn it into a book," ...
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 1999
WITH AN additional six songs bulking out the 10 featured on the original vinyl album, this is the first version of the Stop Making Sense ...
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, October 1999
They couldn’t sing. They couldn’t play. They were winding up the hippy establishment a decade before punk. And 30 years ago they enjoyed their finest ...
Tom Jones: The Super Furry Animal
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 1999
Welsh before it was fashionable, prefers a straight glass to a line, no stranger to ladies’ lingerie, possessed of legendary staying power... He is Tom ...
Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, November 1999
David is chatting on his earphone, Steve is resting between rounds of golf in Monaco, Graham is boating in Hawaii, and Neil is relaxing down ...
David Bowie: Having The Time Of His Life: David Bowie: 'hours…' (Virgin)
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, November 1999
His new album coincides with the umpteenth reissue of 17 studio albums from Space Oddity to Tin Machine, this time without extra tracks. (And no ...
Henry McCullough, John Fahey: John Fahey/Henry McCullough: Elmwood Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, November 1999
McCullough set list: Medley: 'Irish Tune'/'House Of The Rising Sun' / 'Failed Christian' / 'Locked In' / 'All I Wanna Do' / 'Murder In My ...
Julian Cope: Head On/Reposessed
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, November 1999
RICHARD HELL once claimed that he first noticed the schism between himself and Tom Verlaine when they were on acid. Hell wanted to play the ...
Public Enemy: Pride & Prejudice
Retrospective and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, November 1999
A TRIPLE X PRODUCTION STARRING CHUCK D, FLAVOR FLAV, PROFESSOR GRIFF AND THE PUBLIC ENEMY POSSE IN AN EPIC ROMANCE OE MAYHEM, OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL ...
Jimi Hendrix: Street Fighting: Jimi Hendrix
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, November 1999
Your starter for ten: what do Jimi Hendrix and George Orwell have in common? ...
Little Richard: 10 Questions for Little Richard
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 1999
The sultan of frutti on the Devil’s music, Pat Boone and the best hair pomade. ...
Little Milton: Welcome to Little Milton (Malaco)
Review and Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, December 1999
Legendary blues and soul artist steps out with younger talent on his 13th album for Malaco ...
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1999
AFICIONADOS OF clean, clever, honed American pop have had to make do with meagre rations of late. Thank God that 1999 has at least produced ...
Pete Townshend: The Lifehouse Chronicles
Review and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, December 1999
Some day all music will be made this way. In 1970 it seemed so barking mad the band asked him to drop it. Now, Pete’s ...
Pink Floyd: The Story of The Wall
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 1999
ON JUNE 16 THIS YEAR Rick Wright finally did what every therapist advises: confronted his Nemesis. "I think I'm the only one who's actually seen ...
AC/DC: Rock's oldest juvenile delinquents greet the 21st century
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 2000
AC/DC: Stiff Upper Lip (EMI Liberty) ...
Nick Drake: Exiled From Heaven
Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, MOJO, January 2000
DURING THE ACADEMIC year of 1968-9, Cambridge University felt an alien influence from beyond its ancient facade of curtain walls and quiet quadrangles. Sober flag-stones ...
Review and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, January 2000
IT'S BEEN 20 YEARS, A HIATUS ALMOST unheard of in rock. In the 1970s. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen – studio auteurs infused with the ...
The Isley Brothers, Isley Jasper Isley: The Isley Brothers: "We-e-e-e-e-e-elll!"
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, January 2000
Their cry was first heard in 1959. The Isley Brothers are about to enter their sixth decade of pop stardom. They inspired The Beatles, employed Hendrix, funked-up Neil Young and ...
Fred Neil: I Don't Hear a Word They're Saying...
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 2000
He gave Dylan his start, wrote a song you know by heart, and was rated by many performers as the very best there ever was. ...
Gene Vincent: Hell's Angel: Gene Vincent
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, February 2000
He looked for all the world like a man in the grip of some dark, wrenching religious experience. The contorted figure in the black leather ...
MC5: The MC5: The Big Bang (Rhino)
Review by Jon Savage, Dave DiMartino, MOJO, February 2000
First overall retrospective of seminal late ‘60s/early ‘70s rabble rousers: includes material from all stages of their career. ...
Big Star, Alex Chilton: Wayward Sons: The Ballad of Big Star
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2000
THE SUN IS going down on Memphis, site of rock’n’roll’s immaculate conception and explosive birth. On a warm spring evening, the Mississippi’s purplish-brown waters are ...
Prince: An Interview with the Prince formerly known as The Artist
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 2000
FIRST, A CAVEAT. This is probably not the first piece you’ve ever started reading about FINALLY MEETING THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS SHHH-YOU-KNOW-WHO. In fact, ...
Obituary by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, March 2000
With his high, pure tenor and songs of peace, love and empowerment, Curtis Mayfield was a soul revolutionary whose influence spanned four decades. Ben Edmonds ...
LA's Glam Revival And The Glitzy Return of Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco
Report and Interview by Paul Gorman, MOJO, March 2000
SOMETHING STRANGE is happening on the streets of Los Angeles. Glam-metal kids, 17 years out of date, are back walking the streets. Ambivalent Bowie-esque sexuality ...
Santana at The Tabernacle, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, March 2000
WHEN THE ENTRANCE to the gig is bathed in the harsh glare of high wattage floodlights like the Academy Awards walkway, and you have to ...
Broadcast: The Noise Made By People
Review and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, April 2000
"PRAM WANNABES", "indie milksops", "poor man's Stereolab"... these are just some of the cruel insults heaped upon Broadcast's head when they first poked it above ...
Led Zeppelin: Getting it Together at Bron-yr-Aur: The Story of Led Zeppelin III
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2000
Who’s moving into Bron-yr-Aur? Why, it’s that Led Zeppelin, come to shake off their blues roots and get talked. Phil Sutcliffe on the Welsh sojourn ...
John Lennon: Imagine (Apple/EMI)
Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, April 2000
Straight reissue of classic album, with digital remastering treatment. ...
Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, April 2000
New York punk classic originally released in 1977, now released with extra tracks. ...
Paul Weller: The Don: Paul Weller
Profile and Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 2000
He’s been assailed by business bosses, punk rivals and ex-bandmates. Now, with a landmark fifth album in the can. Paul Weller shows Chris ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2000
Well-presented 5-CD box. Three career-spanning discs of album outtakes, alternative mixes and remixes, one of live material and one of assorted Free side-projects. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Damon Wise, MOJO, May 2000
After nearly 80 years, HMV's flagship store is closing down. Damon Wise bids farewell to shellac discs, fancy uniforms and free smokes. ...
Holy Toledo: The Hines Farm Blues Club
Retrospective by Paul Gorman, MOJO, May 2000
Midnight movers, Ohio players, Gypsy Angels and Atomic Pirates gathered at the Hines Farm juke joint. Paul Gorman pays a visit. ...
Cat Stevens, Yusuf: Cat Stevens: Time to Make a Change
Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, June 2000
It's one of music's most overdue reconciliations. Yusuf Islam has made peace with Cat Stevens. ...
Bonnie Bramlett, Janis Joplin: Janis Joplin: Soul Sacrifice
Retrospective and Interview by David Dalton, MOJO, June 2000
She was no victim, but gave herself up to her music – and kept on giving. David Dalton hitches a ride with Janis Joplin, entertainer, ...
Jeff Buckley: Mystery White Boy (Columbia)
Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, June 2000
Posthumous collection of live tracks culled from the singer's '95-'96 Mystery White Boy tour. Released in tandem with 1995 concert video filmed in Chicago. ...
James Carr: Lost Soul: James Carr
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 2000
THE SETTING is not a promising one. It’s late on a muggy Friday night, a "blues" club on Bleecker Street, NYC, June of 1996. A ...
Prefab Sprout: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 2000
A THIRD of the way through this rare Sprout outing to the capital, Paddy McAloon dedicates the lovely, little-known 'Dragons' to the spouse of his ...
Various Artists: The Immediate Single Collection
Essay by Rob Chapman, MOJO, June 2000
A 6-CD, 161-track box set of Oldham and Calder's '60s love-child. Billed as Happy To Be Part Of The Industry Of Human Happiness. ...
Radiohead: "Thank you, ignite!": Radiohead at Meltdown
Report by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 2000
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was a piece for the news section of MOJO in July 2000 previewing songs from the forthcoming Radiohead album that were unveiled ...
Bert Jansch, Davey Graham: Bert Jansch and Davey Graham
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, July 2000
NOTE: This piece was adapted and expanded, with additional material, from Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch And The British Folk & Blues Revival (Bloomsbury). It is ...
John Martyn: Glasgow Walker/Classics
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 2000
30th-odd album plus old song collection from Glaswegian songwriter. ...
Retrospective by Mick Farren, MOJO, July 2000
ON JANUARY 7, 1980, THE BODY OF LARRY WILLIAMS WAS FOUND lying in a pool of blood on the garage floor of his Laurel Canyon ...
Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4
Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, August 2000
Billed as Smith’s ‘secret’ volume, the line-up was intended as the fourth in this celebrated series but never made it to the starting gate. ...
Sniffin' Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory
Retrospective and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, August 2000
WHEN THE FIRST Ramones album appeared in London, during the spring of 1976, it changed everything: not only the tempo and the look of rock, ...
João Gilberto: Carnegie Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Bill DeMain, MOJO, August 2000
Set List: 'Doralice'/'Vivo Sohondo'/'Ecliose'/'Samba De Una Nota So'/'Samba Da Minha Terra'/'Voce Vai Ver'/'Bonita'/'Morena Boca De Ouro'/'A Felicidade'/'O Pato'/'Estate'/'Chega De Saudade'/'Um Abraco No Bonfa'/'Sem Compromisso'/'S'Wonderful'/'Wave'/'Triste'/'Eu Vim ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 2000
Three themed, career-spanning compilations, selected and introduced by the Man In Black. Extra linernotes by June Carter (Love), U2's Bono (God) and Quentin Tarantino (Murder). ...
Scott Walker: Scott; Scott2; Scott3; Scott4; Boy Child (Fontana/Mercury)
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, August 2000
Scott’s first four post-Walker Brothers solo outings plus a revamped ‘best of’. Originally issued between 1967 and 1969. They got better but sold less and ...
Top of the Pops albums: Better than the real thing?
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2000
Bikini models, Kraftwerk covers and dodgy Mick Jagger impersonators. Kieron Tyler examines the 95p world of the Top Of The Pops album phenomenon. ...
The Black Crowes, Jimmy Page: Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes: Live At The Greek (SPV)
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 2000
Recorded live in October’99, a scorching blues-rock hit-packed double album like they used to make ‘em. ...
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 2000
Their innocent exterior concealed a story of murder, family feuds and skullduggery. But between the fights and disasters, the Kinks cut some of the finest ...
Victoria Williams: Water to Drink
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 2000
The helium-voiced singer's desert-recorded album, featuring Van Dyke Parks, Mark Olson, John Convertino (Giant Sand), DJ Bonebrake (X), Greg Leisz (k.d.lang), Danny Frankel (Marianne Faithfull) ...
The Beatles, John Lennon: John Lennon: From the Quarrymen to the MBE
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, October 2000
"THAT WAS THE day," said John Lennon. "The day that I met Paul, that it started moving." ...
Cocteau Twins: The Cocteau Twins: We Are Not Amused
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 2000
"FUCKING HELL," says the tiny, tortured woman as she shakes her birdlike head. "I just wish I knew what the fucking hell happened. ’Cause everyone’s ...
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 2000
WITH EACH new U2 album there has been a growing buzz of anticipation, a sense of event stoked by the way the band has stamped ...
Bob Dylan: September 2000 UK Tour
Live Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, November 2000
"MY HEART'S in the Highlands, where the Aberdeen waters flow," sang Bob Dylan on 1997's gloriously gloomy Time Out Of Mind, "I'm gonna go there ...
Faust: The Wumme Years 1970-1973
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, November 2000
A 5-CD BOX SET comprising the band’s first two Polydor LPs, Faust and So Far, and two further compilations of rarely heard material, BBC Sessions ...
The Incredible Bongo Band: Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2000
THE AVUNCULAR 56-year-old American sat in a suite in London's Dorchester Hotel doesn't immediately strike you as a rock'n'roll type, but Michael Viner has quite ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Life After The Capeman
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 2000
PAUL SIMON AND I are alone in a large, dim, empty room in a Manhattan rehearsal complex and he’s zippered up to his throat, ever-present ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, November 2000
PAUL SIMON and I are alone in a large, dim, empty room in a Manhattan rehearsal complex and he’s zippered up to his throat, ever-present ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2000
Alt country wastrel goes it alone in the Apple. ...
Teenage Fanclub: Howdy! (Columbia)
Review and Interview by Nick Hornby, MOJO, November 2000
Sixth studio album from the Glaswegian sunshine pop band, latterly of Alan McGee’s now defunct Creation label. ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Ten questions for Ozzy Osbourne
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2000
Mr John Osbourne on running the marathon, talking to horses, and "drinking the occasional beer". ...
Retrospective and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, November 2000
Nestling beneath the forest-clad slopes of Overlook Mountain, a couple of hours drive north of New York City, the town of Woodstock has a sort ...
Various Artists: Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection 1960-2000 (Arhoolie)
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, November 2000
A 5-CD box set and photo-packed book celebrate a life committed to roots music. Subtitled The Journey of Chris Strachwitz. ...
Vince Taylor: The Leper Messiah
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, November 2000
Black leather, bike chains, orange make-up, a Christ complex: Vince Taylor was the ultimate nut rocker. Kieron Tyler tells the tragic tale of a '60s ...
Guide by Dave Godin, MOJO, December 2000
He’s helped turn on a new generation of fans to previously neglected soul stirrers. Now Dave Godin selects 20 of his favourite Deep Soul singers, ...
AC/DC Celebrate Their Quarter Century
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 2000
They've got all the essential ingredients: sweat, noise, booze – and choking on vomit. As AC/DC celebrate their quarter century, Sylvie Simmons toasts a band ...
Emmylou Harris: Ghosts and Angels
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2000
The spectres of a war hero father and a doomed country troubador haunt her music. Emmylou Harris tells Phil Sutcliffe why she still hasn't found ...
Merle Haggard: If I Could Only Fly (Anti-Inc)
Review and Interview by Fred Dellar, MOJO, December 2000
A country music cornerstone tells it how it was. ...
Oasis: Familiar To Millions (Big Brother)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2000
Wembley Stadium, July 21, complete concert, two CDs, unvarnished, rather magnificent. Oasis’s "topsy-turvy-fuckin’-weird year" closes defiantly. ...
Prince Buster: The Forum, London
Live Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, December 2000
WHERE DO skinhead women go during the week? You see the blokes: driving white vans, doing unmentionable things to your u-bend or even practicing as ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, December 2000
Does The Fabs' 'Best Of' Add Up? Packed 27-track single-disc summary of pop's best-loved repertoire, but no Please Please Me? Strawberry Fields Forever? Hello-o-o-o-o? ...
The Saints: Wild About You (Raven/Hot)
Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, December 2000
First stellar collection of the Aussie garage punks’ late ‘70s triumphs: two CDs, 47 tracks, sleevenotes, unseen photos and discography. ...
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, 2001
I WAS IN the Lionel Hampton band in ’49. Betty joined months after me, we picked her up in Detroit. We never sang together, everybody ...
Review by Jeremy Gluck, MOJO, 2001
THESE OLD-SCHOOL rockers put punk on the musical map, opening the way, for better or worse, for two decades of divergent tunes and dissonant noise. ...
Nikki Giovanni: Whaddya Mean You've Never Heard Of… Nikki Giovanni?
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, 2001
IN THE CRAZY, HEADY DAYS of the Black Power era, Nikki Giovanni was one of the few female voices to offset the rampant machismo of ...
Esquivel, Arthur Lyman, Ken Nordine: Adventures in Stereo
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, January 2001
Whatever happened to the days of the Teldec stereophonic systems and orthophonic sound? Kieron Tyler winds up the victrola and trips hack into a world ...
Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Volume 3
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 2001
"DEEP SOUL Records will be just what their name implies," the manifesto for Dave Godin's Deep Soul label declared when it launched in 1969. "Non-commercial ...
Richard Pryor: ...And It's Deep Too! – The Complete Warner Bros Recordings (1968-1992)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, January 2001
A 9-CD box showcase for the greatest stand-up comic who ever lived... and it's funny, too! ...
Serge Gainsbourg: A Rake's Progress
Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2001
IF YOU WALK into the Montparnasse cemetery, the first thing you see is the enormous stone double bed where Charles Pigeon – the inventor of ...
Review by Tony Russell, MOJO, January 2001
Ten years after his death at 35, Vaughan's blues legacy is commemorated by four hours of his music on three CDs and a DVD. ...
Retrospective by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, January 2001
IMAGINE THIS story: a world-famous guitarist decides to form a band where nobody is supposed to know it's him. While it's coming together, he falls ...
Live Review by Paul Elliott, MOJO, February 2001
HOWARD STERN spoke for millions of AC/DC fans when quoting from the band's current album Stiff Upper Lip: "I was born with a stiff! These ...
Del Shannon: Buried Treasure: Del Shannon's Home And Away
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, February 2001
US pop singer hits London, meets Andrew Oldham, makes psych classic. ...
Gram Parsons: Another Side of This Life (Sundazed)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2001
Unheard mid-’60s folk recordings taped in Florida by Gram’s pal Jim Carlton. ...
Johnnie Taylor: Lifetime: A Retrospective Of Soul, Blues And Gospel 1956-1999
Review by Richard Williams, MOJO, February 2001
LIKE MANY soul singers, Johnnie Taylor was only as good as the songs he was given. But when those songs were good – and most ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ira Robbins, MOJO, February 2001
TELEVISION ENDED PRETTY much as they'd begun, with a show at a small Manhattan club. It was July 29, 1978, on a night Television myth ...
Cheap Trick: Roxy Theatre, Atlanta
Review and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 2001
THE GUY next to me is in his late thirties. He has a mullet and he's about one beer away from being legless. When he ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer: Emerson Lake & Palmer
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, March 2001
QUESTION: HOW DO EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER change A light bulb? A: They don't. Drummer Carl Palmer's personal karate instructor holds the bulb steady while ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 2001
"I FIRST HEARD IT sitting in an armchair in our living room. 1957. I was 12. My sister Annetta, who's four years older, had bought ...
Laura Cantrell: Vulnerable, minimalist Manhattan country
Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, March 2001
NOBODY'S MORE surprised by the wealth of critical and public acclaim for Laura Cantrell than the gently self-deprecating artist herself. ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, March 2001
ONE OF the most persistent canards about the mid-'60 – propagated by baby boomer marketing and right-wing journalism – is that the hippies were hopelessly ...
Stephen Malkmus: Stephen Malkmus
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, March 2001
Solo debut from ex-Pavement mainman and urbane resident of Portland, Oregon. Think Pavement, but with longer hair. ...
Review and Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, March 2001
This time with added tunes! Album number four heralds a return to form for the chameleonic Chicago instrumental collective. ...
Air: 10,000 Hz Legend (Source/Virgin)
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 2001
Self-proclaimed "grown-up" album from French duo who created 1998’s million-selling retro-pop classic, Moon Safari, and inspired many imitators. ...
Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Ease Down The Road
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2001
There's a party on his patio, and Will Oldham's in a hellish good mood. All hail His Royal Happiness, says Sylvie Simmons. ...
The Staple Singers: I'll Take You There: The Everlasting Legacy of the Staple Singers
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2001
THE DRIVE FROM Memphis to Drew, Mississippi, is a treacherous one even today. Highway 61 will take you as far south as Clarksdale, before you ...
Morrissey, The Smiths: Morrissey: LA Confidential
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, April 2001
It was a hot California afternoon. Our West Coast gumshoe, Jaan Uhekszki, heard the phone ring. Once again, she'd tracked down her man. He was ...
Review by Bob Stanley, MOJO, April 2001
En route to the Carpenters, "boy" actor gets gorgeously baroque. ...
The Kinks: The Kinks BBC Sessions
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, April 2001
NO DOUBT it's their sheer longevity, but The Kinks remain curiously undervalued: often cited as a key neo-Mod/Britpop inspiration – as if that's anything to ...
Tim Buckley: Morning Glory: The Tim Buckley Anthology
Review by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, April 2001
FOR AN OVERVIEW of a career that began in seemingly humble singer/songwriter tradition, shot skyward in a surge of near-astonishing artistic ambition, then apparently fizzled ...
Bob Dylan: Live 1961-2000: Thirty-Nine Years Of Great Concert Performances
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 2001
A Japanese curio on import — a collation attempting to cover four decades with 16 tracks. And nobody said, "It might just not work". ...
Brian Eno: "So Why Are We Doing This?"
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, May 2001
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT, observing Brian Eno's early career as furnisher of funny noises to the original Roxy Music, to predict that three decades ...
Joe Meek: Hearing A New World: The Joe Meek Story
Retrospective by John McCready, MOJO, May 2001
NOTE: This piece originally featured in Mojo magazine in a truncated 8,000 word edit. this is the full near-12,000 word original piece. This is such ...
Jimmy Page, The Yardbirds: Jimmy Page: Educating Jimmy
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, May 2001
Before Jimmy Page became a rock god, he was a sonic apprentice par excellence. ...
John Phillips, The Mamas and The Papas: John Phillips: The Wolfking of LA
Obituary by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, May 2001
LIKE KEITH RICHARDS, WHOM HE often equalled in the extreme party stakes back in the blackout days of '70s rock excess, I always figured John ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2001
SOME YEARS ago I interviewed Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile for MOJO. A musician known for his restless lifestyle, I asked him if there ...
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, May 2001
The plan was simple: make a raw, honest punk album within 14 days. Then big business intervened. The troubled story of Nirvana's In Utero. ...
Syd Barrett: Wouldn't You Miss Me? The Best Of Syd Barrett
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, May 2001
FIRST THINGS first. It's great. The long-lost 'Bob Dylan Blues', I mean. Lampooning the conformity of the folk-protest movement as much as it lampoons its ...
The Bee Gees: You Lookin' At Me?
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, May 2001
"WHAT IMAGE?" ASKS BARRY Gibb. "I haven't got an image." What he does have, though, is a guitar. It's a second-hand customised hollow-bodied Epiphone, bought ...
Book Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2001
A fine new biography brings the louche Gallic genius to life ...
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 2001
Self-proclaimed "grown-up" album from French duo who created 1998's million-selling retro-pop classic Moon Safari and inspired many imitators. ...
Beverley Martyn, John and Beverley Martyn: Been Gone So Long: Beverley Martyn
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Stanley, MOJO, June 2001
After 30 years away from it all, Beverley Martyn is making music again. She speaks to Bob Stanley about her music, friends, enemies and looking ...
Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks
Retrospective by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 2001
AFTER HIS EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENTS OF the '60s, there should have been no doubt about Bob Dylan's position in the rock firmament. After all, he had ...
Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead: Bob Dylan: Life Among The Dead
Comment by Richard Williams, MOJO, June 2001
I SUPPOSE you would have to say that 1987 was not a great year for Bob Dylan, or for Bob Dylan's fans. He played harmonica ...
Bob Dylan: The End Of Innocence
Retrospective by Jon Savage, MOJO, June 2001
WHAT AFFECTS you in your early teens goes very deep. By the time that you're 18, identity construction is already advanced, but at 11 you're ...
Charley Patton: The Definitive Charley Patton
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 2001
THERE'S 'DEFINITIVE', and then there's definitive. This complete collection – 58 performances on three CDs – of the recorded works of Charley Patton certainly earns ...
Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, June 2001
The colossal early '70s Krautrock groove of Neu! has influenced everyone from David Bowie to Radiohead. Now, 30 years on, they're back. "We had no ...
Bob Dylan: Howard Sounes: Down The Highway – The Life of Bob Dylan
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, June 2001
How pleasant to know Mr Dylan, who has written such oodles of stuff — or is it? ...
The Ramones: Joey Ramone: Hail, Hail To The King
Obituary by Ira Robbins, MOJO, June 2001
JOEY RAMONE WASN'T WHAT YOU'D CALL A PUNK. According to the movies, punks are snarling juvenile delinquents well versed in sucker-punches, concealed weapons and grievous ...
Joy Division: Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, June 2001
Twenty-one years ago, Paris heard the primal scream. Official release of famous bootlegged Paris concert. Anthony Wilson contributes, typically (and justifiably) hyperbolic sleevenotes. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 2001
IT WAS EASTER 1965. THE STONES were at Number 1 in the UK with 'The Last Time', The Beatles and The Supremes were battling it ...
The Edgar Broughton Band: Out Demons Out
Review and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, June 2001
IT'S 1970. The EBB are playing their final number, a Fugs-derived exorcism, and the mutton-chopped guitarist invites the assembled ranks of hippies, grebos and suedeheads ...
Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, June 2001
IT STRETCHES from his first solo recordings to 'No More Lonely Nights', off the ill-advised Give My Regards To Broad Street. An odd place to ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley And The Wailers: Live!
Review by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, July 2001
ALONG WITH the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club and Prince at the Lyceum, these shows played in London by Bob Marley And The Wailers ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 2001
THOUGH CONFUSING at least as many as it impressed at the time, seven months and several listens on, the litany of anguish that is Kid ...
Sparklehorse: Out Of The Woods
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2001
BEHIND AN 1850s Virginia farmhouse sits Static King, the recording studio where Mark Linkous made the first two Sparklehorse albums. We are not looking at ...
Various: Nuggets II: Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, July 2001
WITHIN THE rabid isolationism of the Bush regime, this is a remarkably generous statement: a monster collection aimed at the American market featuring aver a ...
Michel Polnareff: Buried Treasure: Michel Polnareff: "Polnareff's" (Disc AZ Stec LP 81 France only)
Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, August 2001
This month in our series of forgotten classics: a temperamental Frenchman sculpts "genius" soundscape ...
Elvis Presley: Live In Las Vegas
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, August 2001
ELVIS PRESLEY wasn't always the Clown Prince of Las Vegas. Back in 1956, he secured a two-week booking at the Venus Room in the city's ...
John Lee Hooker: The Boogie Man
Obituary by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 2001
JOHN LEE HOOKER DIED peacefully in his sleep on June 21, 2001, two months and one day short of what would have been his 84th ...
Lucinda Williams: Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 2001
A HOT SUNDAY AFTERNOON. PEOPLE IN CUT-OFFS AND STETSONS sprawl along the banks of the Cumberland River, sucking beers, fanning themselves with stiff paper fans ...
N.E.R.D.: Mojo Rising: N*E*R*D
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, August 2001
Rap and R&B excellence under the sway of moonwalking foxes and crazy Bonnie Raitt. ...
Sly & The Family Stone: Lucifer Rising
Retrospective by Joel Selvin, MOJO, August 2001
THE ENGLISH TUDOR MANSION AT 783 BELAIR ROAD HAD BEEN built for Jeanette MacDonald, the Hollywood screen actress who starred in all those '30s operettas ...
Booker T & The MGs: The Backroom Boys: Booker T & the MGs
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 2001
IF EVER THERE WAS a piece of music that deserved the epithet "timeless", it’s Booker T. & the MGs’ ‘Green Onions’. The most basic of ...
Electric Light Orchestra: The Bullring Variations: ELO
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 2001
APRIL 20, 2001. The fat drops of rain falling on New York cannot dampen the anticipation that’s crackling along this usually quiet side-street. Here stand ...
Live Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, August 2001
THE NEXT BIG Thing is pop's perennial shaggy dog: the louder the anticipatory bark, the meeker reality's bite. So with a guest-list roughly the size ...
The Temptations' Final Frontier
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, August 2001
MOTOWN KING BERRY GORDY was royally miffed. None of his subjects could come up with a hit for the act many considered the finest in ...
Alison Krauss + Union Station: New Favorite
Review and Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, September 2001
First album from Decatur, Illinois' finest since the bluegrass breakthrough of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. ...
Obituary by Fred Dellar, MOJO, September 2001
HE WASN'T the most accomplished guitarist in country music. There were those in Nashville who could fashion half a dozen great licks in the time ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 2001
Laid-back troupe shoot from zero to Square One in just over a decade! More power to them, says Jim Irvin. ...
Etta James: Matriarch Of The Blues
Review and Interview by Tony Russell, MOJO, September 2001
Magisterial readings of blues and soul classics from the folios of Otis Redding, Al Green, and O.V. Wright, with a dash of Dylan and a ...
The Doors: Jim Morrison: Death On The Instalment Plan
Retrospective by Dave Thompson, MOJO, September 2001
JIM MORRISON LAY IN A BATHTUB FULL OF WATER drawn from the same mystic spring that fed Brian Jones's swimming pool. The flesh over his ...
Retrospective and Interview by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, September 2001
Four friends, one a guitar genius, some art-blues loonery — life was good for '70s underdogs Patto. Then came illness, car wrecks and squalor. Harry ...
Retrospective and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, September 2001
CITY OF LIGHT OR CITY AT NIGHT? It is 1968, maybe '69, and we are walking through the throngs of people crowding the Sunset Strip. ...
Fred Neil: The Other Side Of This Life: Fred Neil, 1936-2001
Obituary by Joel Selvin, MOJO, September 2001
"FREDDIE TAUGHT me a lot," says David Crosby, speaking exclusively to me on the death of Fred Neil. "He was an amazing folk singer, probably ...
Review by Andy Gill, MOJO, October 2001
IT'S BEEN a long time since Bob Dylan released two consecutive albums of top-drawer original material – probably as far back as 1975's Blood On ...
Hope Sandoval, Mazzy Star: Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions: Bavarian Fruit Bread (Rough Trade)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, October 2001
Former Mazzy Star star buddies up with MBV drummer Colm O'Ciosoig for full-length follow-up to last year's EP At the Doorway Again. ...
James Brown: Hackney Ocean, London
Live Review by James Maycock, MOJO, October 2001
After reports in this magazine (Mojo issue 88) of eccentric antics preceding a New Year's Eve concert in Las Vegas, will James Brown behave himself ...
Spacemen 3, Spiritualized: Spiritualized: Run Silent Run Deep
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2001
Others lost their heads, but Spiritualized's Jason Pierce stuck to his vision. Keith Cameron unravels 10 years of hedonism, hard graft and betrayal. ...
T. Rex: T.Rex: Electric Warrior
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 2001
REMEMBER LITTLE Richard's immortal comment on the tragic trajectory of Elvis Presley? That wonderful epigram – "he got what he wanted, but he lost what ...
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, November 2001
He has a spectacularly nice country pad, owns his own airstrip, keeps horses and doesn't like doing interviews. Mark Paytress declines some aerobatic action with ...
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2001
Lightning banjo picker Earl Scruggs was there at the birth of bluegrass. Over half a century later he's back with a new album and a ...
Carole King: Gracefully slick: Carole King: Love Makes The World (Rockingale/Koch)
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2001
The Queen of the Brill Building does it her way ...
Pulp: Jarvis Cocker: An Interview
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2001
Jim Irvin grills the willowy Pulp frontman about Scott Walker, Ginster's pasties and encounters with his younger self. ...
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, November 2001
THERE ARE winners and losers in the shifting sands of rock fashion and, much as it hurts to write it, Jefferson Airplane seem like losers. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2001
He stole hearts and sought refuge in Hydra, bagged a celebrity fiancée, then disappeared to a monastery. Sylvie Simmons talks through the many lives of ...
Lisa Lopes: Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes: Supernova (Arista)
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, November 2001
Long-awaited solo foray by erstwhile TLC pocket battleship. ...
Macy Gray: Another Girl Another Planet
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2001
HARBOUR NO ILLUSIONS, stardom screws you up. Don’t get used to the luxury and attention, it could leave as quickly as it came. No matter ...
Richard Davis, Van Morrison: Nothin' But A Stranger In This World: Van Morrison and Astral Weeks
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 2001
THE FITFUL BRITISH SUMMER of 2001 is ending not with a whimper but a bang – a burst of Bank Holiday heat that's got everyone ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, November 2001
IT CAN ONLY HAVE BEEN WITH A certain sense of foreboding that Dave Gilmour officially joined Pink Floyd on the first day of January 1968. ...
Pulp: Ten Questions For Jarvis Cocker
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2001
Jim Irvin grills the willowy Pulp frontman about Scott Walker, Ginster's pasties and encounters with the younger self ...
Acid Mothers Temple: The Spitz, London
Live Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, December 2001
Japan's self-styled "freak-out group for the 21 st century" prompt synaptic meltdown in east London. ...
Charley Patton: Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues (Revenant)
Review by David Dalton, MOJO, December 2001
HIS PEERS weren’t exactly trying to flatter him when they called him a rascal, a drunkard, a clown, a squabbler, a glutton, and hustler of ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, December 2001
FOR A FEW SEASONS as the '60s turned into the '70s, Creedence Clearwater Revival were the biggest band in the world, with their incredible US ...
Pink Floyd: Echoes – The Best Of
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2001
GLOOMY BUGGERS, the Floyd. War, death, bitter childhood, alienation, indoctrination, madness, greed, vicious animal husbandry, imprisonment, old age and, inevitably, death. Hi ho, it's off ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2001
A live album dominated by Kid A and Amnesiac material: Radiohead's art-career strategy maintains brisk pace and high enigma quotient. ...
Soft Cell: The Twelve Inch Singles (Mercury)
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2001
Every 12-inch single A and B-side of their career collected into o 3-CD set ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, December 2001
AS ANYONE FAMILIAR with the Motown fairytale can tell you, it was Diana Ross who discovered Michael Jackson. She was performing at a 1968 fundraiser ...
Rock's Backpages: The Memory Bank
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, Fall 2001
Websites: Rock journalism now has its own archive. Edward Helmore thinks that's a good idea. ...
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, MOJO, 2002
JOHNNY OTIS, the renaissance man of rhythm and blues, is somewhat ambivalent about entering his ninth decade. "I have two kinds of feelings," he concedes. ...
Mel Brown: Whaddya Mean You've Never Heard Of… Mel Brown?
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, 2002
"WITH THE GUITAR outselling all other musical instruments today," declared a Down Beat editor confidently in 1967, "it's good to have Mel Brown around to ...
Grateful Dead: The Golden Road (1965-1973)
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, January 2002
Mammoth 12-CD overview of Haight-Ashbury's finest, featuring improved sound, thorough annotation, extra tracks and hidden bonuses. All together: "Shall we go, you and I, while ...
Ray Charles: The Definitive Ray Charles
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, January 2002
Forty-six tracks from 48 years – 40 of which are from the '50s and '60s, but them's the breaks – a definitive encapsulation of a ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Unfinished Symphony
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, February 2002
While his bandmates toured the surfin' hits around the world, Brian Wilson was holed up in Hollywood creating an ambitious symphonic paean to God and ...
Ike Turner, Jackie Brenston: 'Rocket "88"' and the Birth of Rock & Roll
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, James Maycock, MOJO, February 2002
AND GOD SAID, Let There Be Rock'n'Roll... ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2002
Barney Hoskyns quizzes the pop goddess about power-ballad stardom, Phil Spector and seeing the sun rise over Sonny Bono's ass. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2002
Brian Wilson and 10-piece band perform, from start to finish, the album that topped MOJO's 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time poll, plus career-encompassing opening ...
Elvis Costello: This Year's Model/Blood & Chocolate/Brutal Youth
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 2002
One more time: Elvis's rockest creations in 2CD editions, each with a bonus disc featuring material available on earlier reissues, plus previously unreleased demos. ...
Bob Dylan, George Harrison: George Harrison et al: Concert for Bangla Desh
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, March 2002
The first hi-profile multi-star benefit concert of the post-psychedelic era. Harrison, Dylan and Shankar strut their stuff alongside Clapton, Ringo and Leon Russell. ...
Smokey Robinson: 10 Questions for Smokey Robinson
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2002
Bill DeMain speaks to Motown's legendary songwriter and singer about Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, school plays and positive rap. ...
Elvis Presley: Enter The Dragon
Retrospective by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2002
In the early '70s, Elvis took on the beast of Las Vegas with a mean-assed backing group and a neat line in ludicrous stage-wear. But ...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2002
A year ago, Kurt Wagner was laying floors. Now his country-soul collective Lambchop have become Nashville's strangest success story ...
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2002
BEFORE WE go on, I'd like to apologise for the recent albums by Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney; just as a public service, because, Lord ...
Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, May 2002
A PERFORMER who personifies rock'n'roll, Louisiana's Jerry Lee is 'The Killer' – the wildman of the piano and the provider of a zillion headlines. ...
Marianne Faithfull With Special Guests: Only Connect Festival, Barbican, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2002
SHE SLINKS on wearing a black suit with impossibly tight trousers and smoking a cigarette. Four young men play 'Sex With Strangers' dry, cobwebby beat, ...
The Association: Just the Right Sound
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2002
IN DECEMBER 1999, the American performing rights company, BMI, published a survey of the most air-played songs of the 20th century. Top of the list ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, May 2002
SIXTEEN YEARS, man.....Five years backing the Hawk; two more backing Bob Dylan, for Chrissakes. And then almost a decade on their own, a Band with ...
Retrospective and Interview by John McCready, MOJO, May 2002
ON FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1987, the greatest rock'n'roll band of the decade are playing to no more than 30 people at Planet X, a dark ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2002
NOT A DOUBLE but two individual albums, released at the same time. Your choice. There's Alice, skewed and drowsy, with wonky percussion and soft, smudged, ...
Arthur Lee: 10 Questions for Arthur Lee
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 2002
On your recent US warm-up date you asked, "What did the monkey say after the pitbull bit off his tail?" ...
Curtis Mayfield and Superfly: No Exit
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, June 2002
"THESE GUYS WERE LIKE outlaws, the real cowboys," says Phillip Fenty of the street characters who inspired his screenplay of Superfly. ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 2002
UNPLUGGED IS one of Leon Russell's "least favourite terms in modern music". But unplugged, more or less, is what this is – recorded at the ...
Nina Simone: To Love Somebody/Here Comes The Sun/Emergency Ward/Black Gold/It Is Finished
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 2002
EUNICE WAYMON never intended to be a pop singer. Her ambition was to be the first great black female classical pianist. She took up playing ...
Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1, 2, 3 & 4; Plays Live; Birdy; So; Passion; Snaking The Tree; Us
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2002
Fine body of life's work remastered and reissued in "contemporised" Japanese-style mini vinyl die-cut gatefold sleeves. ...
Solomon Burke: Go On Back To Him
Report by Don Waller, MOJO, June 2002
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! "What's that noise in my earphones?" soul giant Solomon Burke calls into the studio control roost from the vocal isolation booth. "That's ...
Stan Cornyn with Paul Scanlon: Exploding (Harper Entertainment)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 2002
"THE REALLY important factor was that we were a younger company than Columbia," Warners insider Stan Cornyn said in 1993. "We weren't structured so tightly ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, June 2002
"WHAT IS HEAD? HEAD IS THE most extraordinary adventure Western comedy love story mystery drama musical documentary ever filmed. And that's putting it mildly." ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Biggie & Tupac: Fear Of A Black Messiah
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, July 2002
Nick Broomfield's new film may well have solved the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Angus Batey went to seek out the facts. ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2002
THE PA IN THIS grim, dispiriting venue – outright winner of the industrial-estate self-storage-unit-impersonating-lkea-during-the-sales lookalike contest – has started, somewhat disconcertingly, to blare out 'Fanfare ...
Elvis Presley: Today Tomorrow & Forever
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, July 2002
LET'S BE honest: this, once again, is Elvis Presley '56-'77 squeezed into five exhilarating, and at times exasperating hours. There are two major differences this ...
Neil Young: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2002
DANGEROUS PLACE, Brixton. Neil Young figured he should alert the 4,300 fans who packed out his first night at the Academy that if he played ...
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, July 2002
IT'S NOT a question much asked, but what if Messrs Page and Jones had managed to secure the services of their first choice, Terry Reid, ...
The Blasters: Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2002
2-CD set featuring The Blasters (1980), Non Fiction ('83), Hard Line ('85) a covers EP and seven unreleased extras. ...
Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips: We Mean You No Harm
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 2002
Inhabitants of planet Oklahoma, for 15 years The Flaming Lips happily explored the outer limits of symphonic psych. Then, with 1999's The Soft Bulletin, they ...
The Lovin' Spoonful: End Of The Rainbow
Retrospective by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, July 2002
The Lovin' Spoonful epitomised the euphoric, carefree spirit of the Summer of Love. But then came unwated adoration as The American Beatles., their very own ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Change Is Gonna Come
Retrospective by Andy Gill, MOJO, August 2002
BY 1966, IT LOOKED LIKE THE WAILING WAILERS WERE FINISHED ON the Jamaican music scene. They had recorded numerous hits, eventually challenging The Maytals as ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, August 2002
"THERE WAS so much I was told that was not real," Gene Clark croons on the haunting 'With Tomorrow', "so many things I could not ...
Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (WEA)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 2002
BACK IN February 1999, Wayne Coyne wrote of the soon-to-be-released The Soft Bulletin that, "in a strange reversal of musical universes, the more indulgent and ...
Retrospective and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, August 2002
ASK JAMAICA'S PRIME MINISTER ABOUT THE SKATALITES and he'll come over all misty-eyed. Never mind that, at the moment, PJ Patterson is running a country ...
The Stranglers: Come and Join the Unruly Escapades
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, August 2002
HANS WARMLING was fed up of life in the ice cream van. He'd come to England from his homeland of Sweden to play guitar and ...
Beth Gibbons and Rustin’ Man: Out Of Season (Go Beat)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 2002
First ‘solo’ album from Portishead’s singer, in collaboration with Paul Webb, formerly of Talk Talk, with additional input from Portishead colleague, Adrian Utley ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 2002
"BLOOD", "FIRE", "dust", "dark", "empty" – the same words keep recurring. Lights shutting out, black hole in the sun, buildings burning, that lonely desperation that ...
John's Children, Marc Bolan: John's Children
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, September 2002
IT'S BEEN SAID THAT IN 1967 MANAGER SIMON Napier-Bell served Marc Bolan with an ultimatum: join The Yardbirds or John's Children. The very idea of ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex, Tyrannosaurus Rex: Marc Bolan: The Jurassic Years
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, September 2002
IN DECEMBER 1967 The Observer devoted a large portion of its Sunday Colour Supplement to the London Underground. Complete with obligatory hip-speak glossary (an "A ...
Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2002
CATEGORISING RICK James isn't as easy as one might think. Sure, he's the bad boy of black pop, a groove-minded funkster with a nasty attitude, ...
The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn: Twelve-string Driven Thing
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 2002
THE OPENING JINGLE-JANGLE 12-string Rickenbacker guitar line on The Byrds' 1965 classic, 'Mr Tambourine Man', ushered in a new era in popular music – the ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Simon And Garfunkel: Live From New York City, 1967
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, September 2002
NEITHER AS gritty as Dylan or as political as Ochs or Baez, Simon And Garfunkel's folk-rock style had a cool, preppy awareness and an alluring ...
Supergrass: Life On Other Planets (Parlophone)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 2002
After a three year pause, here’s their fourth album, produced by Tony Hoffer (Air, Beck) and largely recorded at Chris Difford’s Sussex studios. Released on ...
MC5: The MC5: The Battle Of New York
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, September 2002
AS THEIR FLIGHT FROM DETROIT TOUCHED DOWN AT NEW York's LaGuardia Airport on Thursday, December 26, 1968, the MC5 figured they had the future by ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, September 2002
The first legitimate CD release of The Who's epoch-making debut album, plus 18 tracks cut with their producer, Shel Talmy, in 1965 and early 1966. ...
Retrospective by Paul Gorman, MOJO, October 2002
FOR MANY A PUNK CHANCER, CRED comes with claims of attending the Sex Pistols' brace of gigs at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in the ...
Jackson Browne: Late For The Sky
Retrospective by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, October 2002
SINGER-SONGWRITER Jackson Browne delved deep into his soul for his third album, Late For The Sky. ...
Peter Gabriel: Gods And Monkeys
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 2002
Gabriel's long-awaited follow-up to '92's US. Musicians include Peter Green, The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Daniel Lanois and Nusrat Fatch All Khan. ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Shattered
Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 2002
FEBRUARY 1977. KEITH RICHARDS, SLEEPING like a baby, is being carried around his hotel room in the arms of a Canadian Mountie. There are other ...
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 2002
BETWEEN HIS spare solo debut Heartbreaker and last year's swaggering Gold – the one where he sounded like he'd swallowed a jukebox of Stones, Who ...
Blondie, Debbie Harry: 10 Questions for Debbie Harry
Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, November 2002
WHEN YOU FIRST came to New York in the late '60s you worked as a waitress at Max's Kansas City. An eye opener? ...
The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson: Dennis Wilson: The Lonely Sea
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, November 2002
WITH TIME TO KILL BEFORE SOUNDCHECK ON A windy New York afternoon in 1971, the drummer of The Beach Boys had decided, on a whim, ...
Jackson Browne: The Naked Ride Home
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, November 2002
WHILE MOST of his coked-out Californian contemporaries were mapping every last detail of the geography of their navels, endlessly rhyming "illusion" with "confusion" for consumption ...
Jeff Beck, The White Stripes and friends: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, November 2002
THE SHORT version: Jeff Beck is still the champ. The long version: American humorist Fran Lebowitz once wrote words to the effect that vegetables do ...
Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2002
Ken Nordine is the laird of language, the maestro of the monologue, the wizard of word jazz. Bill DeMain lends an ear. ...
The Carter Family: Into The Valley
Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2002
FIRST KILL YOUR HOG. SKIN IT, singe off the hairs and leave the hide to soften. Tug it over a round frame, whittle out a ...
The Beatles: The Death of Brian Epstein
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2002
THERE'S A story, probably apocryphal, concerning John Lennon during his infamous 'lost weekend', the period in the mid-'70s when he split from Yoko and devoted ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Rebirth Of The Cool
Guide by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, November 2002
Who are they? The inspired combination of two of Cleveland's finest unsung rock bands of the late '60s – Cyrus Erie and The Choir – ...
The Rolling Stones: Forty Licks
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 2002
HERE'S AN album with something for everyone. For Virgin/EMI it's a shot at a Beatles 1-style blockbuster to prop up sagging third-quarter figures. For newbies ...
The Rolling Stones: Remasters Series
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 2002
IN A ROCK ERA where back catalogue is king, The Rolling Stones have hitherto been ill-served by their servants. Their one-time peers The Beatles have ...
Bob Dylan: Just Bend Your Mind A Little…
Retrospective by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 2002
BOB DYLAN WAS NOT THE FIRST SONGWRITER to write about – or under the influence of – drugs, though you could be forgiven for assuming ...
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 2002
Elvis Costello And The Attractions: Armed Forces; Imperial BedroomElvis Costello: Mighty Like A Rose ...
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, December 2002
"SOMETHING TOLD ME IT WAS OVER/When I saw you and here talking/Something deep down in my soul said, 'Cry, girl'/When I saw you and that ...
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2002
SO, IT CAME to pass, George Harrison bookended his solo years with his two best albums. Brainwashed is a mature and often profound record, comprising ...
Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around (American Recordings)
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 2002
WEIGHTED DOWN by the difficult circumstances behind its recording – illness, hospitalisations, two bouts of pneumonia this past year alone, speculation that the increasingly fragile ...
Allman Brothers Band: Southern Men: The Long Tall Saga of the Allman Brothers Band
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 2002
"THIS AIN’T NO fashion show," Duane Allman liked to say. "We came here to play." It was a mission statement that summed up what his ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: The Last DJ *****
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2002
BUSINESS AS usual for Petty is a decent business: good melodies, fat, ringing acoustics, his occasionally Dylanish delivery with those little lifts or drops at ...
The Beatles: Get It Better: The Story of Let It Be… Naked
Report and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, 2003
Is it getting back to 'Get Back'? Is it Let It Be exorcised of Spector? Is it the record it always should have been? ...
Report by Paul Gorman, MOJO, 2003
THE UNEARTHING IN central London of a series of stunning images of rock icons from the early ‘70s has sparked a search for a mystery ...
Ray Charles: 10 Questions for Ray Charles
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, January 2003
Meeting Nat Cole, crafting genius songs on the spot and tips on sartorial cool. Bill DeMain gets the word from the emperor of soul. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, January 2003
They invented symphonic rock, wrote the world's dumbest riff and excelled in lunacy, greed and very long solos. Kieron Tyler charts the stop-start metal excess ...
Fanny: First Time In A Long Time – The Reprise Records
Review by Gillian G. Gaar, MOJO, January 2003
First time on CD for all four studio albums in a set that finally heeds David Bowie's cry: "Revivify Fanny! And I will feel that ...
Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank The Cradle
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2003
Debut album from 28-year-old Miami cinematographer and part-time roots savant Sam Beam. Could be time to quit the day job. ...
Jeff Buckley: They Don't Even Know Me Yet
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2003
In 1992 Jeff Buckley gave his first ever press interview. A decade later, MOJO unearths this incredible, little-seen document. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2003
Thirty-five years ago, ex-felon Johnny Cash was invited to perform in two of America's toughest prisons – one of which he was no stranger to ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2003
4-CD stocking filler makes mischief with Mancunian pop visionaries' oft-compiled back catalogue. The 72-page booklet has band-written notes. ...
Retrospective by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2003
Nirvana's metamorphosis from callow punk geeks to the globe-stomping rock phenomenon of Nevermind took little more than a year. In between lay a chaotic tale ...
The Roots: Hip Hop Erudition And Wit
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2003
"I'M ALIVE NOW!" BARKS AHMIR ?uestlove Thompson, drummer and de facto leader of Philadelphia hip hop band The Roots, and music press consumer of impeccable ...
Lou Reed: 10 Questions for Lou Reed
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, February 2003
The Dark Prince entertains Jaan Uhelszki with tales of rewriting Poe, not punching David Bowie and understanding the emotional history of the amplifier. ...
XTC: Andy Partridge: English Settlement
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, February 2003
BEARING IN MIND his back catalogue, it may not be too surprising to learn that Andy Partridge is an assiduous recycler. ...
Retrospective by Mike Barnes, MOJO, February 2003
"I THINK Jimi Hendrix was the best guitar player all round and one of the best musicians, creators and innovators I ever heard in my ...
Denim, Felt: Felt/Denim: There Can Be Only One Lawrence — Meticulous Genius, Confounded.
Profile and Interview by Mick Houghton, MOJO, February 2003
IN 1986, WHEN Felt signed to Creation Records, stories quickly circulated about the oddness of the band's leader. ...
Kate Bush: Season Of The Witch
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2003
It's almost 25 years since 'Wuthering Heights' made Kate Bush into a star, and a decade since she quietly slipped from view. Phil Sutcliffe traces ...
Retrospective and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, February 2003
IN 2003 CARLOS SANTANA IS A GLOBAL SUPERSTAR ONCE AGAIN. BUT FOR OVER 20 YEARS, THE GUITARIST WAS CONDEMNED TO THE ARTIST’S WILDERNESS. DAVE DIMARTINO ...
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, February 2003
Eight years down the line, the Chicago four-piece — three of whom are also visual artists — may well have produced their masterpiece. ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, March 2003
AS ICONIC gestures go, Arthur Lee raising a tambourine above his head, arms angled like he's cradling an invisible water pitcher, is up there with ...
The Be Good Tanyas: Be Good Tanyas: Chinatown
Review by Colin Irwin, MOJO, March 2003
Second album by the Canadian trio who seduced us with their disarmingly unassuming old-timey debut Blue Horse. ...
Review and Interview by Andy Gill, MOJO, March 2003
IT SPEAKS volumes for Can's protean, constantly-changing sound that fans, indeed the band members themselves, rarely agree which is their best album. ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, March 2003
First new album of (mostly) self-penned material from Atlanta-raised Chan Marshall since 1998's Moon Pix. Features guest vocals from Bill Callahan and Eddie Vedder, plus ...
Evan Dando: Baby I’m Bored (Setanta)
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 2003
AS FRONTMAN OF the Lemonheads, Evan Dando displayed several striking talents: Writing deceptively plain songs that slipped beneath your skin and often concealed a profound ...
The Clash, Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer: Comrade, Goodbye
Memoir by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, March 2003
SOMETIME IN 1979, I WAS interviewing Joe Strummer for the NME in the Worlds End pub on the King's Road. As well as giving me ...
Ozzy Osbourne: The Death of Randy Rhoads
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2003
"RANDY WAS my best friend," says Ozzy Osbourne. "He was also the greatest musician I have ever known. Back when we had no dough, we ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Roger Waters: Off The Wall
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, March 2003
To some, Roger Waters is the reactionary ogre who destroyed Pink Floyd. To many others, he's one of the few truly intelligent voices in rock ...
Review by Byron Coley, MOJO, March 2003
BY ALMOST any measure, 1973 was a craven, rotten fuck of a year. Although many pick 1968 as the nadir of 20th century underground culture, ...
The Libertines: England Expects
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, March 2003
They're British punk's greatest hopes, yet they still live in a flat with no gas or running water. Welcome to the darkly romantic world of ...
The Lovin' Spoonful, Zal Yanovsky: Zal Yanovsky
Obituary by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, March 2003
ZAL YANOVSKY, to many the man who provided that special spark of magic in The Lovin' Spoonful, died of a heart attack on December 13 ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2003
PACKING UP his gear after a recent gig in Dublin, Calexico's Joey Burns was approached by a young couple. Would you play at our wedding? ...
Jack Bruce: Songs For A Tailor/Harmony Row
Review by Rob Chapman, MOJO, April 2003
SEVERAL BLUE moons ago us MOJO contributors were asked to provide the mag with a list of our 30 all-time favourite LPs. My only real ...
Jefferson Airplane: The Summer Of Haight
Retrospective and Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, MOJO, April 2003
In January 1967, Jefferson Airplane were all set for take-off. But within months their dream was crumbling. Jeff Tamarkin on the destructive undercurrent to the ...
Profile and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, April 2003
Jon Brion, America's most in-demand singer-songwriter and producer, has his own L.A. residency. Don Waller went to check it out. ...
Bob Dylan, Wyclef Jean: Last Night A Record Changed My Life: Wyclef Jean on Bob Dylan's Infidels
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, April 2003
I FIRST HEARD Infidels when I was about 15 years old. My brother was away, me and him were in different schools. I was more ...
Townes Van Zandt: Wanderin' Star
Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2003
What do you do when you're really down? Listen to Townes Van Zandt Sylvie Simmons charts the artistic triumphs and personal disasters of sadness's most ...
Harmony Grass: Buried Treasure: Harmony Grass' This Is Us (RCA)
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, May 2003
This month, Tony Rivers and the making of the great lost UK sunshine pop album. ...
Goldfrapp: Black Cherry (Mute) ****
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2003
Second album from sultry singer/musician Alison Goldfrapp and musical partner Will Gregory. ...
Johnny Cash: Cash's Video Adieu
Report by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2003
It's been on CNN and it made Bono and Rick Rubin cry. Johnny Cash's video for Hurt might be the most powerful music video ever ...
Retrospective by Joel Selvin, MOJO, May 2003
Phil Spector, the most famous producer on the planet, is currently on bail after an actress was shot dead at his L.A. mansion. To a ...
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever To Tell
Review and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, May 2003
IF YOU KNOW of them at all yet, more likely it's via constant, obvious press proclamations of their "cool", than the EP and single's worth ...
Joy Division: Adventures in Hi-Fi: Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures
Retrospective by John McCready, MOJO, June 2003
ALREADY MAKING the transition from off-the-peg punk to something harder and darker, Joy Division were on the verge of great things in 1979. ...
Led Zeppelin: Been A Long Time: Led Zeppelin
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 2003
EVEN NOW, after all these years of hairtree wannabes and idiot tribute bands, there's something so fierce and coruscating about Led Zeppelin in their prime ...
Meat Loaf: Hello Goodbye: Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, June 2003
They met to create musical drama. After years of huge success, it ended in managerial rancour and paralysed vocal chords. ...
Steely Dan: Everything Must Go
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 2003
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, maestros of pristine '70s jazz-rock, follow-up 2000's multi-Grammy-winning comeback Two Against Nature. ...
The Roots: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, June 2003
Philadelphia's venerated hip hop orchestra deliver a joyous lesson in the genre's elastic embrace ...
Jimi Hendrix: Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience by Greg Tate (Lawrence Hill)
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, July 2003
Erudite, eclectic and pungently demotic polemic on Hendrix's centrality in the 20th century African-American cultural pantheon. ...
James Brown: Death Or Glory: James Brown In Vietnam
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, July 2003
JUNE, 1968. Seven US Army lieutenant colonels - six Afro-Americans and one Caucasian - are collected from Tan Son Nhut, Saigon’s international airport, and ...
Obituary by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2003
A country matriarch says goodbye. ...
Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2003
Fourth full album from Scots noise miscreants. Self-produced in Glasgow after two in USA with Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev cohort Dave Fridmann. ...
The Thrills: MOJO Rising: The Thrills
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 2003
IRISH BOYS have always gone off to the promised land in search of girls and gold, but Dublin's Thrills did more than that. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2003
Composing concept albums, directing movies, baiting republicans, Neil Young in 2003 remains as complex and slippery as ever. "Shakey's been very busy lately," he tells ...
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2003
World tour, new album, R.E.M. are fit, happy and working again. Twenty years ago it was all so different. ...
Bill Withers: Who Is He… (And What Is He To You)?
Profile and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, August 2003
Remembered as a smooth '70s balladeer and a raw soul pioneer, Bill Withers is the music legend who opted out. Don Waller tracked him down ...
Memoir by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2003
Tracks and artists: Mississippi John Hurt: Candy Man/Coffee Blues/Stagolee. Brownie McGhee: Long Gone/Key To The Highway. Rev. Gary Davis: Samson And Delilah/I Won't Be Back ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, August 2003
Depression, dysfunction and near-dissolution – Radiohead have spent the last few years in the wilderness. In a series of astonishingly intimate interviews, Peter Paphides charts ...
Steely Dan: 10 Questions for Steely Dan
Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, September 2003
Dave Di Martino talks to the venerable jazz-pop double act about sexual aids, Charlotte Rampling and perfectionism. Well, why not? ...
Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, September 2003
Back in 1986 hip hop entered a golden age — lyrical revolution, sonic innovation, and individuality — that gave rise to such rap legends as ...
Elvis Presley: Sam Phillips: Rock'n'Roll Evangelist
Obituary by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2003
For Sam Phillips rock'n'roll was a religion And, boy, did he spread the gospel. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, September 2003
For the last 30 years The Cramps have remained the wildest rock'n'roll double act on the planet, a potent cocktail of lewd rockabilly, primeval fuzz ...
Alice Cooper: Last Night A Record Changed My Life
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, October 2003
Back when he was dodging Phoenix rednecks as frontman of The Spiders, Alice Cooper's heart opened to a Broadway show soundtrack. ...
Funkadelic, George Clinton, Parliament: George Clinton: Motor Booty
Retrospective and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, October 2003
In 1963 George Clinton took a first step toward funk overlordship. He shut his East Coast barbershop and flew to Motown. Lloyd Bradley finds out ...
Grand Funk Railroad: Hot Rails To Hell
Retrospective and Interview by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, October 2003
They were America's biggest band. Live they outsold The Beatles. Then they sued their manager. Dave DiMartino charts the remarkable highs and ridiculous lows of ...
Randy Newman: The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2003
Excellent 18-song retrospective solo recital from one of the great individual singer-songwriters. ...
Review and Interview by Mike Barnes, Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 2003
Wyatt's first album for six years features guest appearances by Annie Whitehead, Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, David Gilmour and Paul Weller. By Jim Irvin. ...
The Dixie Chicks: Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2003
When they criticised President Bush's war, the Dixie Chicks went from being new country darlings to enemies of the state. Now they’re unlikely keepers of ...
The Byrds, David Crosby: David Crosby: A Long Strange Trip
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2003
Over the past 40 years David Crosby has done it all, from crafting transcendental, psychedelic harmonies for the Byrds and CSNY to living a life ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Evening Of My Best Day
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2003
Former L.A. hipster, now a mother and keen gardener, starts a new songwriting life after a six-year drought. ...
Ryan Adams: Rock'n'Roll (Lost Highway) ****
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, November 2003
Fourth solo album from erstwhile alt country poster-boy. Recorded in 13 days in New York with James Barber, aka Mr Courtney Love. ...
Television: Marquee Moon/Adventure
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, November 2003
FEW BANDS can claim to be lithe, literate and musically gifted, but for a brief moment Television blended all three to perfection. ...
The Rationals: Detroit blue-eyed soulsters go psychedelic but end up playing shopping malls
Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, November 2003
"SOME FOLKS talkin' 'bout burnin' down/I ain't talkin' 'bout burnin' down/Said I'm just talkin' 'bout gettin' down/Come on!" screams the Rationals' frontman Scott Morgan, pushing ...
The Strokes: Room On Fire (Rough Trade)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2003
SOON AFTER HEARING it for the first time, I decided that The Modern Age EP was perfect, a marvel of compressed energy, three thrilling songs, ...
Isaac Hayes: Various Artists: Music From The Wattstax Festival & Film
Review by James Maycock, MOJO, November 2003
ON 20TH AUGUST, 1972, Isaac Hayes was celebrating his 30th birthday. But Ike wasn't chilling at his gilded Memphis mansion ripping into a skyscraper pile ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2003
Thirteenth and final studio album. Guest appearances by an impressive list of pals. ...
Fleetwood Mac: Take it to the Limit
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2003
"GOD KNOWS all our lives are unimaginable without each other," mutters Mick Fleetwood, glancing speculatively from one old friend to another. It's a line you ...
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, MOJO, December 2003
IN THE LATE afternoon of 4th April, 1968, Martin Luther King was shot through the neck on the balcony of Memphis' Lorraine Motel. Pronounced dead ...
Kylie Minogue: Body Language (Parlophone) ****
Review by Bob Stanley, MOJO, December 2003
Cosmetically enhanced pop icon believes there was more to the '80s than Level 42 and stonewashed denim. ...
Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, December 2003
For ten years hip hop duo OutKast have crafted wild, genre-defying music. Now, following their 2-CD masterpiece, it looks like that relationship might well be ...
Wyclef Jean: The Preacher's Son ****
Review and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, December 2003
That "one time, two times" bloke out of the Fugees makes an album for MOJO readers. No, really. ...
Scott Walker: It Don't Come Easy: Scott Walker’s Five Easy Pieces (Universal)
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, 2004
Idiosyncratic. Inspired. Perplexing. Well, how else would you want your multi-disc "Godlike Genius" retrospective served? ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, 2004
SHORTLY AFTER HIS brilliant debut, Taylor declared his next album would be an even more ambitious blend of soul and West Coast pop, proper ...
Amy Winehouse: Frank (Island) ****
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, January 2004
Stunning, hilarious debut album from UK soul chanteuse. ...
Frank Zappa: Shhhh… Genius At Work
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2004
Zappa spent much of his final 10 years slaving over a hot mixing desk. Sylvie Simmons met him in the studio as he tried to ...
Jay Z: Jay-Z: The Black Album (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) *****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2004
A final autobiographical confession from one of rap's giants ...
Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American Recordings/Lost Highway)
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, January 2004
A fitting musical monument for a monumental life and career ...
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, January 2004
Virginia's avant-garde hip hop twosome are still on the right track on their respective new LPs, but have they started to run out of steam? ...
Dolly Parton: Mother's Pride: Various: Just Because I'm A Woman: Songs Of Dolly Parton ****
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 2004
A dozen brilliant women with a stirring reminder that the beloved boob flaunter and wacky wig wearer is a truly great songwriter. ...
Retrospective by Mark Paytress, MOJO, January 2004
The avant-garde post-'77 post-punk sound was a revolutionary amalgam of funk, punk, disco and reggae. Mark Paytress explains the battle plan. ...
Kim Fowley, Tomorrow, Keith West: A Teenage Opera: Testing… Testing…
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, February 2004
Brainchild of German Phil Spector wannabe Mark Wirtz and UK psych hopefuls Tomorrow, A Teenage Opera promised to be the grandest psychedelic production of the ...
Isaac Hayes: 10 Questions for Isaac Hayes
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, February 2004
DO YOU remember your first week at Stax? ...
Interview by Roy Wilkinson, MOJO, February 2004
Post-punk guitars, and looking back to go forward ...
Grandaddy: Corn Exchange, Brighton
Live Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2004
"THAT LAST song started with the letter 'g'," frowns Jason Lytle from beneath his truck-stop hat. "This song starts with the letter 'g'." ...
The Move: Hello Goodbye: Ace Kefford and the Move
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2004
Hello: October 1965 ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2004
After 17 years as a California exile, John Lydon in 2004 occupies his time with satellite football, a new solo album and railing against his ...
Lambchop: Aw Cmon /No You Cmon
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 2004
Not a double album, we're told, though you can't buy one without the other. Nashville country-soul collective's seventh (and eighth) full-length release(s). ...
Randy California, Spirit: Randy California
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 2004
Just turned 22, Spirit guitarist and figurehead Randy California stands on Chelsea Bridge, staring down into the grey waters of the River Thames. It's April 1973, ...
Pink Floyd: So Wrong, Yank Floyd Alight
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Dellar, MOJO, February 2004
"OHMIGAWD! IT just missed Roger!" Another piece of burning drape — ignited by a stray firework — fluttered into the audience. Some cheered, mistaking it ...
Sophia: People Are Like Seasons
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2004
Fourth album from Euro-resident US singer-songwriter Robin Proper-Sheppard. ...
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2004
Played last year's 24-hour marathon box set to death? Worry not. Here's another 10 hours' worth of in-concert industrial uproar. Tense? Nervous? Headache? Read on... ...
Various Artists: Goodbye Babylon (Dust-to-Digital/Cargo)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, February 2004
A wonderful digest of the first three decades of recorded rural gospel music, black and white, collected on six CDs, exquisitely packaged and exhaustively annotated. ...
Arthur Brown, Mick Farren, The Move, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Tomorrow: We Have Lift Off!
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 2004
In less than one year, London's UFO (pronounced "you-foe") club became the nocturnal haunt of the '60s counterculture, gathering place for the Beatles, Stones and ...
Retrospective by David Dalton, MOJO, March 2004
When innocent English teens David and Sarah Dalton met Andy Warhol in 1961 their eyes were opened to a whole new world of pop culture ...
The Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Smile? Don't mind if I do…
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2004
It was due in January 1967. But the Beach Boys' Smile LP was shelved when its creator Brian Wilson refused to finish it. Now he ...
Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 2004
They're talking "a European aesthetic", they're talking "vaudevillian art-pop". Yet it's so much more than that... ...
The Velvet Underground: Heart Of Darkness: The Velvet Underground
Retrospective by Victor Bockris, MOJO, March 2004
The Velvets biographer on Lou Reed, love songs and the band's harrowing third album. ...
The Byrds: Hello Goodbye: Gene Parsons and the Byrds
Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, March 2004
Hello AUGUST 1968 My passport into the Byrds was [late guitarist ] Clarence White. I'd met him a couple of years earlier at a recording session. ...
John Frusciante: Shadows Collide With People
Review by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, March 2004
Fourth solo album for Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist, featuring Flea and Chad Smith, with cover photography by actor Vincent Gallo. ...
Jolie Holland: Spectral Americana
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2004
HERE'S SOMETHING eerie and ectoplasmic about Jolie Holland's solo debut, Catalpa. The beguiling voice and haunting music sound channelled from some mysterious backwoods past. Holland, ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 2004
More patchwork rambling from the gifted Scottish eccentric. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, March 2004
Prepare to be hit by the "rock'n'roll frying pan" from Norway. ...
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, March 2004
After the world domination of her debut, the lovely follow-up. ...
Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, March 2004
United in a love of Bjork, Syd Barrett and Lenny Bruce, the Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler and Omar Rodriguez have survived heroin abuse and self-destruction ...
Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, March 2004
Four originals by Japan's oft-overlooked electronic trail-blazers, re-mastered and repackaged with some extra material but no supporting information. ...
Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, April 2004
The blue-eyed soul voice behind the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic on jamming with Jimi Hendrix, the madness of Viv Stanshall and the problems of ...
Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Al Green: Soul Searching
Profile and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2004
In the late '70s, Al Green was a troubled superstar who abandoned the stage in favour of the pulpit. Then last winter, after 25 years, ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson at the Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 2004
THE UBERFANS WITH medicated stares, the reverent fans who applaud Van Dyke Parks to his seat, the Smile scholars who have flown in from another ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Hello Goodbye: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2004
Hello: September 1961 ...
The Chi-Lites: Hello Goodbye: Eugene Record and the Chi-Lites
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2004
MARCH I960 ...
Norah Jones: Don't Fence Me In
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2004
Success Nearly Cost Norah Jones Her Sanity. Now She's Back – Stronger, Wiser And Ready To Do Things Her Way. ...
Rodney Crowell: Fate's Right Hand (Sony/DMZ)
Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2004
Texas-to-Tennessee country star takes a lonely, introspective journey on this breathtakingly unconventional release. ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2004
AN EXISTENTIAL obstacle course. A meditation on the ineffable mysteries of love. An incredible pop record. ...
David Byrne: 10 Questions for David Byrne
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2004
The angular former Talking Heads frontman on love, war, the ariasof Verdi and Bizet, and the problems of "art by committee". ...
Jim White: Drill A Hole In That Substrate And Tell Me What You See
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2004
Two years on from No Such Place, the prodigal Southerner makes a third metaphysical voyage. ...
Kanye West: The College Dropout (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) ****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, May 2004
Super-producer takes up the mike for his "solo" debut. ...
Jolie Holland, Iron & Wine, Little Richard: Little Richard et al.: South By South West, Austin
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2004
A marguerita-fuelled Glastonbury taking over a whole town for five days would have a hard time matching the glory and madness of this enormous musical ...
Guide by Paul Gorman, MOJO, May 2004
MOD'S FASTIDIOUS nature dictates that the path between purism and pedantry is oft-trod. Were the Birds arty r&b enthusiasts, more allied to the scruffy Stones ...
Moondog: Ain't Nothin' But A Moondog
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, MOJO, May 2004
DURING APRIL, 1953, US DJ Sid Gross was in England attempting to arrange for a British band to visit the States in exchange for an ...
N.E.R.D.: N*E*R*D: Fly Or Die (Virgin) ****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, May 2004
The Neptunes party like it's 1973 ...
Nirvana's 'You Know You're Right'
Retrospective by Gillian G. Gaar, MOJO, May 2004
ON SATURDAY, September 21, 2002, Nirvana's 'You Know You're Right' was leaked on the internet. ...
So Sue Him!: Walter Yetnikoff with David Ritz: Howling At The Moon (Abacus) ***
Book Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2004
Subtitled "Confessions of a music mogul in an age of excess", the fearsome former figurehead of CBS's enjoyable schmuck-into-mensch saga. ...
The Fiery Furnaces: Sheffield University
Live Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, May 2004
The best blues-based US sibling duo since, oooh, Sparks bring some steel. ...
Todd Rundgren: Todd Moves In Mysterious Ways
Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, May 2004
Where's Todd Rundgren been? Just going to raves, hating the government and making one of his strangest albums yet. ...
Alanis Morissette: So-Called Chaos (Maverick)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2004
Former phenomenon finds herself, but risks losing everyone else. ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 2004
Soft, sunshine, orch-pop, whatever you call it, this is a proper overlooked classic of the genre from 1970. No, really. Promise. ...
Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, June 2004
The sensitive ex-pugilist from Dublin's Northside has arrived. ...
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, June 2004
The Coal Miner's Daughter becomes a country music queen – with a little help from one of The White Stripes. ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, June 2004
After seven years away, Morrissey, the exiled don of indie misery, is back, with some old scores to settle. Keith Cameron meets the ex-Smiths frontman ...
Nick Drake: Made To Love Magic
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, June 2004
The most anticipated Drake release since his death includes a gorgeous five-minute version of 'Three Hours', and the hitherto undiscovered 'Tow The Line'. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Stanley, MOJO, June 2004
TONY MEEHAN, 15, is kicking his heels in Kilburn one late '50s afternoon when his friend Dave Rees suggests a trip to Soho. He may ...
The Smiths: No Time Like The First
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 2004
Britain in the early '80s: New Romantics, pencil 'taches and Phil Collins. Then came The Smiths. The tale of their first ever gigs by Johnny ...
Marvin Gaye: Time Machine June 1981: Marvin the Paranoid Singer
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, MOJO, June 2004
"MARVIN GAYE'S British tour is back on again," claimed a press report. "The dates originally announced were scrapped 48 hours later, on the grounds that ...
The Cure: Work in Progress: The Cure
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, June 2004
Title: TBC Due: June 21 Production: Ross Robinson ...
A Girl Called Eddy: A Girl Called Eddy
Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, July 2004
ERIN MORAN, for she is the Girl whose record label likes to call her Eddy, writes and sings as if she has nothing to prove. ...
The Beastie Boys: Beastie Boys: To The 5 Boroughs
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, July 2004
THERE WAS NO mistaking the rush of pleasure induced by early radio plays of this album's first single. As the delirious turntable stabs of 'Check ...
Bobbie Gentry: Chickasaw County Child – The Artistry of Bobbie Gentry
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, July 2004
A 23-track set that further mystifies the story of the songwriter behind 'Ode To Billie Joe'. ...
Christine McVie: In The Meantime (Adventure/Sanctuary)
Review by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, July 2004
Former Fleetwood Mac songbird flies solo for the first time in two decades. ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2004
After an eight-year wait, a new studio album from the musician Eric Clapton said he wouldn't mind being. ...
Retrospective by Don Waller, MOJO, July 2004
Ignored by the major labels, hounded by cops, fuelled by booze and drugs, L.A. punk was born in a concrete basement in Hollywood known as ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, July 2004
PANNED ON ITS RELEASE, STEVIE WONDER'S JOURNEY THROUGH THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS MADE PREFAB SPROUT'S PADDY MCALOON A SONGWRITER. ...
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, July 2004
Unearthed! The French punk bands that gave The Damned a run for their money. Kieron Tyler offers a belated "Salut!" ...
Razorlight: Up All Night (Vertigo) ***
Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, July 2004
Debut from NYC-fixated Anglo-Swedish guitarniks. ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2004
Clowntime is over for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the L.A. punks who defied death, grunge and a burning crack den to play the music ...
Reigning Sound: Too Much Guitar
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, July 2004
Wracked and wonderful Southern rock'n'soul party at Greg Cartwright's garage. ...
Patti Smith: The MOJO Interview: Patti Smith
Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, July 2004
Working in a piss factory, breaking her neck on stage, the "horror" of her armpit hair. All this plus punk poetry, tragedy and "gentleman" Bill Burroughs in the amazing ...
Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers: Wattstax
Retrospective by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, July 2004
THE BIGGEST soul concert ever was about to end in a riot. ...
Wilco: A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch)
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2004
Album five from Chicago-based soul-seekers. Release delayed following Jeff Tweedy's spell in rehab. ...
Review by Lucy O'Brien, MOJO, August 2004
Subtle licks and straight talking on the South Carolina neo-soul songstress's third solo album. ...
Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page: The Guv'nors
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, August 2004
"Big loud chords, fuck-off guitar sound — we started it all. GOOD MORNING!" chimes Jeff Beck. "Now it's time to do something new and unexpected!" ...
Television: Parque De Serralves, Porto
Live Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, August 2004
The group's first ever Portuguese show, in the grounds of Museu de Serralves, Porto's Museum of Modern Art. ...
The Roots: The Tipping Point (MCA) ***
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, August 2004
Philadelphia freedom: A sixth album of adventurous, organic hip hop from the city of brotherly love. By Stevie Chick ...
The United States Of America: The United States Of America (Sundazed)
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, August 2004
James Coburn dug their insurrectionary space rock; Paul Simon hated it; no one else cared until decades later. An era-defining underground album resurfaces with 10 extra ...
Crosby and Nash: David Crosby and Graham Nash: Crosby & Nash (Sanctuary)
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 2004
Two CDs-worth of the duo's first new material in nearly three decades. ...
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, September 2004
"THIS IS THE ballad of Guided By Voices," reflected Robert Pollard poignantly on the band's 1996 semi-official bootleg Jellyfish Reflector, introducing 'Don't Stop Now', a ...
The Police, Andy Summers: Hello Goodbye: Andy Summers and the Police
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 2004
From jazz-fusion to pop-reggae, they conquered the world and split at the zenith of their fame. ...
The Beatles: Nice Country, We'll Take It: Beatlemania in America
Retrospective by Dave Marsh, MOJO, September 2004
40 years ago this month, the Beatles' first full tour of the States rewrote the rulebook of rock. Death threats and Dylan, music and meat-throwing: ...
The Knack: One Hit Wonder: The Knack — 'My Sharona'
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2004
Date: July 14,1979 Chart position: 6 Available: My Sharona (Capitol) ...
The Jam, Paul Weller: Paul Weller: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2004
KEITH ALTHAM PR’d The Jam in the late '70s. In his book of post-retirement open letters to former clients, No More Mr Nice Guy, he ...
The Beatles, The Byrds: Rock Was Dead Before The Beatles!
Retrospective and Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, September 2004
And lo, the Beatles begat the Byrds. As said unto Sid Griffin. ...
The Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, September 2004
The US sister-brother act who really are brother and sister decided it would be a good idea to make a prog-pop concept album. Crazy — ...
Finn Brothers: The Finn Brothers: Everyone Is Here
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, September 2004
Woodface II – well, that was the idea. The reality, however, is rather more complicated. ...
The Kinks: The New Naturalists: The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (Sanctuary)
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, September 2004
Definitive 3-CD upgrade of the Kinks' 1968 classic, with the original album in mono/stereo, and a third disc of unreleased and/or hard-to-find material. Includes Mick ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Smile
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, October 2004
It was expected to surpass Sgt. Pepper as the greatest album of all time. But was the reconstruction of the fable worth the 37-year wait? ...
Retrospective by Greil Marcus, MOJO, October 2004
Buddy Holly was an ordinary Joe in the wild world of '50s rock'n'roll. But, says Greil Marcus, his magical songs and early, tragic death have ...
The Clash: Going overground — The Clash: London Calling 25th Anniversary Edition
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 2004
Last album of the '70s or first album of the '80s? The Clash's meisterwerk still sounds scarily fresh, says Charles Shaar Murray ...
Kelley Stoltz: Antique Glow (Beautiful Happiness)
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2004
A Detroit native preoccupied with traffic cones: meet your new favourite lo-fi troubadour. ...
Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 2004
Forty-five bands plus Van Zandt's Boss defy failing weather and technology for New York's biggest garage rave-up. ...
Dizzee Rascal: Lovable Rogue: Dizzee Rascal: Showtime (XL) *****
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, October 2004
Deft and ultimately devastating follow up to 2003's Mercury Prize-winning debut. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Before The Poison (Naïve)
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, October 2004
IT TAKES two seconds to realise this is gonna be a bit special. Three songs in and thoughts turn to album of the year. Just ...
Mark Lanegan: Death Valley Blues
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2004
MARK LANEGAN HAS JUST PUT THE unfiltered Camel to his lips when there's a knock at the door. It's his UK record company's PR. "I ...
Obituary by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2004
Rick James died on August 6, after last month's MOJO went to press. Andria Lisle pays belated tribute. ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: Howzat!
Retrospective and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, October 2004
Out the same month as the rock and roll circus was filmed, Beggars Banquet was the Stones' first classic album. Charles Shaar Murray revisits their ...
The Crickets, Buddy Holly: The Crickets: "We were the first ugly band!"
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, October 2004
Author's note: This is the piece originally submitted to MOJO as a sidebar to Greil Marcus' Buddy Holly feature "The Lost Boy". ...
The Mamas and The Papas: The Mamas & the Papas: Anthology (Universal)
Review by Jeff Tamarkin, MOJO, October 2004
Following their meteoric rise, the band that built the California dream would never sleep soundly again. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 2004
"HE COMES IN for coffee sometimes. Reads some poetry. They told me he was a musician. Tom Wait. Never heard of Tom Wait." Little Amsterdam's ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2004
"Elfish Icelandic pixie" Björk made her first LP at 11, then dived into Crass-approved "existentialist punk jazz". Now, fresh from playing to four billion people, ...
Black Francis: Frank Black Francis: Black Francis Demo/Frank Black Francis
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, November 2004
THE ONGOING rapprochement of Frank Black with Black Francis represents a remarkable turnaround. This is the man who, on the advent of what would prove ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2004
A year on, the world is still reeling from the death of Johnny Cash, the speed-crazed rock'n'roller who became America's defining voice. From tragedy to ...
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2004
THEY WERE "CONCEPTS" all right, but that didn't make them the product of cool, analytical thinking. Back in the early '60s, Johnny Cash was wrestling ...
The Ramones: Johnny Ramone: Johnny's Last Stand
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, November 2004
The taciturn, stony-faced dictator behind the Ramones' three-chord punk masterplan, in one of his last-ever interviews, Johnny Ramone emerged as a man at peace with ...
Dizzee Rascal, So Solid Crew, Wiley: London Calling
Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, November 2004
Dizzee Rascal is the first artist to score two five-star MOJO reviews with successive albums. Yet Britain's freshest music star is only the most visible ...
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, November 2004
THIS ISN'T the same young actor/poet/rapper who stared confidently out from the sleeve of his debut, 1999's Black On Both Sides, scion of the new ...
Spanky & Our Gang: Anything You Choose/Without Rhyme Or Reason
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, November 2004
Psychedelic not-so-sunshine pop via Broadway and the Windy City. ...
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, November 2004
Johnny Ramone's death on September 15 marked the true passing of The Ramones. Charles Shaar Murray, recalls his landmark 1975 encounter with Da Brudders. ...
The Ramones, Phil Spector: The Ramones: Hey Ho, Let's Go!
Retrospective and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, November 2004
Recording End Of The Century with Phil Spector should have been the Ramones' bid for the big time. Instead, it nearly destroyed them. ...
The Saints: It Came From Down Under
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, November 2004
The Saints were punk before punk, four Australian rebels with a paint-peeling sound and the ultimate screw-you attitude. Kieron Tyler charts their short, sharp startling ...
Bill Monroe, Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman: Come On, Let's Go!: Elvis on the Hayride
Retrospective by Colin Escott, MOJO, December 2004
When Elvis joined the Louisiana Hayride in 1954, he changed music history forever. Colin Escott tells the wild, wild story. ...
The Beach Boys: Is Mike Love Evil?
Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, December 2004
Well, that's what we got told. But The Beach Boys' vocalist says he never hated Pet Sounds and he certainly didn't stop Smile coming out. ...
The 101'ers, The Clash, Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer: The Man Who Would Be King
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, 2005
The 101'ers were about to hit the big time. But then Joe Strummer found punk. ...
Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2005
Contradictory country star's studio follow-up to 2002's double live album, Live. ...
Anohni (Antony & the Johnsons): Antony & The Johnsons: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Paul Gorman, MOJO, January 2005
The extraordinary NYC androgyne – whose in-concert performances make Lou Reed cry – receives a stiffer-lipped but no less rapturous London reception. ...
Del Shannon: Home And Away – The Complete Recordings 1960-1970
Review by Bob Stanley, MOJO, January 2005
Eight CDs tell the story of one of the '60s' most original rockers, a doomed romantic whose arrested adolescence made him a star but never ...
Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, January 2005
MID JULY 2004. In the dark-wooded, rich red subterranea of San Francisco's Cafe du Nord a song is building off little more than a two-chord ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2005
"THE WORK," Cave told MOJO, "of a genius." Though his tongue was presumably not too many miles from his cheek, he was spot on. This ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 2005
It's been a 25-year trip from hard drugs and punch-ups in the Birthday Party to life as a 9-to-5 songwriter/genius. So, in a world of ...
Nirvana: Good Riffs, Good Drumming, Great Screaming!
Retrospective and Interview by Gillian G. Gaar, MOJO, January 2005
Good Riffs, Good Drumming, Great Screaming!... that's how producer Jack Endino recalls Nirvana's first proper studio stint. Three hours and 10 songs later, Kurt Cobain ...
The Faces: Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones on the Faces' Five Guys Walk into a Bar…
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 2005
Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones recall the birth of history's booziest band. Phil Sutcliffe listens in. ...
The Pixies: The Rebirth of the Pixies
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2005
2004 brought 103 Pixies gigs. The artist once again known as Black Francis accepts our applause. ...
Betty Davis: She's Gotta Have It
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, MOJO, February 2005
ONE EVENING during the high summer of 1967, the fragrant Miss Mabry left her Greenwich Village apartment situated in the S&M area of Bedford Street. ...
Bob Dylan: Revolution In His Head
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 2005
40 years ago this month, Bob Dylan walked into Columbia's Studio A and walked out having invented rock music as we know it. Corralling eyewitness ...
Manic Street Preachers: Out Demons Out!
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2005
With The Holy Bible The Manic Street Preachers jettisoned situationist glamour for a defiant, post-punk nihilism that chartered the mental deterioration of their chief lyricist, ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 2005
Wooed by Dylan, ripped off by Jagger, too hardcore for Burroughs. A drug addict who recovered to make grainy, dramatic music rife with sex and ...
Bob Dylan: Sally Grossman: The Lady In Red
Interview by Edward Helmore, MOJO, February 2005
Sally Grossman adorned the Bringing It All Back Home sleeve, then cooked breakfast for the entire population of Woodstock. Edward Helmore hears her story. ...
Secret Machines: Barfly, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2005
FOR A BAND that makes very large music, Secret Machines suit small venues. Doubtless, their flipped-wig headcrunch will soon be laying waste to enormodomes. But ...
Sid Vicious: "Nothing can hurt him anymore"
Retrospective by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 2005
Sid's mother Anne Beverley died of a heroin overdose in 1996, but not before sharing her side of Sid's story. As told to Jon Savage. ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: A Star Is Born!
Retrospective by David Dalton, MOJO, February 2005
When Sid Vicious joined the Sex Pistols in 1977 it was the end of the band and the beginning of his metamorphosis into mythic rock ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, March 2005
The smart money's favourite for Next Big Thing remember to make a good debut album. ...
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2005
FROM '50S TEEN idol to '60s folk singer, Bobby Darin never stopped packing a handful of startling singing careers into 15 short, debauched years. Not ...
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica (Straight, 1969)
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, March 2005
A disciplinarian visionary and his inspired acolytes create genuine Outsider Art. ...
Guided By Voices: Metro, Chicago
Live Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, March 2005
TONGUE PLANTED only partly in cheek, Guided By Voices' leader Bob Pollard has dubbed his group's farewell tour "Mission Accomplished: The Electrifying Conclusion", and by ...
Review by Roy Wilkinson, MOJO, March 2005
From his personal Xanadu, Julian Cope emerges with a straight-ahead rock album for the 21st century. ...
R.E.M.: R.E.M: The Warner Years 1988-2004
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, March 2005
The best — and worst — of major label era R.E.M., repackaged in deluxe, 2-CD sets that include DVDs full of surround sound mixes, live ...
The Gun Club, Jeffrey Lee Pierce: The Ballad Of Jeffrey Lee Pierce
Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2005
He coulda been a contender. Instead, the Gun Club's avatar of prescient, blues-blasted voodoo rock destroyed himself in a shower of drugs and booze. Sylvie ...
Retrospective by Nina Antonia, MOJO, March 2005
FOR THE GENERATION of kids who became punks, the New York Dolls' appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test in November 1973 was an epiphany. ...
Review and Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, April 2005
Billed as a return to his Odelay style, Beck's eighth album is at its best when striking new ground. ...
Dinosaur Jr.: Dinosaur Jr: Dinosaur/You're Living All Over Me/Bug
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2005
Before Nirvana, there was Dinosaur Jr: forging a new kind of power pop, making guitar solos cool again, struggling with dreadful social skills. Keith Cameron ...
Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, April 2005
Shopped by Zappa, hooked on heroin and chased by the Feds, Dr. John dodged death and digit loss to become New Orleans' "fonk" ambassador in ...
Retrospective by Bill Holdship, MOJO, April 2005
Mean, lean and handsome, '60s surf pop duo Jan & Dean could have been gibber than The Beach Boys but kidnappings, car-crashes and cocaine soon ...
Jimmy Webb: The Moon's A Harsh Mistress
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 2005
The gifted composer of 'Wichita Lineman' and 'MacArthur Park' made five bold, mature solo LPs. Nobody noticed. ...
Crosby and Nash: Harmony and Discord
Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, May 2005
In the UK for the first time since 1978, David Crosby and Graham Nash discuss their musical and personal bond. ...
Dinosaur Jr.: Dinosaur Jr: Diary Of A Mad Band
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, May 2005
Inspired by Sabbath, Hardcore and Oi!, Dinosaur Jr lit the late '80s with their fireball rock. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2005
Listen up limeys! From the Velvets to The Raven, Lou Reed has remained pure, "professional" and the scourge of "asshole journalists". And he's still here. ...
Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, May 2005
LONDON 1978. Flushed with the vindication that comes with two hit singles, Bob Geldof has decided its time for payback. ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: Electric-Convulsive Therapy
Report and Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, May 2005
ONE OF THE most intense and extreme groups of the '70s progressive era, Van Der Graaf Generator were ever on the verge of collapse. ...
Arcade Fire: Great Expectations
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, June 2005
With their startling debut album, American-Canadian collective the Arcade Fire have accumulated a fervent word-of-mouth following that numbers David Bowie, Beck, Bjork and David Byrne ...
Beck: The Man Who Wasn't There
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, June 2005
Beck's back, with a b-boy bouillabaisse to compare with his grooviest work. But behind the impassive visage, what's really going on? And can he really ...
Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2005
The E Street Band stand down again. So more for fans of Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad as Bruce leaves politics for the ...
Bruce Springsteen: Two River Theatre, Red Bank, NJ
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2005
Springsteen records his first-ever VH1 TV Storytellers session and rather likes it — two hours, eight songs and any amount of explanatory chat before an ...
The Chocolate Watchband: Melts In Your Brain Not On Your Wrist
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, June 2005
At last! The complete works of the legendary San Franciscan psych-punkers: Jon Savage satisfies his sweet tooth. ...
Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, July 2005
Cleaned-up rock aristos reward jewellery-rattling crowd with first show in 37 years. ...
Foo Fighters, Nirvana: Dave Grohl
Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, July 2005
Grooving on Led Zep, dossing with mud-wrestlers, he joined the "fucking dark" world of Nirvana a goofy naif and left it a rock star. "I ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, July 2005
Schizoid double album includes an elegy for Grohl's old flatmate Kurt Cobain. ...
Teenage Fanclub: Love In A Cold Climate
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, July 2005
Ladies and gentlemen! Gasp, as Scots prestidigitators the Teenage Fanclub turn base indie guitar slag into romantic pop gold! Gape, as their death-defying story is ...
The Magic Numbers: The Magic Numbers
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, July 2005
Two pairs of siblings. One great album. Ben Thompson salutes a melodic, soft-pop masterpiece. ...
Dinosaur Jr.: Dinosaur Jr: Vera, Groningen
Live Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, August 2005
After a 15-year-cold war, legendary post-hardcore trio finally buries the hatchet. Lay down thy zimmer frame and pogo. ...
The Ramones: Weird Tales Of The Ramones
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, August 2005
NOTHING CAN recapture the impact of how The Ramones sounded in spring 1976. Listening to it now, it sounds slow, formal, almost sedate: the Superpop ...
The White Stripes: Heart of Darkness
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, August 2005
Join us for a tale of extraordinary madness as we sail through the Brazilian rainforest deep into the Heart Of Darkness. There we find the ...
Kraftwerk: "Kraftwerk Are The Catalyst"
Interview by Simon Witter, MOJO, September 2005
The band's art guru and oldest friend, EMIL SCHULT, gives a view from inside the Kraftwerk project. As told to Simon Witter. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Simon Witter, MOJO, September 2005
2009 NOTE: This is a 9000-word "Director's Cut" version of a 5000-word piece written for MOJO in September 2005. ...
Franz Ferdinand: Conquistadors! Franz Ferdinand in Madrid
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2005
Glasgow's skinny-ribbed art-punk superstars enjoy a Spanish stroll. Hola boys! says Keith Cameron ...
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Dellar, MOJO, October 2005
Today, Jimmy Scott is a legend, revered by Lou Reed and Madonna for his ethereal, unearthly soprano. But for years he languished in anonymity, battling ...
Madeleine Peyroux: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
Live Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2005
Francophile jazz singer makes for a better class of busker at the Edinburgh Festival. ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2005
Epic sounds from the Big Country, with a pocketful of soul and sanctified song. The Kentucky quintet's fourth album is a religious experience, says Keith ...
Paul Robeson: Pride & Prejudice: Paul Robeson by Martin Duberman (New Press) *****
Book Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, October 2005
From child prodigy to civil rights activist and outcast, the rise and fall of America's highest-paid concert singer is both touching and tragic, says Fred ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2005
IT OUGHT TO BE disconcerting that the toilet door is faulty and swings open of it's own accord catching MOJO in flagrante about to take ...
Neil Young: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2005
From rock opera to Grand Ole Opry. Neil Young and a cast of dozens play Nashville. ...
Neil Young: Prairie Wind (Reprise) ***
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2005
FACT SHEET• Back to Nashville and without Crazy Horse.• Recorded either side of his recent health scare. • First album of a long-term contract renewal ...
The Beau Brummels: Bradley's Barn
Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 2005
IF 1967 WAS the year that the torch passed from England back to America, from Swinging London to Haight-Ashbury, then 1968 was the year that ...
The Stooges: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, November 2005
For the first time since 1970, the Stooges play their legendary Fun House album. Paul Trynka gets loose. ...
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, December 2005
Leading a band of blood-thirsty long-haired crazies, Alice Cooper ruled '70s rock'n'roll, surviving hangings and electrocution, before booze, madness and global fame destroyed the beast. ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: War Babies
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2005
A Philly soul duo's descent into the "vomit of insanity" ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2005
TO SUM UP: Kate Bush is the greatest living British artist in song and this is her masterpiece. ...
Madonna: Stayin' Alive: Madonna: Confessions On A Dancefloor (Warner Bros) ****
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, December 2005
Her Madgesty's career saving eleventh album proves it's never too late to get back into the groove ...
The Clash, Sex Pistols: We're the daddies: Ladies and Gentlemen, We're the Fabulous Stains
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, Spring 2005
Anyone remember the legendary "lost" film featuring the Clash, Pistols and, erm, Ray Winstone? ...
Devo: We're The Pits, or Punk Comes to LA
Retrospective by John Mendelsohn, MOJO, Spring 2005
THREE YEARS AFTER my group Christopher Milk -- signed to Warner Bros. and produced, rather poorly, by a famous English producer -- agreed that we'd ...
Essay by Jim Irvin, MOJO, Summer 2005
IT WAS APRIL 1967, the morning after The Beatles had completed Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and The Zombies walked into Abbey Road Studios ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Brewster, MOJO, 2006
The Equals were a groundbreaking multiracial pop group at a time of terrible racism. This is the story of how they came together in a ...
Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, January 2006
SOME PUBLIC figures make reality TV shows about their turbulent tabloid lives. Here, Pete Doherty and his band have made Being Pete Doherty — The ...
The Fall: Mark E. Smith: An Interview
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2006
Heading: Hates "school prefect" Blair and punk. But after 30 years of booze, wives and 28 studio albums, has the Fall frontman finally found redemption? ...
Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship: Blows Against The Empire
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2006
ACID BLEW HIS mind, but that was never enough for Paul Kantner, Jefferson Airplane's chief songwriter and a sci-fi buff since he'd been in short ...
The Strokes: First Impressions Of Earth
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2006
Can everyone's favourite Big Apple posh-boy pin-ups beat the third album hoodoo? Or are they just talkin' 'bout their Blank Generation? ...
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not...
Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, March 2006
AS BANDS WITH Number 1 singles go, there's something marvellously raw and untutored about Arctic Monkeys. ...
Au Pairs: Stepping Out of Line
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2006
THE MIDDLE OF the first decade of the 21st century has seen a reappraisal of the music which followed punk. Not an academic, clinical exercise, ...
Kelley Stoltz: Below The Branches
Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, March 2006
Third LP and second consecutive corker from Bay Area-based cosmic troubadour. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 2006
IT WENT ALMOST unnoticed at the time, but in the midst of the big-haired pomp, regimented razzle and bloated clatter which characterised so much music ...
Book Review by Colin Irwin, MOJO, March 2006
A bold attempt to unravel the tragic secrets of an enduring, but still elusive, cult hero, says Colin Irwin ...
The Kinks: Tales of Ordinary Madness
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, March 2006
It ain't easy being Ray Davies — the eternal malcontent, "control freak" and genius behind The Kinks. On the eve of a barnstorming solo comeback, ...
David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Pink Floyd, Robert Wyatt: David Gilmour: And This Is Me...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2006
STRINGS SHIMMER, a bowed double-bass growls, a saxophone sighs. Heads bowed before the sound desk, David Gilmour and his two engineers listen. Again and again ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, April 2006
Weird tales from Baltimore and Cleveland: two albums from the American rock underground from the year that time forgot, 1975. ...
Morrissey: Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2006
Funny things happen on the way to the Forum: Morrissey's eighth album is a love-letter to Rome and getting it on. ...
Martha and The Muffins: One Hit Wonders: Martha and the Muffins' 'Echo Beach'
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, April 2006
MARTHA AND the Muffin's moodily reflective 'Echo Beach' is a new wave perennial, but somehow the Toronto band failed to score a follow-up British hit, ...
The Rolling Stones: United Center, Chicago
Live Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, April 2006
SINCE THEIR ESCAPE from UK tax laws in the early '70s, the Rolling Stones have been a band with no fixed abode. ...
Wire: Tense, Nervous, Headache
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2006
Combining art school sensibilities and musical inability, Wire rejected punk's pub-rock posturings for driving minimalism, fewer chords and no guitar solos. With the reissue of ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: Endless Love
Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, May 2006
He missed a European tour last summer and it seemed the end had come. Now, Arthur Lee convenes a new band in Memphis. ...
Leaf Hound: Growers Of Mushroom
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Harper, MOJO, May 2006
Horror stories, heavy riffs and heroic failure. ...
Serge Gainsbourg: Behold The Dirty Old Man
Report and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, May 2006
Fifteen years after he smoked his last Gitanes, Serge Gainsbourg goes international. ...
Profile and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, May 2006
Take Jack White's soul power. Add Brendan Benson's pop savvy. Chuck in a garage-rock rhythm section. Result? 21st century pop-rock supergroup, the Raconteurs. ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, May 2006
Bloodied But Unbowed Indie Rock Grandeur ...
Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Magazine: Various Artists: Zero - A Martin Hannett Story 1977-1991
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, May 2006
The post-punk Phil Spector lives on again on a (single CD) retrospective that reveals him to be a producer both before his time and ahead ...
Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2006
What Bruce did next: a hoedown gospel blues klezmer-zydeco celebration of Pete Seeger. Obviously, says Phil Sutcliffe. ...
Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: Who's That Girl
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, June 2006
She's the British R&B sensation who wants to keep it "underground". But can Corinne Bailey Rae convince America's taste-makers without selling her soul? ...
Gnarls Barkley: Say Yes To Droogs!
Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, June 2006
Welcome Gnarls Barkley, The Hip Hop Superband Who've Scored The Planet's First Download-Only Number 1. ...
Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood: The Death of Johnny Thunders
Retrospective by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006
How much do we know about the death of Johnny Thunders? That it was murder, says Kris Needs. ...
Jackie DeShannon: Jackie de Shannon: Majestic DeShannon
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, June 2006
Jackie Deshannon — Folk Rock Pioneer, Chart Artist and Songwriter of Renown ...
New York Dolls: Make-up America!
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, June 2006
In 1971 Manhattan, five teenage toughs in make-up, tried to kick-start the punk revolution. By 1976 the New York Dolls seemed finished, poleaxed by drugs, ...
The Clash, The Damned, Sex Pistols, The Vibrators: Punk File #1: The First Anarchic Year
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, June 2006
'76 WAS PRETTY hairy. The anniversary headlines might read "1976, The Year Of Punk", but for most kids flares and long hair (still a sign ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2006
A trilogy in two parts. The Chilis' ninth sees their star still in the ascendance. ...
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, June 2006
The most extraordinary changeling in pop's 11-year-itch is more twisted, tormented and thrilling than ever. ...
The Replacements: Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?
Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, June 2006
IT SEEMED UNLIKELY that legendary American pre-grunge band the Replacements would ever reunite. In fact, bassist Tommy Stinson — who's played with Axl Rose's current ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2006
… but not when you have the constitution of a warthog and you're the Lewis gun of the bass guitar. Cue tales of Sid Vicious, ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2006
A "metal folk protest album", says Neil. Made in 10 days, and remarkably good too. ...
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2006
They created a new vocabulary for rock guitar and turned tricks with both the avant-garde and MTV kids. After 25 years, can Sonic Youth still ...
Cocteau Twins: Hello Goodbye: Cocteau Twins
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2006
It began with naivety and unbelievable luck, and ended with control freakery and cabin fever. ...
Marc Almond: In the studio this month… Marc Almond
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2006
AS THINGS STAND, Marc Almond's next album will be called My Life. ...
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, August 2006
THERE AREN'T too many singers who've been shot, stabbed, burst their pancreas, and had their right leg amputated at the knee. Fewer still whose career ...
Comment by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2006
How Radiohead sound like Radiohead, and like none of their influences. ...
Radiohead, Thom Yorke: Thom Yorke: Ghost in the Machine
Interview by Nick Kent, MOJO, August 2006
Q: What happens when "a bunch of stupidly self-critical pathological overachievers" form a rock band? A: They become Radiohead. Thom Yorke talks candidly to Nick Kent ...
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2006
Following Chronicles, the Martin Scorsese documentary and his satellite radio show Bob Dylan's stock in 2006 couldn't be higher. But it's been a long time ...
Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, September 2006
Ex-child models at war with pop convention, the siblings of Sparks are bloodied but unbowed. But what underpins their ever-baroque edifice? Brotherly love? "We don't ...
Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett: Syd Barrett
Obituary by Rob Chapman, MOJO, September 2006
This is the full version of a piece that appeared in Mojo, September 2006 ...
The Pursuit Of Happiness: None Of Your Rubbish
Retrospective by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 2006
This month, retrieved from the void of obscurity: kidult-oriented Canadian pop glory. ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Highway Companion
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 2006
On his third outing without the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty mixes nostalgia, protest and resignation to pay bittersweet tribute to his rock'n'roll radio roots. ...
George Clinton: An Interview with George Clinton
Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, October 2006
Mix Motown, acid, Jethro Tull and a guitarist in a nappy and you get George Clinton. But where now for the sage of Parliament/Funkadelic? "The ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee: Love Hurts
Retrospective and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2006
Egomaniac, original, troubled genius: Arthur Lee — who died last month — was all of these and more, his band, the legendary Love, kicked viscerally ...
Charlotte Gainsbourg: Born Again Gainsbourg
Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, October 2006
Serge's girl Charlotte returns with her first album since 1986. ...
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, October 2006
After their last album suggested a split, OutKast get it together again in spectacular fashion. Just don't call it a comeback, says Angus Batey. ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, October 2006
They were there at the beginning. Now a 4-CD box set spans 1964-1990 in yet another career overview, Gene-Clark-heavy this time, with five unreleased tracks ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: Black Eyes, White Noise
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2006
Born of new town alienation, sibling rivalry, and teen dreams of the ultimate band, the Jesus And Mary Chain cut through the glossy flab of ...
The Lemonheads: The Lemonheads
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2006
Forget smoking rocks, just bring back the rock. After a 10-year hiatus, Evan Dando returns to his first love. ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Rock Of Ages
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, October 2006
Hard-headed master of the American rock song, soft-hearted support system to superannuated superstars, Tom Petty crowns 30 years' making albums with his best since Wallflowers. ...
Review by Paul Elliott, MOJO, November 2006
Once a teen prodigy, now a major contender. Amy Winehouse comes of age on her second album, says Paul Elliott. ...
Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, November 2006
He's the jive-talking jackdaw who's led Primal Scream through foul weather and, er...foul. Yet, 22 years on, what has Bobby Gillespie learned? "It's not nice ...
The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: United Centre, Chicago
Live Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, November 2006
President-baiting Texans gain new fans but lose musical momentum. ...
Retrospective by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 2006
ON THE Friday night of September 23, 1966, former Animals bassist-turned-would-be-starmaker Chas Chandler, Animals road manager Terry McVay, and Jimmy (as he was then) Hendrix ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2006
Jim Irvin welcomes the long-awaited CD reissue of the mysterious folk singer's only "proper" album, from 1971. ...
Madeleine Peyroux: Half The Perfect World
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 2006
A truly beautiful record and one from the heart, sighs Mat Snow. A romantic masterpiece is born. ...
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2006
Eagerly awaited re-release of the ex-Action lead singer's sole 1971 solo outing. ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: The Whamee 1953-55 (Rev-Ola)
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2006
Born bad: early recordings for Grand, Mercury, Wing, Timely and Gotham. ...
Sonic's Rendezvous Band: Sonic's Rendezvous Band
Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, November 2006
Box set from Detroit supergroup led by ex-MC5 guitarist (and Patti Smith hubby) Fred Smith. ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: The Projected Passion Revue (Mercury) ***
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2006
NOBODY CRIED in 1981. Public displays of emotion weren't fashionable. The times demanded detachment, cynicism, or utter peacockery. ...
Guide by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, December 2006
The revolutionary, still-smokin' independent. ...
Patti Smith: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, December 2006
A night of remembrance — and a night to remember, gasps Mark Paytress. ...
The Beatles: Love (Apple)*****
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2006
WE'RE NOT unsympathetic to readers who complain of Beatles fatigue, but we reserve the right to counsel: "Deal with it", because for a large section ...
The Magic Numbers: Those The Brokes
Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, December 2006
The Magic Numbers hit most of the right notes, says Johnny Sharp, but not necessarily in the right order. ...
Tom Waits: Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers And Bastards
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 2006
Dylan? Dickens? Rembrandt? Shakespeare? A 21st century beggars' banquet. ...
David Bowie: Bowie In America 1972/73
Retrospective by Ian Gittins, MOJO, January 2007
MORE THAN 30 years after the event, Ziggy Stardust remains one of the most inventive and flamboyant productions in rock history. Yet when Bowie took ...
Retrospective by Ian Gittins, MOJO, January 2007
BY THE END of recording Station To Station in Los Angeles in 1975, David Bowie was in meltdown. Strung-out, paranoid and at war with his ...
The Beatles, George Martin: George Martin
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, January 2007
THE PENTHOUSE mixing room at the top of Abbey Road Studios. We await Sir George Martin, who is 30 minutes late. "This is most unlike ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: The Beach Boys: The Making of Pet Sounds
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, January 2007
BACKSTAGE AT UCLA's Royce Hall a joyous sound suddenly erupts from behind a closed door, which one assumes leads to Brian Wilson's dressing room judging ...
The Beatles, George Martin: The Sound Of Sgt. Pepper
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, January 2007
THE RECORD ALWAYS regarded as a harbinger of pop's future is full of old-fashioned sounds. These are, in order of appearance: a theatre orchestra tuning ...
Bobby Bare: A Bird Named Yesterday/Talk Me Some Sense/Down & Dirty... Plus
Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, February 2007
BARE'S A COUNTRY giant, up there alongside Cash, Haggard, Waylon'n'Willie. A one-time pop kid who toured with the likes of Bobby Darin, he notched a ...
Jamie T: Panic Prevention (Virgin) ***
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2007
Further Cockney hip hop explorations in the spirit of Dury, Madness, Squeeze. ...
Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, February 2007
What drives the Velvets' viola-wielding Welsh polymath who tutored Nick Drake and Patti Smith, quit drugs for clothes and suffered 40 years of Lou Reed? ...
Retrospective by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 2007
Jon Savage returns to the claustrophobic urban landscape of post-punk northern England to re-examine the soul-scorching singular vision of the band's late vocalist, Ian Curtis, ...
Retrospective by Paul Elliott, MOJO, February 2007
Threatened by punk, Led Zep, Sabbath and Purple came under fire in 1977. A year later Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Saxon led a New ...
Norah Jones: Right On Time: Norah Jones: Not Too Late (Blue Note) ****
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, February 2007
The bar has been raised with Norah's triumphant homemade third album, declares Chris Ingham ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Time Machine: Alex Harvey Dies, 4 February 1982
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Dellar, MOJO, February 2007
TOMORROW I'LL be home, he thought. The tour had taken a lot out of him, but that was to be expected. After all, tomorrow he'd ...
Overview by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, March 2007
"I SAW THIS face looking up at me out of the trashcan. It was a woman. It looked like a flamenco dancer staring at me. ...
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2007
He founded Atlantic, the greatest "indie" record company ever, signed everyone from Ray Charles to The Rolling Stones, and did it all with a rare ...
Bright Eyes: That Vision Thing
Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, April 2007
As Bright Eyes he's spent half his 27 years as the boozy Dylan of disaffected youth. On the eve of a new album, Stevie Chick ...
The Electric Prunes: California Dreamin': The Electric Prunes: Too Much To Dream (Rhino) ***
Review and Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, April 2007
They trod an awkward career path, says Mark Paytress, but The Electric Prunes had moments of proto-psych wizardry. ...
Book Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, April 2007
A life in music, rich in chemical romances, bickering stars and some wonderful work, is recounted with great dignity, says Mark Paytress ...
Retrospective by Mick Houghton, MOJO, April 2007
The sound of the wildly original country cat who penned Elvis' 'Burning Love'. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2007
Stung by the exit of Peter Gabriel, slandered by punk and riven with insecurities, Genesis survived '70s prog to become the biggest band of the ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Iggy Pop: Meet Ze Monster
Retrospective by Paul Trynka, MOJO, April 2007
How shy, preppy James Osterberg built himself an alter ego that would allow him to dominate, ingest and fornicate at will. And how, in turn, ...
The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood: Ronnie Wood
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2007
TO BE A Rolling Stone is a singular occupation. Last autumn, the phone rang at Ronnie Wood's Manhattan lodgings. Hello, it's Hillary Clinton. She said, ...
The Stooges: Return To The Fun House
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2007
SCENES OF PRIMAL rock'n'roll hoopla are not the normal preserve of a Butlins holiday camp. Yet behind the stage of the Reds ballroom, next door ...
Queens Of The Stone Age: Step Inside The Best Little Whorehouse In Rock
Profile and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, July 2007
For the past decade, Queens Of The Stone Age have been the premier destination for wild, sexually charged rock, frequented by everyone from Dave Grohl ...
Love's Forever Changes Revisited
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, August 2007
"LOVE WAS THE breakthrough band of the '60s," began journalist Phil Gallo's liner notes to the 1995 box set Love Story 1966-72. ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly and the Family Stone: Bournemouth Opera House
Live Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 2007
YOU'RE A LIFE-LONG fan of a band that fell apart long before you were old enough to see them play. Suddenly, you hear that the ...
Profile by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2007
PRINCE JUST stood the music industry on its ear again. You can tell because they're saying he's gone barmy, just like they did when he ...
Blondie, Debbie Harry: Debbie Harry
Profile and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, MOJO, October 2007
DEBORAH HARRY'S road manager is a tall Californian called Machine. He has a moustache, a firm handshake, and is ineffably polite. "Deborah will be with ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, November 2007
JULY 26, 1978: The Clash are on the third out of four nights at Camden's Music Machine during their chaotically-successful On Parole tour. Suicide, here ...
Led Zeppelin: John Paul Jones: The Quiet One
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 2007
IN THE WORLD'S loudest group, John Paul Jones was the Quiet One. He never seemed to speak, and though he grooved, it was pressed up ...
Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, Summer 2007
THE RELEASE of Big Brother And The Holding Company's self-titled debut album in the summer of 1967 should have been a highwater mark in both ...
Retrospective by Dave Thompson, MOJO, Summer 2007
IT'S PROBABLY heresy to say it aloud and there's several hundred Best Psychedelic Album In The World... Ever type compilations that can shoot the thought ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: George Harrison Visits Haight-Ashbury In Summer 1967
Retrospective by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, Summer 2007
UNCOMMON sightings were downright common in the Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love. But even in that colorful context, the visit of George Harrison to ...
Jimi Hendrix: Remade in Britain
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, MOJO, Summer 2007
DATELINE: LONDON, January 29, 1967. It was, if such archaic terminology could still be employed, the ultimate Battle of the Bands, trans-Atlantic style. ...
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, Summer 2007
ED SULLIVAN has an awful lot to answer for. It's a delicious irony that the stiff-necked, neo-conservative host of The Ed Sullivan Show, the country's ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead
Retrospective by Dave DiMartino, MOJO, Summer 2007
WE ARE GETTING ahead of ourselves slightly, but we are in New York at the tail end of 1967, late December in the Village, in ...
Retrospective by Joel Selvin, MOJO, Summer 2007
ALL THROUGH the previous year, word filtered out of San Francisco about remarkable happenings and a strange new community of youths gathering around the city's ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, Summer 2007
RELEASED AT the tail end of the summer of love, 'A Hole In My Shoe' was hailed by NME as "an incredible disc which you ...
The Beatles: When Acid Reigned
Retrospective by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, Summer 2007
Hippies tripped, tabloids raged and police cheered as Engelbert Humperdinck's Jan '67 hit, 'Release Me' became the real theme tune for the Summer of Love. ...
Amy Winehouse: Killing Me Softly
Report by Paul Elliott, MOJO, January 2008
She is the finest female vocalist of her generation, but in 2007 Amy Winehouse became an easy mark for the tabloids, with tales of drugs, ...
Bonzo Dog Band: Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band: Pour L'Amour Des Chiens
Review by Johnny Black, MOJO, January 2008
The '60s' best-loved musical satirists return; guests stand in for Viv Stanshall. ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2008
The nu-model soul diva waxes poetic on her second eclectic offering of cover versions. ...
David Crosby on If I Could Only Remember My Name
Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, January 2008
IF I COULD Only Remember My Name, David Crosby's 1971 debut solo album sits high on a hill, shining brightly, and quite alone in the ...
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2008
THE TALE is set in 1900 and tells of a hermit-like man of undetermined powers, misunderstood and shunned by rest of his village, against a ...
Jill Scott: The Real Thing – Words and Sounds vol. 3
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2008
Scott chronicles her marriage break-up. More Let's Get It On than Here, My Dear, though, says Lois Wilson. ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2008
Keith Cameron speaks to Polly Jean about finding her voice, the muse and playing harmonica down the pub. ...
Radiohead's In Rainbows: Jonny Greenwood speaks
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, January 2008
Radiohead have made the album of the year. No one is more surprised than them. Guitarist Jonny Greenwood talks to Mark Paytress. ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, February 2008
Second full album as Vancouver heavy psychers turn up the heat with their dark magick. ...
Retrospective by Kris Needs, MOJO, February 2008
SEPTEMBER 15, 1978, BIRMINGHAM. Blondie are on form tonight and they know it. Although the previous day's Manchester gig saw screaming adulation and post-gig mobbing, ...
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2008
Four years in the making, In Rainbows is both tortured and triumphant… Here, for the first time, is the unexpurgated inside story of the album ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, February 2008
Not many would have dared step into Judy's ruby slippers and revisit her most celebrated concert, but this man did. Jim Irvin prepares to weep ...
The Godfathers: Welcome Back: The Godfathers
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2008
Cult Rock'n'roll Enforcers Return To Take Care Of Unfinished Business ...
Review by Lucy O'Brien, MOJO, March 2008
Soulful, streetwise debut from the much-hyped Tottenham chanteuse. ...
Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 2008
Seventh studio album by the Athens, Georgia-based Southern rockers finds them regrouped and stronger than ever. ...
Review by Roy Wilkinson, MOJO, March 2008
This month in our dusting-off of the ignored: post-punk's answer to Lou Reed's Transformer. ...
Memoir by Andria Lisle, MOJO, March 2008
Demonised during his lifetime, Ike Turner left a musical legacy that matched his fearsome reputation. Andria Lisle, a former associate, pays her respects to one ...
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, April 2008
Escapist soulful pop from Bernard Butler protégé, who hails from north Wales ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2008
Bodies jerk and brains overheat down at the intellectual disco. ...
Obituary by Michael Simmons, MOJO, April 2008
American singer and songwriter John Stewart died on January 19. His friend Michael Simmons says goodbye. ...
Review by David Buckley, MOJO, April 2008
A reinvigorated R.E.M. address the disappointment of Around The Sun by stripping back and shifting up a gear. David Buckley feels the burn. ...
The Black Crowes: The Return of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers
Interview by Paul Elliott, MOJO, April 2008
After seven years in the wilderness, the Black Crowes, America's freewheelin', dope-smokin', warring Blues Brotherhood are back. And this time their singer Chris Robinson is ...
Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, May 2008
Long delayed, "troubled" follow-up to Portishead's long-delayed, "troubled" second album. ...
The Special AKA, The Specials: The Specials: Original Gangsters
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, May 2008
Out of the inner-city misery and post-punk experiment of the late '70s came a group of black and white Coventry kids called the Specials who ...
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, June 2008
The eldritch folk siren, in her own words and by her own hand ...
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, June 2008
Raised in a one-room cabin in Tennessee, schooled in love songs by a pompadoured '60s TV start, Dolly Parton turned her back on pop and ...
Bobby "Blue" Bland, Simply Red: Mick Hucknall meets Bobby "Blue" Bland
Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, June 2008
He revolutionised soul in the early '60s, sings like an angel in anguish, and has influenced everyone from Otis Redding to Van Morrison. Now Bobby ...
The Cribs, Johnny Marr: The Cribs and Johnny Marr
Report and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, June 2008
The Smiths and Modest Mouse guitar man blows minds with Wakefield's finest. ...
The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson: Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, July 2008
The lonely surfer: The Beach Boy's late Cali masterwork finally on CD. Many extra include the unreleased, long-lost follow-up Bambu. Was is worth that wait? ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, July 2008
JUNE 1982: The tall, dapper figure in the silver-grey zoot suit, two-tone shoes and white Panama hat stares at a TV screen in one of ...
Walter Becker: Rock'n'Roll Confidential: Walter Becker
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, August 2008
One half of the Steely Dan superbrain talks Dylan, psychology and the blues. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2008
SOUNDCHECK. Not long now; the comeback gig's only three hours away. But they don't look nervous. Even when their faces appear in enormous close-up on ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, September 2008
Strange but true: Return of a 1970 proto-rap legend ...
Pierre Henry, Spooky Tooth: Spooky Tooth/Pierre Henry: Ceremony – An Electronic Mass
Retrospective by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 2008
Mass Trespass: This month in the landfill of obscurity, a pioneering, random fusion of blues rock and gothic electronics. ...
Bob Dylan: Suze Rotolo: A Freewheelin' Time – A Memoir Of Greenwich Village In The Sixties
Book Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2008
Who's that girl? One reason Dylan loved the Freewheelin' cover girl was she "could keep secrets". Now she's written a book — and still kept ...
Kanye West: 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella) ****
Review by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2008
NB This record wasn't made available to reviewers properly, due partly to Kanye still working on it at the time MOJO went to press. As ...
Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, March 2009
He was Roxy Music's synth-basher and the architect of ambient. Now outside-the-box boffin Brian Eno is working with U2 and Coldplay. "Producing is the best paid form ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman: Nick Cave: King of Pain
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 2009
"TEA? PIECE OF CAKE?" says Nick Cave civilly. After an earlier on-tour interview at the Malmaison Hotel, Manchester, he's invited MOJO to his office, a ...
Pete Seeger: The Voice Of America
Comment by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2009
WHEN PETE SEEGER, the man Bruce Springsteen calls "the father of American folk music", walks on stage at Madison Square Garden on May 3 for ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2009
WILL OLDHAM could never make it as an Old Testament prophet. Despite the beard, the hair and the intensity, the atheism would always let him ...
Mott The Hoople: Teenage Riot!
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, May 2009
This is the complete, unedited version of the feature from Mojo, May 2009 ...
Billie Holiday: 'Strange Fruit' At 70
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 2009
SEVENTY YEARS AGO this month Billie Holiday released 'Strange Fruit'; man's inhumanity to man made manifest in precisely three minutes, 12 scalding lines, inspired by ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2009
JUST 29 YEARS into Depeche Mode's evolution from hoppity-boppity three-minute wonders of Futurism to global phenomenon of electronic rock and here's sempiternal hit songwriter Martin ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, September 2009
IT'S A SUNNY morning in San Francisco but the hotel conference room is dark, empty except for an enormous table circled by chairs. One of ...
The Seeds: Real Gone: Sky Saxon
Obituary by Kirk Silsbee, MOJO, September 2009
SKY SAXON, the colorful lead singer and sometime bassist of the Seeds, one of the great Sunset Strip bands of the 1960s, died June 25 ...
Diamond Head: Buried Treasure: Diamond Head's Canterbury
Retrospective by Paul Elliott, MOJO, October 2009
This month's exhumation from the vaults of indifference: Midlands metal tryers laid low by pressing plant cack-handedness and cardboard scythes. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, October 2009
Motown's square-peg bombshell on cultdom, comebacks and Jimi Hendrix ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan's Christmas Album: First Listen!
Report by Michael Simmons, MOJO, October 2009
SANTA DROPPED Bob Dylan's Christmas Album Down Mojo's chimney last night, and as we celebrated with premature mince pies and stollen it provided plenty of ...
Jah Wobble: The Bass Leviathan, In His Own Words
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, October 2009
How would you describe yourself... ...
Mike Oldfield: Lord Of The Rings
Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 2009
He created one of the most monolithic albums of the '70s, but behind the ambitious swoop of Tubular Bells lies a story of darkness, bad ...
The Cribs, Johnny Marr: The Cribs: State of Independence
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, October 2009
Yorkshire siblings the Cribs have spent seven years spurning rock star indulgences for DIY indie sufferance, winning over everyone from Franz Ferdinand to Sonic Youth ...
Interview by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, October 2009
Midlands Lifer Spins Heartbreak Into Songwriting Gold ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys: Tom Petty
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 2009
This is the full, uncut version of the piece that appeared in Mojo, October 2009. ...
Review by Jeff Tamarkin, MOJO, October 2009
The latest in the Nuggets franchise documents the most fertile few years in southern Californian music history, taking in curios, weirdos, hipsters, freaks and a ...
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2009
France's Melancholic Melodists, In Their Own Words ...
Big Star, Alex Chilton: Alex Chilton: Out Of Time
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2009
A Beatles-obsessed quartet of '70s Memphis kids offering power-pop acid-drops for a soul label and a heavy rock public, Big Star were the ultimate misfit ...
Annette Peacock: Buried Treasure: Annette Peacock's I'm The One
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2009
"IN THE '60s," Annette Peacock vouches, "everyone was an individual. Hendrix, Sly Stone, Dylan, Joplin… If you were of your time, you had to find ...
Ellie Greenwich: Leader Of The Pack
Obituary by Bob Stanley, MOJO, November 2009
BARRY MANN and Cynthia Weil were the social conscience, Gerry Goffin and Carole King the most tortured, but it was Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry ...
Jim Dickinson: "I'm Just Dead: I'm Not Gone"
Memoir by Bob Mehr, MOJO, November 2009
A Sun Records artist who played with Dylan, the Stones and Aretha and produced key albums by Big Star and Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson was ...
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2009
Master musician, recording pioneer, inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, Les Paul changed the face of popular music. Bill DeMain pays tribute to a great ...
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2009
Post-punk's dissonant game changers return to inspire again. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2009
THE FALL IS A PRETTY comprehensive break-up album. Norah Jones has broken up with Lee Alexander, for eight years her boyfriend and double-bassist and, on ...
The Police, Stewart Copeland: Stewart Copeland
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2009
YOU'D THINK Stewart Copeland might have taken a break after the Police reunion tour — 158 gigs, 921,000 paying customers, $297 million gross. ...
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2009
THE SMALL, GRIZZLED man in the check shirt indicated he'd like a cigarette. The small, curly-haired, young man sitting opposite handed him a Raleigh. The ...
Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, 2010
'Jig-A-Jig' was an unexpected hit for East Of Eden. Although the band's funky, jazz-influenced chops were to the fore on the break, pop fans picked ...
Eli "Paperboy" Reed: The Soul Evangelist
Profile and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2010
THE MOST FEROCIOUS BLUE-EYED-SOUL BELTER OF HIS GENERATION FORGED HIS EXULTANT VOCAL STYLE IN A BLACK CHURCH ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. ELI "PAPERBOY" ...
Kevin Coyne: I Want My Crown - The Anthology 1973–1980
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, January 2010
Four–disc appreciation of British singer–songwriterhood's best kept secret. ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2010
"I DESPISE THE values of the rock music industry, for the most part," Gerry Rafferty tells MOJO as he launches his comeback into said biz ...
Peter Gabriel: Scratch My Back
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, February 2010
FOR MOST OF US, the prospect on paper of, quote, a "song exchange concept" between Peter Gabriel and a dozen other thinking-person's art-rockers old and ...
Mickey Newbury: An American Triology
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 2010
He was the hottest songwriter in town. But when he made his own records, the world wasn't ready for songs of utter despair accompanied by ...
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2010
BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE and everybody inside has their winter coats on too, even though 60 of us are crammed together in Sunderland's most bijou ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, May 2010
"I'VE GOT so much to do. All the music in the world," wrote Arthur Russell to a San Francisco friend after arriving in New York ...
Lowell George, Little Feat: Lowell George: Time Loves a Hero
Retrospective by Michael Simmons, MOJO, May 2010
A '70s guitar visionary and genius songwriter, Lowell George of Little Feat is rock's lost star. Michael Simmons pays tribute. ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 2010
"WE DON'T shy away from the fire, us McGarrigle-Wainwrights," Rufus Wainwright laughs. "We're made of stern stuff." ...
John Hiatt, Little Village: Hello Goodbye: John Hiatt and Little Village
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2010
WE CONVENED at Ry [Cooder]'s house in Santa Monica. Set up some amps in a ground-floor room which opened out on to his garden. ...
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, July 2010
Eleventh album by West Coast former home-recording recluse — now with band — might just be his breakthrough. ...
Bob Dylan: "Bob Knew There'd Be Butting Of Heads"
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, July 2010
HOW DYLAN'S FIRST ALBUM OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL SINCE 1990 BECAME A WAR OF WILLS, AND AN ARTISTIC TRIUMPH. AS TOLD TO MICHAEL SIMMONS. ...
Jane Weaver: The Fallen By Watch Bird
Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, July 2010
Spindle wakes: Folk takes a cosmic voyage to inner space. ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2010
The songs remain the same: The kings are gone but they're not forgotten. A compilation of every Oasis single is the first posthumous release from ...
Review by Bill Holdship, MOJO, July 2010
THIS IS one of those wonderful, unexpected releases that many people once believed could never exist. ...
Steve Winwood: Maida Vale Studios, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2010
Musicianship gets in the way of music as BBC studio with a great face for radio hosts revered veteran. ...
David Bowie, John Peel: God's DJ: John Peel
Memoir by David Buckley, MOJO, 1 September 2010
God's DJ would have been 71 on Monday. David Buckley recalls a birthday encounter for MOJO online... ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2010
HE'S 66, IT'S 54 years since he first sang in public, and 41 since he captivated Woodstock, so Joe Cocker says he's slightly bemused that ...
Bob Dylan: Izzy Young: The Man Who Made Bob Dylan
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, MOJO, December 2010
NOVEMBER 4, 1962: Bob Dylan is invoking the time-honoured image of the out-of-town rambler lost on New York's convoluted subway system as he nervously attempts ...
John Grant's Queen of Denmark: MOJO Album of 2010
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2010
AUTHOR'S NOTE: John Grant's debut solo album Queen Of Denmark deservedly won MOJO Magazine's album of 2010. I interviewed him about the MOJO victory and ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011
A GOLDEN RICH GUITAR PHRASE pulses out warmth and beauty and Neil Young keens "I want to live/I want to give/I've been a miner for ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011
A GREAT SONGWRITER'S imagination knows no bounds. Take Paul Simon. His 70th birthday is coming up in October and his musical and verbal cornucopia of ...
Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood: Saving the 100 Club
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011
"RONNIE WOOD was one of the first musicians I ever met," says Mick Taylor, seated deep in the murk of the 100 Club. "The Cherry ...
Viv Albertine: Self-Portrait: Viv Albertine
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, March 2011
I DESCRIBE MYSELF as… Vivacious. Vindictive [laughs]. Vain. Vociferous. Someone attempting to be honest but probably failing miserably. Mostly because of all the conditioning that ...
Dusty Springfield: Southern Harmony
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, April 2011
She was one of the greatest vocalists of all time at the height of her powers but for Dusty Springfield the making of Dusty in ...
Dusty Springfield: Keeping The Faith: The making of Dusty's lost Atlantic album
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, MOJO, April 2011
IN JANUARY 1971, Dusty Springfield flew to New York to begin work on what was planned as her third album for Atlantic Records. Some of ...
Romeo Void: Altruist and shout: Romeo Void: Benefactor (Columbia 1982)
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2011
Retrieved from the slip road fly-tip of rock, new wave unease and dissent beloved of Queens of the Stone Age. ...
Derek & The Dominos: Derek and the Dominos: The Story of Layla
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 2011
NOTE: This is a slightly modified version of the original MOJO piece. ...
Kate Bush: A Portrait Of The Artist
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, June 2011
Why is Kate Bush re-recording tracks from her most troubled records? Is there really a proper new album in the works? And will the James ...
Profile by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2011
SIGNIFICANTLY OR NOT, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's best known product/gift to the world, Transcendental Meditation, was trademarked — and "TM" is a TM too, along with ...
Retrospective and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, June 2011
Four pale, skinny suburban fops, inspired by Bowie and The Smiths, at the start of 1994 SUEDE were British pop saviours, poised for greatness. But ...
Kiki Dee: The way she came in: Kiki Dee: I'm Kiki Dee (Fontana 1968)
Retrospective by Pete Paphides, MOJO, June 2011
Rescued this month from the dank basement of underground music fandom, '60s pop splendor of uplift and emotional devastation. By Peter Paphides. ...
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 2011
The Italian from Munich changed how records were made ...
Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex: Poly Styrene: A Life In Day-Glo
Obituary by Kris Needs, MOJO, July 2011
PUNK UNIQUE POLY STYRENE OF X-RAY SPEX DIED ON APRIL 25. KRIS NEEDS PAYS TRIBUTE TO AN UNFORGETTABLE TALENT ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Bohemian Rhapsody
Interview by Bob Mehr, MOJO, July 2011
Fuelled by a bitter split with lover Tom Waits, scarred by spiraling addictions and underwritten by her traumatic childhood, Rickie Lee Jones' Pirates album took ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, July 2011
"YEEEEOW," THE GUITAR howled and groaned, the band went dumdum, dumdum, and "Wild thing!" Reg Presley breathed and sighed… and across the table in this ...
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Mirror Traffic
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 2011
Steve's fifth post-Pavement platter, produced in LA by pal Beck Hansen. ...
The Faces, Ian McLagan, The Small Faces: The Mojo Interview: Ian McLagan
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, August 2011
How do you survive "unbelievable" acid trips in the Small Faces, being Don Arden's meal ticket or acting like "drunken bastards" in the Faces? It's ...
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2011
"THEY shake until they break bones, whack their bodies around," hollers slick-suit, sweat-soaked soul-rock frontman Ty Taylor, talking up the effect Vintage Trouble have on ...
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2011
"I FEEL WE'RE here to help each other and make this existence meaningful," says Abigail Washburn, skyping from Nashville. You couldn't begin to guess the ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2011
"NEXT TIME YOU see me I might have a full head of hair," says Peter Gabriel — which would be a surprise, because he's been ...
Loudon Wainwright III: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2011
"LOOK WHAT can happen!" grins Loudon Wainwright III, examining then-and-now portraits on the lid of his career-spanning box set, 40 Odd Years. In 1970 he's ...
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, November 2011
REAL ESTATE'S self-titled 2009 debut album was recorded at home — some of it on borrowed equipment — but Days is a marked improvement on ...
Field Music: Work in Progress: Field Music
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2011
THE BREWIS BROTHERS have worked away all year on (the provisionally-titled) FM4 and they're done bar tricky bits like naming the songs, which they fret ...
Bert Jansch: On The Road So Long
Obituary by Colin Irwin, MOJO, December 2011
A virtuoso guitarist who knew no boundaries and inspired Jimmy Page and Neil Young, Bert Jansch died on October 5. Colin Irwin says farewell ...
Kate Bush: Catch Her Drift: Kate Bush: 50 Words For Snow (Fish People/EMI) ****
Review and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, December 2011
Snow as a metaphor for the fragility of youth or a woman with "a thing" for snowmen? Kate Bush's second album of the year is ...
Cocteau Twins: An Interview with Robin Guthrie
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2011
One half of indie's most ethereal duo on the eternal quest for "musical finesse and beauty" ...
Todd Rundgren: The MOJO Interview: Todd Rundgren
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 2012
TWO DAYS AFTER a throat-shredding three-night stand at London's Jazz Café, Todd Harry Rundgren seems relieved merely to be talking. Still sporting multi-coloured – black ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2012
AS CONCEPT ALBUMS go it was one of the more eccentric creations of the late 1960s. The mouthful of a title alone (Suite for Susan ...
Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2012
THE WESTERN WORLD'S in economic grief and the poor get the dirty end of the stick. Er, Bruce? ...
Johnny Cash: Out Of The Blue and Into The Black: Johnny Cash
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 2012
IT'S NOT EXACTLY boom-chicka-boom, but the twangy guitar part that kicks off Johnny Cash's 1971 album Man In Black is the same minimal single-string picking ...
The Beach Boys: Hang On To Your Egos: The Beach Boys at 50
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, June 2012
NOTE: With a few minor differences, this was the piece that ran as a MOJO cover story. ...
Rufus Wainwright: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2012
WHAT WAS ON Rufus Wainwright's mind while making his new album, the sparkly, pop-ish, Mark Ronson-produced Out Of The Game? Only this. ...
Dexys: One Day I'm Going To Soar
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2012
HIS LAST RECORD saw him singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' in make-up and a dress. Now Kevin Rowland has returned to the source, reviving the ...
The Band, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm: Garth Hudson on Levon Helm
Memoir by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 2012
"THE FIRST TIME I saw Levon in action was in Woodstock, Ontario, about thirty-five miles from London, where I grew up. Ronnie and the Hawks ...
Bill Fay: Man In The Shed: Bill Fay: Life Is People (Dead Oceans) *****
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 2012
BILL FAY has been making music for at least 45 years. For many of them, his work as a professional musician — a single and ...
The Band, Levon Helm: Oh Brother Where Art Thou? The Night They Drove Ole Levon Down
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 2012
IN THE BACKWOODS gang that was The Band, Levon Helm was the lean and wiry chancer with one eye on the ladies and a voice ...
Ian Gillan: Ian Gillian on Jesus Christ Superstar
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2012
"TIM RICE MADE the call to Deep Purple's management. Apparently, he thought of me for Jesus when he heard 'Child In Time' (Concerto For Group ...
Dead Can Dance: Restless Souls
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2012
THE PENUMBRAL LEGEND of Dead Can Dance — 4AD's ethno-gothic enigmas — has loomed large in their 16 year absence from the studio. Now the ...
Donald Fagen: Sunken Condos — Drowning not waving
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, December 2012
SUNKEN CONDOS: it's an eerie image; all our iPads, Audi TTs and bubble money submerged like Debussy's piano prelude 'La Cathedrale Engloutie'. So too our ...
Marcos Valle: Marcos Valle/Garra/Vento Sul/Previsão Do Tempo (Light In The Attic)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, December 2012
Four long-unavailable Brazilian classics by surfing bossa nova star seeking to ride newer waves. ...
Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, January 2013
The first lady of noughties soul gets risky. ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, January 2013
Notts' young songwriter-voice bottles lightning, goes to Number 1. ...
Interview by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, January 2013
London soundscaper marries archive audio clips with stirring electronic rock scores. ...
Obituary by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2013
The inspirational folk-jazz-soul singer songwriter died last month. Lois Wilson salutes him. ...
Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, February 2013
Shooting up with Ray Charles, blown away by Katrina, the voice of New Orleans has seen tough times. Now Keith Richards is reaching out. "I ...
Retrospective by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2013
Abandoned as a child, addicted as an adult, Etta James lived a life punctuated by self-destruction and "wrong-headed men". Then came redemption. As the first ...
James Chance & the Contortions: Hello Goodbye: James Chance & the Contortions
Interview by Mike Barnes, MOJO, February 2013
Start: punk jazzers picked for their looks. End: the boss alienated them ail... ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, February 2013
Laura Mvula is gospel-raised, classically trained and obsessed with The Beach Boys. "I'm quite a melancholic soul," she tells Tom Doyle. ...
Soundgarden: Beast Kings of NY
Report and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2013
NOTE: This is Alan's "Director's Cut" version of the piece that ran in MOJO. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2013
Armed with "a license to cause mayhem", they created an "'orrible" speedball of a debut album. Before losing control…. Thirty five years on, all four founder ...
The Strypes: The Big Beat Reborn!
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2013
You CAN judge a band by looking at their covers! Lois Wilson speaks to The Strypes, Paul Weller and Jeff Beck's favourite new band... ...
Alicia Keys: The New Priestess Of Soul
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, March 2013
Raised in Hell's Kitchen and classically trained, Alicia Keys was a teenage musical misfit who tried her best "to be a boy". Over a decade ...
Atoms for Peace, Thom Yorke: Atoms For Peace: Amok
Review and Interview by Ben Thompson, MOJO, March 2013
Thom Yorke's laptop-generated super-group turns out have a human heart. ...
Review and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, March 2013
Noticed in the "not so important" tray of rock's celestial dead letter office: the noise-drenched pop genius of Brainiac. ...
Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Heartaches and Hangovers: Gram Parsons' GP
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 2013
IT IS A FINE irony of her long career as the Queen of Country Rock that, on the night when Gram Parsons stopped by to ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, March 2013
The former guitarist with the Smiths looks back to go forward. ...
The Specials: Rude Standards Agency
Report and Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, March 2013
The Specials storm the BBC studios, tantalise with talk of new bhangra, Arabic and jazz material. ...
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, April 2013
Here he is, not quite dying. The new Bowie is alive and well and mildly exasperated, says Mark Paytress. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Landestheater, Linz, Austria
Live Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, April 2013
NO SINGLE generation has a monopoly on decadence. Still, Marianne Faithfull's Swinging London and Kurt Weill's Weimar Berlin have a better claim than most. Even ...
Mud Morganfield: Blues scion stands up at last
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, April 2013
"LIFE WAS ROUGH," says Mud Morganfield, the 57-year-old blues singer and son of Muddy Waters. "Pop left us when I was seven, we were poor, ...
Phosphorescent: Muchacho (Dead Oceans)
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2013
Guys and dolls: Houck embraces his inner Eno. ...
The Flaming Lips: The MOJO Interview: Wayne Coyne
Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, April 2013
He sang of giraffes and jelly while wreaking freaky panto mayhem. But at 52 has reality bitten the Flaming Lips' ringmaster? "This is the first ...
Woody Guthrie: House of Earth ***
Book Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2013
America's greatest folkie turns out to be such a wonderfully weird "novelist" he needs inverted commas, says Phil Sutcliffe ...
Steve Earle: Travellin' man. Songs by the New Depression's chronicler
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2013
THERE'S NO myth quite so enduring in American popular music as a highway — folk, country, pop or rock'n'roll, it runs endlessly through them all, ...
The Breeders: LSXX – Last Splash (20th Anniversary Reissue)
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, May 2013
The wild, weird and subterranean pop of their second album proved there was platinum-selling life after the Pixies for the Breeders' Kim Deal. ...
Free, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones: Andy Johns 1952-2013
Obituary by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2013
ANDY JOHNS lived rock'n'roll, whether that meant delicately dangling microphones over a banister at country house studio Headley Grange to get the sound of John ...
Biffy Clyro: Step In The Arena
Report and Interview by Ben Myers, MOJO, June 2013
ON PAPER it's the first day of spring, but Newcastle is begging to differ. Upstairs in the Metro Arena, the three members of the UK's ...
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, June 2013
Corrupted from birth by Lou Reed, driven by his own otherness and "music that sounds haunted", Deerhunter's Bradford Cox is the most intense, extraordinary, outspoken ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty: John Fogerty
Interview by Bob Mehr, MOJO, June 2013
The prime mover behind Creedence Clearwater Revival, he crafted blazing pop songs of soul and protest until band strife and label hell undid him. But ...
Laura Mvula: South by Southwest, Austin, Texas
Live Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, June 2013
Brummie nu-soul darling beats fast food hand-outs and industry hype at US debut in Lone Star state. ...
The Eagles: History Of The Eagles: The Story Of An American Band ****
Film/DVD/TV Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2013
How did these guys ever write 'Peaceful Easy Feeling'? Candid, rarely self-serving rock doc reveals The Eagles, heart, soul, warts and all, says Phil Sutcliffe ...
Eleanor Friedberger: Personal Record
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2013
Freestyle Champion: the femme Fiery Furnace smoulders brilliantly on her second solo album. ...
J.J. Cale: Real Gone: J.J. Cale
Obituary by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2013
Call him the breeze. The originator of the Tulsa Sound died age 74 of a heart attack in California. ...
The Rolling Stones at Locarno Ballroom, Stevenage, 1 April 1964
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, July 2013
MY FIRST GIG. How lucky can you get? All through 1963 the Beatles had opened it up for post-war, ration-book teens. Then the Stones' third ...
The Rising Sons: Scions of the Times: Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Trynka, MOJO, August 2013
Doubly slept-on in the annals of the unlauded, two guitar masters' fleeting fusion of ancient and modern. ...
Valerie June: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, August 2013
Memphis singer follows the gravelled road to Camden Lock. ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, September 2013
Twickenham's intense guitar and voice bailaor breathes again with album two. ...
Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, September 2013
Reissue of '74-77 home demos by Ohio's deviant intellectuals: the true sound of the '70s underground. ...
Elvis Costello, The Roots: Elvis Costello and Questlove
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, MOJO, September 2013
Forged in the unlikely surroundings of an American late-night TV show, the transatlantic union between Elvis Costello and The Roots' drummer and co-frontman Questlove has ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2013
FOR ALL THE advance wow about the Rolling Stones, post-match consensus declared the Arctic Monkeys the star turn of this year's Glastonbury Festival. The Sheffield ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 2013
Capital trio. Coolly inflammable. ...
Sly & The Family Stone: Higher!
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 2013
Blissful four-disc collection of Sly's greatest moments and juiciest outtakes. ...
Happy 100th Birthday, 'Danny Boy'
Comment by James Maycock, MOJO, November 2013
'Danny Boy', the song of loss and exile that became one of humanity's great anthems, is explored in a BBC Four television documentary, Danny Boy: ...
Another Day, Another Time: The Inside Llewyn Davis Concert Town Hall, New York City
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 2013
IT'S LIKE A bunch of Midnight Cowboys (and Cowgirls) just stumbled into venerable old Town Hall from Times Square. Hats and braces and denim are ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, Fall 2013
Stellar first offering from maverick former contributor to the Village Voice and Creative Loafing ...
Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2014
Heavy sorrow and the revealing light of Los Angeles combine on the third album from emotional Swede. ...
David Bowie: "Bowie Was Like Orson Welles": Diamond Dogs at 40
Interview by David Buckley, MOJO, 24 April 2014
On the 40th anniversary of its release, engineer Andy Morris delivers the inside skinny on Bowie's wildest album. ...
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 2014
IF EVERYBODY WHO heard the Velvet Underground in the late 1960s went on to form a punk group, it could be argued that everybody who ...
Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, July 2014
IT IS THE winter that never ends in New York City, and on this mid-April evening, the rain outside is gradually turning to snow. The ...
Dr. John: Welcome to the Big Easy
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, October 2014
FROM HIS 1968 DEBUT ONWARDS, THE MUSIC OF DR. JOHN HAS BEEN MARINADED IN THE PSYCHEDELIC VOODOO OF NEW ORLEANS. NOW, WITH A TRIBUTE TO ...
Bob Dylan: Cover Star: Bob Dylan
Comment by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2014
BOB DYLAN DOES covers like a constant wash cycle of the soul, inspiration to aspiration to fulfilment. Then repeat. Until death us do part… ...
David Johansen, New York Dolls, Buster Poindexter: David Johansen: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, March 2015
DAVID JOHANSEN sits on the couch in the living room of his wife's long-time, walk-up apartment on a nondescript block of Manhattan's Upper West Side. ...
Vashti Bunyan Beguiles Estonia
Live Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, April 2015
Timelessness and continuity mesh as fabled folkstress plays Tallinn Music Week, hints at second retirement. ...
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, May 2015
UK hardcore firebrands' fourth delivers raw punk with a complex undertow. ...
Giorgio Moroder: Dr. Love Machine
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, MOJO, May 2015
BETWEEN 1974 AND 1986 GIORGIO MORODER TRANSFORMED POP AND DISCO WITH A NEW KIND OF EUPHORIC MACHINE MUSIC. NOW, AFTER HIS 2013 SPOT ON DAFT ...
Leadbelly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection
Review by Lois Wilson, MOJO, May 2015
The last word on the convicted killer and extraordinary musician who shaped the future of white music. ...
The Rolling Stones: Norman Jopling: Shake It Up Baby! Notes From A Pop Music Reporter 1961-1972
Book Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, May 2015
ON MAY 8,1963, an issue of New Record Mirror hit the London streets with a lead story that had enormous unforeseen consequences. ...
Simple Minds: Capitol, Hannover
Live Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, May 2015
THE INFLUENCE of Simple Minds is now a given. In deploying futurist gestures amid a communitarian ethic, the band's hallmark early-'80s work anticipated Arcade Fire ...
Young Fathers: White Men Are Black Men Too
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, May 2015
A vivacious follow-up to 2014's Mercury-winning Dead heralds the Edinburgh trio's arrival as global citizens. ...
My Morning Jacket: The Waterfall
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, June 2015
AFTER 15 YEARS, six albums and hundreds of gigs, the 21st century space cowboys confirm their cosmic legend. ...
Fleetwood Mac: We Want To Be Together
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 2015
IT SHOULDN'T WORK, but it does: the drummer fractionally behind the beat and the bass slightly ahead. For close to 50 years, Mick Fleetwood and ...
Florence and The Machine: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, July 2015
Burned out, then healed, then defiant, Florence is back stronger on third album. ...
Tyler, the Creator: Cherry Bomb (Columbia)
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, July 2015
Odd Future man's fourth solo joint blows hot and cold. ...
Paul McCartney Live: Still Transcendent At 73
Live Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, 15 July 2015
Macca magic touches every stage he steps on – as evidenced at this year’s Roskilde Festival. ...
Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: "I Was Wild!"
Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, August 2015
"I DON'T WANT to tour, I don't want to go on TV, I don't want to go on the radio, I don't want to do ...
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, August 2015
'From Me to You' #1 in: UK Released: April 11, 1963 ...
Review and Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, September 2015
FOALS' SUCCESS has seen them circle the globe, restlessly switching producers to find the perfect sound. All it took was time, says Tom Doyle. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, September 2015
Third album sees full realisation of Del Rey’s haunted Hollywood persona. ...
Yo La Tengo: Stuff Like That There
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, September 2015
THE VIDEO for 'Ohm' from Yo la Tengo's last album, 2013's Fade, is an animation which starts with a teacher writing a question on the ...
Fleetwood Mac: Eye Witness: Fleetwood Mac Start Work On The Follow-Up To Rumours
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 2015
After a huge world tour and a two-month break, Fleetwood Mac reconvene in an expensively-customised L.A. studio to make the follow-up to the biggest selling ...
Ezra Furman: MOJO Rising: Ezra Furman
Profile and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, October 2015
The "gender-wobbly", weirdo Springsteen talks doo wop, fearlessness and Judaism. ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind – The River Collection
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2015
ON HIS FIFTH E Street Band album, Springsteen still struggled "to gain the knowledge of how to make records". But this sense of technical difficulty ...
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, November 2015
IT'S DECEMBER 1962, three sharp dressed GIs are hefting a Hammond organ down the icy steps of the Flamingo, a tiny jazz club on Wardour ...
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, November 2015
Freak-folk Cinderella follows acclaimed 2010 triple with an album of erudite pop and deepening moods. Mark Paytress takes the plunge. ...
John Grant: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, November 2015
UNHAPPY PEOPLE, a Russian once suggested, are more varied and interesting than happy ones — which makes John Grant a very special person indeed. Over ...
Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, November 2015
"Gap-toothed, greasy enigma" of indie yacht-rock Mac DeMarco stage-dives in London and Wiltshire, finds his own cool place. ...
The Dead Weather: Dodge and Burn
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, November 2015
The barometer drops on the third from Jack White's supergroup. ...
Bill Ryder-Jones: West Kirby County Primary
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, December 2015
Since he left the Coral, the Wirral wunderkind has wrestled inner demons. His third solo album proves he's winning. ...
Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2015
NOTE: This piece appeared in Mojo 265, in an enclosed 52-page "book" entitled Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. ...
Howe Gelb, Giant Sand: Sands of time — Way Too Much Light: Howe Gelb And Friends
Live Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, December 2015
Thirty years of Giant Sand celebrated with guests aplenty at Danish arts festival. ...
Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham: Do Right Men: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2016
DAN PENN AND Spooner Oldham still remember the day everything changed. "I was in American Studios in Memphis working on the Box Tops," recalls Penn. ...
Khruangbin: The Universe Smiles Upon You
Review by Daryl Easlea, MOJO, January 2016
Intriguing Thai-influenced funk from rural Texas, naturally. ...
Nadia Reid: Listen To Formation, Look For The Signs
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, January 2016
Inspired debut by a young New Zealand singer-songwriter you'll feel you've known forever. ...
Professor Longhair: Live In Chicago
Review by Michael Simmons, MOJO, January 2016
Previously unreleased live set of the New Orleans R&B pianist at his best. ...
The Weeknd: Trend of the Year: Weird R&B Goes Overground
Comment by Paul Lester, MOJO, January 2016
The success of The Weeknd saw a new weird kind of underground R&B enter the charts. Paul Lester charts its strange, slow, four-year rise. ...
Eleanor Friedberger — an interview
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2016
THE GONE-SOLO Fiery Furnace talks primal screaming, mums and synchronicity. ...
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, February 2016
Former Fiery Furnace goes rad in the country. ...
John Grant and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra: Harpa Eldborg, Reykjavik
Live Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, February 2016
JOHN GRANT does not take the easy route. After the release of his third solo album, he could have relaxed and soaked up the warm ...
Review and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, April 2016
On a mission to make their "White Album", The Coral ended up on hiatus. Five years on, they return for a dark masterpiece. ...
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, April 2016
Austin, Texas' best-kept secret deliver fine fusion of psych/soul/punk. ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 2016
THEIR BUSINESS CARD might read: "Radiohead: Dealers in Unease since 1992." Confounding expectation has been somewhere in everything they've done, from Pablo Honey's declarations of ...
Josef K: It's Kinda Funny (The Singles)
Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, June 2016
Sound of Young Scotland post-punks on 45; rounded up on 33. ...
Terry Reid: The Other Side Of The River (Future Days)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 2016
TERRY REID'S place in rock history is secure if only for his decision not to be the lead singer of Led Zeppelin (it wouldn't have ...
Sean Lennon: The MOJO Interview: Sean Lennon
Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, July 2016
"IT'S STILL NEW YORK!" says Sean Lennon with a laugh as a voice suddenly starts hollering in Spanish on the sidewalk directly in front of ...
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, November 2016
Two years ago, in crisis, doubting his worth and dismissed by his own label. Then he started to sing about that uncertainty, and everything changed. ...
Rudy Van Gelder: Quality Guaranteed
Obituary by Fred Dellar, MOJO, November 2016
MAESTRO OF engineering Rudy Van Gelder – the man who shaped the sound of modern jazz – left us on August 25. ...
Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, December 2016
"YOU GOTTA stop making hits at a certain point," says Paul Simon, 74. And yet, when his thirteenth solo album, Stranger to Stranger, was released ...
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 2016
THE BAND'S STORY continues to beguile: how did a group so rich in talent and promise implode so hopelessly, only to pull the rabbit out ...
Kate Bush: Not Drowning But Waving
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, January 2017
Forty years into her career, Kate Bush is still looking for fresh ways to exhaust herself. Before The Dawn, her run of 22 live shows ...
Interview by Michael Simmons, MOJO, January 2017
DECKED OUT IN an all-black suit, Robbie Robertson exudes elegance and a well-read intelligence – the latter all the more fascinating given his teenage education chicken- pickin' in honky-tonks ...
Sex Pistols, Steve Jones: Steve Jones
Interview by Bob Mehr, MOJO, January 2017
Smack with Thunders, hugs with Dylan, robbery, assault and Rotten: it's been emotional for the Sex Pistols' sonic sparkplug. "I was always told I was ...
Aretha Franklin: The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Retrospective by Lois Wilson, MOJO, February 2017
IT'S THE EVENING of January 24, 1967, downtown Florence, Alabama. Rick Hall, the owner of Fame Studios in nearby Muscle Shoals, is stood in the ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Bob Marley & The Wailers Live!, Bob Marley — The Legend Live
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, February 2017
Bob Marley in stages, on stages. ...
Review and Interview by Tom Doyle, MOJO, February 2017
Wandsworth trio's third retains the darkness while letting in more light. ...
The Comet Is Coming: The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Ben Myers, MOJO, March 2017
West Yorkshire braces for the impact of Shabaka Hutchings' near-Earth trio. ...
Book Review by Graeme Thomson, MOJO, April 2017
IN OCTOBER 1967, the month of Otis Redding's untimely death, Wilson Pickett was very possibly the biggest soul star on the planet. ...
10cc: Before, During, After – The Story Of 10cc (Universal)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, July 2017
The echoes of four years of chart-bound art'n'smarts. The legacy of 10cc. ...
Dave Davies: Rock'n'roll Confidential: Dave Davies
Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, July 2017
A pioneer of the molten guitar riff on drinks, Kinks, and the nature of time. ...
Review and Interview by Steve Pafford, MOJO, 17 July 2017
Long-promised 3-CD set of Antmusic: 20 chart singles from five record labels, key album and BBC session tracks, plus 24 unreleased demos and alternate takes, ...
Profile and Interview by Alan Light, MOJO, August 2017
IN JULY 1978, the members of Pink Floyd gathered at Britannia Row, their studio in London. It had been almost exactly a year since the ...
Allman Brothers Band, Gregg Allman: Gregg Allman
Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, September 2017
IT WAS the final show the Allman Brothers Band would ever play. On October 28, 2014 the group made its last appearance at the Beacon ...
Susanne Sundfør: FjordFlyt, Hov, Norway
Live Review by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2017
Norway's singer of siren songs unveils her new album aboard a raft on a fjord. By Kieron Tyler ...
First Aid Kit: MOJO Working: First Aid Kit
Report and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, November 2017
Sweden's Soderberg sisters return, with electric guitar, more keyboards, members of Midlake and Wilco, and Peter Buck. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, November 2017
Heartache and nihilism meet sonic trickery in Annie Clark's troubled fifth. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2018
"IT NEVER FELT like it was going to be a life-changing moment," says Robert Finley. "It was just an ordinary Saturday morning, and I was ...
Review by Colin Irwin, MOJO, February 2018
After R&B covers album, Van pays homage to the great jazz songbook. ...
Johnny Hallyday: Bye Bye Johnny: 1943–2017
Obituary by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2018
Much more than the Gallic Elvis, French rock'n'roll icon Johnny Hallyday died on December 6. ...
Report by Carl Magnus Palm, MOJO, July 2018
Abba authority Carl Magnus Palm examines their shock reformation. Plus! Benny on the tape archive. ...
Patty Waters: Jazz from the abyss: Patty Waters' Sings
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, September 2018
This month's communique from the haunted dancehall: intense, free vocalisations which sustained the young Patti Smith. ...
Idles: A Beautiful Thing – Idles Live At Le Bataclan (Partisan)
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, January 2020
Bristol brutalists in concert in Paris. C'est magnifique! ...
McAlmont & Webb: The Last Bohemians (Lateralize)
Review by Martin Aston, MOJO, January 2020
Seasoned collaboration "paying homage to the jazz life", Queen and R.E.M. ...
Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2020
JOHNNY CASH stood on the makeshift stage at Folsom Prison, set up in the cafeteria, behind death row. Almost a hundred men had been executed ...
Mura Masa: RYC (Raw Youth Collage) (Polydor)
Review by Daryl Easlea, MOJO, February 2020
Whip-smart second album by Guernsey's foremost electronic dance pioneer. ...
The Innocence Mission: See You Tomorrow (Bella Union)
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 2020
Follow-up up 2018's Sun On The Square. ...
Dirty Projectors: 5EPs (Domino)
Review by John Aizlewood, MOJO, January 2021
This year's five extended plays, gathered together. ...
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: KG (Flightless)
Review by Stevie Chick, MOJO, January 2021
Restless Antipodean psychonauts find further inspiration in the notes between the notes. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2021
Annie Clark's masterwork evokes the sights and sounds of 1970s New York City. ...
(British) Sea Power: Sea Power: Everything Was Forever (Rough Trade)
Review by John Aizlewood, MOJO, March 2022
First album since they were British Sea Power. Their seventh in all. ...
Sigur Rós: After nine years, Sigur Rós return to hit the ground running for LP eight
Report by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2022
Fact sheet Title: TBC Due: Autumn 2022 Production: band/Birgir Jón Birgisson Songs: TBC The Buzz: "When we started, we thought, Wouldn't it be nice to do ...
Durand Jones: Wait Til I Get Over
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2023
Louisiana singer cuts loose from the Indications for solo debut. ...
Review by Tom Doyle, MOJO, June 2023
At last, the full-length debut album from L.A./Sunderland retro-modernist soul trio. ...
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