Sounds
Launched in 1970 as a rival to Melody Maker and New Musical Express, Sounds was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper. It was closed in April 1991.
2,960 articles
List of articles in the library
Atomic Rooster: More Respect For The Rock Organ
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 October 1970
VINCENT CRANE, ambitious leader of Atomic Rooster, firmly believes that the full potential of the organ has yet to be exploited within a rock concept. ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
IT HAS taken the amazing Bread over a year to 'break nationwide' – or for that matter to break anywhere on a really large scale. ...
Elton John, Fotheringay: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
PUTTING ELTON John second billing to Fotheringay at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night was a taste of mistaken booking if ever there was ...
The Rolling Stones: Mick Taylor: A Year As A Stone
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 10 October 1970
HATFIELD, Hertfordshire, is a long way from Altamont, California, and the Rolling Stones are a big step from John Mayall but Mick Taylor has made ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: Rod Remains a Face
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
GASOLINE ALLEY is Rod Stewart's second solo album. Out here this month it has already, in America, put him streaks ahead in the solo champ class. ...
The Who: Roger Daltrey: The Sounds Talk In
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
DO YOU feel your position as a singer with the Who is as influential as you'd like it to be? ...
Son House (part 1): Living King of the Delta
Retrospective and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 October 1970
IT WAS the final day of Eddie "Son" House's final sortie away from America. Outside, the rain was pouring down; inside the car sat Son, ...
The Band: Stage Fright (Capitol)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 October 1970
WHEN YOU hear the term country/rock, you immediately think of Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko and Levon Helm, collectively The Band. For ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
Magnificent, dynamic Nyro ...
Atomic Rooster: Marquee Club, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
ATOMIC ROOSTER are still a sadly underrated group, and perhaps their personnel changes have had a lot to do with that. Well news for the ...
Bread: Revolution Club, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
AT THE end of Bread's London appearance at the Revolution club on Thursday night they were called back to do two encores and treated to ...
Elton John: The Great White Hope
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
CALL ELTON John what you will. The most brilliant singer/pianist we have ever produced, one of the best artists on record or on stage you ...
Fairport Convention, Roger Ruskin Spear, Allan Taylor: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
FAIRPORTS ALMOST LOSE IT TO ALLAN ...
Humble Pie Get Back To Steve's Roots
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
HUMBLE PIE have got back to what could ostensibly be called Steve Marriott's roots. Today their musical approach involves a good solid line in basic ...
The McCoys, Johnny Winter: Johnny Winter Speaking
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 October 1970
THE IDEA of Johnny Winter, Texan albino, blues guitarist and underground legend, working with the McCoys, bubble-gum lightweights sold on their teenage looks, would have ...
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 October 1970
ROBERT FRIPP doesn't look like a rock star with those funny little spectacles through which he watches a world that's still to feel the full ...
Muddy Waters: The Man Who Urbanised The Blues
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
TOP CHICAGO bluesman Muddy Waters, still crippled from a car crash nine months ago, will be wearing a smile when he returns to England in ...
Son House (part 2): Robert Johnson Overshadowed Son and the Whole Delta
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
SINCE 1966 Son House had only recorded once, a very poor performance for Roots which had failed to capture any of the emotion and lyricism ...
The Four Tops: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 October 1970
THE WORST part of growing up is that your teenage favourites tend to lose their magic as the years pass. Thankfully, whatever the Tops have ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
PETE TOWNSHEND, who usually has an eye and an ear for the musically arresting and is no man to argue with, could be said to ...
The Voices of East Harlem: Voices of East Harlem: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
IF THE Albert Hall had been full to its capacity audience of 8,000 on Friday night then the Voices of East Harlem could well have ...
Hawkwind: When It Comes To Mind-Blowing, Hawkwind Are Really Into It
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 October 1970
HAWKWIND MAY not be the world's most affluent group, or the world's most successful group, but they are certainly one of the most mind-blowing. ...
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 31 October 1970
YES MADE the notional newspapers last week on the strength of their signing with Hemdale. They've been worthy of acclaim, however, during the past year ...
B.B. King: Indianola Mississippi Seeds (Probe SPBA6255)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
HOW TIMES have changed. Gone is the harsh strident guitar of the early '50s which characterised the sound of B.B. and influenced many. Of course ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Swamp Rock That Wasn't
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 31 October 1970
The SOUNDS Talk-in — JOHN FOGERTY of Creedence Clearwater Revival: an exclusive interview by Royston Eldridge ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer, The Nice: Emerson Lake & Palmer: Here Comes Another Orgasmic Peak
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
KEITH EMERSON is, to say the least, very upset at the release of old Nice tapes currently flooding the market. ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer: Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Town Hall, Birmingham
Live Review by Tony Stewart, Sounds, 31 October 1970
AFTER TWO hours of solid music, the 2,000 strong audience, at Birmingham Town Hall were dancing in the aisles, clapping and stamping and try as ...
Homesick James: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
A LARGE and somewhat over enthusiastic audience saw Homesick James with Grizelda at the 100 Club on Tuesday last week, and spurred the delighted old ...
Homesick James: Homesick Finds a Home From Home
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
HOMESICK JAMES is a likeable faintly extrovert character whose first British visit seems to have made a mockery of his nickname. For homesickness seemed to ...
Buddy Miles, Jimi Hendrix: Introducing Mr. Buddy Miles
Interview by uncredited writer, Sounds, 31 October 1970
DRUMMER BUDDY MILES has been influential in some of the best sounds coming from America — through his work wrth his own Express, Electric Flag ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
JAMES TAYLOR was in town and you could tell it by the buzz in the air and the musicians who walked around muttering his name ...
James Taylor, Matthews' Southern Comfort: Palladium, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
THE CLUMSY, gangling, instantly lovable James Taylor conquered the London Palladium and made his eventual return to England a triumphant one on Sunday. ...
James Taylor, Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell in with James
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
JONI MITCHELL flew into London last Sunday – with James Taylor the man with whom she is being romantically linked. ...
Marshall Hooks & Co.: Hooks — determined to reach the top
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
MANY BLUES singers arrive from the States in a storm of publicity and a considerable reputation, but then fail to justify themselves — either because ...
Robert Johnson: King Of The Delta Blues Singers, Vol II (CBS 64102)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
THE LEGENDARY Robert Johnson showed up at the ARC Field Studios five times between November 1936 and June 1937, cutting a mere 29 sides in ...
T. Rex: I'm A Pop Star On Any Level Says Marc
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
MARC BOLAN – whose voice has been known to bring some people out in an allergy and others to their knees in supplication – has ...
Taste — the Split and the Future
Report and Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 31 October 1970
ROCK MUSIC today is schizophrenic. It's trying to be creative, an art form breaking through the barriers that have limited it for so long and ...
Badfinger: No Dice (Apple SAPCOR 16)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 19 December 1970
BADFINGER ARE one of Apple's natural phenomena who continue to sound disturbingly like the early Beatles. I say "disturbingly" only because the comparison is almost ...
Michael Chapman: Window (Harvest SHVL 786)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 19 December 1970
ON ONE hearing, there's little on this album which can be related to either the Rainmaker or Fully Qualified Survivor albums. It is generally less ...
Elton John: Tumbleweed Connection
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1971
IT IS ALL too easy to go overboard with praise about Elton John. I am guilty of doing it – frequently. But then, when faced ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1971
BACK FROM a promotional tour of the States, Ian Matthews sat in a West End Wimpy Bar pondering his next move. He knows precisely what ...
Family: In the Talk-In: Charlie Whitney
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1971
FAMILY GUITARIST Charlie Whitney had just returned to his Notting Hill home after a stint in the north of England. ...
John Renbourn, Pentangle: Pentangle/John Renbourn
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1971
DECEMBER, ASIDE from its obvious festive revelries, has also been notable for the temporary withdrawal of the Pentangle. In the meekest possible way they have ...
David Bowie: Bowie, Music And Life
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 February 1971
DAVID BOWIE has never been a conventional anything. Certainly he is no run of the mill product of the music business, something rather that was ...
Tim Hardin: Contemporary Songwriters: Tim Hardin
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 27 February 1971
MANY SONGWRITERS could be said to expose a little of their soul during the course of their writing, but there can't be anyone in the ...
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 March 1971
I GET THE FEELING that only a Joe Boyd-Paul Harris alliance could have produced such a superb album as this. And once again a great ...
Nick Drake: Something else for Nick? An interview with Nick Drake
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 March 1971
NICK DRAKE IS A SHY, INTROVERTED folk singer who is not usually known to speak unless it is absolutely necessary. But Nick is not the ...
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 20 March 1971
CAT STEVENS is very rare amongst the British writer syndrome in that a vast percentage of his work stems from his environment. He is a ...
Anne Briggs: Feasting Off The Open Roads...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 April 1971
ANNE BRIGGS' way of life can be compressed into a romantic conjunction of cast iron clichés; but the odds on her future survival would probably ...
J. Geils Band: J. Geils Band (Atlantic 2400 105)
Review by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 April 1971
VITALITY ...
James Brown: Superbad (Polydor 2310 089)
Review by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 17 April 1971
HAVING ADMITTED that James Brown is the premier entertainer in soul after seeing him in concert at the Albert Hall, I thought that perhaps I ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: 'Brown Sugar'/'Bitch'/'Let It Rock' (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 April 1971
IF ANYONE had been led to believe by the rumours feverishly circulating in the past couple of months that the Rolling Stones were about to ...
The Faces: Here Comes Britain's Biggest Rock And Roll Band
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 April 1971
Penny Valentine talks to a Face and makes a prediction ...
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 May 1971
IF CLOVER'S first album on Liberty was good, then this follow up is fantastic. The material is a rich variety of country music which brings ...
David Bowie: Contemporary Songwriters: David Bowie
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 May 1971
THE WORK of songwriters is conditioned by many things. Their environment, their childhood, their brushes with love, their hopes and dreams, their disillusionment. And they ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Four Way Street (Atlantic)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 May 1971
I HAVE to admit at the start of this review that I'm generally not over keen on live recordings. Although occasionally they show that an ...
James Taylor: Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon (Warner Reprise)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 May 1971
GOOD OLD predictable James has done it again. He offers not the slightest hint of surprise on his new album, and as expected he has ...
Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds: The Sounds Talk-in: Jeff Beck
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 1 May 1971
IT'S BEEN a long wait but you've got a new group now. How long has it been together? ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 May 1971
You're very rare in music today in that you managed to virtually disappear for two years when you were ill and then came back ...
Cat Stevens: Guildford Civic Hall
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 5 June 1971
FOR THE SECOND time in a week the Guildford Civic Hall audience remained deceptively cool until just before the end of the concert. ...
Randy Newman: Having Fun But Not Making A Habit Of It
Interview by Bud Scoppa, Sounds, 19 June 1971
WHEN RANDY Newman finally decided to become a performer rather than continue his career as a sequestered genius — "I was surprised when I did ...
Robert Johnson: Unravelling the Legend of Robert Johnson
Retrospective by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 19 June 1971
JERRY GILBERT looks at Robert Johnson, greatest of the Delta bluesmen ...
Wishbone Ash: Colston Hall, Bristol
Live Review by James Johnson, Sounds, 19 June 1971
THERE IS NO doubt about it, over the last six months Wishbone Ash have developed into one of the finest loud, fast, rock bands currently ...
Stevie Wonder: Where I'm Coming From (Tamla Motown STML 11183)
Review by Royston Eldridge, Sounds, 31 July 1971
MOTOWN HAS always had a readily identifiable sound whether the artist be David Ruffin or the Four Tops. Until now, that is. ...
Taj Mahal: The Real Thing (CBS)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 July 1971
FOR SOME reason it all seems to have gone wrong for Taj Mahal. ...
Cat Stevens: Teaser And The Firecat
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 August 1971
Singer, musician and songwriter. As such, in the opinion of many, Cat Stevens is one of the most brilliant and worthwhile talents to have emerged ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Creedence Revival Is On Again
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 7 August 1971
Martin Hayman talks to Stu Cook ...
Mungo Jerry: Barbarellas, Birmingham
Live Review by Tony Stewart, Sounds, 7 August 1971
MUNGO JERRY easily adapted their stage act for their shows at the Birmingham nightclub Barbarellas on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week. Apparently the first ...
Elton John, Nigel Olsson: Nigel Olsson's Utopia
Interview by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 7 August 1971
"I DON'T always want to be known as Elton John's drummer and nothing else. I owe that man so much, but it would be nice ...
Taj Mahal: Taking The Music Back To The People... But Is Taj Mahal The Real Thing?
Profile and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Sounds, 7 August 1971
ON HIS latest album (reviewed in SOUNDS last week), recorded live at the Fillmore East, Taj Mahal makes the assertive claim that he is indeed ...
Rick Wakeman: Just Another Yes Man
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 28 August 1971
WHEN HE was six years old, Rick Wakeman's father dispatched him to a very fine lady piano teacher in Harrow. Two lessons later the infant ...
Cat Stevens: Teaser And The White Hot Cat
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 25 September 1971
"I built my house of barley rice, green paper walls and water ice, tables of paper wood, windows of light and everything emptying into white." ...
The Rainbow Theatre: Cheap Seats In Pot Of Gold
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 October 1971
"ROCK audiences now are interested in having a comfortable place to sit and really listen to music. The days of freak out dancing to anything ...
Tonto's Expanding Head Band: Zero Time (Embryo)
Review by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 16 October 1971
AT FIRST sight, this is an album to put fear into the hearts of stronger men than me. After all, two whole sides of Moog ...
Velvet Underground: From Sader-Masoch to a Top Rank Ballroom
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 16 October 1971
EVERYBODY KNOWS who the Velvet Underground are, but who are they? Disclosed to the world in 1965 as though they had descended from the sky ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 30 October 1971
FIVE YEARS ago a stocky guy with hair to his shoulders and a fur coat round his shoulders and a slim, stunning girl who wore ...
Curved Air: Imperial College, London
Live Review by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 30 October 1971
FRANCIS MONKMAN is a musician whose belief it is that electronic music is of growing importance, and he is anxious to play his part in ...
Elton John: Madman Across The Water (DJM)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 30 October 1971
IT'S AN ODD fact that the British tend to malign their own products to the point of insanity. We managed to ignore Joe Cocker, almost ...
Mighty Baby: A Jug Of Love (Blue Horizon)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 October 1971
MIGHTY BABY have been around for an awful long time, and owing to contractual problems which have restricted their recording activities, they have very little ...
Pentangle: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 October 1971
FOR A NUMBER of reasons Pentangle's Albert Hall concert last week was disappointing and when they brought their final number 'Pentangling' to a limp conclusion ...
Ralph McTell: You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here (Famous)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 October 1971
RALPH'S FANS have had a long wait for the release of his fourth album – but the wait has been well worthwhile for this is ...
T. Rex: Fairfield Hall, Croydon
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 30 October 1971
MAGIC IS a hard thing to summon up on a Sunday after-lunch afternoon audience. So if anyone deserves the award of the month it's Marc ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, Sounds, 6 November 1971
SINCE HIS appearance with John Lennon in Toronto as part of the Plastic Ono Band, Alan White has had a hectic and enjoyable career over ...
Buffy Sainte-Marie, Loudon Wainwright III: Guildhall, Cambridge
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 6 November 1971
WHEN ALL the dust had finally settled, Buffy Sainte-Marie conducted her Sunday evensong within the precincts of Cambridge's Guildhall with grace and poise. ...
Isaac Hayes: Shaft (Stax 2659 007)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 November 1971
IT WAS obvious, the way he was going musically, that Hayes' next step would be into the film-score scene. His craft as a man who ...
Lindisfarne appear through the Fog
Interview by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 6 November 1971
SUCCESS HAS stunned Lindisfarne with the force of a sledgehammer. It has been so sudden that if there was a Stock Exchange strictly for bands ...
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (Tamla Motown STML 11190).
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 November 1971
THE BEST album to come out of the Motown for longer than I care to remember comes in fact from Marvin Gaye's own "first". First ...
The Moody Blues: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 November 1971
GREMLINS WERE rife when the Moody Blues kicked off their first British tour for over a year at the Festival Hall on Saturday night. ...
The Strawbs: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 6 November 1971
THE STRAWBS made an auspicious return at the new Shaw Theatre, Euston Road, on Sunday night. With the addition of Blue Weaver on keyboards they ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, December 1971
BRITISH MUSIC now seems to have a quality of holding onto its stars, and it’s maybe only once a year that anyone manages to surface ...
Stevie Wonder: Music Of My Mind (Tamla Motown)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 4 December 1971
THIS HAS been hailed as Stevie Wonder's final "coming of age", but I think this album is more important and will certainly have more important ...
Jimi Hendrix, Terry Reid: Mitch Mitchell in the Talk-In
Interview by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 11 December 1971
I FIRST SAW the Jimi Hendrix Experience in a cramped Norfolk cellar club. Then the coloured guy with the frizzed-out hair was a nobody in ...
Gallagher & Lyle: Give The Boys A Break
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1972
Well, Blackheath Wanderers Sports Club wasn’t quite the venue I had in mind for obtaining the first signs of a sun tan this summer, but ...
Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1972
JON MARK sits outside his local in Wimbledon, quietly supping a pint. The sun is hot and bar strangely quiet in the unusual absence of ...
The Faces: A Nod's as Good as a Wink to the Faces...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
IT'S BEEN a long hard rest for Ronnie Wood — as indeed it has been for the rest of the Faces. Days when there wasn't ...
Billy Preston: I Wrote A Simple Song (AM AMLH 63507).
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
WARMTH ...
Black Sabbath: Sabbath Ready To Rejoin The Rock Machine
Interview by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 22 January 1972
IN THE black art of rock and roll Sabbath are masters. But the business of fame takes its toll in terms of exhaustion and it ...
Isaac Hayes: Black Moses (Stax Super 2628 004)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
HAYES HAS got to the stage now where "genius" is a word liberally applied to just about everything he does and, certainly, he has reached ...
Joe Cocker: Why The Cut in Cockerpower?
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
WHEN JOE Cocker came back to Britain at the end of 1970, went back home to Sheffield and word got around to a stunned music ...
Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground: Lou Reed — End of the Black Comedy
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 22 January 1972
LOU REED is the founder member of the Velvet Underground. Together with John Cale, he wrote New York as he saw it from Greenwich Village ...
Stevie Wonder: Stevie's Moog Music...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
"I never did realise it would take me so long to lose that 'Little' Stevie Wonder tag. There are times when I wish I'd only ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 January 1972
Can you talk, first of all, about the early days of the Strawbs, how you came together and so on. ...
Billy Preston: Billy's Feelin' Real Good
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 January 1972
A BROOKLYN friend of mine who had this uncanny knack of being able to spot a rising star at 100 yards said to me a ...
"Mama" Cass Elliot: Cass Elliot: Cass Elliot (RCA)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 January 1972
CASS'S FIRST SOLO ALBUM for her new company shows that the lady has always had much more to offer in terms of phrasing and feel ...
Bloodstone, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield, Bloodstone: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 January 1972
CURTIS LOSES BUT WINS ...
Black Sabbath: Town Hall, Birmingham
Live Review by Dick Meadows, Sounds, 5 February 1972
Sabbath: The Old Firm Are Back Home ...
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 5 February 1972
THE OTHER evening at the Rainbow Theatre an American band called Cat Mother made a not very auspicious debut in Britain. They have been around ...
Curtis Mayfield In The Talk-In
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 February 1972
WHEN YOU first used strings on your early work with the Impressions it was something of a breakthrough in soul music. Did you find any ...
David Geffen: David's Talented Asylum
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 February 1972
Penny Valentine talks to America's leading manager David Geffen ...
Helen Reddy: Weekend Ever Reddy
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 February 1972
A VERY HEAVY American biography on Helen Reddy comes on with excessive amounts of material on the supernatural, her beliefs in ESP and parapsychology* until ...
Poco, Richie Furay: Poco: Interview with Richie Furay
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 19 February 1972
RICHIE FURAY has been one of the guardian angels of rock music over the past five years, coming to the fore in 1969 when he ...
Atomic Rooster: See Studio, Walldorf, Germany
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 26 February 1972
Rooster storm through Germany ...
Elton John: Start of a New Era
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 February 1972
MIDNIGHT ON Monday evening and in his luxury ranch-style house in Surrey, where the carpet grows deep and the huge knife-edged plants threaten to eat ...
Steve Miller: Treat In Store For Miller's Followers
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 26 February 1972
STEVE MILLER picks up the hotel 'phone and dials through to his managers (two black guys who wander round together wearing floppy hats): "Hey, have ...
Randy Newman: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 18 March 1972
NEWMAN GIVING HIS ALL ...
The Groundhogs: Tony McPhee At The Talk-In
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 18 March 1972
A FRESHLY cropped Tony McPhee arrived at United Artists offices at some ridiculous hour in the morning, borne out by the fact that Mac was ...
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 25 March 1972
ISLAND APPEARED to have forgotten about Nick Drake until he ambled into the offices one day and presented them with this album. No one knew ...
Procol Harum: Procol Back On The Pedestal
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 8 April 1972
PROCOL HARUM’S new album — not the extravaganza that comes out this week with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra but the one Gary Brooker and Keith ...
Manassas, Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills' Manassas: Manassas (Atlantic K60021)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
OF ALL the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young it's been Stephen that seems to have had the roughest passage going it alone. Critics ...
John Denver, The Moody Blues: The Moody Blues, John Denver: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
MOODIES: HEROES AT THE POOL ...
Valerie Simpson: Exposed (Tamla Motown STML 11194)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
THIS FIRST solo album by songwriter Valerie Simpson could be subtitled Motown's answer to Carole King. Certainly there are many facts that tie in between ...
Joni Mitchell: Royal Festival Hall, London,
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 13 May 1972
Saturday night was Cup Final day in London and – in passing – the last time the crowd joined for ‘Abide With Me’ at Wembley. ...
Rory Gallagher: Travelling Full Circle
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 May 1972
RORY GALLAGHER admitted this week, that his new year European tour had been a tremendous morale booster.... reinforcing old favourites like 'Laundromat' and 'Sinner Boy' ...
Al Stewart: The Poetic Man Tells Of His Love
Report by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 May 1972
THE FACT that the rock public generally seem to be adamant in their appraisal of Al Stewart is a definite sign for the good; for ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 27 May 1972
LINDISFARNE'S MERCURIAL rise to fame in the past year has done little to alter the outlook of their chief songwriter, James Alan Hull. Hully remains ...
Joni Mitchell: An Interview (part 1)
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 3 June 1972
THE LADY WHO walks on eggs is sitting in her hotel suite overlooking St. James' Park with her legs tucked up, her chin resting on ...
Joni Mitchell: An Interview (part 2)
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 June 1972
LAST WEEK Joni Mitchell spoke for the first time in over two years about why she virtually "retired" from the music scene during a period ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 July 1972
THE drive out to Topanga Canyon from Hollywood along Sunset is quite a heady experience in itself and when Bob "The Bear" Hite is there ...
Mississippi Fred McDowell: Fred McDowell: Unspoiled Master
Obituary by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 July 1972
Tribute by Jerry Gilbert ...
Lindisfarne: Dingly Dell — A track by track review
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 29 July 1972
"WE'RE NOT WORRIED ABOUT A TITLE — the album doesn't need a title because the music says it all," Alan Hull declared as Lindisfarne put ...
Procol Harum: Reid Between The Lines
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 August 1972
"I HAVE A VERY bad reputation," says Keith Reid thoughtfully. "Especially with the men who hold all the money in this business". I'm quite sure ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 August 1972
"I DON'T THINK we've ever had a particular status. I think we're a band a lot of people underestimate and in many ways I think ...
Arthur Lee: Vindicator (A&M AMLS 64356)
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 9 September 1972
There's a lot of mileage in Arthur yet ...
Donny Hathaway: Everything Is Everything (Atlantic K40063)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 9 September 1972
DONNY HATHAWAY, the young black writer/producer/arranger/keyboard player who has worked with Mayfield, Flack, Jerry Butler, Staple Singers and Carla Thomas, comes up here with his ...
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 9 September 1972
PETER GABRIEL – slightly eccentric or acute schizophrenic? He cycles to Island Studios to begin a day's work on the new Genesis album, and unpacks ...
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 9 September 1972
THIS IS the full soundtrack of the film of the same name. Needless to say, with the present move towards "gentrifying" reggae music it's bound ...
Ray Charles: A Message From The People (Probe SPB 1060)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 9 September 1972
RAY CHARLES has apparently wanted to do an album like this — where the songs reflect a series of ideas, soft protests and pain at ...
The Band: Rock of Ages (Capitol SABB- 11045) *Import
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 9 September 1972
THOSE NEW Year Academy Concerts may have heralded in the new year but as the Band crossed the great divide between 1971 and 1972 onstage ...
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 September 1972
"HAVE YOU GOT a copy of the new album yet?", Mike Rutherford inquired meekly as Genesis prepared to go onstage at the Marquee last week. ...
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 7 October 1972
"FIVE CRATES OF Brown ale and a crate of Guinness please." Twelve quid across the bar to a landlord shaking his head in disbelief, and ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 November 1972
WERE YOU and Tony Banks the prime instigators of the original Genesis back at Charterhouse School? ...
Bill Withers: Making Music Till He Drops
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 18 November 1972
THE QUEST for that intangible magic with which so few of us are blessed, can often entail a very long journey indeed. And whilst Bill ...
Hawkwind: Queensway Hall, Dunstable
Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 18 November 1972
ALL ABOARD HAWKWIND'S SPACE RITUAL ...
Joe Cocker: 'With A Song In Your Heart'
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 18 November 1972
JOE COCKER has had a pretty heavy day of it so far. Two Australians had been gritting their teeth at him... 'Was it true that ...
The Kinks, Lindisfarne: Kennedy Centre, Washington DC
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 18 November 1972
ON THEIR day the Kinks are one of the most compelling bands in Britain, and the most uncomplimentary appraisal is that Ray Davies has probably ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 25 November 1972
AN AMERICAN-style interview generally means a rap over the breakfast table and it was under such circumstances that I met Harry Chapin at the Westbury ...
Cat Stevens: A Cat Breaks Free
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 9 December 1972
Penny Valentine takes a jaunt to see Cat Stevens ...
Joni Mitchell: The Troubadour, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 9 December 1972
Steve Rosen reports from the West Coast ...
Tear Gas: Alex Harvey & Tear Gas: Greyhound, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 December 1972
BY THE TIME the crowds began to gather at the Greyhound last Thursday, Alex Harvey was well into a dynamic rendering of the blues. ...
Dusty Springfield: Talk of the Town, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD'S return to the British music scene for her first live appearances for four years took place last week at the Talk Of The ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
IN A VAST, empty, wild beach a blonde girl sits in the breakers and watches the sea rolling endlessly into the sand. There are seagulls ...
Dory Previn: Surviving All Odds: Dory Previn
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
WHEN DORY Previn wrote: "I no longer plead with heaven or go rummaging in books for the answers to the questions life contains", she had ...
Doobie Brothers: The Doobies’ Little Gem
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 December 1972
LAST YEAR, when the Doobie Brothers made their recording debut with Warner Brothers, there was little reaction either at the time of the release of ...
Loggins & Messina: They’re Havin’ A Good Time: Loggins & Messina
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, Spring 1972
THE KENNY Loggins/Jim Messina band is the best thing to emerge from LA in years. Their recent Stateside tour with Delaney & Bonnie took audiences ...
Procol Harum: Procol's Triumph
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1973
"MAKES QUITE a change for a Friday night at the Rainbow," said the guy behind me surreptitiously half-way through Procol Harum's appearance last week ...
Sandy Denny: Sandy Brings Out The Tears
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1973
"SANDY DENNY really draws ‘em out", exclaimed Al Stewart, surveying the sea of well-known faces who had assemble at the Howff to see Britain’s number ...
Terry Reid: Terry’s Funky Steamer
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1973
FOR A WEEK now in Los Angeles the local TV station have been running a series of old maestro W.C. Fields movies each morning. Today ...
The Beach Boys: Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 1973
THE HOLLYWOOD Palladium had its chandeliers rattled Friday evening when the legendary Beach Boys performed before a sold-out audience of full-fledged, out-and-out surfers. A long ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 6 January 1973
SINCE THE formation of the first traditional, electric folk supergroup, to lump together every possible stigmatic cliché that was attached to them, Steeleye Span have ...
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 January 1973
1973’s NEW BROOM struck its first death blow last week when the on-off rumors of Pentangle’s long-pending split seemed finally to be confirmed. ...
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 13 January 1973
RONNIE WOOD'S always been pretty modest about his guitar playing. Mention how good it's got over the past two years and he tends to look ...
Bette Midler: Trying To Be Free
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 February 1973
THE DIVINE MISS M. sparkles and shines like a great glossy cake trimmed up with rich icing. On stage, word has it, she is superbly ...
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 17 February 1973
AFTER THE success of 'My Ding-a-Ling' and the arguments about its making people go blind endlessly aired in the national press, everybody will have heard ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 February 1973
LITTLE LINDA Lewis picks up her guitar this week, gets on a plane, flies to New York and will, for the first time in her ...
The Temptations: The Tempts! On a nine-year winning streak
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 17 February 1973
ROBIN KATZ talks to OTIS WILLIAMS ...
Joni Mitchell: The Voice of Woman: Joni Mitchell
Comment by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 February 1973
I am on a lonely road and I am travellingLooking for the key to set me free . . . ...
Can: Communism, Anarchism, Nihilism
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 24 February 1973
CAN: A GROUP defined by their very lack of an image? A Few heavy theories have been batted to and fro about the formidable space-rock ...
Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 24 February 1973
CAN IS not a band which lends itself easily to review. At the Rainbow on Sunday night they drew a nearly capacity audience, which in ...
Fanny: The Crossroads Are Where Fanny Are At
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 24 February 1973
ALL RIGHT. So Fanny can play with due competence, can pull in and please the crowds, make chunky representative albums and they've got over the ...
Average White Band: Average, Who Says So?
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 3 March 1973
AVERAGE WHITE Band — another band of Scottish musicians. OK lads, we've seen Glencoe and they're good. Most of them will be in the audience ...
Average White Band: Marquee, London
Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 3 March 1973
THE AVERAGE White Band work in a very narrow well-defined area of music, but within that context they excel. Their music is tough and funky ...
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 3 March 1973
ENTERING NEWCASTLE'S City Hall these days is like shaking hands with an old friend. Peter Gabriel wishing that his metaphysical fantasies could suddenly become reality ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 7 March 1973
THEY SAY that Scotsmen never return home once they've arrived in London, but in the case of Bernie Gallagher and Graham Lyle, they find their ...
Lindisfarne: Alan Hull: Playing In The Band
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 March 1973
ALAN HULL, who has led Lindisfarne a stormy path across the other side of the world, is back in Barnet – the Mecca of the ...
J.J. Cale: Contemporary Songwriter: J.J. Cale
Profile by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 10 March 1973
Just listen to the mystery man ...
The Eagles: Eagles Make It Easy
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 March 1973
THE EAGLES, who have got more mileage out of their debut album than most bands can reasonably expect, are set to make their first live ...
James Brown: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 10 March 1973
MR. JAMES BROWN — Soul Brother Number One. Mr. Dynamite. ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin: John McLaughlin: The Best of All Possible Worlds
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 10 March 1973
IT WAS IN the very first-ever issue of this paper that a long article on John McLaughlin appeared, praising him to the skies and honouring ...
Steely Dan: Get Your Thrills Here
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 March 1973
THE MOST exciting new band to break from the States this year is Steely Dan. ...
Duffy Power: Duffy Power (GSF GS502)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 March 1973
IF THIS is the album I think it is, it's been kicking around for an awful long time. It's still contemporary Duffy, though — not ...
Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star (Bearsville)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 14 April 1973
A MAZE. A truly amazing album. That might well have been the subtitle of this latest excursion into the land of magic from henna-haired hero ...
John Cale: Paris 1919 (Warner Bros. Import)
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 5 May 1973
JOHN CALE, as the extravagant sleeve-note insert in this stylish American album package indicates, has always had one foot in each camp — the classical ...
Keith Moon: Bored Side Of The Moon
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 May 1973
Penny Valentine meets an old friend ...
The Groundhogs: Mac’s Home Cooking: The Groundhogs
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 5 May 1973
DO-IT-YOURSELF man Tony McPhee stands among the debris of a still-unfinished studio at his home in Haverhill, Suffolk. ...
Steeleye Span: Parcel Of Rogues (Chrysalis CHR 1046)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 5 May 1973
THERE ARE a number of reasons why this album is almost impossible to review, and all pertain to the element of isolation in which Steeleye ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: The Wailers: Catch A Fire (Island SW9329)
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 5 May 1973
TRUTH TO tell, I think that reggae is a lost cause in Britain. It's an entirely popular music and unless it makes it from the ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 19 May 1973
There Goes Rhymin’ Simon is the title of Paul Simon’s new solo album, and last week he was in New York to talk about the ...
Bobby Womack and Peace: Across 110th Street (UAS 29451)
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 2 June 1973
BOBBY WOMACK has been recording some very acceptable soul records for UA for a little while now without ever making much of a dent on ...
Gordon Lightfoot's Mid-Day Madness
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 2 June 1973
IT'S MIDDAY in Toronto on Thursday of last week and Gordon Lightfoot is sitting back and reckoning that everything's getting just a touch silly. Which, ...
John Cale: Half Past California
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 2 June 1973
JOHN CALE is not the easiest of men to talk to. Not that he is obstreperous, bored or plain dumb. Quite the reverse. Ask him ...
Bill Withers: Live At Carnegie Hall (A&M)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 9 June 1973
FIRST TIME I saw Bill Withers live he was appearing at the huge Louisiana State Fair in Baton Rouge to a matter of about 20,000 ...
Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen's Bar Blues Are Over
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 9 June 1973
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN is the new Bob Dylan. No, really? He's spent his life down, and comparatively out, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, cooking up some ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Wailers' Simple Message
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 9 June 1973
BOB MARLEY looks as though he could be a heavy. Though he's of average height and spare build, he has the gleaming eye of a ...
Led Zeppelin: Steel Driven Led
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 23 June 1973
LED ZEPPELIN recently flew into town and within a matter of hours after the Forum box office opened, had sold close to 36,000 tickets for ...
Steeleye Span: The Steeleye Span Talk-In
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 23 June 1973
STEELEYE HAVE JUST added a drummer for the first time since the band formed. Can you explain how this came about? ...
Cat Stevens' Subtle Love Affair
Review and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 14 July 1973
CAT STEVENS walks out of the burning sun, through the huge glass windows. It’s a surprise to see him. He seems as surprised to be ...
Don Nix: Keeping On Keeping On
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 28 July 1973
SKIN ALLEY have certainly had a great opportunity in signing with Stax in the States: not least among the advantages it brings them is the ...
Freddie King: The Cannonball Blows Into Town
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 28 July 1973
WHEN THE Texas Cannonball blows into town it's quite an event, and when he's only in for a couple of days then everybody wants to ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Shy Boy Who Had Power
Report and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 28 July 1973
TAKE A look at that feller in the picture. Pretty smart, eh? A nice-looking geezer, beautiful soft rubbery face with a sleepy, foxy smile that ...
The Strawbs: Jacks Out For The Strawbs
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, August 1973
THE BEST, and possibly only, way of breaking in a new band is to retreat into the country, converge on the local inn and set ...
Barclay James Harvest: Waiting For The Cherry Harvest
Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 August 1973
A COUPLE of years ago I chanced to review an album by a band which transformed a flirting relationship into something of a commitment. The ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: Swashbuckler Rod
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 25 August 1973
ROD STEWART and I have been talking about the Liberal party and their chances in the next election. Now he's standing – one long green ...
Aj Webber: Straight From The Heart
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 September 1973
AJ WEBBER is neither to be confused with dustbin Dylanologist A.J. Webberman nor with British bumpkin Adge Cutler, although like the Adge she comes from ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 8 September 1973
SANDY DENNY and Trevor Lucas were at their Fulham flat watching the test match when I arrived to tape the talk-in. England’s terrible plight was ...
Report by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 15 September 1973
THE DAY Starship One landed in Hollywood it effused a trace of the old redolence and affaced just a little of the Hollywood myth. The ...
Don McLean: Eye On The Future, Ear In The Past: Don McLean
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 September 1973
DON McLEAN took a deep breath and launched into a long qualification of his next album — how one cycle was complete and how his ...
Poco: One Of The Great Mysteries Of Rock
Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 29 September 1973
Five years and six albums after they formed Poco remain one of the great mysteries of rock and roll – a band who have lurked ...
Report and Interview by Bruce Pollock, Sounds, 20 October 1973
ON THE broadwalk at Asbury Park, New Jersey, you can hear the black waters of the Atlantic rippling against the rotted sides of the pier ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 November 1973
THE STRAWBS are at last beginning to mature into the kind of band that does justice to the eminence of the musicians involved. "Come down ...
Bonnie Raitt: The Troubadour, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973
IT WAS a unique week in Hollywood recently when female performers simultaneously headlined three clubs. The Ash Grove hosted Tret Fure, The Roxy offered Linda ...
Jackson Browne: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973
JACKSON BROWNE possesses a unique facility known as credibility. Whether he's accompanying himself solely with an acoustic guitar or being backed with electric guitar and ...
Sly & The Family Stone: The Palladium, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973
IT LOOKS as if Sly Stone has changed his ways. During a rash of appearances here in the Lost City (a TV taping and two ...
Rick Derringer: All American: Rick Derringer
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 15 December 1973
RICK ZEHRINGER, one time leader of the McCoys, is now better known as Rick Derringer, the All American Boy. Through his work with Johnny and ...
Steeleye Span: Maddy Prior in the Talk-In
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 15 December 1973
WITHIN THE precincts of Warwick Castle a BBC Outside Broadcast team were attempting to film the second Steeleye TV show in their peregrinations around famous ...
Frank Zappa: Ultra-modern String Bean
Profile and Interview by Jon Tiven, Sounds, 22 December 1973
ALTHOUGH depicted as vicarious forms of slimy nightmare, Frank Zappa is NOT creepy. When asked about days of old (when everyone was groping around, trying ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 December 1973
POCO’S TIM Schmitt and Paul Cotton were asked whether Richie Furay would have the band to play on the same bill as Loggins & Messina, ...
Taj Mahal: Taj: Thinking The Blues
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 22 December 1973
TAJ MAHAL was dressed in full regalia when we arrived at his hotel room in Manhattan, and the room revealed signs that he and his ...
The Doors, Ray Manzarek: The Doors: An Interview with Ray Manzarek
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 December 1973
SR: THE BREAKING up of the Doors was kind of a mysterious circumstance and I'm sure not many people know really what happened. ...
Aretha Franklin: With Everything I Feel In Me (Atlantic)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 1974
IT'S A sorry state of affairs when you put a new Aretha Franklin album on the turntable and it blends into the woodwork with the ...
Queen: Britain's Biggest Unknowns
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 5 January 1974
QUEEN ARE being hailed as the natural successors to Led Zeppelin on the other side of the Atlantic. This may cause an outburst of derisive ...
The Groundhogs, Stray: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 5 January 1974
THE GROUNDHOGS' Rainbow concert was plagued with problems from the word go! ...
Al Green: Livin' For You (import)
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 12 January 1974
AL GREEN: ALIVE AND SO REAL ...
Ace: Hornsey College of Art, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 19 January 1974
ACE PERFORMED a nifty little set at the Hornsey College of Art last Thursday. I do not have much information about this band except their ...
Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers: Marquee, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 19 January 1974
CHILLI WILLI are quite possibly the band that I spent most of 1973 searching in vain for. They have been together just a year and ...
The Pointer Sisters: Pointer Sisters: Rainbow Room, Biba, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 26 January 1974
IF YOU'RE still able to get tickets for any of the Pointer Sisters' concerts I strongly advise you to invest in them. At an LA ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets (Island ILPS 9628)
Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 16 February 1974
Iron Bean's nut cracker ...
Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Warner Bros. MS 2171, Import)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 February 1974
THEY SAY this isn't as good as GP and hopes have been expressed that Gram Parsons has left a legacy of more recorded material. Well ...
Renaissance: A New Life for Renaissance
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, March 1974
IT’S FOUR years since the first Renaissance album came out. It was a memorable week as I recall Island issuing that and Fairport Convention’s Liege ...
Canned Heat: The Fire's Lit — The Heat Is On
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 2 March 1974
THE INDUSTRY of music hangs like the sword of Damocles over its performers. At any turn an artist may be erased from the books by ...
Terry Reid: Reincarnated Cowboy
Profile and Interview by Jon Tiven, Sounds, 2 March 1974
"You’ve got Peter Jay, Led Zeppelin, and blah-blah-blah and it doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m doing now. Like here I am doing ...
Mick Ronson: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 9 March 1974
"TWINKLE TWINKLE little starman". Mick Ronson possesses all the necessary qualities to ensure stardom but his good looks and lithe limbs seemed to be the ...
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 9 March 1974
IT WAS A bad night for Queen at Friars Hall, Aylesbury, last Saturday, but this was not completely their fault. For a start one of ...
Sharks: Hard Rock Café, London
Live Review by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 9 March 1974
THE SHARKS are evidently getting ready for America where, in the immortal words of the pundit, they will have to kick ass harder than they ...
Cat Stevens: The Patterns Of A Chocolate Man
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 12 March 1974
With an almost regimental sense of routine, Cat Stevens is back in England rehearsing for his first tour in eighteen months. ...
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 March 1974
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN was confined to the boardwalk life on New Jersey. He lived over a drug store "in all the craziness of downtown", prayed for ...
Charlie Rich: Behind Closed Doors (CBS KE32247)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 March 1974
THIS ALBUM comes over-stamped with the words "Award Winner! Best album of the year! Male vocalist of the year! Best single of the year!" And ...
Paul Butterfield's Better Days: It All Comes Back (Bearsville K44517)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 March 1974
AS A FAN of most of the music that's been going on in Woodstock, the formation of Better Days looked like the perfect solution. ...
Art Garfunkel, Simon & Garfunkel: Art Garfunkel: Artie Gets His Feet Wet
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 30 March 1974
Jerry Gilbert talks to Art Garfunkel and finds out his future plans ...
Mott The Hoople, Procol Harum: Guy Stevens: Guy's Out For Glory
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 30 March 1974
GUY STEVENS is the kind of guy who might be buttonholing your young lady in the boozer. ...
Mike Harrison, Mott The Hoople: Guy's Out For Glory
Profile and Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 30 March 1974
GUY STEVENS is the kind of guy who might be buttonholing your young lady in the boozer. ...
The Strawbs: An interview with Dave Cousins
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 April 1974
DAVE COUSINS is one of the few musicians whom one can interview repeatedly and always come back with a fresh slant or a new revelation. ...
Buzzy Linhart: Pussycats Can Go Far (ATCO SD 7044)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 May 1974
POOR OLD Buzzy. So long as he stayed part of that New York trip, I always felt he had a chance — with the inspiration ...
Richard and Linda Thompson: I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight (Island ILPS 9266)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 May 1974
Richard and Linda put on the shine ...
Jimmy Cliff: Country Boy Jimmy Cliff
Report by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 18 May 1974
Martin Hayman meets one of reggae's mainmen ...
John Cale, Brian Eno: Eno and John Cale: The Wild Bunch
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 18 May 1974
Martin Hayman jumps into the Tardis, goes into the future with typewriter over his shoulder and ends up on the beach with Eno, Phil Manzanera and ...
Andrew Loog Oldham: Mr. Sharpie
Interview by Jon Tiven, Sounds, 1 June 1974
MOST OF the top recording business entrepreneurs from the Sixties have their little niches all carved out for them. ...
Sparks: Come Into Marks and Sparks
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 1 June 1974
LOOK AT those two, aren't they cute? Who are they? Why they're the Mael Brothers. You know, Ronnie's the one who looks like a crossbreed ...
Ellen McIlwaine: Honky Tonk Angel
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 1 June 1974
ELLEN McILWAINE is probably the finest female guitarist to emerge in ages, says ROBIN KATZ. She handles her guitar with the expertise of a super-cool ...
Elvis Presley, the Sweet Inspirations: Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 1 June 1974
PERHAPS AMERICA'S two most important musical artists took to the roads recently. Bob Dylan blazed a crosscountry tour which left followers and non-believers alike a ...
Captain Beefheart and his Tragic Band
Report by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 8 June 1974
WHO WOULD WANT TO WRITE THIS? ASKS MARTIN HAYMAN ...
Interview by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 8 June 1974
DENNY CORDELL is not at all like my image of him. Well in fact, I didn't know what to expect but he was not like ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 29 June 1974
NOW THIS lead's going to sound confusing, but please bear with me. There are people you like just for their music and there are musicians ...
Ashford & Simpson: Behind A Painted Smile
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 3 August 1974
'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', 'You're All I Need To Get By', 'Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing', and 'The Onion Song' were all hits ...
Hot Chocolate: Ghetto Music — Council Estate Style
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 3 August 1974
Robin Katz meets a hot, unified body ...
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 10 August 1974
JOHNNY BRISTOL'S 'Hang On In There Baby' is currently moving up the American charts. It sounds very much like the Isaac Hayes-Barry White school of ...
Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: Roxy Music: The Two Sides Of Mr Manzanera
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 August 1974
Since the beginning of Roxy Music's career there have been many reports of fights and ego stomping between various members. One man who's been keeping ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: CSN&Y: By The Time We Got Through Neasden...
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 September 1974
EVERYONE had their doubts. Throughout the daylong musical orgy of all 72,000 paying customers sat in nervous anticipation, enjoying the exceptionally fine music and the ...
Grateful Dead: Alexandra Palace, London
Live Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 21 September 1974
DEAD? No, just snoozing ...
Joni Mitchell: Wembley Stadium, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 September 1974
IN CONCERT, Joni Mitchell is one of those rare performers whose sophisticated charisma and fairy-tale personality reach the inner emotions of her audience. ...
The Isley Brothers: Phase Four — Isley Style
Overview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 21 September 1974
YOUR ROVING reporter ROBIN KATZ bought a copy of the Isley Brothers' first album, Shout for a mere quid, and upon her arrival home, it was ...
Stephen Stills: An American in Paris
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 12 October 1974
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH AND YOUNG had only ended their reunion tour three weeks back, and already Stephen Stills was working again. The locale had ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey: Rock And Roll Warrior
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 October 1974
Pete Makowski talks to a man who fought at Waterloo. Here, back in his reincarnated form, he talks about making peace with the people. ...
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 2 November 1974
IT IS going to be interesting to see the fans' and critics' reaction when they lay their hands on Stormbringer. ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 November 1974
THE DARK clouds were playing hide and seek with the sky, ominously threatening rain all the way to Colchester. The wind rustled through the trees ...
Johnny Winter: White Lightning
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 2 November 1974
"WINTER'S HERE," well by the time you read this feature he'll be gone. But he was here last week and Pete Makowski spoke to him. ...
Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley: Steve Harley: Mr Soft gets tough
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 2 November 1974
Meek, mild mannered Pete Makowski sacrifices his tape machine to the meanderings of that nasty Steve Harley, at home, as always, tearing at the throats ...
The Eagles, The James Gang, Wishbone Ash: Szymczyk's the name, producing's the game
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 November 1974
If you've got albums by the Eagles, Joe Walsh, James Gang, J. Geils Band, Wishbone Ash or B.B. King then you should know who Barbara ...
Ken Boothe: Straight Down the Middle
Interview by Idris Walters, Sounds, 9 November 1974
A RASTAFARIAN rising to number one on a cover version with a soft reggae back beat. 'Everything I Own' must have sold a lot of ...
Average White Band: The Average White Band: Let's Get It On
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 1 February 1975
Calling yourselves the Average White Band seemed, even in Britain, to be chancing it a bit. In the States, for slightly different reasons, it almost ...
Fumble, Sha Na Na: Sha Na Na/Fumble: Secondhand Oldies But Goodies
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 15 February 1975
Robin Katz talked to Sha Na Na and Fumble and found that the music never died ...
Kool and the Gang, The Ohio Players: The Ohio Players, Kool & The Gang: From Ohio to Japan
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 15 February 1975
THE OHIO Players have been America's number one R&B band for the last two years. Kool And The Gang were the first instrumental based band ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 5 April 1975
If 'All Platinum' appears an ambitious name for a record label, consider the fact that their first two UK releases, Shirley and Company's 'Shame Shame ...
Golden Earring: Switch (Polydor 2344 040)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 April 1975
Switch — on and off ...
Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel In Flight
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 April 1975
As Minnie Riperton hits No. 1 in America Penny Valentine reports from New York ...
Peter Frampton: Frampton (A&M AMLH 64512)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 April 1975
DON'T BE deceived by the album cover: here, the name "Frampton" is ablaze with colour, and Peter himself, in monochrome, is depicted with guitar, his ...
The Commodores: Caught In The Act (Motown import)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 April 1975
THERE'S A new breed of soulmongers on the loose, since the emergence of bands like the Isleys, The Ohios and BT Express, funky music has ...
Led Zeppelin: Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 19 April 1975
LED ZEPPELIN'S long awaited North American tour could have waited a while longer – about ten years or so. After reports had filed in to ...
Suzi Quatro: Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 19 April 1975
A FRIEND was explaining to me the merits of Suzi Quatro's one-night Roxy performance. "Well," he said, trying hard to come up with something worthwhile, ...
The Beach Boys, Jesse Colin Young: Santa Barbara University, CA
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 19 April 1975
"I WISH they all could be California girllls," the Beach Boys sang on a sunny and high spirited Sunday afternoon. It was the perfect setting ...
Live Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 26 April 1975
SOUL IS ALIVE... ALIVE ...ALIVE... ALIVE ...
Bernard Purdie: Purdie's School of Drumming
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 April 1975
Pete Makowski talks to top American session drummer Bernard Purdie ...
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 26 April 1975
THE STAGE was set. On the left hand side, Steve Hackett was seated with guitar and a melange of effects around him. Behind him, Michael ...
Gladys Knight & The Pips: Midnight Train To Harlem
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 April 1975
Blowing it at the Apollo means you haven't really made it at all. After a heart-stopping false start, GLADYS KNIGHT went on to prove that ...
LaBelle: ...How The West Was Won — Nearly
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 April 1975
A few days in the life of LaBelle. Penny Valentine reports from America's West Coast where the critics are a harder nut to crack than ...
Larry Uttal: His Stock Is High
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 26 April 1975
Without the likes of Larry Uttal, the trendy record industry would have little foundation ...
Patti Smith: Part Woman, Part Black, Part Genius, Part Idiot...
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 26 April 1975
PATTI SMITH might have been a star last year, but the top side of her first single seemed to have the word 'piss' in every ...
Ronnie Lane: All Roads Lead To The Big Top
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 26 April 1975
As Ronnie Lane prepares to take his Passing Show back on the road, Mick Brown reports ...
Pink Floyd: Vancouver, BC; Seattle WA; San Francisco CA
Live Review by David Rensin, Sounds, 3 May 1975
Trapped on the Moon ...
Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus: Nyahbinghi (Trojan Trls 113)
Review by Idris Walters, Sounds, 3 May 1975
THERE IS a story on the sleeve — which makes a change. It tells how Haile Selassie was the last in a line of 323 ...
Bill Monroe: Greyfriars Monastery, Glasgow
Live Review by Dave Laing, Sounds, 10 May 1975
Kentucky Friar Bluegrass: At 63, Bill Monroe's Fingers Are Still as Nimble As Ever. Dave Laing reports from Greyfriars Monastery, near Glasgow. ...
Bread: Gates' Philosophical Process
Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Sounds, 10 May 1975
ONE IMPORTANT fact about the geography of American rock which often gets overlooked is the importance of Oklahoma in the scheme of things. Not the ...
Average White Band: The Spirit is High as The Average White Band Go Out to Haunt the Strip
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 10 May 1975
Success to these guys means getting better, smoking Rothmans and a few extra patches on their denims. Barbara Charone reports from Los Angeles ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 17 May 1975
Geoff Barton is one of the few ...
Charlie Rich: Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 24 May 1975
CHARLIE RICH has successfully switched over from the relatively limited-audience reception of a country singer to an engaging live performer confident not only in the ...
The Beatles, Bob Marley & the Wailers: Is Natty Dread better than Sgt. Pepper?
Essay by Idris Walters, Sounds, 24 May 1975
It doesn't matter, says IDRIS WALTERS. Rock's big enough, and the WAILERS are making waves... ...
Led Zeppelin: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1975
"SIX AND A half years is a helluva long time," said Robert Plant who was standing one side of the Earls Court stage, bathed in ...
ZZ Top: Fandango (London FHU 8482) (31.00)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1975
ZZ Top will tear this country apart ...
Joan Armatrading: Reluctant Singer Returns
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 31 May 1975
"I'M THE most boring person in the whole world," Joan Armatrading announces, sticking her head out the window of A&M's Oxford Street offices, breathing in ...
Judy Collins: Getting Judy's Number
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 31 May 1975
Talk In... By Robin Katz... Talk In... By Robin Katz... Talk In... By Robin Katz... PART 1... ...
Live Review by Dave Laing, Sounds, 31 May 1975
BEFORE THEY split up in 1972, Patto had the reputation of being a "Musicians' band". Which made them feel good but didn't pay for life's ...
Overview by Idris Walters, Sounds, 31 May 1975
...but can white rock and rollers sing the palm tree? wonders IDRIS WALTERS ...
Jackie Wilson: "I'm a singer not a writer," says Jackie Wilson
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 7 June 1975
'JACKIE Wilson Said' is a song by Van Morrison from the St. Dominic's Preview album. Jackie Wilson said he hasn't met Van Morrison yet to ...
The Bay City Rollers: Bay City Rollers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Love and kisses with a drone ...
Frank Sinatra: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Charming Frank ...
Minnie Riperton: Adventures In Paradise (Epic EPC 80803) (49:00)
Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Minnie: rather less than angelic ...
Olivia Newton-John: Have You Never Been Mellow (EMI EMC 3069) (36.00)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Olivia — mellow and pleasant ...
Olivia Newton-John: Olivia wants it to happen
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 7 June 1975
THERE'S A rather freaky, hairy, heavy music orientated — call it what you will — record shop situated quite near to where I live. Some ...
Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Quite what all that has to do with 'Venus And Mars' is not at first apparent. But stay with us, all will be revealed. ...
Judy Collins: The Liberation of Judy Collins
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 7 June 1975
JUDY COLLINS is a liberated lady who feels that the feminist movement's mistake has, in many cases, been to isolate itself. She sees her job ...
The Osmonds: Mass Masochism In Belgravia — The Story of O
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 7 June 1975
Young girls spend hours queuing in Eaton Square in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Osmond Brothers pop group. Some of them get ...
Todd Rundgren: Initiation (Bearsville Import) Time: 68.00
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 7 June 1975
TODD: ONLY FOR THE INITIATED ...
Allen Toussaint: Southern Nights (Reprise)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 14 June 1975
Toussaint's Night Flight ...
Bobby Womack, Ronnie Wood: Now Look Here! This is Bobby Womack
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 14 June 1975
BOBBY WOMACK is confused. Suffering from an overdose of in-the-studio-excitement and jet lag, he sits on the bed of his hotel room cubicle at Blake's, ...
Roy Harper: Poetry In Motion With The One Eyed Giant
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 14 June 1975
ROY HARPER reckons Roger Waters listens to Valentine at least three times a week. He also reckons he's influenced Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull. If ...
The Rolling Stones: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 5 July 1975
Frenetic, laid back Stones ...
Bonnie Raitt: Bonnie Comes Marching Home
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 July 1975
When Bonnie Raitt comes marching home to pack Carnegie Hall, Penny Valentine is there to talk to "the one woman who is a pure musician ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 12 July 1975
Floyd fly high with support ...
Tim Buckley Dies: He Put His Soul Where His Mouth Was
Obituary by Idris Walters, Sounds, 12 July 1975
TIM BUCKLEY died at his home in Santa Monica, California, after appearing at a concert on Sunday, June 29. The exact cause of death of ...
Live Review by Dave Laing, Sounds, 19 July 1975
IT WAS, as they say, a night to remember. The queue outside London's Torrington last Sunday stretched right down the road, and dozens were left ...
Stephen Stills: Steve Stills A Man Of Magic
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 19 July 1975
Stephen Stills: Lennox, Massachusetts ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Idris Walters, Sounds, 26 July 1975
Wailers join rogues gallery ...
Hot Chocolate: Top Hat, Spennymoor, County Durham
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 July 1975
REVIEWING ACTS in nightclubs rather than the usual concert hall is really something else. So much is happening, the band has to work really hard ...
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 26 July 1975
A PRE-RECORDED tape of Adolf Hitler shouts and jack boot stomps heralded Motorhead's debut concert act London's Chalk Farm Roundhouse on Sunday and, indeed, the ...
The Faces, The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood: 'Now Read' Ronnie Wood
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 July 1975
"HEY MICKIE BAAABY," a disc jockey screams loudly after playing 'Get Off Of My Cloud' for the third time that afternoon for the greater metropolis ...
Aerosmith: Toys In The Attic (CBS) (36:59).
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 2 August 1975
AS AEROSMITH race through 'Toys In The Attic', first track on the platter, all raging guitars, quaint lyrics about 'leaving the things that are real ...
Betty Davis, Miles Davis: Betty Davis: Aisles of Miles
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 2 August 1975
The ex-wife or Miles Davis is now making it on her own account. Robin Katz reports ...
The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: The Weasel Walks In
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 August 1975
Barbara Charone talks to Keith Richard, the man who Mick Jagger introduces as 'the guy on sort of vocals' ...
The Bee Gees: Back on course with the Bee Gees
Interview by Charles Bermant, Sounds, 9 August 1975
BARRY GIBB IS pleased. It is a good season for ‘the Bee Gees (Barry and his brothers, Maurice and Robin) whose new Main Course album ...
Thom Bell, The Stylistics: Bell rings the Stylistics
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 16 August 1975
THEY CAN'T dance, they do sing and they sell records like anything. But lets face it, how can they miss? The songs are written for ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Marley On The Mount
Interview by Idris Walters, Sounds, 16 August 1975
Last week you got the low-down on Bob Marley, King of the Rastafarians. But it goes a little deeper than that. For a start the ...
Chris Farlowe: Farlowe's Back In Time
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 16 August 1975
IT WAS, says Chris Farlowe, bloody fantastic. The Marquee Club packed to the limit; sweat staining the walls. A barrage of vintage blues-shouting from Farlowe ...
Eric Clapton: EC Was Here (RSO)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 16 August 1975
"THE LIVE album," said long time Clapton producer Tom Dowd, "is the answer to everyone saying 'why doesn't Eric play more'?" ...
Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac (Reprise K 54043, 42.12)
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 16 August 1975
IT'S A BIT difficult to decide just what Fleetwood Mac are up to on this album. They've never been the easiest of groups to categorise. ...
Jess Roden: Riding for a hit — Roden style
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 16 August 1975
THE FIRST impression is that he's vulnerable, with shorter hair than in his pictures, and trembling hands. ...
Hawkwind, Motörhead: Motorhead: Running In
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 16 August 1975
'Loud, raucous, arrogant, fast, city, paranoid, speedfreak rock and roll. But mainly very loud'. That's what Lemmy says Motorhead's music is. Geoff Barton reports ...
Thin Lizzy: Not so lean for Thin Lizzy
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 16 August 1975
After an inauspicious debut at last year's Reading Festival and a less than stunning first album, Thin Lizzy now seem to have got it together ...
Rainbow: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (Oyster OYA2001)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 16 August 1975
VOLCANIC BLACKMORE ...
Stephen Stills: Stills – From Fish Bowl To Pleasure Dome
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 16 August 1975
THE KANSAS City Holiday Inn is not the kind of place you would want to call home. Situated right off an interstate highway, the rooms ...
Sweet: the devastating transition
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 16 August 1975
Since Sweet severed connections with songsmiths Chinn and Chapman, their prospects appeared to be 'pretty dodgy'. Pete Makowski brings us up to date ...
The Supremes: The Supremes (Tamla Motown) (32.16)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 16 August 1975
SIX PRODUCERS on one record? Is this some kind of a joke? I've heard of Rick Derringer dreaming of a different producer for each song ...
Brook Benton: Brook's Bent on a Come Back
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 23 August 1975
BROOK BENTON'S face has just broken into a big grin. When his eyes roll back down from the ceiling and he stops laughing to himself, ...
Rory Gallagher: Rory's full of nitty gritty
Report and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 23 August 1975
After their recent success at the Montreux Festival, the Rory Gallagher band moved on to new ground, Finland. ...
The Groundhogs: Tony McPhee: Prisoner In His Own Castle?
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, September 1975
Jerry Gilbert looks at Tony McPhee’s decision to split the Groundhogs. ...
Manhattan Transfer: Be-bopin' The Transfer Tradition
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 6 September 1975
Manhattan Transfer don't like being classed as a nostalgia band, they feel they're urban folk singers, singing music of the ghetto. Jonh Ingham talks to ...
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run (Columbia import)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 13 September 1975
THE VISIONARIES and rock and roll prophets who predicted that this album would be the making of Bruce Springsteen may have noted that while their ...
Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down But Genesis Carries On
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 13 September 1975
THE GATHERING was far from morose. No black clothes or sombre faces. No mourning music or dirge-like drones. No sullen postures, despondent looks or vehement ...
Jethro Tull: Minstrel In The Gallery
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 13 September 1975
A NEW Jethro Tull album is not the most exciting release in the world these days: not the type of record to force its way ...
Kraftwerk: Mayfair Ballroom, Newcastle
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 13 September 1975
FOR THE past couple of days Kraftwerk had been rehearsing in the pleasant and appropriate surroundings of Newcastle's City Hall. Yet, strangely, for the opening ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Visions Of The Ever Changing Mahavishnu
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 13 September 1975
The Mahavishnu Orchestra is now a quartet. The frequent structural alterations to the Orchestra may be bewildering to some but to John McLaughlin it's all ...
The Stooges: Iggy And The Stooges: Metallic K.O. (Skydog) ****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 18 September 1975
Crass, conceited, vulgar and unpleasant. Also quite unique. ...
David Essex: Roll On For The Main Attraction
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 20 September 1975
JUST OFF the Fulham Road, round the corner from an old cinema that Manticore have converted into a hollow rehearsal hall, David Essex sits in ...
Kraftwerk: 2 a.m. Newcastle Hotel
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 20 September 1975
'We not only try to brainwash people... we succeed' ...
David Bowie: Lindsay Kemp: Camp? No — Kemp
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 20 September 1975
Lindsay Kemp says it with Flowers. He also aided and abetted the transformation of David Bowie into Ziggy Stardust. Mick Brown reports. ...
Chris Spedding: Speeding With Spedding
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 20 September 1975
DEEP IN the bowels of Television Centre, Chris Spedding whiles away the hours in a dressing room, waiting for those few minutes on TOTP when ...
Betty Davis: Game is her Middle Name
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 27 September 1975
Betty Davis hits Britain next month and she's BAAAAD, brother. Robin Katz checks out the lady who makes Tina Turner look like the Singing Nun... ...
The Eagles: Eagles: The Earthpeople's Band
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 27 September 1975
They say they play real music for real people. Sounds dull. But the Eagles do it with a kind of magic that has made them ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 27 September 1975
Jonh Ingham shares an eggburger with Queen's Brian May... ...
America: St George To The Rescue
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 4 October 1975
DEWEY BUNNELL stood in the middle of his Manchester hotel suite, scratched his beard, and grinned. An hour before, Dewey and a couple of his ...
Report and Interview by Dave Laing, Sounds, 4 October 1975
A FEW WEEKS ago, the Bay City Rollers, plus entourage of managers, accountants and the rest were whisked out to The Manor in deepest Oxfordshire, ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Malpractice (United Artists) (36.08)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 4 October 1975
FROM THE speed-crazed paranoid stares on the cover to the buzz-bomb guitar attacks inside, one question demands to be answered: would you let your parents ...
Emmylou Harris Still Loves Her Dolly
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 4 October 1975
"TACKY ISN'T IT?" Emmylou Harris grinned, pointing to a rainbow coloured T-shirt, the words Palamino Club emblazoned across the chest while a genuine chestnut mare ...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 October 1975
THE SUDDEN relaunch of Poco has kicked up some pretty weird conversations and ironies. For few former Poco buffs are willing to believe that Head ...
Steve Gibbons Band: Steve Gibbons
Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Sounds, 4 October 1975
There's an extra bonus for those of you with tickets for the Who's upcoming tour. It comes in the shape of the Steve Gibbons Band. ...
Andy Mackay, Bryan Ferry, Phil Manzanera, Roxy Music: The Roxy Music Story
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 4 October 1975
THE TELEPHONE'S ringing woke him. Sleepily Flame Torso surveyed the tangle of blankets which hid the form next to him. He vaguely tried to remember ...
The Who: The Who By Numbers (Polydor) (37.50)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 4 October 1975
THE WHO are alright kids. They are back with a vengeance. The first opening attack on 'Slip Kid' quells doubts and settles apprehensions about the ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 11 October 1975
TO VISIT ALVIN LEE at home is seemingly to see a man living the perfect fantasy life – 40 room mansion, large gardens, recording studio, ...
Leon Russell: Russell's Hustle...
Report by uncredited writer, Sounds, 11 October 1975
LEON RUSSELL, obviously displeased with the low sales of his last album, Will O'The Wisp, is trying a new idea to stimulate things for his ...
Linda Ronstadt: Prisoner In Disguise
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 11 October 1975
MAYBE IT'S the singer not the song but in the particular case of Linda Ronstadt it is both. Plagued by an unsympathetic selection of material ...
Report by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 11 October 1975
I WAS in a pretty blasphemous mood when I left for Stafford. But the thought of seeing the Who cheered me up. It had been ...
Art Garfunkel: Breakaway (CBS 86002) 37 mins.
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 October 1975
HAVE S AND/or G ever produced a real bummer? Of course not and Art's latest could never be anything but one of the loveliest LPs ...
Loggins & Messina: Loggins and Messina: So Fine (CBS 69169) (32.45 mins)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 18 October 1975
I HATE this record with a rare savagery. It features the duo's renditions of a dozen exhumed oldies and it raised the anger so fast ...
Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years (CBS 86001) 35 mins
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 18 October 1975
THE WAIT has been worth it. If you exclude Live Rhymin' (and most people do) this is Simon's first record for more than two years, ...
Dr. Feelgood: The /almost collected thoughts of Dr. Feelgood
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 18 October 1975
DR FEELGOOD: Wilko Johnson – guitar; Lee Brilleaux – vocals; John B Sparks – bass; The Figure – drums. They grew up on Canvey Island in ...
Blue Öyster Cult, Motorhead: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 25 October 1975
SUPPORT ACT Lemmy's Motorhead played the second worst set I've ever seen. The only past concert I can think of that surpasses it, in terms ...
David Essex: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 25 October 1975
I DONT know how he does it. Five weeks later David Essex ended his British tour with a five night run at the Hammersmith Odeon ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: De Doelen, Rotterdam, Holland
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 25 October 1975
Lynyrd skynful ...
Back Street Crawler, Paul Kossoff: Back from the Dead: Paul Kossoff
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 November 1975
Despite that painful appearance on the OGWT, Paul Kossoff is Alive and as Well as anyone could be after being at death' s door ...
Black Sabbath: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 1 November 1975
WITH THE exception of their 'Paranoid' single, I've always been quite happy to think of Black Sabbath as the biggest hunch of musical crud on ...
Bruce Springsteen: Roxy Club, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 1 November 1975
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN'S closing night at the Roxy Club in Hollywood provided neither excitement nor exceptional performance as he played for a packed house. ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 1 November 1975
THE IKE and Tina Turner roadshow breezed in and out of London in double-quick time last week, but they managed to stay at the Hammersmith ...
Barclay James Harvest: Who Reaped Barclay James’ harvest?
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 8 November 1975
After seven years with a sizeable reputation and a loyal following, Barclay James Harvest still haven’t made any money. ...
Patti Smith: La belle dame sans merci: Patti Smith: Horses (Arista Import) *****
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 20 November 1975
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I give you the record of the year. Or the record of 1976, since it won't be released here until January. ...
Queen: A Night At The Opera (EMI) *****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 20 November 1975
AS IMPLIED BY THEIR 'Bohemian' extravaganza Queen have really gone for it, the meisterwerk, the magnum opus even. ...
Captain Beefheart: Don't Argue with the Captain: A Rap Wit’ de Cap
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 November 1975
Captain Beefheart is back in Britain, and despite those hassles over Bongo Fury he has lots of laughs... ...
Queen: A Riot At The Opera: Queen Triumphant
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 29 November 1975
QUEEN ARE the type of group that make a man want to abandon rock writing. They pose questions and never provide answers. They exist in ...
Ace: Time For Another (Anchor) 40 mins****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 29 November 1975
FOLLOWING THEIR debut vinyl effort Five A Side and the immense success of 'How Long', both here and in America, it certainly is "Time For Another". Yet ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Live at the Lyceum (Island) 35 mins.*****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 November 1975
IN THESE troubled times of ours there's very few things you can be sure of. ...
Bruce Springsteen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 November 1975
WHEN THEY were good they were very very good, and when they were bad they were so-so. ...
Dr. John: Dr John's Minstrel Trip
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 29 November 1975
WHEN DR John was coming off heroin some time ago, it was suggested that a visit to a faith-healing meeting might help in the cure. ...
Neil Young: Zuma (Warner Brothers)*****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 29 November 1975
YOUNG'S NEWLY gained independence, following his split with his old lady, actress Carrie Snodgrass, seems to have had quite a positive effect on his work. ...
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 November 1975
'IN THE street, boy! That's where the action is. Where the wheelers and the dealers and the hustlers and the crooks get the suckers.' ...
Tangerine Dream: Ricochet (Virgin) 38 min*****
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 29 November 1975
THE TANGS RULE. Jamie had seen it spray painted on walls all over town. In underpasses. On the back walls of railway sidings – 20 ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: The Faces: Vocalist Wanted for Pro Band
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 29 November 1975
IT SEEMED like a good idea. After Rod Stewart's predictably flamboyant statements over the Faces future, the band deserved equal time. Would Ian McLagen turn ...
Toots & The Maytals, The Who: The Who, Toots & The Maytals: Summit Hockey Arena, Houston TX
Live Review by John Swenson, Sounds, 29 November 1975
THE WHO began the American portion of their world tour in characteristic fashion – opening up Houston's Summit Hockey arena to rock 'n' roll. ...
Back Street Crawler: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 December 1975
IT WAS a fairly complete emotional experience watching Back Street Crawler at the City Hall. You wondered where performance ended and real life began. Was ...
Can: Tales of the Supernatural
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 December 1975
I WAS SITTING in a standard hotel bedroom the other day, chewing the fat with a citizen by the name of Irmin Schmidt. ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 December 1975
ALTHOUGH the jumper says "Happy Little Leo", the artiste is in a reflective mood this cold day in November despite comic overtures. Black leather jacket, ...
Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 6 December 1975
HEADLEY GRANGE is an unimposing place, rambling, but not overly large and possessing none of the characteristics that make for a manor, stately home, or ...
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 6 December 1975
EVEN IF you don't particularly care for Roy Wood (and his music seems to arouse, negatively speaking, disinterest rather than hate), you have to give ...
Steeleye Span: The Folk Who Plugged In
Retrospective and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 6 December 1975
NOW WE are six was a title conveniently borrowed from A. A. Milne to acknowledge that in 1973 Steeleye Span had finally decided to add ...
Tom Waits: Nighthawks At The Diner (Asylum Import) *****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 6 December 1975
Waits: poet of the streets and bars ...
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 13 December 1975
"I reckon I lost my way somewhere along the line. The whole thing was too regimented. It was getting really silly". It was perhaps ...
Dr. John: Dr John: Hollywood Be Thy Name (United Artists)
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 13 December 1975
WHEN DOCTOR John failed to deliver a hit single (and album) to follow the success of 'In The Right Place' Atlantic promptly ditched him. That's ...
Al Jarreau: It's a bit early for New Year predictions, but here's one: Al Jarreau
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 December 1975
TO EVERYONE who's raved over Al Jarreau's Warner Bros album, We Got By, the identity of the man has remained an enigma that demanded solution. ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 13 December 1975
YOU REMEMBER how Barbarella nearly died on the Excessive Pleasure Machine? Well, Kokomo almost finished me off the same way the other night. Their whole ...
Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith: The Thinking Man's Nesmith
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 December 1975
MIKE NESMITH has been through a fair amount of professional incarnations, his two most striking public images being most easily summed up as Monkee and ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 13 December 1975
PATTI SMITH cannot compromise. She functions on her very own level of stratosphere, creating poetry, writing songs, lapping up the more elusive statics of life. ...
Queen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 13 December 1975
‘BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY’ as a single is astonishingly close to a true expression of the character of Queen in any setting. ...
Cockney Rebel, The Kinks: The Kinks, Cockney Rebel: Beacon Theatre, New York
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 13 December 1975
"45 MINUTES of something light and bouncy," Steve Harley promises the audience at the Beacon Theatre one brisk Friday night. Cockney Rebel launch into 'Mr ...
Weather Report: Wayne Shorter Cuts It
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 December 1975
WAYNE Shorter used to be introduced by Art Blakey in the 1950s like this: "This is Wayne Shorter, ladies and genulmen... ‘cos he’s shorter than ...
Bob Dylan: Million Dollar Bash
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 20 December 1975
Bob Dylan and The Rolling Thunder Review: Madison Square Garden, NYC ...
The Band: Northern Lights, Southern Cross (Capitol)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 20 December 1975
THE BAND don't rush things – this is their first album of original material in four years – and to review this after having listened ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 20 December 1975
PORTSMOUTH Poly wasn't Saturday night's top hotspot by any means, but then it seemed as well hidden as El Dorado. Still, an evening's pleasure topped ...
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 20 December 1975
MADELINE HAS come a long way to be here in Manchester at the Midland Hotel. She has come all the way from New Jersey to ...
Morrissey, New York Dolls: Dolly Mixture Wasn't Right
Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, Sounds, 27 December 1975
THE BRITISH public are very wary of new bands. Anything that aims to change the day-to-day routine of the rock world is carefully observed before ...
Supertramp: The year of the 'Tramp
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 December 1975
Pete Makowski traces the success of Supertramp ...
Burning Spear: Man In The Hills (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1976
Spear’s album is a staggering success. It's a big challenge to follow up Marcus Garvey (I don't count Garvey's Ghost), which from the instant of ...
Tony Joe White: Eyes (20th Century)
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 1976
SO YOU thought Tony Joe White was a downhome country guy with his feet firmly in the mud of the Mississippi swamps? ...
J. Geils Band: The J. Geils Band: A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 3 January 1976
PETER WOLF, singer with the J. Geils Band, has a reputation as a wildman on stage and a roughhouse interviewee off it. ...
10cc: How Dare You! (Phonogram)***
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 10 January 1976
THIS ALBUM really bugs me. So much so that I've spent the better part of a morning throwing away half-typed sheets of paper. The trouble ...
Andy Fairweather Lowe: Andy Fairweather-Low: For He's A Jolly Good F-Low
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 January 1976
OL' RUBBER-FACE is back, No disrespect intended to one of this country's most affable musicians, but the fact of the matter is that he is ...
Patti Smith: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 10 January 1976
This poet won't blow it ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 January 1976
Coney Island Baby finds Lou Reed in buoyant mood, the feeling that lilted through his first solo album, Lou Reed, and flashed intermittently in Sally ...
Rory Gallagher... And The Grain Grafts On
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 17 January 1976
"I USED to know the assistant manager at the Hammersmith Odeon when the Beatles played there. He'd deliver their fan mail and hang around while ...
Bad Company: Run With The Pack (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 January 1976
I WELL remember a poetry session when I was an English Major at university, conducted by Germaine Greer. 'How would you describe this poem?' the ...
Boombaya, Jive Bombers, Roogalator: Boombaya, Roogalator, Jive Bombers: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 January 1976
Join the working band's club ...
Buck Owens, Susan Raye: Buck Owens & the Buckaroos, Susan Raye: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 24 January 1976
THE ALBERT HALL isn't the most obvious place to see the Bakersfield Emperor, but it did make for an interesting ambience, with the audience about ...
Chaka Khan: The Low Down on Chaka
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 January 1976
I DONT know whether you've ever done a phone interview, but they can be bitches. This one was rather that way inclined, owing as to ...
David Bowie: Station to Station (RCA)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 24 January 1976
IN MY PHYSICS textbook at school was an amazing photo of two galaxies colliding. Just imagine being on a planet in a system in either ...
Pan's People: I Was A Pan's People (And Lived)
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 24 January 1976
Unwitting girls in White Slavery? Sex objects exploited for male fantasies? The best thing on Top Of The Pops? ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 24 January 1976
THE MINI-CAB DRIVER was confused. "Ron Wood," he kept repeating all the way to Richmond. The name was familiar but it's origin was a mystery. ...
Doobie Brothers: The Doobies Brothers: Street Fighting Men
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 24 January 1976
DRUMMER JOHN Hartman leans back precariously in the Memphis Hotel room chair, fingers locked behind head and mouth working in a typically rapid manner. He's ...
Great Speckled Bird: The Great Speckled Bird Flies Alone
Profile and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 24 January 1976
THE GREAT Speckled Bird, Canada's most underrated and misjudged supergroup, lives. The original band with Amos Garrett, Buddy Cage and so on have long gone ...
Gene Clark: The Soulful Return Of Gene Clark
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 24 January 1976
WHILE ROGER McGuinn plays with his electronic toys in his Hollywood mansion and makes records that are mere shadows of his past work; while David ...
Heart: Dreamboat Annie (Arista)***
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 31 January 1976
THE FIRST time I heard this album was in the offices of another record company (who shall go unnamed) who were pretty hot to get ...
Queen: Mercury Rising: The Queen Interview
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 31 January 1976
AND SO IT CAME to pass that the Santa Claus single this Yuletide season was a spaghetti-melodrama of Love and Death, by that most British ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe McDonald: Shed A Tear In Your Beer For The Fish Cheer
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 February 1976
COUNTRY JOE said: "I'd like to make some money, buy a Cadillac, make pop music as in popular, radio rock 'n' roll." ...
David Ruffin: Riding rough with Ruffin
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 7 February 1976
"I KNEW IT was a hit record from the time I walked from the microphone up into the control room." David Ruffin on 'Walk Away ...
Henry Cow: North London Polytechnic
Live Review by Dave Laing, Sounds, 7 February 1976
Moo-sic to revolve to ...
Kokomo: Grown Some Funk Of Our Own
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 February 1976
THE SUBDUED shufflings of a hotel chambermaid were gradually coaxing Alan Spenner, Kokomo's friendly grizzly bear of a bass payer, out of sweet slumber. ...
Sailor: Down The Docks: Sailor
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 February 1976
"PEOPLE IN LOVE," sings Georg Kajanus and the other Sailors sing 'Aa-aaah' as who wouldn't at such nice, cosy thought? ...
Ray Barretto, The Fania All Stars: The Fania All-Stars: Salsa
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 14 February 1976
You don't have to come from Puerto Rico to dig Salsa. Vivien Goldman hails from Golders Green and she's sold on it. Anyway, wherever you ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 February 1976
TENSE SI SI: That's just to prove I speaka da lingo but it's also true about my interview with 10cc. ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 February 1976
THE FOLLOWING should be read with a Scouse accent: "I suppose Clancy are treading water and yet looking at the horizon waiting for the great ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 February 1976
IT'S HARD to pick up an article on modern day country music without a reverent mention of Dolly Parton, an influential singer and songwriter who ...
Emmylou Harris: Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 February 1976
EXACTLY EIGHT years ago a very uncertain singer stood in the centre of a New York recording studio singing demos to an audience of muzak ...
Emmylou Harris: The Dome, Brighton
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 February 1976
"FLOWERS?" Emmylou Harris grinned, staring down at a lovely bouquet hurled onstage as an appreciative thank-you from an ecstatic Brighton crowd. "Hey boys they're not ...
Kevin Ayers: Odd Ditties (Harvest) ****
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 21 February 1976
PERHAPS THE most apt album title of this or any year. Kevin Ayers has a great penchant for odd ditties, and these songs are decidedly ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Hammersmith Odeon, London; Apollo Theatre, Glagow
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 21 February 1976
IF YOU want to know just how good Skynyrd are, they're the rare band you wouldn't mind working for, just to watch the action every ...
The Trammps: Zing went the strings of my harp
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 21 February 1976
Robin Katz meets the Trammps at the pearly gate (Notting Hill that is) ...
10cc: Herr Creme Gives You Bounce
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 28 February 1976
10cc: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Alan White: Ramshackled (Atlantic) ***
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 28 February 1976
THIRD IN the series and I'll lay odds there's not going to be another Yes solo that sounds less like the parent band. ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 February 1976
"HEY, BRIAN, it's sold out – there's a line in front of the theatre!" That's one of the Midnight Band's glamorous female entourage calling out ...
John Entwistle, The Who: John Entwistle: Is This The Right Man For Mayor of Acton?
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 28 February 1976
'Momma's got a squeeze box she wears on her chestAnd when Daddy comes home he never gets no rest Because she's playing all nightAnd the ...
Report by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 28 February 1976
KATE SIMON'S MOTHER used to warn her, "Katherine, beware of people who drink before two p.m." My mum advised me to keep that first glass ...
Maria Muldaur: Sweet Harmony (Reprise) *****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 28 February 1976
SALVATION HAS come down from the heaven's in the shape of Maria Muldaur's third album which finds the artist growing in leaps and bounds, moving ...
John Miles, Robin Trower: Robin Trower, John Miles: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 28 February 1976
USUALLY IT'S a case of 'they were okay considering it was their first night' blues. But with the Robin Trower band it's a whole different ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 28 February 1976
BY THE time you read this, Status Quo's new album and single should be riding high in the charts. You don't have to be an ...
Sweet: Give Us A Wink (RCA) ***
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 28 February 1976
THE SWEET have changed. That's what everyone kept telling me. No longer the offensive pop group they once were, Sweet now rock'n'roll. So it was ...
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 28 February 1976
I MET A TRUE love at a T. Rex concert, so he has a special affection. At that time he was assaulting America, expecting everybody ...
The Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (Asylum) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 28 February 1976
MORE THAN other greatest hits collections, this album signifies the end of an era for the Eagles. With the departure of Bernie Leadon and the ...
The Kursaal Flyers: The Great Artiste (UK) ****
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 28 February 1976
THE KURSAALS have always had a way with visuals and image – Paul Shuttleworth's background in commercial art no doubt. Just check the ad for ...
O'Jays: The O'Jays: Family Reunion (Philadelphia International)***
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 February 1976
THERE'S A HIT on this record, in case you're interested – 'I Love Music'. I needn't elaborate on that one, as if you're reading this ...
The Trammps: Trammps, the Divisions: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 28 February 1976
AND NOW an example of a group who didn't live up to their build up. Wot a disaster. ...
Babe Ruth: City Hall, Salisbury
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 6 March 1976
IT'S BEEN a traumatic time for Babe Ruth. With an extensive British tour looming they lost bassist Dave Hewitt and singer Jenny Haan, the last ...
Bill Wyman: Stone Alone (Rolling Stones Records) 40mins***
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 March 1976
WHAT CAN you say about an album that contains contributions from Joe Walsh, Van Morrison, Nicky Hopkins, Ron Wood, Al Kooper, and Dr. John to ...
The Rolling Stones, Bill Wyman: Bill Wyman: Lone Stone
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 March 1976
BILL WYMAN could not stop smiling. He's just received several cassettes full of classic singles by Gary And The US Bonds. Large KLH speakers spread ...
Report by Mick Brown, Sounds, 6 March 1976
IF YOU'RE looking for a definition, forget it. The word is an abbreviation of 'hyperbole', which the dictionary defines as 'rhetorical exaggeration', but in the ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 March 1976
If you look like this … when you really feel like this…then your name is Thijs Van Leer and you’re trying hard to make the ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 March 1976
THE PACKED house in the weirdly constructed union hall seemed undistressed by Jan Akkerman's absence and were even so gracious as to applaud the new ...
Burning Spear: Jack Ruby: Mono Reggae For The Ghetto
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 March 1976
"WE’RE CALLING this Garvey’s Ghost," explained Jack Ruby, gesturing expansively towards the reel-to-reel, from whence issued sweet, sweet music. ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 6 March 1976
IN HIS last, rather desperate sounding album, Kevin Ayers really hit the nail on the head. In the middle of the first song, weightily titled ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Kursaal Flyers: Coming In On A Wing And A Prayer
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 6 March 1976
IT'S AMAZING the difference a moustache makes. ...
Phoebe Snow: Second Childhood (CBS) 39 mins****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 March 1976
BEST KNOWN to British audiences for her sing-along duet with Paul Simon on 'Gone At Last', Phoebe Snow is a very talented singer-songwriter who deserves ...
Rick Wakeman: No Earthly Connection
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 March 1976
ELTON JOHN put the honky Chateau de Herouville on the map but Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble put it on the label of ...
Speedy Keen: Y’know Wot I Mean?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 March 1976
"ONE BRIGHT spark at Track had a great idea for promoting ‘Previous Convictions’ – he sent out plastic turds, like you get in novelty shops, ...
Stackridge: Mr. Mick (Rocket, white label) *****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 March 1976
Presenting Mutter Slater ...
The Fatback Band: Ain't No Such Thing As We Don't Sounds BAAAD
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 March 1976
"WHEN WE get a groove we hate to quit!" shouted out Bill Curtis. His voice carried over inexorable waves of sound, cookin', stampin', and gettin' ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 13 March 1976
"ACT LIKE a real shit," the assistant director is coaching Adam Faith on the eve of the West End debut of City Sugar. As disc ...
Alan White, Yes: Alan White: Can A White Man Sing.....?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
"NOW TELL ME honestly, what did you really expect when you came to meet me?" The disarming question is posed as yet another Yes album ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
THIS MUST RANK as the most Perplexing gig I've ever seen. All I was left with at the end was a burning desire to rush ...
The Doctors of Madness: Doctors Of Madness: Late Night Movies, All Night Brainstorm (Polydor) ***
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 March 1976
IF NOTHING ELSE, this record proves that you can't know anything personal about the people involved if you're to take this whole rock-noir terminal guttercrawl ...
Deep Purple, Ian Gillan: Ian Gillan: Rock And Roll's In Gillan's Soul
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 March 1976
"We all came out to Montreux, On the lake Geneva shoreline. To make a record with a mobile, We didn't have much time." ...
Evelyn Thomas: Ian Levine: Soul agent for the North
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 March 1976
ABOUT A year ago I was sitting sipping a cup of microwave-defrosted Nescafe in the lavish kitchen of Mr. and Mrs. Levine, in Blackpool, waiting ...
Jesse Winchester: Learn To Love It (Bearsville K55506) 30 min *****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 13 March 1976
The holy rock 'n' roller ...
Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: Technological Gypsy
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 March 1976
'Aleister Crowley is the great misunderstood genius of the 20th century.' ...
Robin Trower: A Tower Of Power
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 13 March 1976
Robin Trower: Empire Pool, Wembley ...
Diana Ross: Breakfast With Lady Diana
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 March 1976
THIS IS the story: it's a champagne breakfast for Diana Ross, being held at a Top London Hotel. Which means that everybody drags in bleary-eyed ...
Stackridge: Presenting Mutter Slater
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 20 March 1976
Well this is really a feature on Stackridge but even they admit that Mutter's became their front man. Still they're all getting behind a new ...
Live Review by John Swenson, Sounds, 27 March 1976
YOU WON'T find a better textbook example of what's gone wrong with R&B over the past few years. Ticket prices, scaled from $10.00 down, were ...
Bobby Womack: That's All Y'All
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 27 March 1976
2010 note: this is the copy as printed. There is a section of text missing (possibly due to subediting error). This is marked by *** ...
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 27 March 1976
Bonnie Raitt (talking and singing 2000 words a minute) and Robin Katz (just talking 2500 words a minute) discuss men, music and the pursuit of happiness. ...
Nils Lofgren: Cry Tough (A&M) 37 min. *****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 27 March 1976
RELAX. THIS kid is hot stuff. Nils Lofgren has not let us down. Cry Tough is the best rock 'n roll album since Nils Lofgren. ...
Obituary by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 March 1976
WHAT CAN you do but grieve. Just grieve. Too close to the edge, always. Pain, so much pain, so much of the time it seemed. ...
The Eagles: Desperados in Blue Jeans and Sneakers
Profile and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 27 March 1976
EXACTLY TWO years ago a very hazy Los Angeles sun shone dimly through the polluted clouds onto the suburban racetrack that housed the California Jam. ...
The Who: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by John Swenson, Sounds, 27 March 1976
IT'S AN old joke, but it's still happening so it must mean something. There we were eating the meat loaf special at the local watering ...
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 March 1976
Pete Makowski's putting his money on Thin Lizzy making the real big time. Here, he talks to Phil Lynott and looks at the past, present ...
Wings: Wings At The Speed Of Sound (Parlophone)***
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 27 March 1976
THERE'S NO other way to say it. Wings At The Speed Of Sound is a major disappointment. ...
Wishbone Ash: Long Beach Arena
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, April 1976
THE LONG BEACH ARENA, usually a noisy and vibrant auditorium for rock music, was just that Friday night when Paris, Wishbone Ash and Bachman Turner ...
Al Green: Full Of Fire (London) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976
AL GREEN stands in the middle of the ring, caught in combat between an elastic rhythm section and a resilient horn section. Producer/engineer Willie Mitchell ...
Bonnie Raitt: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 3 April 1976
AS GLADYS Knight and co would say, this was perfection in performance — a pip. Bonnie Raitt and her loyal musical storm-troopers were ready to ...
Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees (CBS)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 April 1976
BOZ SCAGGS is a musician I've always had a great affection for, from way back in the old Steve Miller days when I was still ...
David Cassidy is a really nice Pop Star, Teen Idol, Guy, Bloke, Sex Object, Person
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 3 April 1976
By our Wop on the spot, Giovanni Dadomo ...
Dory Previn: Children Of Coincidence And Harpo Marx (Warner Bros.) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976
OF THE RANDY Newman/Harry Nilsson school of absurdist, black comedy, Dory Previn unleashes her cryptic wit and dry tongue once again. Hallelujah! Dory Previn albums ...
The Heptones: Double Trouble: The Story of Leroy Sibbles and the Heptones
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 April 1976
LEROY SIBBLES is the nearest thing I've ever encountered to a Jamaican reggae man acid casualty. That is to say, while obviously intelligent, he twitches ...
Joe Walsh: You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976
LIVE ALBUMS are by rule deadweight, redundant renditions of songs better performed and recorded in the studio. Only the Who with their essential Live at ...
John Denver: What's The Poor Guy Ever Done?
Comment by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 3 April 1976
IT SEEMS as if you can't be complimentary about John Denver without adding some kickback remark to cover yourself. Take Grace Slick's reported comment a ...
Paul McCartney, Wings: Linda McCartney: Silly Love Songs
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976
ON A GREY and overcast winter afternoon, two men stand in the foyer of EMI Abbey Road Studios discussing plans for renovation. They are surrounded ...
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976
Neil Young: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 3 April 1976
IT WAS A MONDAY like that. My train back to the big city was late so I was late for my interview with Patrick Moraz ...
Toots & The Maytals: Toots And The Maytals: Reggae Got Soul (Island)***
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 April 1976
SAD TO say, there's no track on this album that measures up to the quality of the classic tracks on Toots' last two 'rock-oriented' albums, ...
War: A Walk On War's Wild Side
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 10 April 1976
FAR OUT Productions, besides being War's Hollywood headquarters, seems to be a favourite hangout for streetwalkers. They seem to think that all the black gentlemen ...
Bill Bruford, Genesis: Bill Bruford: Have Drum Will Travel
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 April 1976
IT WAS IN the unlikely setting of the Una Billings School of Dancing's basement that the partnership which will be titillating the timpani of drum ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Sisters In Song
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 April 1976
UNTIL DEMAND forced them to issue that classic Maria Muldaur album two years ago Warner Bros. had always shown a marked reluctance to promote its ...
Led Zeppelin: Presence (Swan Song)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 10 April 1976
AFTER THIS PLATTER had spun incessantly for an afternoon on the office phonogram I asked a non-Zep fan what he thought."Oh, it's okay I guess. ...
Sex Pistols: El Paradise Club, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 10 April 1976
SOHO'S EL Paradise Club is to become a Sunday residency for the Sex Pistols and London is all the better off for it. It's about ...
Bachman-Turner Overdrive: The business of being Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 10 April 1976
Toby Goldstein finds there's nothing original with Randy Bachman ...
Al Jarreau: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 April 1976
RIGHT NOW I'm reaching for the ol' Thesaurus, trying to find an original way of saying "unique new talent explodes like a comet on the ...
Love Unlimited, Barry White: Barry White, Love Unlimited: Radio City Music Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976
FROM THE first moment of the show, when Radio City Music Hall's gigantic Wurlitzer vibrated to the '2001 Theme', one could guess that Barry White's ...
Chris Spedding: Chris Spedding (Rak)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 17 April 1976
'AND EVERYONE goes/To see their guitar heroes' is not the kind of lyric many people would even think of, let alone commit to posterity. But ...
J.J. Cale: J.J. Acts Naturally
Profile and Interview by Ian Birch, Sounds, 17 April 1976
Which means he doesn't talk much. But Ian Birch gives us the full low-down on the low-key Mr. Cale. ...
Jorge Ben: Samba Nova (Island HELP 23) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 April 1976
A HIGHLY palatable and agreeable waxing we have here. Now Jorge Ben means about as much to me as I mean to Jorge Ben (i.e. ...
Kevin Coyne: New London Theatre, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 April 1976
KC's Sunshine band ...
Maria Muldaur: Bottom Line, New York
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976
DRESSED IN a tight-fitting black lacy sweater, blue jeans and wall-to-wall confidence, Maria Muldaur sauntered on to the Bottom Line stage and made everyone feel ...
National Health: Carrying The Flag Close To The Edge
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 April 1976
"THERE'S NO way of encapsulating higher ideas except by some kind of artistic experience," stated Mont Campbell, ex-Egg, current National Health, with fervent sobriety. ...
The Cate Brothers, Nils Lofgren: Nils Lofgren, the Cate Brothers: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976
Would you buy a used trampoline from this man? ...
Pavlov's Dog: At The Sound Of The Bell (CBS 81163) ***½
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 17 April 1976
ON THE front cover is a recreation of a quite famous scene of the Lon Chaney Hunchback of Notre Dame swinging on the bells; the ...
Jimmy Buffett, Pure Prairie League: Pure Prairie League, Jimmy Buffett: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976
THERE ARE a staggering number of groups who turn out record after record, play the stateside circuit for years, and yet never get escalated into ...
Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble: No Earthly Connection (A&M)****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 April 1976
HERE WE are again and I'm not at all sure that reviewing an album twice is a good idea even if first time round was ...
Ted Nugent: Ted Nugent (Epic SEPC 81196)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 17 April 1976
"BROTHERS AND sisters! I want to see your hands in the air! I want you to get down!" Like the MC5, Detroit rock survivor Ted ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Shake Some Action (Philips) [Import]**
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 17 April 1976
IT'S HARD to imagine that the Groovies are ten years old, or that it's four years since they tried to enliven us in Britain. But ...
The Heptones: Night Food (Island ILPS 9381) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 April 1976
YUP; THERE is a four-star album, despite the fact that there is an aching feeling throughout that screams the Heptones should be achieving more than ...
Smokey Robinson: Smokey's Family Robinson (Tamla Motown) *****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 April 1976
"A VOICE on the stereo singing softly, Describing what I feel about you, The singer seems to know all about it, Seems like the writer ...
Steve Gibbons Band: Steve Gibbons: The Biggest Names In Rock
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 24 April 1976
THE STEVE Gibbons Band are unique. A seventies rock 'n' roll band with roots firmly embedded in the sixties, they rekindle a fading magical musical ...
The Rolling Stones: Black And Blue (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 24 April 1976
'THE SEVENTIES has witnessed the arrival of several major talents. Singer-songwriters and MOR disco muzak have dominated the charts. Now it looks like Atlantic Records ...
The Rolling Stones: The Gospel According To The Glimmer Twins
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 24 April 1976
KEITH RICHARD hasn't slept for three days. It's all part of his four day on the road life cycle. He celebrates the occasion with a ...
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols are four months old...
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 24 April 1976
THE SEX PISTOLS are four months old, so tuned in to the present that it's hard to find a place to play. Yet they already ...
Al Jarreau: A Man And His Laundry
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 May 1976
"IT DON'T make no moth a fugging difference what happens to me, Going to be there in my own time, in my own way..."– Al ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 1 May 1976
AT 3PM, Alvin Lee, benevolent despot, was still asleep – he hadn't gone to bed until 9.30am – so it seemed a good excuse to ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Rastaman Vibration (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 May 1976
"Chase them crazy bald heads out of town" ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 May 1976
Well, we've had the wheel, sliced bread, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and now Big Phil Sutcliffe's copped the newie...Yep, it's Gentle Giant's eighth ...
Gram Parsons: GP (Reprise)*****
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 1 May 1976
IF YOU woundered why, or where, Rick Grech gets off with performing Gram Parsons type country music, it stems from co-producing this bona fide classic. ...
Marvin Gaye: I Want You (Tamla Motown) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 May 1976
MARVIN GAYE is in the fortunate or unfortunate position of being regarded as a prophet-cum-saviour. ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 1 May 1976
"I'M A ROMANTICIST for life," Lofgren says, sprawled on the bed of his third floor room at Swingo's Celebrity Motel. "Three years ago I wanted ...
Donna Summer: "Love to interview you, baby"
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 8 May 1976
A serious, valid and from the heart feature in the course of which Phil Sutcliffe had 93 orgasms... ...
Elton John: Ol' Four Eyes Is Back
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 May 1976
Elton John: Grand Theatre, Leeds ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight & the Pips: It's a Family Affair
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 May 1976
And a very friendly one at that. Even though Gladys Knight and the Pips have been through real hard times, they don't tear at each ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 May 1976
HAVING BEEN privileged to see two out-of-London sets of G. K. and the P's, I was rather more picky than most of the London audience. ...
Jethro Tull: Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 8 May 1976
ON A quick perusal of the field I reckon Ian Anderson is the most articulate rocker I've ever encountered. In fact hearing him talk is ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 8 May 1976
ROY WOOD IS: the wild man of Brummio who terrifies your parents whenever he's let loose on the antiseptic air-time of Top Of The Pops ...
The Rolling Stones: Fire and Fury in Frankfurt
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 8 May 1976
FORTY POUNDS for one night in a hotel. It makes you wonder. Forty Pounds would keep me and the missus for a week or more, ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: Now the immortals are here
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 8 May 1976
Geoff Barton wanders around Headley Grange and comes across a man saving the life of a fly ...
Baker-Gurvitz Army:Hearts On Fire
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 May 1976
THEY FINALLY got there, the Baker-Gurvitz Army, an unlikely gang of ornery hombres, always looked as though it would be goddam exciting if they sorted ...
Curved Air:The Best Of Curved Air*****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 May 1976
NOW IT can't be dynamic good style to start with parentheses can it (but when I put those five stars there I obviously mean if ...
David Bowie: Soul Train Comes To Wembley
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 May 1976
David Bowie: Wembley, London ...
Emmylou Harris: Bluegrass and Fiddle Festival, Long Beach, California
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 15 May 1976
EMMYLOU HARRIS and her excellent Hot Band just keep getting better. Their headline performance at the fourth annual Bluegrass and Fiddle Festival in Long Beach, ...
Genesis: Supper Is Definitely Ready
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 15 May 1976
Thursday April 8 ...
Ian Hunter: All American Alien Boy
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 15 May 1976
AMERICA HAS been good for Ian Hunter. The self portrait he paints on his second solo album All American Alien Boy retains his distinctly British ...
Little Feat: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 15 May 1976
EVERYBODY WHO is anybody caught Little Feat during their recent three-night stand at the Roxy. That includes Lowell George's mother, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Frampton, Tommy ...
Nils Lofgren: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Ian Birch, Sounds, 15 May 1976
I REALLY wanted to be knocked over, under, sideways, down by the concert. Especially after last November's disappointingly patchy performance. I mean right from those ...
Stephen Stills: Illegal Stills
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 15 May 1976
THERE'S NOTHING dishonest about Illegal Stills. This is the album guaranteed to enhance Stephen Stills' artistic reputation and regain the sophisticated rock 'n' roll credibility ...
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 15 May 1976
SUPERTRAMP HORNMAN and funnyman John Helliwell gazed longingly out the A&M Records publicity office window at the burgundy Dino Ferrari. ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band at Newcastle
Report by Mick Brown, Sounds, 15 May 1976
I WAS going to say fascism, but as the man said, how could anyone take Hitler seriously without his moustache? What a moustache! Clipped, sharp, ...
The Temptations: Wings Of Love (Tamla Motown)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 May 1976
VERY NEAT structure to the new Temps release. Side one has all the funk, all the dancers, and Side two has what you could call ...
Average White Band: Edinburgh, Scotland
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 22 May 1976
"I'VE GOT an announcement to make," Alan Gorrie told a sold out Edinburgh audience the night after Scotland had beaten England. "If there's any dodgy ...
Back Street Crawler: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 May 1976
IF YOU want a nice, peaceful night's rock 'n' roll don't go anywhere near a Back Street Crawler gig. It's more like an on the ...
Back Street Crawler: Back Street Fighters: Back Street Crawler
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 May 1976
IF YOUR tastes run to nasty, sweat-and-gore boxing as well as nasty-hot rock, the ringside seat for you in the next couple of months should ...
The Beach Boys: Bruce Johnston : This is it, Brucie baby - you and the Beach Boys suck...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 May 1976
Bruce Johnston is a most unusual interviewee. Never before have I met a musician who’s immediately aware and co-operative in terms of the journalist’s side ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Stephen Stills: Four Way Street Revisited... CSNY Revisited
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 22 May 1976
How Steve Stills learned to stop worrying about his own solo career and appreciate Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. A case of deja vu for ...
Patti Smith Group: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 22 May 1976
Energy is back in fashion ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 May 1976
NOW I'VE been told by no less a figure than our editor that this is a mighty fine album and I know it means kneecap ...
Robin Trower, Steve Marriott: Robin Trower/Steve Marriott: Brits Slay Yanks With Past Blasts
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 May 1976
Robin Trower Band/Steve Marriott’s All Stars: Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles ...
Average White Band: Young Rascals Searching For Your Soul
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 29 May 1976
Barbara Charone talks to Scotland's most famous sons, the Average White Band'I'm sure people will put us down...I hope they don't put us down but ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: White Hopes On Funk
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 May 1976
Hall & Oates: Fairfield Hall, Croydon ...
Jeff Beck: Return Of The Lone Axe Hero
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 May 1976
Jeff Beck: The Roundhouse, London ...
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 29 May 1976
Jonh Ingham, on the other hand, is guilty. Six days it took him to get us this piece. SIX DAYS! The Patti-Smith-crazy Sounds staffers were ...
Little Feat: Presenting The Open Crotch, Maximum Uplift Little Feat
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 29 May 1976
IF YOU walk down Hollywood Boulevard you really can see all the stars. Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, James Dean, all imbedded in a ...
Streetwalkers: Red Card (Vertigo) *****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 29 May 1976
RED CARD is the album I thought Streetwalkers last promenade, Downtown Flyers would be. I had mixed feelings about that one. Good to see Roger ...
Ted Nugent: Survival of the Fittest
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 29 May 1976
Geoff Barton shuddered, any moment the phone would ring and along the transatlantic link line would come the voice of mad Detroit axeman Ted Nugent, ...
Ashford & Simpson: Come As You Are (Warner Bros. K56159) *****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 June 1976
CELESTIAL STUFF from Nick and Val, illustrious songwriters from the old Motown stable, who're now hitting the solo trail for the third time with Warner ...
Bad Company, Kansas: Bad Company: Bored Company
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 5 June 1976
Bad Company/Kansas: Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 5 June 1976
THE SHADES remain. Just barely. Relics of some bygone era, those menacing dark glasses throw faint traces of the past around the present. Behind this ...
Janis Ian: The Ugly Duckling That Laid A Golden Egg
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 5 June 1976
'I am a swan!' sez Janis Ian. 'Right!' sez Robin Katz. ...
Jesse Winchester: Exile on Main Street
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 June 1976
Giovanni Dadomo releases his frustrations to tell you all about Jesse Winchester ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 5 June 1976
BUT FIRST a few words about support group Dogwatch. At first they sounded exactly like It's A Beautiful Day circa 1968, but this rapidly gave ...
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Sounds, 5 June 1976
I have never met NapoleonBut I plan to find the time...Cause he looks so fine upon that hillThey tell me he was lonely, he's lonely ...
Stomu Yamashta: The Story of 'Go'
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 5 June 1976
WITHIN a couple of minutes of meeting Stomu Yamashta I was so engrossed in discussing with him my fears that Muhammad Ali will get his ...
The Meters: The World’s First Metric Funk Band
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 June 1976
CISSY STRUT! What a great evocation of the Meters in that title, their second Island album, a kind of Greatest Hits, that’s blasting through the ...
AC/DC: The Fastest Knees in the West
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 June 1976
AC/DC, outrageous Aussie punk-rock combo, this week start their rampage across Britain under the SOUNDS banner. Are we doing the right thing? Are schoolboys the future of rock and roll? GEOFF ...
Average White Band, Kokomo: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 June 1976
THIS WAS one double bill I just had to see. I mean rock is so find these days and there are good concerts every week ...
Back Street Crawler: Second Street (Atlantic) 38 mins ****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 June 1976
THIS IS the last recording Paul Kossoff ever made which means that commenting on it is rather like reviewing a gravestone. You just don't. But ...
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr. Hook: Civic Theatre, Wolverhampton
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 12 June 1976
ANY FEARS that Doctor Hook might carry the 'straight' image of their latest album, A Little Bit More, into their act were immediately dispelled when ...
Frankie Miller's Full House: Weybridge College of Food & Technology, Weybridge, Surrey
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 12 June 1976
FOR MY Money, you could melt down Billy Connolly, the Rollers, Slik, and Nazareth, yet no matter the amount of sophistication involved in refining the ...
Cream, Ginger Baker, Graham Bond: Ginger Baker: New Skins For The Old Ceremony
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 June 1976
PHIL SUTCLIFFE takes a walk down memory lane with GINGER BAKER, drummer, sportsman and fellow piles sufferer. ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: A Mutant Romance
Interview by Ian Birch, Sounds, 12 June 1976
Daryl Hall & John Oates – boy, if you think Dave Bowie had the Philly Soul enigma variations bag sown up with 'TVC 15' you're ...
Janis Ian: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 12 June 1976
TO EVEN the artist's surprise, the concert was sold out. Standing room was also sold out. The New Victoria audience once more displayed knowledgable enthusiasm ...
J. D. Souther: JD Souther: Black Rose (Asylum)****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 12 June 1976
THE FIRST time JD Souther toured America it was almost a disaster. Just like LA crony Jackson Browne, JD was microphone shy and mumbled his ...
Joe Cocker: Stingray (A&M) *****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 June 1976
IT SPEAKS VOLUMES that whatever the ups and downs of Joe Cocker's personal life when he gets back in the studio or out on the ...
Natalie Cole: Natalie (Capitol) 35 mins ***
Essay by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 June 1976
IF YOU get right down to it I suppose pop/rock is composed of a set of quite different musical idioms within which almost everyone sounds ...
Rod Stewart: A Night On The Town
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 12 June 1976
ROD STEWART is back in prime form. Gone are those sterile sounds that plagued Atlantic Crossing and robbed Stewart of his true vocal excellence, replaced ...
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 12 June 1976
WHAT THESE three soft rock American releases have in common is the Byrds. That's the connection plain and simple. Staunch Byrd-man Roger McGuinn returns from ...
The Who: The Real Thing – Accept No Substitute
Report by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 12 June 1976
"CHARLTON ain't gonna be any better than this," Mick Jagger had flatly declared to a dubious John Entwistle during the first night the Rolling Stones ...
Tom Waits: Ronnie Scott's, London
Live Review by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 12 June 1976
IT'S NOT easy to discover the real Tom Waits. He's continually performing. Off stage, in conversation, he frequently draws from his onstage material in his ...
Tom Waits: Warm Beer, Cold Women
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 12 June 1976
TOM WAITS rocks backwards and forwards in his chair, pulls at a cigarette, draws deep, then turns his face out of the smoke, back into ...
Blue Öyster Cult: Agents Of Fortune (CBS S 81385)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 19 June 1976
There's a fortune in Öysters sez seafood-crazy G. Barton, the kid with the plutonium-lined skull. ...
Genesis: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 19 June 1976
Genesisteria sweeps city – hundreds injured in trick of the tail overdose – five night musical orgy destroys London – thousands converted to Genesis religious ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 June 1976
"There he goes looking like a cross between Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen," jested Martin Belmont, Rumour guitarist. 'He' was GRAHAM PARKER on his way ...
Henry Cow: Concerts (Caroline CAD 30002 103 mlns) ****
Review by Dave Laing, Sounds, 19 June 1976
THIS IS as good a place as any for new listeners to get into the music of Henry Cow. In purely economic terms this double ...
Peter Frampton: Leader Of The Pack
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Sounds, 19 June 1976
'Show Me The Way' pleads PETER FRAMPTON but he sure knows where he's going now. RICHARD CROMELIN reports. ...
Philip Glass: Music In Twelve Parts. Parts One And Two (Caroline CA2010 36 mins) ***
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 19 June 1976
THE TWELVE parts of Mr Glass' music have already been played in one six-hour session in New York two years ago but the first two ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 June 1976
...The Southside? Why, yes. From New Jersey, Vivien Goldman gives y'all the hot poop on a new Springsteen spin-off band, Southside Johnny And The Asbury ...
Sweet: Sounds Girl In Sweet Nude Bathing Horror
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 June 1976
THE ERSATZ raunch, bump and grind of 'The Stripper' blares out over the Sportshalle in Cologne. Thousands of minute German teenyboppers are creaming in excitement ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 19 June 1976
CHARLIE WHITNEY sat on the Outlaws football club dressing room incessantly raving about their guitarist Hughie Thomason. "It ain't fair," Whitney said slightly intoxicated and ...
The Pretty Things, Uriah Heep: Uriah Heep/Pretty Things: Empire Pool, Wembley
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 19 June 1976
THE PRETTY Things can, on occasion, succumb to being ordinary, but usually they're great. This night was no exception. Using the cavern of Wembley Empire ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 26 June 1976
The roar of a BMW ...
The Ramones: Grins and Groans with the Ramones
Profile and Interview by Susin Shapiro, Sounds, 26 June 1976
Everyone in New York has got the Ramones bug. Some people like the punks, others hate them but they sure don't ignore them. Nor will ...
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 26 June 1976
Mott are shouting and the girls are pointing. That's what being on the road is all about. Mott are back and JONH INGHAM was there ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 June 1976
IF YOU'VE ever been a rock journalist, you'll know what a royal pain it is to be forever doing those conveyor belt, hotel room interviews. ...
Rod Stewart: Never Too Rich To Rock
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 June 1976
"I'M GOING to be evasive," Rod Stewart warned. "More evasive than usual. You evil bitch." ...
The Kinks: The Kinks Greatest – Celluloid Heroes (RCA)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 June 1976
THE RCA Years. The Seventies Kinks complete with horns and female singers. Part 1 – Fat Flabby Annie versus Mr. Black and the Starmaker. The ...
Warren Zevon: Warren Zevon (Ayslum) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 June 1976
THIS ALBUM is a surprise. With a recent spate of LA flavoured albums released simultaneously I was suffering from a bad case of West Coast ...
Michael Chapman: Wine, One Woman And The Loony Yokel: A Tale of a Yorkshireman, Michael Chapman
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 June 1976
MICHAEL CHAPMAN was revelling in the afterglow of Decca’s success with John Miles. The company had got really interested in promoting his new album, flown ...
Steve Winwood, Stomu Yamashta: Yamashta, Winwood, Shrieve: Go (Island)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 June 1976
THE THEORY of it could be a blueprint for the grossmost excess of pretentious rock – a fusion of cultures through music yet, Japanese, German, ...
Gary Wright, Peter Frampton, Yes: Yes: The Biggest Gig In The Entire History Of The World
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 June 1976
Bicentennialand and rock's favourite vegetarians take Phil Sutcliffe by storm. ...
The Flamin' Groovies: Flamin' Groovies: Shake Some Action (Sire) ***
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 3 July 1976
SEVERAL WEEKS ago I reviewed a French import of the above mentioned Groovies album, complaining about the terrible sound. It is my pleasure to announce ...
Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers: The Modern Lovers
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 3 July 1976
I'D LIKE, if I might, to commence this review by borrowing an expression from Andy Childs, he of 'Zig Zag' and 'Fat Angel' fame. Okay ...
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 3 July 1976
THE FIRST new Beach Boys studio album in three years. Fifteen big ones celebrating 15 years of Beach Boys on their 23rd album (not counting ...
Leonard Cohen: The Return of Leonard Cohen
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 3 July 1976
THE POSTER outside the Colston Hall, Bristol announced the appearance that evening of "The Poet of Rock and Roll". ...
Thin Lizzy: Fat Cheque For Thin Men?
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 3 July 1976
Lizzy hit the big time. With one eye on Wimbledon, they reveal all to JONH INGHAM... ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 10 July 1976
Whadya want, good diction or good music? Giovanni Dadomo sees da Ramones an' da Groovies an' gets some good an' some bad a' both. ...
Alice Cooper: Alice Cooper Goes To Hell
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 10 July 1976
THIS ALBUM HAS already received an almost unamimous thumbs-down form the staff, which really suprises as it's no better or worse than Welcome To My ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 July 1976
CURVED AIR have never made a bad album and they aren't about to start now, though that isn't to say they're predictable. ...
Grateful Dead: Steal Your Face
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 10 July 1976
ON STAGE the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia is not quite the superslick guitarist you might imagine him to be from their recordings. ...
Led Zeppelin: Interview with Jimmy Page
Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 10 July 1976
IT'S OFTEN strange to recall the outstanding moments at all day music events. At Cardiff, it was a tribute to Duke Ellington being shown on ...
Martha Velez: Escape From Babylon (Sire)
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 10 July 1976
IF YOU'RE of the opinion that there isn't enough Wailers music available, here's something to make your day. Apart from Ms. Velez, Lee Perry and ...
Millie Jackson: Free And In Love (Spring/Polydor) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 July 1976
MILLIE JACKSON has purchased a slinky new catsuit for the sleeve of this album, suitable for a liberated courtesan. And she can afford it too, ...
Hawkwind: Robert Calvert : How To Pick Up Girls In Paris
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 July 1976
The Calvert MethodRobert Calvert, former Hawkwind person, playwright, raconteur, bon viveur, joyeux noel, has just returned from an enjoyable and instructive visit to Paris at ...
Curved Air: Groping for Air: Sonja Kristina
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 July 1976
SONJA KRISTINA stepped out of the dressing room after the gig at Dunstable in her lace stage dress that doesn’t look as though it’s really ...
Jeff Beck: Exclusive! Jeff Sez Nothin'!
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 July 1976
Our story opens in the flashing chrome and glass edifice that constitutes Columbia Records in New York. Their International Department have invited Sounds to attend ...
Overview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 July 1976
THE ORIGINAL idea behind this A-Z was to try and provide a guide to 'punk' as it's now generally understood, i.e. as much a question ...
The Crusaders: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 July 1976
THE CRUSADERS simply blew London away with their third gig at the New Victoria. Later conversations with the band proved that they also regarded ...
Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 24 July 1976
THE LIGHT caught him in bas-relief. Under the scuffed, light brown leather jacket a light blue shirt with creases pressed into the shoulders and rolled ...
Graham Central Station: Mirror
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 July 1976
IT’S NOT every pop lyric writer who can slot in R.I. advice like "Then you should open it up to Matthew 24" and "Look in ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson albums
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976
Vivien Goldman explains why she's been drooling over Johnny 'Guitar' Watson for the past month. ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Ain't That A Bitch
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976
JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON is one of the classiest musicians around, though you might not believe it from the packaging of his latest album. On which ...
AC/DC: More Songs about Humping and Booze
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 July 1976
'You get nothin for nothin'/Who can you trust?/We got what you want/You got the lust/You want blood – you got it . ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson, part 1
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Sounds, 31 July 1976
The Beach Boys' main man climbs out of the sandbox and explains how he got off the Endless Bummer. ...
Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading (A&M)*****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 31 July 1976
THE RECORD deck grunts and clicks, the turntable sidles to a halt and polysyllabic analysis should be flowing from the critic's pen but I'd just ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Write on sisters
Interview by Dave Laing, Sounds, 31 July 1976
DAVE LAING meets Kate and Anna McGarrigle, who write and sing songs of rare beauty ...
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 31 July 1976
ABOVE MANCHESTER'S Free Trade Hall is a little known auditorium, capable of holding some 400, cunningly named the Lesser Hall. Until the Sex Pistols discovered ...
Blue Oyster Cult: True Confessions: Weird Tales From The Early Days Of the Blue Oyster Cult
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 31 July 1976
O.K. The B.O.C.’s have just come offstage at the San Francisco Day on the Green, and they’re tired. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson, part 2
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Sounds, 7 August 1976
Pet Sounds & The California Consciousness ...
Emmylou Harris: Honky Tonk Woman
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 14 August 1976
Emmylou Harris pleads guilty to not being a genius, but she sure can sing country. BARBARA CHARONE reports. ...
Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Santana: Grateful Dead: Dead Slay Wembley
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 14 August 1976
JUST LIKE Woodstock. Even before the New Riders of the Purple Sage kicked off Bill Graham's imported California Jam, bad acid circulated the main stand ...
Joan Armatrading: I Second that Emotion: Joan Armatrading
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 August 1976
LOVER JOAN? Old pal Joan? Sister Joan? Who are you, intimate and mysterious lady? Why do your songs flow in my bloodstream? I got you ...
Blood, Sweat & Tears: Blood Sweat and Tears: More Than Ever (CBS) ***
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 August 1976
BST WERE one of the key bands of the late 60s who began to give rock a respectable musicianly image and yet I've always had ...
Linda Ronstadt: Hasten Down The Wind (Asylum) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 August 1976
I GREETED the release of this album with the same kind of anticipation one would associate with a new album from the Who or the ...
Profile and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 August 1976
ROD STEWART has never been predictable. As a songwriter he thrives on controversial topics. Sandwiched between more conventional songs like 'Maggie May' or 'You Wear ...
The Rolling Stones, Ronnie Wood: Rolling Stones: We're Nearly Famous
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 August 1976
"WHEN bands have been around this long they should be dead and buried," Keith Richard mused. "But we're still here and you have to live ...
Split Enz: Mental Notes (Chrysalis) ****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 August 1976
ME MAM says they're not as good as 10cc and "that group who did the operetta?" "Queen?" "Yes and that one about Ground Control to ...
The Clash: Rehearsal Rehearsals, Chalk Farm, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 21 August 1976
The first band to come along who'll really frighten the Sex Pistols ...
Thin Lizzy: Remembering. Part I (Decca)
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 21 August 1976
EVERY RECORD company has done it at one time or another. Reactivated old material by an artist who has since had hits with another label. ...
AC/DC: The Dirtiest Story Ever Told
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 28 August 1976
An everyday story of rape, pillage, runny noses, drunken orgies, broken wind, assaults on and by police, sweat-soaked Luncheon Vouchers, and the 279-pound lady who ...
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 28 August 1976
BOBBY BLAND and B.B. King's last collaborative recording posed the question "When is a live album not a live album?" The answer is when it's ...
Letter by uncredited writer, Sounds, 28 August 1976
WHEN I READ about Eric Clapton's Birmingham concert when he urged support for Enoch Powell I nearly puked. ...
Orleans: Waking And Dreaming (Asylum K53044) ****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 28 August 1976
"Dadomo Raves About Non-Punk Band" sensation ...
Peter Tosh, The Wailers: Peter Tosh: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 August 1976
'Legalise it' says roots rock reggae hero Pete Tosh 'Yeah!' says Sounds gal VIVIEN GOLDMAN 'Evenin' all' says the man from the drugs squad ...
George Benson: Mr Bad Makes Good
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 4 September 1976
VETERAN JAZZ guitarist George 'Bad' Benson recently went to school to pick up his young son. Upon arrival, a group of eager young schoolkids clustered ...
Linda Ronstadt: Hand Sewn Home Grown
Profile and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 4 September 1976
THE FIRST I heard of Linda Ronstadt was on the radio. Not that I knew who owned those strong vocal chords. All I knew was ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 September 1976
Last seen: breaking into the charts with 'I Need It'. Previous convictions: playing with Frank Zappa. Former occupation: legendary R and B man; unknown composer ...
Queen: The Greatest Show In The World
Report by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 11 September 1976
"EXCUSE ME, are you with Queen?" was the question. ...
Rainbow: If You Don't Like Rock'n'Roll, It's Too Late Now
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 11 September 1976
"We're not in Kansas We must be over the Rainbow" – Judy Garland, Wizard Of Oz ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 September 1976
A STRANGE affair, this. And then some. ...
The Clash, The Kursaal Flyers: The Kursaal Flyers/Crazy Cavan/Clash: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 11 September 1976
JOE STRUMMER'S Clash — the best new band of the year? Well, some would claim as much. At least you can guarantee that any band ...
Emmylou Harris: My Father's Place, Long Island
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 October 1976
NEW ARTISTS consistently better their own past performances. Onstage progression and maturity all too often comes a back seat to the big buck commercialism of ...
Flying Burrito Brothers: Southern Californians Bring Me Down
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 2 October 1976
The Flying Burrito Brothers: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Moon: Is This The Dark Side Of The Moon?
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 2 October 1976
"ARE YOU using Memorex?" asked Moon's Noel McCalla, leaning quizzically over my cassette machine. "You gotta use Memorex for us, you know. Only the best, ...
Peter Gabriel: Toronto Tales Of The Overkill Kid
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 October 1976
FOR OVER an hour now, some of the world's finest musicians have been rehearsing 16 very complicated bars of music. Several unorthodox time changes present ...
Sutherland Brothers and Quiver in Newcastle
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 October 1976
IT CAME to me in a vision about half way through the long set the Suther Quivs have put together for their first headline tour ...
The Runaways: Girls! Girls! Girls!
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 October 1976
As The Runaways scoot their everlovin' way through Britain and Europe, GIOVANNI DADOMO tries to get his lemon squeezed... Now gasp on... ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 October 1976
High dummy count flunks punks ...
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 October 1976
IT'S NO accident that the most successful Punk Rock bands include at least one Who song in their act. Eddie And The Hot Rods do ...
Alice Cooper: Why did the chicken cross the road? To get his own back on Alice, of course
Report and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Sounds, 2 October 1976
Or how Alice Cooper finds the truth and a giant man-eating chicken. ...
Bryan Ferry: Let's Stick Together (Atlantic) Import***
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
IT'S HARD to review this album without sounding as artsy-fartsy as the man in question. I mean, I don't know much about Art but I ...
Eric Clapton: Farther On Up The Road
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 9 October 1976
DROUGHT? What drought? The green green grass of Surrey looks so healthy you'd think the local farmers had been secretly pumping chlorophyl injections into the ...
Marvin Gaye: Cool Soul Genius Wows Albert
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 October 1976
Marvin Gaye: Royal Albert Hall, LondonTHERE HAS to be a reason for hiring the Albert Hall. It's true that information sometimes gets lost over the ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 October 1976
MARVIN GAYE's chosen an interesting stage of his career to re-visit these shores after a 12-year absence. ...
Robin Trower: Long Misty Days (Chrysalis)****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 October 1976
THERE'S AN Edgar Allen Poe story in which a small boat is caught up in a maelstrom, a King Kong among whirlpools, spins around its ...
Rory Gallagher: Calling Card (Chrysalis) ****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 9 October 1976
FOR RORY GALLAGHER to start making any radical departures from established style at this stage in the game would not only be out of character ...
The Runaways: Runaways (gasp): At Last An (groan) Objective (pant) View
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
The Runaways: The Roundhouse, London ...
Steve Hillage: Watch Out There's A Concept About
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 9 October 1976
IT WAS instant karma out to get me. The sound of one hand clapping – so fast you can't even hear it. We had been ...
The Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & The Banshees: The (?) Rock Special (#2): The Audience
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
"I didn't even know the Summer of Love was happening. I was too busy playing with my Action Man."— Sid Vicious ...
The Sex Pistols: The (?) Rock Special (#3): Sex Pistols
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
John Rotten (vocals), Steve Jones (guitar), Glen Matlock (bass), Paul Cook (drums). ...
The (?) Rock Special (#4): Mark P
Profile and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
"I may be sounding dramatic but I wanna go out and hear the sounds that I like every night, I wanna have to choose what ...
Profile by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
"I don't understand why people think it's so difficult to learn to play the guitar. I found it incredibly easy. You just pick a chord ...
Overview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976
Johnny Rotten, the Clash, the Damned and a committed cast of hundreds of new music makers give the finger to the old farts ...
Willie Nelson: Willie Nelson Live (RCA)**
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 9 October 1976
WILLIE NELSON has been in country music for the better part of twenty years as a songwriter and performer, while, arm in arm with Waylon ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 16 October 1976
Toby Goldstein talked to Mr Tyler and Geoff Barton went to Canada to check out the band. Who's thoughtful then? ...
Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield: Aretha Franklin: Sparkle (Atlantic)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976
SUBTITLED 'Music From The Motion Picture', Sparkle is a soundtrack album, that plays like a record. It doesn't, unlike most of the genre, hang limply ...
Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman, The Rubinoos: Beserkley Records: The Fabled Label
Overview by Ian Birch, Sounds, 16 October 1976
SOME PLACES become legendary. Mystical meccas for the besotted. That is usually until you sample them first hand. ...
Bunny Wailer: Reincarnated Soul Makes Year's Best Album
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976
"WHY DO THEY regard me with awe? I didn't know that people think of me as superhuman. I've never flown or anything of that type. ...
Carol Grimes: Carol Grimes (Decca) ****
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 October 1976
THIS IS CAROL Grimes' legendary Memphis album, the one that she cut in Tennessee the best part of two years ago but has never had ...
David Essex: Out On The Street (CBS) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 16 October 1976
DAVID ESSEX has arrived at a most interesting junction in his career. Standing at the crossroads, his fourth studio album paints a versatile self-portrait of ...
Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneeky Pete And The Return Of The Flying Journeymen
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 October 1976
"ASK THEM abouta da name. They gotta no right to use it!"Don't worry, friends, my esteemed Italian colleague doesn't really speak like that, and his ...
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same (Swan Song)**
Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 16 October 1976
THREE YEARS to get a live album out? Three years??? I mean – really!! After all, John Denver did it in ten days. ...
Linda Lewis: Newcastle Polytechnic
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 16 October 1976
FROM KID Barton's interview with Ms Lewis last week it would seem that her current tour is the latest defiant gesture in a running debate ...
Randy Edelman: 'Concrete' Man Gets Set
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 16 October 1976
IF RANDY Edelman's 'Uptown Uptempo Woman' sounds so convincing that it 'must' be true, then trivia buffs will point out the obvious. It 'must' be ...
Burning Spear, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer: Reggae: Black Punks On 'Erb
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 October 1976
"Youth is the first thing that hits you about the musicians...reggae is still a young music, further progress is made every day." * ...
Rusty and Doug Kershaw: Louisiana Man
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 October 1976
I GOT a pre-release tape of this two months ago and I played that constantly. Now I've got the record and it's wearing out very ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 October 1976
LET'S HEAR it for Sherbet. They play some of the best contemporary Pop music I've heard this year. Eminently disposable, but for all that, tremendous ...
Thin Lizzy: Malady Of A Thin Man
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 16 October 1976
A CASUAL conversation. A relaxed Sunday afternoon at the, er, Chez Lynott. I mean if you want to catch the man, it's got to be ...
Aerosmith: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 23 October 1976
ONE GIRL standing in the ladies queue typified audience expectations. Have you ever seen Aerosmith? "No. I don't think I've even heard them." Then why ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 October 1976
"IRMIN Schmidt was transporting a washing machine down the stairs, and it fell on top of him." ...
Deaf School: London School of Economics, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 23 October 1976
THE WEEKEND starts here. Right here at the LSE on a Friday night where a bunch of enthusiastic supporters are crammed into the main theatre ...
Elton John: Blue Moves (Rocket) ****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 23 October 1976
EVEN BEFORE I'd heard one note of Blue Moves I had divined that this album was going to be the Big One. ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Kursaal Flyers: Golden Mile
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 October 1976
A NEW Kursaal Flyers album, eh?On their night the Kursaal Flyers are one of the most entertaining rock bands in the country, with their tacky ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 October 1976
We've got wars and rumours of war...('Armagedon' by Bunny Wailer) ...
Steve Hillage: The Axeman Of Love
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 23 October 1976
Steve Hillage: City Hall, Newcastle ...
Willie Nelson: The Troublemaker (CBS)****
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 October 1976
HOW ARE we supposed to take this album, eh? ...
Wishbone Ash: Return Of The Kings
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 23 October 1976
Inside this otherwise quiet house in sleepy Connecticut WISHBONE ASH toil to produce the album that will return them to favour with the critics and ...
Fleetwood Mac: John and Christine and Stevie and Lindsay and Mick…
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 October 1976
"DON'T TAKE your love away from me, don't you leave my heart in misery, if you go then I'll be blue, 'cos breaking up is ...
Leo Sayer: Endless Flight (Chrysalis)*****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 30 October 1976
I WAS prepared to hate this album. The diminitive song and dance man had begun losing his inimitable glow. Another Year needed stronger polishing while ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Saturday Night Special
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 30 October 1976
"It's like throwing a bleedin' virgin into a bed of rampant nymphomaniacs," commented Pete Makowski, our jotter on the spot. Sis he lose his white ...
National Health: Newcastle University
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 October 1976
WATCHING rock and roll these last few weeks I just feel better and better. The long standing groan about the dearth of new bands and ...
Patti Smith, The Stranglers: Patti Smith: Once Is Not Enough (ungh! choke! etc)
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 30 October 1976
Patti Smith/The Stranglers: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...
Patti Smith: Patti throw fit, buns etc
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 30 October 1976
PATTI AND her band are seated at the long table at the end of the room Last Supper style. The audience consists of some thirty-odd ...
Peter Frampton, Gary Wright: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 30 October 1976
'Do you feel like we do?' YEAH! But don't ask me why, says GEOFF BARTON ...
801: Phil Manzanera/801: 801 Live (Island)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 October 1976
THURSDAY September 2, 1976. British Left-Fielders' night out at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. It was 801's second and last gig (the other was ...
Racing Cars at Newcastle Polytechnic
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 October 1976
A MUSICIAN was telling me the other day that he loved to start a set with an instrumental to prove how good his band was ...
The Doors: The Best Of (Elektra)**
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 October 1976
DOES THE WORLD honestly need another Doors compilation? The policy makers at Elektra appear to think so. And they could be right. But The Best ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Kingston Polytechnic, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 30 October 1976
ALL ABOARD, boys and girls. It's time for the Kursaal Flyers works outing. First stop Cheltenham and now here we are at Kingston where you'll ...
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 30 October 1976
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE LITTLE GUY PART 3 ...
Profile by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 30 October 1976
Whatever, Giovanni Dadomo should know. He's been keeping "tabs" on these "psychedelic" Stranglers and he's hip to their "trip" ...
Tommy Bolin: Private Eyes (CBS IMPORT)*****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 30 October 1976
WHILE LISTENING to this white label copy for about the millionth time, all that comes to mind as an introduction to this review is 'forget ...
Wings: 'She's A Good Cook, Eamon'
Report by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 30 October 1976
THANK YOU, AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL ANYONE WHO HE WAS.THE LARGE, widely spaced, easy to read letters are to be the first words ...
Bob Seger (And The Silver Bullet Band): Night Moves (Capitol) *****
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 6 November 1976
THE SAME WEEK Graham Parker proved his real worth with a headlining London theatre date, Capitol release the new Bob Seger album. Seger is to ...
The Cate Brothers: Cate Brothers: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 6 November 1976
EVERY SO OFTEN a group's live performance is so good that their albums from that moment on lose something of the impact they once had. ...
Clover: Roll Me Over, Lay Me Down And Do It Again
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 6 November 1976
NICK LOWE knows his way around the big mixing desk. Clover know all about recording studios. Together they're gonna cut some class. ...
Mike Oldfield: Boxed (Virgin) *****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 6 November 1976
ONE LAVISHLY illustrated and highly informative booklet, four albums, two hours 40 minutes plus of music – Boxed is the almost complete Mike Oldfield. ...
Patti Smith: The Field Marshall on Portobello Road
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 November 1976
"THIS ALBUM is I think much more feminine than the first album...the rhythm, it's more like ocean. The cuts that I love the best are ...
Robert Palmer: Some People Like What I Do
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 November 1976
BRIGHT LIGHTS, big city...it's a reception in honour of the Staple Singers and the Meters at a club down in Greenwich Village, prior to their ...
Rod Stewart: The Redeeming Of Roderick
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 November 1976
"WHY DON'T you come up and see me some time," Mae West drawled one recent Sunday evening on BBC2. ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 6 November 1976
THIS ONE takes place in Fulham Town Hall and a glance tells you whoever designed this place had his sights firmly set on Cummerbund City. ...
Tangerine Dream: Singalongatangs
Report and Interview by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 6 November 1976
YOU WANT a picture of prosperity?Take a gander over there, then. Yeah, that guy sitting on the floor at the back of the audience. That's ...
Eric Burdon: The Eric Burdon Band: The Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 November 1976
IF MEL BUSH, who is presenting Santana at Wembley Pool this weekend, had been present for the opening ten minutes of his support act's tour ...
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 November 1976
EVEN IN their basement studio during the formulative stages of recording New England, this album sounded good. Rough mixes of the album sounded good in ...
Wishbone Ash: Fairfield Halls, Croydon
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 November 1976
"I SAW A band today that will give you guys a scare," someone told Andy Powell in the dressing room after a triumphant concert at ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 13 November 1976
YOU INTO electric guitars? You like them in pairs, screaming and squealing in some kind of linear harmony? ...
After The Fire: Brunel University, Middlesex
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 13 November 1976
AFTER THE Fire are a Christian Band. But don't let that frighten you away. They don't preach, they don't sing songs about Jesus Christ and ...
Babe Ruth: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 13 November 1976
SUPERSTARS COME and go, but Babe Ruth seem to rock on forever. The sort of band who always end up at the Marquee. Last time ...
Brian Jackson, Gil Scott-Heron: Gil Scott-Heron And Brian Jackson: It's Your World (Arista) ****
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 13 November 1976
WITH IT'S Your World – his fourth English but sixth American album – Gil Scott-Heron takes another step in carving out his singular niche as ...
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 13 November 1976
JACKSON BROWNE's heart lies bleedin' within the grooves and between the lines of this, his fourth album. These aren't the wimpish tales of MOR anguish ...
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 November 1976
SO THERE we were. We'd pushed through the crowds outside the Warner West End theatre. Run the gamut of flashbulbs. Said Hello to the McCartneys. ...
National Health Warning: Touring Can Make You Broke
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 13 November 1976
AFTER National Health's soundcheck singer Amanda Parsons accosted keyboardist Dave Stewart thusly: "Have you got any money? It cost us £16 in petrol to get ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 November 1976
NAZARETH are pissed off!!! Well, they're not that pissed off. Only a bit. In fact they're probably just pissed... ...
Motörhead, The Pink Fairies, Strife (UK): Pink Fairies, Motorhead, Strife: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 13 November 1976
Oh, wart a night ...
Andy Fairweather Lowe: Scream And Scream Again
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 November 1976
"EVERYTHING'S fine here except for a little problem with the drinks," says Andy good-humouredly, leaping to the phone to exhort room service to further efforts. ...
The Clash, Suburban Studs: Barbarella's, Birmingham
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 November 1976
WEDNESDAY HAD been booked as Punk Night at Barbarellas, an excuse, if nothing else, for the club deejay to fall in love with the sound ...
The Clash: Barbarellas, Birmingham
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 13 November 1976
WEDNESDAY HAD been booked as Punk Night at Barbarellas, an excuse, if nothing else, for the club deejay to fall in love with the sound ...
Roogalator: Tired? Listless? Depressed? Old? Roogalator — the Rejuvenator
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 13 November 1976
"It's true" says reader Giovanni Dadomo of Kings Cross, "I was an old fart until I discovered Roogalator. "Now I'm a young fart!" ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 13 November 1976
I EXCHANGED Geography for German at the tender age of fourteen, so if my command of the atlas is not all it should be, please ...
Santana: Carlos Santana: T-Shirts And Sympathy
Report and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 20 November 1976
What you been doing with yourself? How come you only got one guy left from last year's band? What's it like working with the third ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie And The Hot Rods: Woolwich Polytechnic, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 20 November 1976
EDDIE and the Hot Rods are turning into Heroes under our very eyes. ...
Heart: Nice Girls Succeed In Rock Biz shock
Profile and Interview by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 20 November 1976
THE BRUNETTE-blonde partnership of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson seems a strange arrangement for leaders of an all-male rock'n'roll band. ...
Jess Roden: Who nose where the time goes
Interview by Tim Lott, Sounds, 20 November 1976
Twelve years of Jess Roden ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny Guitar Watson: Newcastle Polytechnic
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 November 1976
THE GIG at Newcastle Poly was Johnny Guitar Watson's first British date for a decade. ...
LaBelle: Chameleon (Epic) ****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 November 1976
WE ALL know the story of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles metamorphosing under the direction of Vicki Wickham into the space-age erotic bundle of fun ...
Linda Ronstadt: Hey, Mister That's Me Up On The Jukebox
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 20 November 1976
AT ONE O'CLOCK on a foggy Thursday afternoon, Linda Ronstadt sleeps comfortably on the Glasgow/London express. She does not like to fly. Neither does her ...
Linda Ronstadt: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 20 November 1976
THE VIEW from the stalls at the New Victoria last Saturday night was great, but seen through the lens of a low budget Kodak Instamatic ...
Steve Hillage: Stevie's Wonders
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 20 November 1976
"I WON'T PLAY if they don't play," said Steve Hillage and a French girl dressed as a clown and holding a saxophone looked pleased, tour ...
Ultravox: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 20 November 1976
MAYBE IT was just the crowd, but nobody seemed able to generate much atmosphere and excitement on this Tuesday night at the Nashville. Support band ...
Van Der Graaf Generator: The Agony and the Ecstasy
Report by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 20 November 1976
ON THE ROAD WITH VAN DER GRAAF ...
Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum K53053) *****
Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 27 November 1976
The tip of the iceberg ...
Rod Stewart: A Night On The Town
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 27 November 1976
Whole lotta fun – that's the password in this entertainment-packed land of the Emperor's New Clothes and foil wrapped butter as the bright young Oscar ...
The Clash: Nag's Head, High Wycombe
Live Review by Kris Needs, Sounds, 27 November 1976
THE CLASH gave the provincial nightmare of High Wycombe an electric shock it won't soon forget last Thursday night. ...
The Damned: In The Pub Across The Road With The Damned
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 27 November 1976
1. Point Of Information This isn't, as one might have been lead to expect from the blurb in last week's paper, an 'In The Road' ...
The George Hatcher Band: Dry Run (United Artists) *****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 November 1976
YOU PICK up on a band at one of their early gigs, rave review them, interview them and hustle space for them in the paper. ...
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 November 1976
Krautland krumbles to the beat of Macon Georgia. Pete Makowski checks out the Marshall Tucker Band and friends in Hamburg. Bourbon by Jim Bean — peanuts by Jimmy ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 December 1976
"I think it’s only now people really see it — we suffer here as well." ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 December 1976
COMES AS A bit of a shock really, doesn't it? The news that Man are splitting up after eight years on the road. ...
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 4 December 1976
WE ARE going to the University to do a radio interview. Correction; we were going to the University to do a radio interview, but with ...
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 4 December 1976
THIS ONE'S difficult. From the material previewed on Santana's recent UK tour and from the excitement on the part of the band and particularly Carlos ...
Martin Simpson, Steeleye Span: Steeleye Span, Martin Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 4 December 1976
Are Steeleye still happy? ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 December 1976
THIS ONE I rather like. Not so much for its musical qualities but for the strange sense of homour through which these five debonair Chicagoans ...
The Carpenters: Palladium, London
Live Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 4 December 1976
THE CARPENTERS: A PLAY IN TWO ACTS BY TIM LOTT ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 11 December 1976
DOWN THE stairs and into the hall... and into a time warp. With the powerful aroma of smouldering illicit substances and the subdued, attentive audience, ...
The Eagles: Eagles: Hotel California (Asylum K5 3051)*****
Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 11 December 1976
Eagles: back in the fast lane ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 December 1976
Palmolive, drums; Kate Korus, rhythm guitar; Suzi Gutsy, bass; Arianna Forster, lead vocals ...
Jackson Browne: The Road And The Sky
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 11 December 1976
An interview with JACKSON BROWNE by BARBARA CHARONE ...
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: Great Moments In Rock Part 4336 — It's Those F***ing Punks Again!
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 December 1976
Thousands outraged by four-letter words ...
Jackson Browne: Where The Road Meets The Sky
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 11 December 1976
Jackson Brown: Apollo, Glasgow ...
Bobby Womack: Home Is Where The Heart Is (Columbia)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 18 December 1976
WHEN BOBBY's excursion into country'n'western finally made it into the racks this summer, his long-cherished project met with mixed reviews. ...
Interview by Susin Shapiro, Sounds, 18 December 1976
'Sure, but I'm not ready yet. I'd be a perfect President. I'd not only win, but I'd be good at the job.' Sez Frank Zappa ...
Generation X: Central London College of Art and Design
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 18 December 1976
WITH SIOUXSIE and the Banshees not playing because "they couldn't get it together" and the remaining support act, Eater, being a band that I wouldn't ...
Genesis: Wind & Wuthering (Charisma) *****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 18 December 1976
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Too much to digest on one listening. Overall album sound even better than A Trick Of The Tail. Less immediate but more substantial ...
Grinderswitch: Pullin' Together
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 18 December 1976
I DIDN't see them live but I gather from the reports that Grinderswitch – Messrs Dru Lembar, Stephen Miller, Larry Howard, Joe Dan Petty and ...
Joe Cocker: Live In LA (Cube) ***
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 December 1976
THIS ALBUM opens with the unctuous voice of the compere saying "Thank you for your patience ladies and gentlemen" which has a certain irony as ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 18 December 1976
Reviewer rattled by sensuous songstress ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 18 December 1976
The Sex Pistols/The Clash/The Heartbreakers /The Buzzcocks: Electric Circus, Manchester ...
Elton John: The Real Elton John Stands Up - ‘Hoorah!’
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 December 1976
ELTON JOHN is 29. So am I. We both wear glasses and they make his eyes look pink and mine look piggily smaller than they ...
Warren Zevon: Palace Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 18 December 1976
LOOKING like a university student with a major in English Lit, Warren Zevon walked onstage at the Manchester Palace Theatre, greeted warmly by an audience ...
Hawkwind: Coventry Theatre, Coventry
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 25 December 1976
IT'S LIKE trying to resurrect the agonies and ecstasies of the Lysergic communion, putting Hawkwind's Robert Calvert on paper, spinning a yarn from the scattered ...
Linda Ronstadt: Greatest Hits (Asylum)*****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 25 December 1976
THIS ALBUM is great. Had it been live, it would have been even greater. The twelve tracks here represent some of the very best Linda ...
Split Enz: The Enz justify the means
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 25 December 1976
Noel Crombie (he’s the one with the cute coiffure) reveals the horrors of shopping in Sainsbury’s…and much more ...
Steely Dan: The Strange World of Steely Dan
Interview by Tim Lott, Sounds, 25 December 1976
A lyrical exposée by TIM LOTT ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: The Grandfathers of Punk
Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 1 January 1977
WILKO JOHNSON likes to talk about the truth – in his music, in his writing, and in his, or rather, the Dr. Feelgood attitude towards ...
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 1 January 1977
I LIKE THIS RECORD so much that I'd hate for a single person out there to miss out on it because of my failure to ...
Boston, Bob Seger: State Farm Show Arena, Harrisburg PA
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 8 January 1977
AMAZING WHAT a platinum album can do, isn't it? ...
Last Exit (UK), Sting: Making It: Last Exit
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 8 January 1977
Any band with fire in its belly sooner or later has to gamble on that make-or-break trip to London. This is an account of how ...
The Eagles: Life in the Fast Lane
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 8 January 1977
"A friend of mine in L.A. said 'talkin' about music is a lot like singing about football'." — Jackson Browne. ...
Chelsea, The Stranglers: The Stranglers, Chelsea: Nashville, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 8 January 1977
BASS MAN Jean Jacques Burned now sports a torn t-shirt and black eye liner. If it wasn't for the big Fender Precision slung round his ...
Emmylou Harris: Luxury Liner (Warner Bros.)**
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 15 January 1977
I'M SORRY, but I don't like Emmylou Harris very much. Doubtless you'll recommend me to the Inquisition for a Heresy like that. But I've been ...
Gladys Knight: In A Changing World, There's Always Gladys Knight
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 January 1977
Gladys Knight and The Pips: New Victoria, London ...
David Bowie: Innovation to Innovation — David Bowie: Low (RCA Records RS 1108) *****
Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 15 January 1977
Tim Lott plots the high contrast in the Thin One's new Low record. ...
Mike Heron: A Bird Of A Different Feather
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 January 1977
MIKE HERON is talking. Compact, sturdy crofter stock (I haven't actually studied a family tree, but that's the way he looks), elegantly bony face, shock ...
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 15 January 1977
Mr & Mrs Dadomo of North London present the moving tale of Ryland P Cooder, guitar hero to the rock-gentry and one of Giovanni's personal ...
Ted Nugent: The Continuing Adventures Of Loudman Part 3: Ted Tunes Up
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 15 January 1977
FEATURING GEOFF BARTON AS KID REPORTER, STARRING TED NUGENT AS LOUDMAN ...
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 22 January 1977
LONDON'S BURLINGTON Arcade runs up the side of the Royal Academy. It has high gates at either end and boasts some of the most expensive ...
Black Sabbath: Technical Knock-out
Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 22 January 1977
TONY IOMMI walked into the Hollywood Holiday Inn dining room like some living zombie. One wondered, actually, why the Warner Bros. publicist had set up ...
Blondie: Blondie (Private Stock PS2023, Import)**
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 22 January 1977
This gentleman doesn't prefer Blondie ...
The Rolling Stones: Keith Richard: One Man's Week OFF THE HOOK
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 22 January 1977
MONDAY, JANUARY 10th. In Colorado, Claudine Longet, ex-wife of singer Andy Williams, stood trial for allegedly murdering her lover. On America's west coast, kidnap victim/revolutionary ...
Kevin Coyne: In Living Black And White (Virgin) *****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 22 January 1977
TELLING THE world about Kevin Coyne is a bit like smashing your head against a brick wall at times. ...
Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 22 January 1977
QUEEN ARE a much maligned group. There can't be any criticism that hasn't been hurled at them during their lifespan. Certainly it's to be expected ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 29 January 1977
How can any band be so special that their VERY FIRST album goes platinum? A suspicious GEOFF BARTON goes to the States to investigate... ...
Generation X: The Band of the Book
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 29 January 1977
IT BEGAN with a street whisper. ...
Gentle Giant: Live — Playing The Fool (Chrysalis)****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 January 1977
YES, FOR the first time on record you too can hear Gentle Giant play a bum note! In fact not one but several, together with ...
Gladys Knight And The Pips: The Family That Eats Together Hits Together
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 January 1977
Since their last visit eight months ago, nothing much has changed for Gladys Knight and the Pips. ...
Kokomo: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 29 January 1977
WELL, JOE Cocker wasn't there. At least I don't think he was. After a very hard weekend of various rock 'n' roll activities the strain ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 29 January 1977
SO THERE we were, surrounded. But where does the story really begin? ...
Rory Gallagher: Hammersmith Odeon, Lindon
Live Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 29 January 1977
NOBODY PLAYS the blues anymore – not unless they're black and old. The blues tradition among young blacks has all but vanished in the mad ...
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 January 1977
GEOFF TRAVIS must feel like Dr. Frankenstein sometimes. Geoff is tall and lanky, with a fuzzy afro of light brown hair and a grin guaranteed ...
Brian Eno: Eno: Extra Natty Orations
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977
"I was trying to think of some inventions, so I tried to think of what I needed. But I don't need anything. That's the difficulty, ...
Jethro Tull: Songs From The Wood (Chrysalis)
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 5 February 1977
IF YOU PLAY this album at 45 rpm it sounds just like Steeleye Span. ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 5 February 1977
TO SOME people, kicking off a British tour in London is the equivalent of musical suicide. ...
Patti Smith: Patti Cracks Noggin, Raps On Regardless
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977
Patti sounds plaintive, fragile, over the transatlantic wire. If you can imagine a voice sounding wan, you're near the mark. Reason being — "A swan ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977
IT WAS like seeing three movies on one screen. On your right, you have this three-man gospel-style streetcorner vocal section – Bobby and Eldridge King, ...
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (Warner 56344)****
Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 12 February 1977
Hack backs Mac ...
Overview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 12 February 1977
A long look back at F. Vincent Zappa and his very special bands from LA (and other places) ...
Jethro Tull: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 February 1977
YOU KNOW how supergroups are supposed to open the show with the '1812 Overture' complete with real facsimile nineteenth-century Muscovite cannon and a battallion of ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 12 February 1977
GUTS. GOOD.And there's ol' John, looking aristocratically manic on the sleeve, in a white jumpsuit, leaning perilously back, twanging at a white flying-V guitar. Ensemble ...
Generation X, Sex Pistols: Just Dropped Intuh Tha Fun House: Impressions Of The Roxy
Report by Jane Suck, Sounds, 12 February 1977
I CAME to see Generation X and to look for prospective musicians as I had been assured that the floor was knee deep in 'em ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Wild Bunch
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 February 1977
Hey, You Shoulda Bin At The Trial!!! ...
Utopia: Todd Rundgren's Utopia: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 February 1977
HoooooRa! ...
ABBA: Don't step on my blue Swede shoes — ABBA: Odeon, Birmingham
Live Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 19 February 1977
TIM LOTT (only previous contact with Scandinavian culture: a lunchtime viewing of Danish Dentist On The Job at the Greek Street Cinema Club, members only) ...
Eric Clapton: Give Me Strength
Interview by Steve Turner, Sounds, 19 February 1977
Meg and George Patterson's cure for heroin addiction ...
Frank Zappa: Frank Panned (Almost)
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 19 February 1977
Frank Zappa: The Rainbow Theatre, London ...
Jethro Tull: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 19 February 1977
IT'S STRANGE, but up until Sunday night at the Hammersmith Odeon, Jethro Tull had been an anonymous quantity in my musical catalogue. ...
Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel (Charisma) *****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 19 February 1977
DEAR PETER, Hangin' round Times Square just the other day when some strange sounds caught my ear. Bundled up my leather jacket, tucked a can ...
The Damned: Damned, Damned, Damned (Stiff Seez 1)*****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 19 February 1977
Fast, crazy, dangerous and Damned ...
Bad Company: Never Give A Critic An Even Break
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 February 1977
BAD COMPANY, as their name might or might not suggest, are fun to be with. But I'd be lying (and you wouldn't want me to ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie And The Hot Rods: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 26 February 1977
ALMOST a Black Sabbath job, this one. You know, up goes the safety curtain, there's the band already head first and accelerating into 'Get Across ...
Jack Bruce: Tales Of A Brave Ulysses
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 February 1977
"Jack's always been involved with these terrible bloody all-star bands. But now he's in an ideal position. He's older now and can surround himself with ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 26 February 1977
Incomparigle McGarrigles ...
Steve Hillage: Steve Haulage and the Trucking Company
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 February 1977
"Steve Miller didja say? Aw, Steve Pillage. No? Village?..." OK, we surrender. These Yanks will never get it right. So this is the story of ...
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Dirt, Silver and Gold (United Artists)****
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 26 February 1977
PLEASE TELL me, who is going to buy this peach of an album? It's a three record set, a compilation of the Los Angeles' band's ...
Bootsy Collins: Bootsy's Rubber Band: Ahh…The Name Is Bootsy, Baby! (Warner Bros.)*****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 March 1977
FAR BELOW them they could still see the billowing blankets of smoke covering the scorched air that had been their cities. ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 5 March 1977
PARIS? Graham Parker and the Rumour loathe the place.Their reasons? ...
Iggy Pop: Introducing the Idiot. The return of the World's Forgotten Boy
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 March 1977
As half the world waits with bated breath for the doors of the Funhouse to finally swing open once more the valiant ladies of the ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 5 March 1977
THIS IS the solid professional way to introduce this review...Jade Warrior, that is Tony Duhig and Jon Field, are one of the finest unrecognised British ...
The Jam: Jam: Maximum New Wave
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 5 March 1977
PEOPLE TRY TO put us down just because we sound like The Who. ...
John Martyn: Blood, Sweat And Cheers
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 March 1977
JOHN MARTYN rivets attention performing. You'd be wrong in assuming that just because he's one-man-with-a-guitar he doesn't make every crevice of the stage swing. ...
Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers: Italians Define Rock 'N' Roll
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 March 1977
"YOU ITALIAN? You look Italian," says Johnny Thunders when we're introduced. ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 12 March 1977
Run with the pack as ace reporter Joe Varnish checks out Iggy Pop, The Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla, Wayne County and one or two local boys ...
Television: Marquee Moon (Elektra K52046) *****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 12 March 1977
Do Not Adjust Your Set ...
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs: Roxy, London
Live Review by Barry Cain, Sounds, 12 March 1977
NOW YOU can take this on two levels — the gimmick and the serious. ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Daryl Hall and John Oates: No Goodbyes (Atlantic) **
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 19 March 1977
ATLANTIC RECORDS attempt to cash in on the current Hall and Oates boom with a compilation of some of the best tracks from the Philadelphian ...
Golden Earring: Hot Licks from Amsterdam
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 19 March 1977
Our Man In Holland (GEOFF BARTON) pulls his finger out of the dyke and states the case for GOLDEN EARRING ...
Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Pistols: for Queen and country
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 March 1977
VIVIEN GOLDMAN trades insults at a strange press conference ...
The Damned, T. Rex: T. Rex and The Damned: The Beautiful and The Damned
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 19 March 1977
T Rex and The Damned on tour together... will the boppers say nix to the new wave? Will Bolan get blown off the stage? Captain ...
Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Slits, The Subway Sect: The Clash etc: Harlesden's Burning
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 March 1977
The Clash/The Buzzcocks/The Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London ...
Ultravox! New Music From A Doll's House
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 19 March 1977
CONTRARY to what Stranglers' bassist, Jean Jacques Brunel, is reputed to think, Ultravox! are not "a bunch of session musicians put together by Island records." ...
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 March 1977
ON THE ROAD. Again. The Rainbow seems like years ago. Yesterday they had a rare day off in New Orleans, arriving at the Marie Antoinette ...
Michael Nesmith: From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing (Pacific Arts)****
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 March 1977
"ONE OF THE great advantages of being an artist is that I am able to utilise my craft periodically to write messages to myself," (liner ...
Peter Gabriel, Television: Peter Gabriel: The Palladium, New York
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 26 March 1977
Gabriel knows what he likes ...
Steve Miller: The Best of Steve Miller 1968-1973
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 March 1977
AS BEST OF ALBUMS-released-after-the-artist-leaves-the-company-and-scores-a-big-hit-elsewhere go, The Best Of Steve Miller' stands up moderately well. ...
Be Bop Deluxe: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 2 April 1977
Be Bop 'N Boredom ...
Golden Earring: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 2 April 1977
Searing Earring ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richard: Exile On The 32nd Floor
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 April 1977
Take me to the airportAnd put me on a planeI've got no expectationsTo pass through here again ...
Comment by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 April 1977
'STAY TUNED for further developments,' John Ingham said at the end of his 'Rock Special' in SOUNDS October 9, 1976. As he forward-thinkingly observed even ...
The Clash: The Clash (CBS)*****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 April 1977
If You Don't Like The Clash, You Don't Like Rock 'N 'Roll ...
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: The Screen on the Green, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 9 April 1977
IN WHICH IT must be conceded that Malcolm McLaren has a first-class media brain with a perfect instinct for theatre. ...
Blondie: At Last, The Sound Of 1970!
Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Sounds, 16 April 1977
WHAT BETTER way to introduce Blondie's bombshell Deborah Harry as she takes the stage at the Whisky in Hollywood than to use one of the ...
Buzzcocks, Johnny Moped, Wire, X-Ray Spex: Buzzcocks/X-Ray Spex/Wire etc.: Running with the Ratpack
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 16 April 1977
ROXY RATPACK, Saturday nite. Find a friend and stick close: sink or swim. Tony and Julie were right: a club full of 'Wild Boys' outtakes ...
Generation X: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 April 1977
THE QUEUE outside looked promising. Over two months since Gen-X had played a London date (barring the infamous Noreik fiasco). As soon as you forced ...
Fleetwood Mac: Lovesick Limeys + Amorous Americans = The Mac Factor
Report and Interview by Tim Lott, Sounds, 16 April 1977
But you don't want to read yet more about the romance and heartache that is Fleetwood Mac, do you? We thought not, so we asked ...
Michael Nesmith: Ex-Beat Group Crazy In Weirdo Film Project
Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 16 April 1977
MIKE NESMITH's career has taken a surprising number of twists and turns over the years, from writing songs for Linda Rondstadt in the early Sixties, ...
Peter Gabriel: The Lamb Stands Up
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 16 April 1977
'Because Genesis are now part of the English establishment I felt I'd been seen in context with them. But the better the album does the ...
The Stranglers: IV Rattus Norvegicus (United Artists)****
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 April 1977
I THINK this album will surprise a lot of people. After all (by chance, coincidence and a spot of media manipulation, no less) the Stranglers ...
Asleep At The Wheel: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 April 1977
I DON'T think I've ever seen so many ten gallon hats on one stage. Not outside Texas, anyhow. And so many straight-legged jeans and cowboy ...
Michael Chapman: Michael Chapman Lived Here 1968-72 (CUBE)****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 23 April 1977
ON THE REAR of the sleeve is a faded brown and sepia pic of Michael Chapman sat on a bed alone, nothing but a guitar ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 April 1977
I FIRST got into Poco back when Buffalo Springfielders Richie Furay and Jim Messina were still in the band. They cut a live album, called ...
Richard Hell: The Jaws of Hell
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 23 April 1977
"RICHARD HELL is always a little bit WORSE than everybody else." ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: City Hall, Sheffield
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 23 April 1977
WAITING FOR the newly reformed Small Faces to take the stage of Sheffield's City Hall, I was probably more nervous than they were (which is ...
The Small Faces: Steve Marriott
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 April 1977
IT'S A bit like having a bull in a china shop, being around Steve Marriott. Like being in the same room as a whirlwind. His ...
Kansas: (1) Who Are These Persons and (2) Why the Silly Clothes?
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 30 April 1977
(1) They're Kansas, one hot US band (2) They're pictured at a ritzy bash to celebrate the platinum status of their current long player Leftoverture. ...
The Adverts, The Damned, Motorhead: The Damned/The Adverts/Motorhead: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 30 April 1977
I FIRST saw the Damned at the Roundhouse last November. Shortly after the release of 'New Rose'. Although the 45 had been successful the set ...
The Faces: The Best Of The Faces (Riva)****
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 30 April 1977
"AAALRIGHT: HERE'S one you may well know, you may not know it; and if you don't know it, I really don't know where you bin." ...
Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, May 1977
ELVIS COSTELLO is a cagey sort of fellow. You can talk to him for hours and still not discover quite what makes him tick. ...
Asleep At The Wheel: The Wheel
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 7 May 1977
THIS IS Asleep At the Wheel's fifth album in seven odd years. It's the one, so they hope, to transform them from a cult country ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 7 May 1977
"THIS IS our first gig for a while," joked Phil Collins, "so we celebrated by rehearsing this morning." ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 7 May 1977
THE FIRST cut on this album is 'Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone', Smokie's latest chart single. Of course, you'd expect to find it ...
Steve Winwood, Traffic: Steve Winwood: Goodbye Mr Fantasy, Hello Midland Maniac
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 7 May 1977
THE SIXTIES are very much alive in Ladbroke Grove these days. Tucked away in the back of Island's Basing Street Studios, swinging London gently reverberates ...
The Clash: Palais des Glaces, Paris
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 7 May 1977
THE AUDIENCE at the Palais des Glaces, a sleazy 30's flea-pit with odd nooks where Parisians indulged in the bourgeois old-wave habit of getting high ...
Bob Seger: Rock 'n' Roll's Mr Nice Guy
Interview by Susin Shapiro, Sounds, 14 May 1977
He's modest, he's humorous, he cares for his fans and he says he's very dull... yes, he's BOB SEGER ...
Boston: The Biggest Unknown Group On The Planet
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 14 May 1977
THERE ARE five people in Boston. Barry, Tom, Sib, Brad and Fran. One year ago no one knew who they were. Today no one knows ...
Frankie Miller: Be Good To Yourself
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 14 May 1977
THREE YEARS back, Miami soul-singer Betty Wright had a minor hit with 'Shoo-rah! Shoo-rah!'. On his Radio London show, Honky-Tonk, Charlie Gillett has a "who ...
Retrospective by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 14 May 1977
"Status Quo are one of those peculiar groups who have been around for years and who go through cycles and surges of popularity that make ...
Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Slits, The Subway Sect: The Front Line: On The Road With The Clash
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 May 1977
JOE STRUMMER says he'll smash my face in if I so much as print a syllable of what's said in the dressing room of the ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 14 May 1977
I HEARD the Jam's single 'In The City' on the radio the other day. The bass came roaring up from the mix and through the ...
The Marshall Tucker Band: Carolina Dreams
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 14 May 1977
I THINK the late great Duane Allman might turn in his grave if he heard this record. ...
The Saints: Would You Let These Men Tie Your Kangaroo Down?
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 14 May 1977
Watch out, sport, the Saints are coming. PETE SILVERTON gets a buzz from 'em. ...
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 14 May 1977
ANOTHER ALBUM From Tom Waits, his fourth, belatedly released here to tie in with a recent one-off performance in London. ...
Alessi: The Other End, New York NY
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 May 1977
A&M DIDN'T want a picture of twin brothers Bobby and Billy Alessi on the cover of their debut album because they wanted the music to ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley And The Wailers: Exodus
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 21 May 1977
From a purely marketing point of view, this is the one. With Rastaman Vibration’s appearance, there weren’t many music fans on the planet unaware of ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley And The Wailers: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 21 May 1977
And I went in there feeling conscientious, like I really wanted to take notes. But believe me when I tell you, nothing seemed less important ...
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 21 May 1977
THERE IS no need to ask where John Peel was in the summer of love. Anybody with enough brain-cells left to recall the era will ...
Judas Priest: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 May 1977
KING RIFF rools okay? The two coachloads from Dundee said "Yeaah". The Cop crowd joined saying "okay". But the nice thing about being seen to ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 May 1977
"TURN OFF the music – we want to play," R the bassist yelled at the DJ and, before you had time to chuckle at the ...
Talking Heads: "We're Not Punks!" "We're Not Punks!" "We're Not Punks!" "We're Not Punks!"
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 21 May 1977
Not just another Noo Wave Band From Noo Yawk, says GIOVANNI DADOMO ...
Talking Heads: The Rock Garden, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 21 May 1977
WHY NOT somewhere that can handle crowds properly, like the Nashville? Why on earth were Talking Heads put on at the Rock Garden? Do answer ...
Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Jam: The Clash, The Jam, The Buzzcocks: The Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 May 1977
Rock ‘n’ roll can be one of the few honest things left in this world.Yes.An event, a gathering of the clans.Yes.But it was all down ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 21 May 1977
ONE THING about the Kursaal Flyers...they never do things by halves. ...
X-Ray Spex: Man In The Moon, Chelsea
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 May 1977
A SMALLISH basement room, low-ceilinged, with a bar along one wall, and quite plush – tonite healthily full with about 100 people, A stopgap scene ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Movement Of Jah People
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 May 1977
"ISN'T IT A NICE feeling... isn't it a nice day...isn't it a nice feeling..." Bob Marley croons, strumming on an acoustic guitar. He's glowing, planted ...
Boomtown Rats: Club 51, London
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 May 1977
WATCH OUT. Here come the Boomtown Rats. Over the Irish Sea, into a reputedly hefty recording contract with Ensign and on to the tiny stage ...
Dr. Feelgood: Doctor Feelgood: How's The New Boy Settling In, Chaps?
Report and Interview by Tim Lott, Sounds, 28 May 1977
Jolly well, it seems. It's smiles all round as DOCTOR FEELGOOD introduce new chap John Mayo to keen young cub reporter TIM LOTT (15). ...
Foreigner: Foreigner (Atlantic SD 18215 )*½ .
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 May 1977
REMEMBER IAN McDonald? That's right, the geezer who used to mess around something chronic on keyboards for King Crimson back in the early days when ...
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 28 May 1977
Getting those (Chinese) rocks off ...
Blondie, Television: Television/Blondie: Apollo, Glasgow
Live Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 28 May 1977
Television revelation ...
The Ramones, Talking Heads: The Ramones: Gabba Gabba Hey In The UK
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 28 May 1977
The Ramones/Talking Heads: Eric's, Liverpool ...
The Ramones: The Incredible Four-Headed Transplant
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 28 May 1977
A chat with those Very Special People from NYC, The Ramones, conducted by the shabbily nondescript Giovanni Dadomo of King's Cross. ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Big Hits And Close Shaves
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 May 1977
COMPILATIONS ARE generally the occasion for an in-depth reassessment of an artist's career. ...
The Vibrators: Winning Post, Twickenham
Live Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 28 May 1977
OUT IN Twickenham, they haven't really made up their mind. ...
The Outsiders [UK punk]: The Outsiders: Calling on Youth
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, June 1977
THE OUTSIDERS are all 19, and have played a few gigs at new wave venues. The Roxy hated them for their clothes (they didn't conform) ...
Can: Saw Delight (Virgin V2079) **
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 4 June 1977
SOMETIMES it's nice to get phone-calls, sometimes it isn't. Know what I mean? ...
Gloria Mundi: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Profile and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 June 1977
AND WHAT did Gloria Mundi's Eddie Maelov get for the courage of his, convictions? ...
Heart: Little Queen (CBS import)***
Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 4 June 1977
Heart heading for the MOR ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: D*T*K*L*A*M*F
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977
WHAT JT's HBs SAID TO PM ABOUT TP & HIS HBs AND A LOT OF OTHER STUFF ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 June 1977
LET'S START with some questions this time, alright? ...
Blondie, Television: Television/Blondie: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977
Television: I preferred the other channel ...
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 4 June 1977
SOMETIMES I feel so good I can feel my body growing... YEAHHH!!! Y'know CBS were really surprised (in fact speechless) when I enquired about this ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: Marquee, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 4 June 1977
AT NINE years of age I decapitated my dolls and donated a life to rock'n'roll. Nights like tonight I understand just why. (Gasp) it was ...
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 11 June 1977
He was born on a summer day 1951And with a slap of a handHe landed as an only sonHis mother and father said,"What a lovely ...
Bob Marley & The Wailers: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 June 1977
THE TENSION in the Rainbow was almost painful, the only relief the appearance of the Wallers. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 11 June 1977
THERE'S NOT much doubt that Elkie Brooks is going to be around for ever and ever. Elkie's a singer, simply as that. But there's still ...
George Benson: It's A Man's Man's Man's Man's World
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 June 1977
"YOU'RE SAYING that women are equal to men and all that crazy stuff!" George Benson laughed in astonishment. ...
10cc: New 10cc: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 11 June 1977
10CC WERE excellent. This is news? No, though in my experience they have never been the apostles of mechanical perfection sneered at by some critics. ...
Funkadelic, Parliament: Parliament: Live: The P-Funk Earth Tour
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 June 1977
"THEY SAY the bigger the headache the bigger the pill!" Dr. Funkenstein shouts. ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 11 June 1977
MMM. PSYCHO daisies. Hid her wid de axe/you better relax. More zoop bop cartoon funnies – this time the movie's speeded up. Laugh this one ...
Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols: A Non-Interview With Malcolm McLaren
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 18 June 1977
I VISITED THE office of Glitterbest (Sex Pistols management) recently, accompanied by Tony D. (editor of Ripped & Torn fanzine) to try and arrange an ...
Ian Hunter: Mecca Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 June 1977
IAN HUNTER was back. ...
Jethro Tull: New Wave From An Old Hand
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 June 1977
OII!!!!! EVEN IF YOU THINK JETHRO TULL ARE JUST A BUNCH OF ARTHRITIC CLAPPED OUT OLDTIMERS, COP A READ OF THIS, YOU MIGHT EVEN FIND ...
Penetration: Anarchy In County Durham
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 June 1977
MICK JONES of the Clash, leading philosophers of the New Wave, has said that he couldn't play but for the vacuum-pack pressures of the tower ...
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 18 June 1977
AND I'M supposed to be objective about these guys when I've lived with their first album for 15 months? When that was one of last ...
The Sex Pistols: What Did You Do On The Jubilee? The Pistols on the Thames
Report by Jon Savage, Sounds, 18 June 1977
BEFORE THE POLICE came, it was a great party. Make that a capital G. ...
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 June 1977
A sense of wonder ...
Mahogany Rush: And This Little Piggy Took Too Much Acid
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 25 June 1977
If we tell you that Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush took 1500 trips in a month, you won't be surprised that the tale he tells ...
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 June 1977
REVIEWED BY PAUL SIMENON (BASS) AND RODENT (ROADIE) OF THE CLASH. TRANSCRIPTIONS: GIOVANNI DADOMO (AMATEUR) ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
Profile by Jane Suck, Sounds, 25 June 1977
Outrage is the game, Siouxsie and the Banshees is the name ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 25 June 1977
ALRIGHT, I'm impressed. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz are one of the hottest rhythm sections I've seen. I expected a lot of the Talking Heads ...
The Jam: Boy Wonders Make The BIG STEP
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 25 June 1977
PHEW. THAT was a close one! For a moment there I thought the Jam were going to blow it completely. ...
Rainbow: There'll Always Be A Rainbow As Long A Ritchie's Here
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 25 June 1977
Well, and as long as Cozy and Ronnie are still here, and as far as you — dear SOUNDS reader — are concerned, as long as Pete ...
Rainbow: There'll Always Be A Rainbow As Long As Ritchie's Here
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 25 June 1977
"THERE'LL ALWAYS be a Ronnie, there'll always be a Cozy and myself in Rainbow and that's all that matters, others may come and go because ...
New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: Trash: The Story of the New York Dolls
Retrospective and Interview by Kris Needs, Sounds, 25 June 1977
THE ONE gig I'm never ever gonna forget happened in early 1974 at the opening night of the Rainbow Room on the sixth floor of ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 25 June 1977
EVERYONE calls him Van the Man. For reasons of symmetry, mainly; Van Morrison the Man as opposed to the Musician is pretty elusive. Vague slogans ...
Various: The Roxy London WC2 (Jan-Apr 77) (Harvest)
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 25 June 1977
AN APPROXIMATE Warhol dictum: ‘In the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes.’ We never had a proper Warhol scene over here, did we? ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Madison Square Garden, NYC
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, July 1977
AFTER ALL the abortive reunion efforts, Crosby, Stills and Nash have finally delivered the goods. Neil Young was really never part of the group anyway. ...
Boomtown Rats: The Pluck of the Irish
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 July 1977
They may have left him stranded in Canterbury, but the Boomtown Rats are plenty good fun says Pete Silverton – now there’s critical objectivity for ...
Motörhead: Pulling Out of the Pits
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 July 1977
"GET OUT of the f––––– way. We’ve got a concert to do." ...
Steve Winwood: Steve Winwood (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 July 1977
‘I ONCE WAS A-CRYING BUT NOW MY LUCK’S TURNED’ ['Luck’s In']. ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer: The $2m Show That Never Ends: Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 July 1977
KEITH EMERSON sits in a Detroit French restaurant wearing traditional black leather trousers and a very large grin. He’s telling a reporter from Rolling Stone ...
The Abyssinians: The Abysinnians: Forward On To Zion (Klik)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 July 1977
IN THE SOUNDS Top Ten of ’76 I voted this album (then known as Satta A Massagana) number two. ...
Van Morrison: The Speakeasy, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 2 July 1977
EVER LOOKED Dr John the night tripper straight in the eyes? Ever stood this close to Van the Man you can feel him breathe? ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Alex Harvey: The Thoughts (?) Of Chairman Harvey
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 July 1977
"WOULD YOU like to be a rock'n'roll star?" ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby, Stills And Nash: CSN
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 July 1977
THE TRUTH is you could put the sum of my knowledge of CSN severally and separately on your thumbnail and still have room for a ...
The Doors, MC5, The Ramones, Jonathan Richman, The Stooges: Danny Fields: The Fields Connection
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 9 July 1977
The Doors, MC5, Iggy & The Stooges, John Cale, Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers and The Ramones — without them the last ten years of ...
Red Clay Ramblers: The Red Clay Ramblers: Half Moon, Putney
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 9 July 1977
IN THESE DAYS of unbridled electrical energy, it never ceases to surprise me the drive and excitement that can be generated by a highly ordered ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 9 July 1977
THE RUBINOOS sing a song all about how rock & roll is dead. It shouldn't really worry them either way, because in Rubinoo-land everyone's a ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 July 1977
GO ON, GUESS how the first Yes album for three years begins. I tell you, you haven't got a hope. ...
Retrospective by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 July 1977
In which SOUNDS people bring long-ignored or deleted albums to your attention ...
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 16 July 1977
GENERATION X. In the 60's: a book wherein 'youth speaks about itself'. In the 70's: a 'new wave' band which does the same, on the ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 July 1977
Huckleberry Finn will love this one. Five English guys capture the downhome spirit of America. ...
Yes: Credibility Regained (Or: Rich Superstars Make Good Album sensation!)
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 16 July 1977
GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: this feature does not contain any references to "punk’ or ‘new wave" ...
John Lydon, Sex Pistols: A Punk And His Music: An Evening With John Rotten
Interview by uncredited writer, Sounds, 23 July 1977
JOHNNY ROTTEN digs reggae and soul. That was one of the more interesting facets of his personality that emerged when he was interviewed by DJ ...
Alternative TV: Sniffin' Glue…
Report and Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 23 July 1977
NOW: THE ROXY these days is not what it was – whatever shrill camera-lens sense of event there was in the Andy Czezowski days has ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 July 1977
FIRST OF all, the obvious. Why review two albums with the same name? ...
Carole Bayer Sager: Carole Bayer Sager (Warner Bros.)***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 23 July 1977
CAROLE BAYER SAGER gets me going, then she lets me down. Since history repeats itself I should've seen it coming, though. ...
Roky Erickson, 13th Floor Elevators: Roky Erickson: One Flew Out Of The Cuckoo's Nest
Retrospective by Jon Savage, Sounds, 23 July 1977
'After you trip, life opens up – you start doing what you wanna do...c'mon, C'MON let it happen to you...' – 'Roller Coaster', 13th Floor ...
The Lurkers: Attack Of The Distortion People
Profile and Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Sounds, 23 July 1977
ALLOW ME TO present The Lurkers, whose enlightened adherence to the golden rule of "Three Chords, Three Verses, Three Minutes" definitely fingers them as the ...
The Seeds: The Seeds (Crescendo GNP2023)
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 23 July 1977
"I'D HIT ya in the jugular/But honey you know I'm lazy…" I won't tell you nuthin' about the band, not even the toothpaste they used, ...
The Sex Pistols on Top of the Pops (BBC1)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 23 July 1977
Out to Lunch ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 30 July 1977
WHAT'S THIS? Two stars for Bruce Johnston the ex-Beachboy? Yeah, you read right...and if it wasn't for that illustrious track record of his I wouldn't ...
Dead Fingers Talk: Hull Is For Heroes
Profile by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 30 July 1977
"Have you met Harry yet? He's the new man in the office. There 'something not quite right about Harry. I 'think he's qu-e-e-r… "And I leaned ...
Deaf School: Putting On The Agony, Putting On The Style
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 30 July 1977
EVEN LA HAD never seen anything quite like them. Deaf School that is. A very British group who really have nothing to do with punk ...
Kim Fowley: International Heroes
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 30 July 1977
I REALISE it's getting to be an obsession, but what can I do? Even Viv Goldman, between bouts of trying to convince me to do ...
The Bay City Rollers: It's A Game
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 30 July 1977
LET'S FACE it, the idea of a Bay City Rollers album is just a little amusing. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if several of ...
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 July 1977
THE TIME: just before the gig at Birmingham University. In that husky South Carolina accent George Hatcher was telling me about the band: "It will ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Terrapin Station
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 30 July 1977
TEN YEARS and twelve-odd albums on from when they first hit the streets of San Francisco, the good ol' Grateful Dead present us with their ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 6 August 1977
IT ALL DEPENDS whether you're a sucker for the Burning Spear Sound. It hasn't changed too much through all their Island albums, and certain key ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods: Eddie and the Hot Rods: The Rods Are Awright
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 6 August 1977
"All my friends at school grew up and settled down. Then they mortgaged up their lives. When things get set too much but I think ...
Kim Fowley, The Runaways: Kim Fowley: The Dorian Gray of Rock'n'Roll
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 August 1977
TAKE A JOURNEY INTO ROCK N ROLL WITH KIM FOWLEY AND MEET...Venus & The Razorbiades, The Runaways, Juice, Teenage Prostitutes, Steven T., Zippers, Weirdos, Germs, ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 6 August 1977
AS A TECHNICIAN alone Roy Buchanan is one of the finest electric guitarists in the world. ...
Squeeze: Local Boozers Make Good
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 6 August 1977
HEY JOHN, take a look at this. When did this happen last in the Hope, eh? There's two bodies stretched out straight in the tiny ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 6 August 1977
SO I PICKED through the albums lying in Master Barton's dusty drawer and there, amongst the dross, was a name I recognised. The Gap Band. ...
The Movies (UK): The Movies: Double A
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 August 1977
BEND A CASUAL ear to The Movies and you might almost think they were easy listening, gentle on your mind, treacle on your brain. A ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
LAURA NYRO'S a recluse. Season Of Light proves, in case you ever wondered, that it's her own decision. ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: 'Jooh-Nee! Jooh-Nee! Jooh-Nee!'
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 13 August 1977
Swedes plead, Pistols perform, and Dadomo, the lone wop, reports on the second leg of their Scandinavian tour ...
Television: The artist who came in from the cold
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
Television's Tom Verlaine talks to Vivien Goldman, who discovers that the so-called ice man has quite a sense of humour ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson: The Beach Boys: I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 August 1977
"SOME KAHLUA, we need a coupla pitchers of milk..." "Send up a bottle of milk. O.K., cartons. Four cartons. And some honey. And a coffee. ...
The Rezillos: The Rise Of The Rezillos
Profile and Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Sounds, 13 August 1977
FIVE MINUTES into the Rezillos set at the Nashville I left behind the venue for a far more exotic scenario. I envisaged myself in a ...
The Runaways: Live In Japan *****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 13 August 1977
BEFORE YOU take that pinch of salt to go with this album's five star rating, a couple of points: this album was NOT produced by ...
Willy DeVille: It's De Ville Thing
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 August 1977
IT STARTED IN '71. Willy deVille, a black-Irish New Yorker, came to London in search of a band. None appeared. After a few frustrating months ...
Aswad: The Other Cinema, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
ASWAD PLAYED on an Other Cinema music night, a reggae special, following a showing of Horace Ore's Reggae and Step Forward Youth and a documentary ...
The Clash, The Damned: Clash In Euro-Rock Horror
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
'Bilzen? more like Belsen' Clash, Damned: Bilzen Festival, Belgium ...
Iggy Pop: Lust For Life (RCA AFLI 2488)*****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 20 August 1977
"Yeah I'm through with sleeping on the sidewalk,no more beating my brains,no more beating my brains,with liquor and drugs,with liquor and drugs,well I'm just a modern ...
Just a few thousand words in your ear: A history of the rock press
Retrospective by Giovanni Dadomo, Jon Savage, Sounds, 20 August 1977
... Is this communicating? (Arthur Lee, 1968) ...
Motorhead: Motorhead (Chiswick WLK 2)*****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 20 August 1977
MOTORHEAD BANGER ...
The Sex Pistols: On The Road With The Pistols Part 101: Inside Rotten's Wardrobe
Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 20 August 1977
And other Swedish delights. By GIOVANNI DADOMO ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE GIRLS Snatch it while you can ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 August 1977
WHO IS this, anyway?" Giovanni Dadomo demanded. "The Caligari Brothers?" Funny you should say that, my pasta-eating pal. ...
Alice Cooper: Love It To Death
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 27 August 1977
"I'M CAUGHT in a dream –so what?" ...
Gentle Giant: The Missing Piece
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 August 1977
GENTLE GIANT crave recognition in their homeland with a longing which at times borders on the pathetic. For all their success in the States and ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 August 1977
THIS IS a double album of many distinctions. For instance, I've never known a record feature the line 'have a cup of tea' so often. ...
Radio Stars: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 27 August 1977
SOME CAME TO catch the Boomtown Rats (who had cancelled at the last moment) but, despite the substitution of Chiswick's Radio Stars, there were still ...
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 27 August 1977
Rita: sleek, sultry, sexy… ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: The Rotten Interview
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 27 August 1977
In Sweden With The Pistols Part 194 ...
The Small Faces: Small Faces: Playmates
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 27 August 1977
OH DEAR, I fear Steve Marriott and his mates are in for a real critical pasting with this, the first Small Faces LP for ten ...
Ted Nugent: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 27 August 1977
I WAS STANDING on the stairs backstage at the Hammersmith Odeon when the Ted Nugent band came down from the dressing rooms. ...
Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, Sounds, 27 August 1977
THE DEAD BOYS are part of anew generation at CBGB's, a generation that has finally succeeded in erasing that fine line that divides the cool ...
Thin Lizzy Rule At Reading OK?
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 August 1977
THE TELEX ended something like: "And besides he's black, Irish and only wears one earring." ...
Be Bop Deluxe: Be-Bop Deluxe: Santa Monica Civic
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, September 1977
SANTA MONICA CIVIC is not the best place to see a rock concert in Los Angeles. It's got about as much rock atmosphere as the ...
Chris De Burgh: At The End Of A Perfect Day
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 3 September 1977
YOU'D EXPECT sensitive singer-songwriters to be well-served by the quiet decorum of the studio where every nuance can be polished to perfection. But it doesn't ...
Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 September 1977
THERE'S TWO moods on this record, one I like. That's the slow surge, tidal ebb/flow style, with the/additional tug of solemn female or male voices. ...
Jah Punk: New Wave Digs Reggae
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 September 1977
'We're gonna have a punky reggae party...the Wailers will be there, the Slits, the Feelgoods, and the Clash...' – BOB MARLEY SONGS LYRIC ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie And The Banshees: Vortex, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 3 September 1977
"I DON'T know what it is, but it isn't rock 'n' roll." The Banshees quote Glen Matlock's response to their last Vortex gig with pride. ...
John Cale: The Weirdest John Cale Interview You've Ever Read...
Interview by Jane Suck, Sounds, 3 September 1977
I COULD be some other little girl reporter and tell you how I arrived for the interview on the verge of imminent throw-up; how I ...
Doobie Brothers: Livin' On The Fault Line
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 September 1977
WHATEVER HAPPENED to the Doobie Brothers? I've often wondered. And this new album is no help. None of them play on it and the sleeve ...
Fabulous Poodles: Fabulous Poodles
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 10 September 1977
HOW DO you decide whether an album's a good one or a bad one? Difficult really. If anybody had a handy rule of thumb, a ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 10 September 1977
Laid-back hippy cries from the Heart. Nancy Wilson talks to Robin Katz ...
Aswad, Black Slate, The Cimarons, Matumbi, Rico Rodriguez, Steel Pulse: Jah Punk: The Black New Wave
Overview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 September 1977
ASWAD: Drummie, drums, vocals: George Oban, bass: Chaka Forde, rhythm guitar, vocals: Donald Guiti, lead guitar, vocals. Courtney Hennings, keyboards, vocals. ...
Profile and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 10 September 1977
"WE'LL CHALENGE any band in the business to any bar sport they care to name. Darts, Pool, Crib, Table Football, Pinball. You name it. Meal ...
The Runaways: Runaways: A Primer For The New Runaways
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 September 1977
THE NEW line up of the Runaways is: Joan Jett/Lita Ford/Sandy West/Vicky Blue. Cherie Currie (vocals) and Jackie Fox (bass) are no longer with the ...
Rush: A Farewell To Kings (Mercury SRM-1-1184 ) *****
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 10 September 1977
Rush: lords of the Kings ...
The Rich Kids: Back With A Bullet
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 September 1977
COMING DOWN from the Harrow Road by bus, Steve New's getting the rise taken out of him by a bunch of kids because he's wearing ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 10 September 1977
IT'S NO accident that the tinny PA at the tacky Whisky was blasting out the Rolling. Stones' 'All Down The Line' prior to the Saturday ...
Joan Armatrading: Show Some Emotion
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 September 1977
AAAAAH, JOAN, Shall I compare thee to a summer rose? Not just now, but how about 'The Summertime Blues'? At least Eddie Cochran is something ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 September 1977
'LOS ANGELES Police Department reminds you the use of fire works is illegal,' warned the notice outside the Los Angeles Forum. With all the bravado ...
Foreigner, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent: Lynyrd Skynyrd/ Foreigner/Ted Nugent: Rock And Roll All Nite
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 September 1977
AN AFTERNOON of heavy rock at the Los Angeles sports stadium. Score: Lynyrd Skynyrd – Win. Foreigner – Place. Nugent – Show. ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 17 September 1977
TW STUDIOS are tucked away behind a drab shopfront off London's Fulham Palace Road. To gain entry you have to go round the side, through ...
Van Morrison: T.B. Sheets (Phonogram – Reissue)
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 17 September 1977
IN WHICH Phonogram Records acquire the rights to Van Morrison's early BANG material and effectively re-issue an album called T.B. Sheets which Decca put out ...
Buzzcocks: Whatever Happened To The Buzzcocks?
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 17 September 1977
Now there's nothing behind meAnd I'm already a has-beenMy future ain't what it wasI think I know the words that I meanYou know me – ...
Fabulous Poodles: A Poodle Is All Things To All Men
Profile and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 24 September 1977
'The dog has one fault which you will never be able to overcome, an unforgivable fault, alas! It is common to all dogs, and there ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates, Daryl Hall: Hall & Oates: Beauty On A Back Street
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 24 September 1977
THE ACCEPTABLE face of disco music? ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 24 September 1977
HAVE YOU heard of Joe Ely before? Thought not. I certainly haven't. His past history is a total blank as far as I'm concerned. And ...
Jonathan Richman: Johnathan Richman: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 24 September 1977
CONTRADICTION. (I don't wanna grow up; there's too much...) ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 24 September 1977
THESE DAYS Linda Ronstadt works to a production line formula: You get a nice sleeve (this one is by Kosh, who did a similar job ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 24 September 1977
"FROZEN WARNINGS close to mine, close to the frozen borderline......" ...
Peter Gabriel, Nona Hendryx: Peter Gabriel, Nona Hendrix: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 September 1977
PETER GABRIEL used to the the guy behind the make-up, behind the monster-mask, behind the smokescreen; an original performer, a one-man spectacular. I admired but ...
Adam & The Ants: The Ants: Nashville, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 24 September 1977
avAntgarde ...
The Kursaal Flyers: Five Live Kursaals
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 24 September 1977
IT ALL boils down to what you think of the Kursaal Flyers really, doesn't it? Me, I fell in love with them the first time ...
The Stranglers: No More Heroes
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 24 September 1977
AHHH – BUT these are testing times...now the very real euphoria has subsided, the scales have fallen from my eyes: not recantation, but re-evaluation. Timely ...
The Vibrators: The Punks Who Came In From The Cold
Report and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 24 September 1977
"I think I ought to make it clear", says Knox, arms waving like flags in a stiff breeze, "that when we first started we were ...
Tom Robinson Band: Up Against The Wall: Life with the Tom Robinson Band
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 September 1977
"The British police are the best in the world.I don't believe one of these stories I've heard..." ...
Alternative TV: Rat Club, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977
ATV — FIRST gig with permanent drummer Chris/multi-cultural type crowd with heavy star attendance/sweating/Throbbing Gristle tapes/'Some kind of fanny show' (?)/drag queen movie (I missed ...
The Art Attacks: Art Attax: Red Cow, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977
Great but brain-Attaxing ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: Billy, Walter and Johnny: The Heartbreakers
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 1 October 1977
INTERVIEW TAKES place on a second floor flat, a stone’s throw away from the Thames. Present are: Walter Lure and Billy Rath, singer/guitarist and bassist ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 October 1977
Chris Spedding says he's been hurt by love on this album. Don't know what else he's been hurt by, but I'm haunted by the feeling ...
Christopher Milk: Some People Will Drink Anything (Reprise MS 2111 import)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977
Milkman delivers ...
Harry Chapin: Dance Band On The Titanic
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 1 October 1977
I REALLY can't make my mind up about this guy Harry Chapin. One one level he is totally crass and on another he is totally ...
Mink DeVille, Tyla Gang: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977
Nobody does it better ...
Peter Gabriel: Newcastle Welcomes Peter Gabriel
Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 October 1977
In the car park round the corner from Newcastle City Hall a bootleg baker was trafficking in bread buns from the back of an unmarked ...
Steve Hillage: Motivation Radio
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 October 1977
When a guy sings to you "we've all been born together in this special place and time to raise the world," where does your humble ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 October 1977
I'd like to offer up a small prayer at this point. Here it is. Thank heavens for the Talking Heads. ...
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: The Heartbreakers: L.A.M.F.
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 1 October 1977
'Living in the jungle, it ain't so hard/But livin' in the city, it can eat out, eat out your heart...' ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods, MC5: The Return of the MC5's Rob Tyner
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 1 October 1977
'Vocalist with legendary Detroit rock band seeks gig with hot British combo. Has own harp...' ...
Mink DeVille: Willy DeVille: Tough But Tender
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 October 1977
SANDY ROBERTSON meets Willy DeVille and they discuss intellect versus emotion, James Cagney, Kim Fowley, The Belfast Gypsies, Tom Courtenay, James Dean, toughness, sensitivity, street ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 8 October 1977
SANTA MONICA Civic is not the best place to see a rock concert in Los Angeles. It's got about as much rock atmosphere as the ...
Generation X: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 8 October 1977
ROCK ON Indeed.I've finally figured out, after all this time, why, despite the fact that lots of people whose opinions I respect hate them, I ...
Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties!!
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977
LET'S PLAY CLUEDO on this sleeve. What we deduce from this one – Ian standing in front of a shop window full of ladies' bras ...
Richard Hell & The Voidoids: Blank Generation (Sire, Import)*****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 8 October 1977
IT'S THE voice you hear first and foremost here. ...
Rose Royce Find Success The Norman Whitfield Way
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977
"IT'S KJLH, the station of Kindness, Joy, Love and Happiness," the deejay smoulders on the car radio, and goshdarn if you couldn't almost believe all ...
The Slits, The Subway Sect: Subway Sect/The Slits: Music Machine, Camden, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 8 October 1977
Sect stumble. Slits excite ...
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 8 October 1977
IF I'D KNOWN what I was letting myself in for when I went to see John Cale at the Roundhouse this Easter, I think I'd ...
Climax Blues Band: The Climax Blues Band: Live in Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 8 October 1977
THE CLIMAX Blues Band are fab. Not a profound remark, I know, but it needs saying because their fate in this country has nearly always ...
Profile by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 8 October 1977
DOO-WOP was a term applied to the singing style of American R 'n' B vocal groups of the Fifties, originating in the fact that the ...
The Stranglers: Brunel University, Middlesex
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 8 October 1977
OF COURSE, what with all those bad reviews the Stranglers have picked up since the release of the new album No More Heroes, you might ...
Richard Hell: To Hell and Back: Richard Hell
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 October 1977
"I'M GLAD my name's Hell, because at least those people at the radio stations are gonna have some idea what to expect. I intend to ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 15 October 1977
I DON'T know what I expected, but I thought it would be good (I mean credentials: Roxy Music/ Eno/'Diamond Head/’Tomorrow Never Knows'/Nico/etc.) but this wasn't ...
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 15 October 1977
Prime Manchester venue closes... Power cut at the Electric Circus ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 October 1977
"I WONDER WHAT would happen if I drank this? Might do me some good," Ian Dury says grimly. ...
Racing Cars: Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 October 1977
UNFORTUNATELY I'VE always missed Lowell George and Paul Barrere live so I can't tell you with real authenticity that Graham Williams and 'Alice' Enniss of ...
Review by Mick Brown, Sounds, 15 October 1977
THIS IS THE album that should have been called 'A Period of Transition'. Not that it has anything to do with Van Morrison, but it ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 15 October 1977
SPLIT ENZ are mainly a musical theatrical troupe, not that that's a slagging off because they are also talented musicians. It's just that the first ...
The Clash: Who's In Love With Janie Jones?
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 15 October 1977
DURING THE hot summer of 1976, a No. 31 bus jolts through Notting Hill Gate. On the top deck is Mick Jones, humming a riff. ...
The Damned: Top Drummers Get Itchy Feet Dept.: Why I Quit The Damned by Rat Scabies
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 15 October 1977
IT'S COMMON knowledge that all drummers are certifiable nutters but I must admit that when somebody whispered in my ear the other Sunday that the ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 15 October 1977
WHEN IS A Heartbreaker not a Heartbreaker? It may sound like the first half of a funny story but the sad truth is it's no ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 October 1977
AC/DC ARE A 4-letter word band. If you don't like, them and some misadventure elbows you into their firing line the foulest oaths would be ...
Chris Spedding: Durham University, Durham
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 October 1977
TALK ABOUT a game of two halves. This was the one where Liverpool and Man Utd battle out a midfield stalemate until the interval then ...
Jess Roden: The Player Not The Game
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 October 1977
NOW I ALWAYS thought good music was good music but this album is a puzzler. You see I like it at midnight and at half ...
Link Wray, Robert Gordon: Robert Gordon: Robert Gordon With Link Wray
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 22 October 1977
FOR SOME odd reason Private Stock don't want you to know that Robert Gordon used to be with those CBGB specials Tuff Darts. Richard Robinson ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 October 1977
IF IT was Clive Davis, head of Arista, who's responsible for the release of Shirley Brown, I'd like to invite him to hold his next ...
Steely Dan Dare to give Sylvie Simmons a more-open-than-usual interview
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 22 October 1977
IT'S NOT every day that Steely Dan bare their souls to the public. But amid the palm trees and coke bottles at the Bel Air ...
Talking Heads: Psycho-Killer, Qu'est-ce Que C'est?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 22 October 1977
QUESTION: When is a door not a door? ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 22 October 1977
FLICKING IDLY through a rack and coming across an album entitled ha! ha! ha!, you'd expect, if not a comic masterpiece, at least a couple ...
X-Ray Spex: Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 22 October 1977
"IF SOMEBODY said I was a sex symbol, I'd shave me'ead tomorrer," cackled Poly Styrene. "'Oh Bondage Up Yours' ain't about sex particularly. In fact ...
Iggy Pop: TRUE LIFE ROMANCE LIBRARY PRESENTS... The Day A Young Gurl's Dream Came True...
Interview by Jane Suck, Sounds, 29 October 1977
RAGS TO riches. I met Iggy Pop. He opened the door stark naked. I sat in his lap. Got three kisses. Spent two whole days ...
Gordon Giltrap: A (Slightly) Perilous Journey with Gordon Giltrap
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 29 October 1977
DIFFERENT FOLKS have different strokes for getting themselves in the right mood to watch a rock concert. Some get pissed, some get high, some dress ...
AC/DC: Sex, Snot, Sweat and School Kids
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 October 1977
AC/DC: The Mayfair, Newcastle ...
The Clash: Clash in the City of the Dead
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 29 October 1977
NO FUN IN BELFAST AND LONDONby GIOVANNI DADOMO & CAROLINE COON ...
Steve Hillage: Hippie Axeman In Jodrell Bank Raid
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 October 1977
The new Steve Hillage: The Man Who Gets Things Done. ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 29 October 1977
The Stones always meant a lot to a lot of people, but are your own motivations for carrying on and doing it the same as ...
Millie Jackson: Feelin' Bitchy
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 October 1977
HEY, MILLIE? This is Vivien.I'm writing to you 'cos I dig the way you move onstage. I saw you foolin' round with that guy onstage ...
Randy Newman: Little Criminals
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 October 1977
ON THE SLEEVE, Randy Newman looks as dour as one of the rednecks he dissected with such fiendish accuracy in his last studio album, Good ...
Rick Wakeman: Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 October 1977
FOR RICK Wakeman, Criminal Record is obviously the outcome of some in-depth self-criticism. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 October 1977
GRUNTINESS, that's what it comes down to. ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: Spunk Rock
Report by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 29 October 1977
FOR A MOMENT there I thought I'd stumbled into a dream I just wasn't equipped to handle. All change for Edge City. The punk behind ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 29 October 1977
"I'M NOT stupid. I know, however successful I get to be right now, that in two, three, maybe four if I'm lucky, years' time, I'll ...
Wishbone Ash: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 29 October 1977
WHATEVER YOUR tastes in music, there's one thing you can never argue about. Audience reaction. A hall full of standing rock fans, clapping their hands ...
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 5 November 1977
Here am I – there are you – here's the Sex Pistols. ...
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 12 November 1977
I TELL YOU no word of a lie. This table was at least the length of my sitting room at home, if it wasn't actually ...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 12 November 1977
THE HOUR OF MY VINDICATION is at hand. I'm sitting in the lobby of a London hotel waiting for the Runaways to descend from their ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977
TALK ABOUT being stood up. The first time I met Winston Rodney/Burning Spear he was eight hours late. And this was, mind you, after having ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 November 1977
ANYTHING BUT a cheap trick, in fact. You may wonder why you keep seeing this bunch mentioned in esoteric magazines like Who Put The Bomp ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: Outre in Dayton, Ohio
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977
I'M SICK! I'm twisted! I'm bent! I'm writing a story about Daryl Hall & John Oates!There's one good thing about devoting your energy to writing ...
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 19 November 1977
Magazine: The Electric Circus, Manchester ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 November 1977
I WAS listening seriously to music before Neil Young, but I can't remember what it was. ...
The Runaways: Waitin' For The Night (Mercury)*****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 November 1977
NOW THIS is a difficult one. Five stars, yes, but not entirely for the reasons I expected. Kim Fowley has kissed off his associations with ...
The Runaways: Newcastle City Hall
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 November 1977
JOAN JETT is gorgeous. Vicki Blue is delectable. Lita Ford is the American Pie smile backed by the American Dream ass. And Sandy West is ...
Blondie: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 26 November 1977
Would you let this girl play with your maraccas? (Sexist headline of the week) ...
Donna Summer: Once Upon A Time (Casablanca) *****
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 26 November 1977
I LOVE Sharon Tate, the Baader-Meinhof Gang, Donna Summer and ice cubes... oh, sod that for a lark. Who'd have thought that a concept (double) ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 November 1977
Secret Weapon. JOHN MARTYN: not taken as seriously as he should be! ...
Leonard Cohen: Death Of A Ladies Man
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 November 1977
"LEONARD COHEN meets Phil Spector" sounds more like a line from a Lester Bangs article than something you would ever expect to actually become manifest ...
Michael Chapman: The Man Who Hated Mornings
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 November 1977
MICHAEL CHAPMAN is a ruminative sort of talent. ...
Comment by Jon Savage, Jane Suck, Sounds, 26 November 1977
FOR LIFE ON REWIND/FAST FORWARD/PLAY/RECORD/STOP/..... ...
Devo: New Musick: Devo Look Into The Future!
Profile by Jon Savage, Sounds, 26 November 1977
DEVO/DEVOID/VOID/DEVOTED/DEVOLUTION: Savage attempts a discrete distillation. Devout. Things are not as they seem, nor as they have been reported.... 'The cities are our major source ...
The Residents: New Musick: The Residents — 'Beyond The Valley Of A Day In the Life'
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 26 November 1977
TO THE RESIDENTS, nothing is sacred, least of all themselves. Whether you love/hate the Residents, whether you've heard of them, don't care, matters not at ...
Throbbing Gristle: New Musick: Throbbing Gristle — It's Never Too Late To Fall In Love
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 November 1977
THROBBING GRISTLE are so away from the new wave scene (sort of) and so totally reviled by the standard music fans (at least, by those ...
The Damned: Music For Pleasure
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 26 November 1977
CATCHING SIGHT of the title in a news column, I wondered. 'Music For Pleasure'? Have the dervish-like Damned decided to junk all this credibility rubbish, ...
Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, Eggs Over Easy: The Glory That Was Pub Rock
Retrospective by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 26 November 1977
"Before pub rock people used to think the ideal gig was somewhere like Guildford Civic where you could sit cross-legged and watch King Crimson pan ...
The Jam: THIS Is The Modern World
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 November 1977
The Jam: The Mayfair, Newcastle ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 26 November 1977
NO MORE shock tactics. Just arrow-straight at your teenage hearts....Wuz wrong! Thought they wanted to be the Byrds (those haircuts, see....); now know they want ...
Sweet: The Sweet: Sweet's Golden Greats
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 26 November 1977
EVERY GENERATION of rock writing throws up its own paper tiger. ...
The Vibrators: The New Yorker, Toronto
Live Review by Dave Schulps, Sounds, 26 November 1977
Vibrators victorious: Canucks crumble ...
Dennis Bovell, Matumbi: Dennis Matumbi in dub: a step by step guide.
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 December 1977
1. I'M PATCHING in the 16-track machine, the echo machine and the reverb into the plugboard. That brings the tape off the 16-track machine behind ...
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 3 December 1977
GREG KIHN again? Does that mean I missed the first one? Suppose it does. Oh, well. So it goes. ...
Kilburn & The High Roads: Kilburn & The Highroads: Handsome
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 3 December 1977
I SUPPOSE it had to happen sometime. People have such short memories. Pye have re-released the first and only Kilburn and the High Roads album ...
Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 3 December 1977
"LIVING in Bloomington," considers Rich Stim, "Is like living in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar." And you might be excused thinking he was talking out ...
David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer: New Musick: Disco
Essay by Davitt Sigerson, Sounds, 3 December 1977
A CLUB; members are photographed, beam-screened at the door, automatically invoiced. Large, low-ceiling, air-conditioned. Bland diffused light. Gunmetal grey walls, carpets, couches. Easily-read digital clocks, ...
Overview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 December 1977
Dub = Surprise Dub = Strobe (it flash your eyes/hypnotise) Dub = Pulse Dub = Frontier When you listen to dub:- ...
Penetration, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers: London, Vortex
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 3 December 1977
No more heroes ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 December 1977
PREMISE: Record company executives have been skipping the brandy on their expense account lunches in their eagerness to sign up any band that can loosely ...
Status Quo: Odeon Theatre, Birmingham
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 3 December 1977
DEEP IN the heart of boogieland, as it were. Opening were the v. proficient, v. boring Nutz. I seem to recall hearing stuff from their ...
Steve Miller: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 3 December 1977
THERE WAS a time when Steve Miller used to burn up the stage; there was a time when Steve Miller's giant ego dominated the show; ...
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: "Money doesn't talk, it swears" — official
Report by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 3 December 1977
Pistols album not guilty ...
Tyla Gang: Yachtless At The Nottingham Boat Club
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 3 December 1977
Yacht'less 1. (yot-less) a., having no yacht/s; being in a no-yacht situation; a severe lack of the funds and/or wherewithal with which to purchase same; ...
Adam & The Ants: Whip In My Valise
Profile by Jane Suck, Sounds, 10 December 1977
'The angel Ga-briel sent me to give you a little bit of sympathy...' ('Plastic Surgery') ...
Black Sabbath: Greatest Hits (Vertigo)
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 10 December 1977
ENGLAND CAN be depressing to the point of insanity...grey oozing days for months on end...rows of mean streets, pinched people...clausterphobic scrapyard vistas of country turned ...
Brian Eno: Before and After Science
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 December 1977
REACTIONS: 1) Am I happy or sad that other rock music has finally caught up with Eno? He has won his battle to make ...
Cheap Trick: Stone Pony, New Jersey
Live Review by Jim Green, Sounds, 10 December 1977
Cheap Trick hit hick city ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 10 December 1977
THE YELLOW posters outside the Los Angeles Whisky and the yellow pins handed to the punters make him out a Buddy Holly figure who murders ...
Man: All's Well That Ends Well
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 10 December 1977
I TRUST there aren't too many of you out there who've forgotten Man. This lovable bunch of Welsh boyos were once one of the very ...
Sandy Denny: Sound Circus, Royalty Theatre, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 10 December 1977
IT'S TAKEN Sandy Denny quite a while to take the plunge as a live solo performer but hopefully the reaction she received from the Sound ...
The Enid: Why Are These Men Facing The Wrong Way?
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 December 1977
IT'S WELL over a year now since I last annexed a piece of this publication to warn you that the Enid, oddball neo-classical romancers, were ...
Uriah Heep: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 December 1977
Heep hordes go crazy, critic stays unmoved ...
Various Artists: Live At The Vortex
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 10 December 1977
HA. ANOTHER sledge-hammer blow pulping revolt into style...At least might someone have the good grace and honesty to stick 'Punk (a/k/a 'New/Wave') Sampler' on the ...
The Damned: Voyage Of The Damned
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 December 1977
A rainy Friday afternoon in Stiff publicist Glen Coulson’s office. Glen ruffles his hair, takes a swig from a can of warm Heineken and expounds ...
Adam & The Ants: Whip In My Valise: Adam and the Ants
Comment by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 December 1977
The angel Gabriel sent me to give you a little bit of sympathy...('Plastic Surgery') ...
Boomtown Rats: Do You Sincerely Want To Be Rich?
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 December 1977
WHEN SOUNDZ Mother Superior Viv Goldman asked me to do this article I was less than delighted. Reasons being:1 – I've never been hot to ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 December 1977
IN WRITING his plays, Bertolt Brecht operated according to a Roamin Rolland maxim: "Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will". Burning Spear's music works ...
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 17 December 1977
DOWN IN WOKING at three o'clock in the afternoon the Modern World seems miles away. Outside it's icy cold, but in number 44, with the ...
Penetration: The Future Is Female
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 17 December 1977
ACCELERATION DON'T go to my head...London – a module, self-contained, trapped in an ever-accelerating time/style warp: a week seems like a month in our brave ...
Jackson Browne: Running On Empty (Asylum)**
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 December 1977
EVER BEEN trapped with no hope of escape by the most unmitigated bore you've ever met? You recite the lyrics to 'Sweet Jane' backwards, you ...
Split Enz: The Rats Are Crawling Up My Back - And Other Seasonal Thoughts Courtesy Of SPLIT ENZ
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 December 1977
DIZRYTHMIA. "We got the album title from a pamphlet in a plane. It happened to mention the medical name for jet-lag circadia disrhythmia. It means ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 31 December 1977
I walked through Carlisle in a mild drizzle musing on some crafted phrases about the castle, the airy market-town streets, the cool shower of country ...
Alex Chilton: Getting The Cramps Between The Box Tops And Big Stardom
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 31 December 1977
ANY SELF-RESPECTING cultural elitist should know who Alex Chilton is, as should all hopeless old bozos still lingering on from the 60s. To recap for ...
The Residents: Residents: Meet the Residents *****; Third Reich 'N' Roll *****; Finger Prince *****
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 31 December 1977
NOT FOR the faint-hearted. Be warned. Residents specialise in cultural sabotage, sonic rearrangement, cryptic capers. They are (at the same time) very funny and vary ...
The Jam: London Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 31 December 1977
FRAGMENTATION STRIKES DEEP... as punk "culture" is guided firmly into several easily categorizable (and therefore easier controlled)/marketable segments(divided we consume), it's clean teen night. ...
The Lous have a message for the women of Britain in 1978... "Groupies must become musicians"
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 31 December 1977
(to be read in a French accent. — Ed) ...
Elvis Costello: This Year’s Model
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 1978
THE INSULT that made a man out of Mac(manus). As runs the hype: get sand kicked in your face (or whatever), keep on punching your ...
Little Feat: Waiting For Columbus (Warner Brothers)
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1978
WHOEVER started the vogue for double live albums (the Band?) has a lot to answer for. Whether pretty good (Bob Seger, J. Geils) or embarrassingly ...
Television: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1978
I mean, it can’t be that difficult to come up with 800 words on any gig. A beginning, a middle and an end with a ...
Linda Ronstadt: All Linda Ronstadt Needs Is The Lurv Of A Good Man
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 7 January 1978
JUST AFTER midnight a large coach pulls up outside a respectable New York City Hotel, precariously perched on the right side of Central Park. Assorted ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 January 1978
COULD IT be that protest singers are about to make a comeback? It makes sense – after the glitter and the head-banging punk came out ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 7 January 1978
I WOULD have expected Christmas Eye with the Rods at the Roundhouse to turn into something of a real party, wouldn't you? Well, strangely enough, ...
The Flamin' Groovies: "We're No Museum Piece"
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 January 1978
SOME BOXERS, if you believe what you see on the toob, just won't quit. Knocked down more times than they've slapped in their gum shield, ...
Throbbing Gristle: Rat Club, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 7 January 1978
THE RETURN of Tesco disco — another noise (industrial) in a different supermarket... ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 14 January 1978
BOB WELCH is a hit. After stints in Fleetwood Mac and H. Metal outfit Paris he is enjoying chart action/success with his French Kiss album ...
Fanzines: Pure Pop Art For Now People
Overview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 14 January 1978
"THEY are vital, audacious, reckless insofar as they represent an extreme view adopted in a broad popular m way, and they have a curious brave ...
How To Succeed In The Biz Without Really Dying, part 1
Guide by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 14 January 1978
OK, SO YOU GOT yourself an electric guitar, you've learned how to play and now you think you're ready to corner the market with the ...
Meat Loaf: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 14 January 1978
Ingredients:Meat Loaf (around 250lbs) from Dallas, Texas; lead singer with Ted Nugent on platinum album Free For All; monster-singer Eddie with half a brain in ...
Sex Pistols: 'I hear you like Dolly Parton down here... are you still celebrating Elvis' birthday?'
Report by Dave Schulps, Sounds, 14 January 1978
...or how to win friends and influence people i Memphis, Johnny Rotten style. The Sex Pistols hit America and DAVE SCHULPS gives an American's-eye view ...
Talking Heads/Heaters: Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 14 January 1978
HEATERS: A band for people who like little boys. A punkoid Our Kid, with mop-tops, waistcoats, ties and short-sleeved shirts. A cute little bassist, a ...
Tapper Zukie: Tapper Zuckie: Man Ah Warrior
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 14 January 1978
AN ALBUM full of dignity, grandeur and pride: Smokey swirls intertwining to form a chord of steel... ...
The Ramones: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 14 January 1978
VERMILION, AFTERWARDS (taking in with a sweep of her arm the splendid rococo-deco vastness of the Rainbow gallery): "Rock'n'roll belongs in the pits, not here". ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 21 January 1978
NATURALLY ENOUGH, I have to mention the The Runaways in this review. When Cherie left, a lot of people thought they'd sink without trace, but ...
How To Succeed In The Biz Without Really Dying, part 2
Guide by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 21 January 1978
ROCK'N'ROLL is Laissez-Faire Capitalism Incarnate. Sorry to get so heavy so soon, but it's the truth. The music business is the most highly developed consumer ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 January 1978
SO, NO RAW POWER retreads – it's only possible to live that once – but afterburn: the Ig goes right TO THE EDGE; LOSES CONTRACT/band/sanity/life ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 21 January 1978
'If I played my cards right, I'd be a gift to the media – chat shows, the lot' ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 21 January 1978
GARAGE BANDS. Despite all their virtues, and even though groups like Yes and Uriah Heep are pretty convincing arguments against technology and heavy metal respectively, ...
Patti Smith: "And I Feel Like Some Misplaced Joan Of Arc"
Comment by Jane Suck, Sounds, 21 January 1978
MAYBE PATTI Smith is a modern day martyr, though God forbid we get heady and intellectual about good old rock'n'roll, hah? Pass the tequila, I ...
Patti Smith: A Portrait of the Young Woman as an Artist
Interview by Stephen Demorest, Sounds, 21 January 1978
BACK IN THE '60s, when much of America was getting high on mind-altering drugs, Patti Smith never touched a pill, and never puffed a joint ...
The Soft Boys: Red Cow, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 January 1978
AAAH, SOFT Boys. 'Soft Machine' and 'Wild Boys'? Maybe. Specialise in surreal shaggy dog stories/parodies laid over a solid rock base. Recently out from Cambridge, ...
The Viletones: The Four Viletones Of The Apocalypse
Profile by Jeremy Gluck, Sounds, 21 January 1978
FORGET NEW York, Give London a pass. Come instead to Toronto, Canada's fun city. Join the revellers at David's where, on certain choice nights, you ...
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 28 January 1978
Village of the (Amster) damned ...
Althia & Donna: Nah Pop No Style, A Strictly Roots…
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 28 January 1978
IF YOU don't like talking to strangers, don't walk through Kingston with Donna or Althia. ...
The Art Attacks: Art Attacks: The Vortex, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 28 January 1978
YOU LOVE me, and I'll love you, or I won't love you at all. When you've been assured of a place on the guest list ...
Dire Straits: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 28 January 1978
DIRE STRAITS are not yet one year old, and they've been playing to the public for little more than six months. Nevertheless they must arguably ...
Elvis Costello, The Soft Boys, Whirlwind: Elvis Costello, Whirlwind, Soft Boys: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 28 January 1978
The rise and rise of the perennial wimp ...
Frank Zappa: Zappa Digs Sabs Shock!
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 January 1978
Sandy: Can I ask you firstly about one of my own obsessions, Kim Fowley, (Oh No! – Ed) Who was on the Freak Out album, ...
How To Succeed In The Biz Without Really Dying, part 3
Guide by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 28 January 1978
NOW YOU'RE heading for the one. The big record contract with the big record company for the BIG money and the BIG Hits. ...
Blondie: Peroxide Pop-Rock: Blondie: Plastic Letters (Chrysalis) *****
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 28 January 1978
I'VE WAITED months for this album and now I 've got it (white label and unfinished sleeve, vinyl junkies!) ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: This Could Be The Last Time
Report by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 28 January 1978
HYSTERIA! Disgust! Bemusement! Perplexity! The hip, FM radio dj still can't believe it. The Sex Pistols in San Francisco – heavee, man! Back in Hollywood, ...
The Pop Group: London College of Printing
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 January 1978
Introducing eh?! and the enigmas ...
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 4 February 1978
Leicester bangs, Gaye Explodes ...
Blondie: At last, a genuine artistic (well, it ain't sexist) pic of Debbie Harry in Sounds &...
Interview by Jane Suck, Sounds, 4 February 1978
I'M ALLOWED to say that a bomb dropped on my head whilst walking round the corner from Covent Garden Tube station to meet the band, ...
Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 4 February 1978
GOOD EVENING ladies and gentlemen. The lights have gone down, the Zappa band are all ready, so let's get on with the show, 'cos that's ...
How To Succeed In The Biz Without Really Dying, part 4
Guide by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 February 1978
"How many times have you been asked to sign away your services exclusively for five years? Viewed that way a record contract represents a very ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 4 February 1978
Animated Egg head fails to impress ...
Millie Jackson: Mille Jackson: The Primal Scream Therapist Of Soul
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 February 1978
MILLIE JACKSON yanked me over to her side of the fence the first moment I heard her belting out some juicy slice of angst on ...
Penetration: The Canteen, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 4 February 1978
PENETRATION MIGHT have been a flicker of inspiration, a couple of months of excitement refracted through a bunch of provincial Johnny Rotten fans. Might have ...
Link Wray, Robert Gordon: Robert Gordon with Link Wray: A Modern Elvis And The Missing Link
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 4 February 1978
LINK WRAY finishes off his instrumental street opera, 'Rumble', with an amphetamine-psychosis, note-tumbling-after-note run worthy of any guitar army hero, clambers up from his bent-knee, ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 4 February 1978
SUICIDE? PERHAPS; rather life at one remove, through a one-way mirror. Or wilful withdrawal from the sea of impossibility... ...
Talking Heads: Newcastle Poly, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 4 February 1978
TALKING HEADS are one of those bands who are so good you have to be careful to avoid falling into telling the world they are ...
Bill Bruford: Your Friendly Neighbourhood Rock Star
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 11 February 1978
"I FEEL sometimes as though they're about to stick my head on a spike and display it outside the Tower Of London for people to ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 11 February 1978
GEOFF BARTON fails to go nuts for 'the first American band to emerge in the seventies that doesn't have a lead singer who looks like ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 11 February 1978
Dance to a Modern RomanceDirections: Fast and asymmetrical… ...
Power Pop part 1: Suddenly, Everything Is Power Pop!
Overview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 11 February 1978
A BRAND NEW YEAR and a brand new word for the media to fool about with, eh? What's it all about then, this Power Pop ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 11 February 1978
"ELLO MUSH...this one's all about getting' yer 'ead kicked in." ...
Split Enz: Town Hall, Middlesbrough
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 11 February 1978
OK, IT'S only two months since I last covered Split Enz at this very same Middlesbrough Town Hall. Deja revu? No way. In December they ...
The Adverts: Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts (Anchor)*****
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 11 February 1978
One Chord Wonders: no blunders ...
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 11 February 1978
THE WORST THEN. The name? Aha an apt trap. Illustrating at once the extreme that they are, yet at the same time to ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: The Electric Chairs
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 February 1978
AAAHHHHH...WAYNE! Rock 'n' roll is a bitch sometimes, ain't it? I bet it wasn't easy growing up down south when you were...different. It was a ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Be Bop Deluxe: City Hall, Newcastke
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 February 1978
WHEN IT'S your seventh try at an intro it gets down to saying it's your seventh try at an intro. You see. Bill Nelson coined ...
Dolly Parton: Here You Come Again (RCA PL 12544) **
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 February 1978
I DON'T KNOW if reading the Marquis De Sade's Juliette (phew wot a scorcher!) before hearing this was such a good idea. Since broadening her ...
Emmylou Harris: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 18 February 1978
CONSIDERING the tensions surrounding the start of Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band's current British tour, their SRO concert at the Royal Albert Hall was ...
Kate Bush: The Kick Inside (EMI EMC 3223) *
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 18 February 1978
WHAT IS this supposed to be? Doom-laden, "meaningful" songs (with some of the worst lyrics ever; sample: "Beelzebub is aching in my belly-o/My feet are ...
Power Pop part 2: The C&A Generation In The Land Of The Bland
Comment by Jon Savage, Sounds, 18 February 1978
TICK TOCK f – the clock/the pendulum swings...Oh it's so inevitable in post-punk letdown – the Pistols' 'split': sooooo symbolic – that attempts would be ...
The Ramones, The Runaways: The Ramones/The Runaways: Santa Monica Civic, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 18 February 1978
RAMONES: singing about sun and surf while their home town suffered blizzards. 'Obladi-oblada' for the blank generation ...
Kansas: The State of American Football (Is it Colorado, Nevada or Kansas?)
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 18 February 1978
This is in fact a feature about a rock band by GEOFF BARTON ...
The Adverts: Vicarious Thrills + Pol-A-Ticks: Crossing The Irish Sea With The Adverts
Report and Interview by Jane Suck, Sounds, 18 February 1978
ACTUALLY, WE didn't swim across, we flew in a chartered taxi-cab with Rosalind Russell (Record Mirror) on the wing and a two-hour vomiting session courtesy ...
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy (Asylum)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 18 February 1978
UNDOUBTEDLY, Excitable Boy is one of the finest albums to emerge since Warren Zevon's first album surfaced over a year ago. It transcends California and ...
Rush: Black Holes: Close encounters with Rush
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 25 February 1978
CONGRESS THEATRE, Washington DC. A scientific debate is in progress: ...
Chris De Burgh: The Dome, Brighton
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 25 February 1978
AFTER A couple of years supporting major acts around the country Chris De Burgh has stepped out on his own account for a countrywide tour. ...
Eric Clapton: Santa Monica Civic, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 25 February 1978
IN A GESTURE distinctly un God-like, Eric Clapton spurned the arena-sized venues of his last few tours to favour 6,000 Los Angelenos in a two-night ...
Ian Dury: It's Fairly Whassname…
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 25 February 1978
"WHICH WOULD you rather see; Kenny Rogers or Randy Edelman?" ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: James Williamson: Real Time Musician From Kill City
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 25 February 1978
A PHONE CONSERVATION with James Williamson at his present home in Claremont, half-an-hour outside Los Angeles. Mainly to talk about the newly released 1975 Pop/Williamson ...
Kevin Coyne: Beautiful Extremes 1974-1977
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 February 1978
KEVIN COYNE is, make no mistake, a major artist. His 'product' might not 'ship' a million 'units' but in every other way he's the superior ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 February 1978
YOU KNOW how it is. You hear one word and you're tantalised into eavesdropping on the rest. Bars at receptions are a good place for ...
Eddie & The Hot Rods, Radio Stars: On The Road With Hot Rods And Radio Stars
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 February 1978
THE LAST, incongruous Beatles' track spirals its way to the end of its grooves. The house lights dip way, way down, instilling in you that ...
Angelic Upstarts: Bolingbroke Hall, South Shields
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 4 March 1978
I WAS starting to think the whole thing had gone down the toilet. All the energy and the anger. Suddenly smart suits and cash register ...
Advertising, Blondie: Blondie, Advertising: St. George's Hall, Blackburn
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 4 March 1978
SWEET LITTLE Debbie Harry sure has come on in the world. Only 32 and already she's got a single in the charts and the wish ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: T'ings Could Be Worse
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 4 March 1978
"Talking to no-one is strange, Talking to someone is stranger." – Kevin Coyne ...
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 4 March 1978
THE FIRST THING you notice on arrival at Koln airport is the modernity and organization. No baggage queues. No pre-fab ramshackle buildings. ...
John Lydon, The Sex Pistols: John Lydon: Man A Warrior – The Interview part 1
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 March 1978
There's only one place to be late at night in Jamaica – tuned in to radio JBC, the man Michael Campbell, the man they call ...
Patti Smith: Easter (Arista)*****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 4 March 1978
At last – the rock 'n' roll resurrection is upon us ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Another Music In A Different Kitchen (United Artists UAG 30519)*****
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 4 March 1978
A real kitchen sink drama ...
The Soft Boys, The Brakes: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 March 1978
NOT AN evening for those with sensitive eardrums, this. Even these days when volume for its own sake seems to be a pre-requisite of too ...
Van Halen: Van Halen (Warner Brothers import) ****
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 4 March 1978
Van Halen, brand new heavy metal heroes (Oh no. Here we go again — Ed) ...
Wire, XTC: XTC, Wire, the Secret: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 4 March 1978
Shock as Soundsman writes non-metallic rave ...
Andrew Lloyd Webber: Don't Cry For Me, Paganini
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 11 March 1978
Hugh Fielder scores a chat with Andrew Lloyd Webber ...
John Lydon, The Sex Pistols: John Lydon: Man A Warrior, part 2
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 March 1978
CYNICS AMONG the SOUNDS readership may have been wondering why/how our Johnny Rotten underwent such a speedy transformation into this new-fangled character called Johnny Cool, ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 11 March 1978
WHAT DO you expect from someone who's been playing rock'n'roll for nearly 15 years, in a business where age is to be feared rather than ...
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Zal
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 11 March 1978
THIS IS a singer? You call...this a singer. A monstrous looking creature in an Imperial Startrooper helmet, white paper one-piece jump suit and red, blue ...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 18 March 1978
New York's newest are 'like The Heartbreakers on brown rice', said someone. SANDY ROBERTSON agrees, and then some. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Kaya (Island)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 18 March 1978
Marley runs on the spot ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 18 March 1978
"THIS IS cactus. You can wash your hair with it. You pick it," running his finger nail down the cactus bud till a creamy sap ...
Whitesnake: David Coverdale's Whitesnake: Penthouse, Scarborough
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 18 March 1978
THE FIRST thing you notice as the band squeezes on to the small stage at Scarborough Penthouse is that David Coverdale still projects. Much much ...
Detective: Watching The Detective
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 18 March 1978
LOS ANGELES is a city full of Englishmen and Anglophiles. British bands don't play here any more, they live here. Londoners hanging out at the ...
Ian Dury & the Blockheads: Bataclan theatre, Paris
Live Review by Mary Harron, Sounds, 18 March 1978
Sex and Frogs and rock and roll ...
Punishment Of Luxury: Spectra recording studio, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 March 1978
THIS IS an emergency. Police, the local councils, students and hell-bent droogs who throw glasses have been laying siege to rock in the North-East. And ...
The Rubettes: Warwick University, Coventry
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 18 March 1978
STEALTHILY, THE Rubettes are playing their first British gigs for nearly two years. Without any fuss because they're keen to test the temperature before embarking ...
It Can't Happen Here: The Man Who Would Be Führer
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 25 March 1978
Martin Webster: National Activities Organiser of the National Front ...
Patti Smith: Behind The Wall Of Sleep
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 25 March 1978
"Their quarters were filled with counterfeit sleep" – Stephen King, The Shining ...
Buzzcocks, Penetration, The Slits: The Buzzcocks: Another Movie In A Different Cinema
Report and Interview by Jane Suck, Sounds, 25 March 1978
I SMOKE TOO much. I drink too much. I do drugs and don't get off, and, according to Dead Fingers Talk's manager and all the ...
999: Briefing For Direct Action
Report and Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Sounds, 1 April 1978
I WOULD HAVE LAUGHED at you for saying as much to me before, but Liverpool, with all its cool, uninspiring streets and grey sky has ...
Angelic Upstarts: What's Going On 'Ere, Then?
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 April 1978
"WHO KILLED Liddle?" On stage a tall young man wearing a police hat, white shirt, trousers and jackboots is down on his hands and knees. ...
Elvis Costello: Costello Group Therapy
Report by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1 April 1978
"KNOCK KNOCK.""Who's there?""Elvis.""Elvis who?""Forgotten already, huh?" ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1 April 1978
FATS DOMINO is and always has been the most unlikely looking bona fide Fifties rock and roller you can imagine. Where Elvis, Eddie and Gene ...
Hot Chocolate: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 April 1978
IT WAS the funniest ending to a concert I've ever seen. Hot Chocolate said their goodbyes, walked off and, I imagine, stood in the wings ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 April 1978
"DID YA hear that bit on the news about Charlie Chaplin's body. The IRA claim they took it and now they want ransom for it." ...
Meat Loaf: Rock 'N' Roll In Gothic Panavision
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 April 1978
Meat Loaf are… "the best visionary, over-the-top hard rock band since Blue Oyster Cult," gasps Sandy Robertson ...
Mick Taylor: A Portrait Of The Young Man As A Solo Artist
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 1 April 1978
IT'S STRICTLY a question of roots. Just the other day Capital Radio played 'Wonderful World' by Art Garfunkel supported with tunefully bland vocal assistance from ...
Report by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 April 1978
...take it from Sue and Sandra ...
The Congos: Heart Of The Congos
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 1 April 1978
HEARING THE Congos is like recognising your favourite nursery rhyme, the one you'd forgotten. Or had knocked out of you. Like the purest folk songs, ...
The Tubes: The Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 1 April 1978
THE PANTAGES Theatre; plush and Rainbow-esque. Recently the home of Hello Dolly, good clean family entertainment. The Tubes are here for a week. ...
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 April 1978
REVELATION TIME. Aswad hadn't played any dates to speak of, and the audience were Aswad-starved, raring to rave. ...
The Shirts: Shirts: Lackeys, Schemers, Pants, Sleeves, Cufflinks And Shirts
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 April 1978
"WE WERE always obscure in a way. The way things went, we developed our own world, sort of. We have our own language, words that ...
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 8 April 1978
PLENTY PEOPLE don't know the other half of Tapper Zukie. "If they knew the other half of me, they'd see me different. Right now me ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 8 April 1978
NEW YORK, New York. New albums falling down like rain. La Belle Smith's rock 'n' roll army third wave invasion. Uncle Lou's first street (ha, ...
Aerosmith, Bob Welch, Dave Mason, Foreigner, Heart, Santana, Ted Nugent: The California Jam Festival
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 8 April 1978
THERE WEREN'T even traffic jams. ...
Cherry Vanilla: The Tart With The Golden Heart: Cherry Vanilla: Bad Girl (RCA 25122) ****
Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 8 April 1978
ARE YOU AFFECTED BY emotional distress, Cherry? It could well affect the number of stars I allocate to you… ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: Wayne County: County Counsel
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 April 1978
WHEN WAYNE COUNTY left his native state of Georgia, "because it was icky, and I got shot at", he meant to take a trip down ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Something strange is going on in Sheffield tonight
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 15 April 1978
INSIDE THE HOUSE, an hour to kill before going into town. Hungover. Sit on the sofa and watch TV with the sound off. A tape ...
Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band: Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 15 April 1978
Ageing fatty is next big thing, say Steely Dan. ...
Patti Smith, Tapper Zukie: Tapper Zukie: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 15 April 1978
OH WELL, head for new horizons, I suppose. ...
The Damned: Final Spotlight On The Damned
Report by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 15 April 1978
"OOOOOOOOO CAPTAIN," says Helen from Headingley, "you're so cool these days. That jacket" – indicating his sombre black tuxedo affair and matching multi-colour polka-dotted tie ...
The Flamin' Groovies: The Flamin Groovies: Flamin' Groovies Now
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 15 April 1978
LIKE SO many other people, the first time I caught an eyeful of the Groovies in the flesh was when they were supported by The ...
The Only Ones: The One and Only
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 15 April 1978
PUNK. NEW Wave. I groan inwardly at all these new clichés that seem more painfully predominant as the years go by. It seems that most ...
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 15 April 1978
SOMETIMES it works and sometimes it doesn't. I mean check it out, brothers and sisters, you're paid to follow up hunches, which is why I ...
Elvis Costello: The Guildhall, Portsmouth
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 22 April 1978
THE THEATRE manager of the Portsmouth Guildhall stood in the foyer panicking. "This Costello chap hasn't turned up yet," he mumbled nervously to one of ...
Generation X: 'You Can't Help Selling Out'
Report and Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Sounds, 22 April 1978
"MY FRIEND was bawling her eyes out. She asked Billy to kiss her and he did. She just about fainted!" ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 22 April 1978
"AN EXORCISM of low-riding smack-shooting ghosts" was how Rolling Stone described Judee Sill's life, in issue 106/April '72 it was. Interestingly enough, that same issue ...
Kraftwerk: We ARE Showroom Dummies
Report by Jane Suck, Sounds, 22 April 1978
Kraftwerk's hottest platter gets poseur preview ...
Rory Gallagher: Apollo Theatre, Glasgow
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 22 April 1978
RITUAL IS wonderful for those taking an active part in it, but almost totally meaningless to a dispassionate observer. So that's why I got more ...
Steel Pulse: No Jah-Babble In-A Birmingham
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 22 April 1978
REGGAE IS HIP. Punks said it was OK way back and how the parasitic shower of hustlers and sycophants who comprise the music biz are ...
Judas Priest, No Dice: Judas Priest/No Dice: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 29 April 1978
JUDAS PRIEST had a captive audience, No Dice made a mark, and Gary Valentine just about escaped alive. Proving that heavy metal lives, good old-fashioned ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 29 April 1978
SEE THE record cover. See the four men in red shirts and black ties. See them stand in line. See them in profile in the ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 29 April 1978
THE INTERVIEW took place in a neat flat high on Hampstead Hill. Nico looked much as she always has, dressed in short crushed velvet jacket ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: One Love Peace Festival
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 April 1978
SUNDAY AFTERNOON Bob Marley relaxed on his front stoop. Everybody is still discussing the One Love peace show the previous day, on the night of ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 29 April 1978
SO THERE I was with photographer Harry Murlowski, dozing and half-listening to his interminable, politically-orienated conversation with a couple of hard-core Sham 69 followers in ...
The Gladiators: Proverbial Reggae
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 29 April 1978
LEAFING THROUGH an ancient copy of the once-revered American fanzine Shakin' Street last night I finally chanced on the solution to the difficulties – "it's ...
The Gladiators: Soul Originators
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 April 1978
ALBERT GRIFFITHS has interesting hands. The fingers are stubby, square but deft, workman's hands. His manner is straightforward, workmanlike, direct, too. And if you do ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 29 April 1978
In which Sounds scribes bring long ignored or deleted albums to your attention. No star rating necessary – naturally, they're all Very Important Platters ...
Alternative TV: 100 Club, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 May 1978
CON-TRA-DIC-TIONS... ATV are full of them. As in, how come they were awful when they played the Rainbow with the wonderful Spirit, yet managed to ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Be Bop Deluxe: The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 6 May 1978
GOING TO The Shrine in sleazy downtown LA is a bit like going to the pictures, a sort of giant Odeon with lumpy seats and ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Colston Hall, Bristol
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 May 1978
FLAMING PYROTECHNICS, lasers, smoke...plus great rock'n'roll; Blue Oyster Cult is the group you always dreamt about. Even though there were sound problems and the visual ...
Bob Seger: Live At The Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena!
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 6 May 1978
HUGH FIELDER VENTURES INTO DEEPEST AMERICA IN SEARCH OF THE ELUSIVE/EXCLUSIVE BOB SEGER INTERVIEW ...
Foghat, Eddie Money: Forum, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 6 May 1978
US teens flip for old Brits ...
Larry Coryell, Steve Khan: Larry Coryell and Steve Khan: Two For The Road (Arista SPART 1050)****
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 6 May 1978
LARRY CORYELL'S continuing musical adventures are leading him down a series of unexpected avenues — who he's playing with now is anybody's guess — but ...
Lou Reed In Cloning Sensation!
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 6 May 1978
PETE SILVERTON goes to Philadelphia to borrow a book from Lou Reed (That's not what it said on his expenses — Ed.) ...
Millington: Ladies On The Stage (United Artists UAG 30158) ***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 May 1978
THE SEVENTIES may be the zenith of the record industry's attempts to have concept and packing triumph over actual content, and this is a prime ...
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 6 May 1978
PATTI PALLADIN and JUDY NYLON came to Britain last year, made 3 remarkable singles (one with Eno) then split. Or did they? JON SAVAGE steps ...
15, 16, 17, Fred Locks: 15, 16 and 17: Balham Dance Studio; Fred Locks: Liberty Cinema, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 May 1978
15, 16 AND 17 appeared at the Balham Dance Studio, a large, pretty empty room. (It was virtually an unadvertised gig). 15, 16 and 17 ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 13 May 1978
ANGUS YOUNG has got himself some new front teeth. An elegant row of even ivories that wouldn't look out of place in the mouth of ...
Aerosmith: Santa Monica Civic, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 May 1978
AEROSMITH ARE in Los Angeles doing a series of small hall back-to-the-people gigs. ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 May 1978
SPEND TOO much time in the sun and you will soon dry up. Let this be a warning to all who make the sound of ...
Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash: Blue Oyster Cult and Sandy Pearlman
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 13 May 1978
ERIC BLOOM is adamant about the current position and status of the band he sings and plays for, the am-aaa-zing Blue Oyster Cult; they are ...
Pere Ubu: Datapanik In The Year 1978: Pere Ubu
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 13 May 1978
Vivien Goldman and Geoff Travis in conversation ...
Graham Parker, Pere Ubu: Graham Parker & the Rumour, Pere Ubu: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 13 May 1978
MAYBE GRAHAM Parker should have held back on his forthcoming live album and waited to see what this tour might produce. For my money the ...
Mink Deville: Return To Magenta
Review by Ben Edmonds, Sounds, 13 May 1978
(Ben Edmonds, a former CREEM editor in Detroit, signed Mink DeVille to Capitol when he worked for that label in 1976. He now resides in ...
Punishment of Luxury: Can Success Save These Men From a Season at Butlins?
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 13 May 1978
PHIL SUTCLIFFE hopes so. Punishment of Luxury hope so even more ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 13 May 1978
SWEET SIOUXSIE and her boys in black play loud, angular, claustrophobic. Batter batter into submission: make you want to do bad things... ...
The Only Ones: The Only Ones (CBS 82830)*****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 13 May 1978
All for Ones and Ones for all ...
Van Halen: Platform Boots Still Make It
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 May 1978
COLUMBUS, Ohio. Van Halen, just called back for an encore, are basking in the unexpected adulation. The support band takes a bow. "Thank you Cleveland", ...
Tom Robinson Band: Power In The Darkness
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 May 1978
TOM ROBINSON IS dangerously mythic. His aggressive homosexual stance gets up people's noses so much that they continually try to prove he's secretly straight, and ...
Black Sabbath: Apollo Theatre, Glasgow
Report by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 27 May 1978
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ...
David Bowie: Peter And The Wolf
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 27 May 1978
THE RELEVANCE of this classical record to the 'rock marketplace' is quite frankly marginal but evidently heavily counted upon by RCA in their wisdom. ...
Don McLean: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 May 1978
ALTHOUGH HE has become generally underrated because 'American Pie' and 'Vincent' in their different ways were songs impossible to top, to me Don McLean has ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 27 May 1978
THE FIRST time I met Ian Dury – nearly two years ago in Dingwalls when I was little more than just another wide-eyed and a ...
Penetration: Abcess Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 May 1978
EVERYONE was smiling, feeling rosie the way you do, when a wedding service draws to a close. Pauline, singer with Penetration, and her long-time sweetheart ...
The Ramones: Goodbye Tommy, Hello Marky
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 27 May 1978
DRUMMER wanted for name NY punk band. Must have own leather jacket and torn Levis. Ability to mumble 'gabba gabba' an advantage. No interlektewals. Apply ...
Angel: Angels With Tarty Faces?
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 3 June 1978
ANGEL: 'The boys come because the girls come...our audience is anywhere from 8 to c-cup.' ...
Throbbing Gristle: Industrial Paranoia: The Very Dangerous Visions Of Throbbing Gristle
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 3 June 1978
'All art aspires to the condition of musak.' 'Most of the people who disapprove of musak... but we are doing it for your own good!' ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 3 June 1978
'I'm faking an extravagant journey, also it seems to me...' ...
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 3 June 1978
Pete Silverton assembles a few views of Basher — man, myth and magic ...
Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel (2)
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 June 1978
WITHOUT a doubt Peter Gabriel's second solo album is the very best record to surface from the entire Genesis-Steve Hackett-Anthony Phillips-Brand X-Gabriel vinyl conglomerate. ...
Sham 69: If The Kids Are United…
Report and Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 3 June 1978
JIMMY PURSEY'S very baggy grey flannels are held up by a brand new pair of white braces. His striped shirt is as clean as five ...
The Godz: The Smell Of Burning Leather…
Profile by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 3 June 1978
"WE'RE A rock and roll band!" spits the ugly rock junkie Eric Moore at the handful of people ogling the stage. "That heavy metal shit's ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Up Against The Wall
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 3 June 1978
TOM ROBINSON had just had his teeth capped at the dentist and was about to embark on a diet when we met. So? ...
Bob Dylan: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 10 June 1978
THE CAMERAS panned over a line of deck chairs and sleeping bags sprouting people grinning and flashing peace signs and the man in the ticket ...
Bruce Springsteen: Darkness On The Edge Of Town
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 June 1978
LET'S START with the obvious. It's impossible to approach this album without taking into heavy account the fortunes and misfortunes of this Crown Prince of ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 June 1978
IF THE word hadn't grown flabby through over-use, I'd say that Culture were strictly roots. ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 June 1978
I THINK it was the Jesuits of whom it was said they always answer a question with a question. Or maybe it was the Jews. ...
Randy Newman: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 10 June 1978
RANDY NEWMAN just might be the only artist in the whole of the music business capable of getting bedsores from live performances. Noted for his ...
Rainbow, REO Speedwagon: REO Speedwagon/Rainbow: Los Angeles, California
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 10 June 1978
REO Rattled By Rampant Rainbow ...
Mighty Diamonds: The Mighty Diamonds: There's No Ganja In Nassau
Report by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 10 June 1978
DAWN FLUSHED the sky like tomato juice infiltrating a shot of vodka, as a precarious caravan of dreadlocks weaves between stately lines of towering palm ...
The Rolling Stones: Some Girls
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 June 1978
WHICHEVER WAY you look at it, this is an important album of the first order. Important primarily because it's the first album (excluding Love You ...
Todd Rundgren: The Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 June 1978
WHATEVER THE reasons might be, Todd Rundgren is back. That is, Todd Rundgren the pop singer/guitar singer as opposed to the Utopian pyramid-freak. ...
Ian Gillan Band: Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 June 1978
WHEN YOU'VE seen one old Deep Purple singer you haven't seen them all. It happened that a month ago I reviewed David Coverdale putting his ...
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 17 June 1978
JUDY MOWATT of Wailers' I Three fame is wearing a blue denim button-through skirt, and her hair is hidden under an elaborately rimmed scarf tied ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 June 1978
AFTER THE show there was a photo session in a back-room of the theatre. Randy walked in and, since there was no other reason for ...
Jane Aire & The Belvederes, Tin Huey, The Waitresses: Rock in Akron: The Music Of Greater Akron
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 June 1978
Is this the avant-garde or the sound of cash registers? Pete Silverton has a pretty good idea ...
Suicide: The Third International Science Fiction Festival, Metz, France
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 June 1978
METZ: SOURCES inform it to be located some 20 miles east of Paris, France. Or two hours of sky from Luton, England, as it proved ...
The Beach Boys, Jan & Dean: The Beach Boys: Four Girls For Every Boy
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 June 1978
IMPORTANT DATES in the history of surfing music: ...
Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats: A Tonic For The Troops
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 17 June 1978
IT'S NO accident that the second Boomtown Rats album has a catalogue number of ENVY 3. Any creative artist or major group has genuine cause ...
The Clash: The "Serious In-Depth Interview" You've Been Waiting For!
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 June 1978
"AAAWOOOEEEUUUOOO, PETE...'ear you bin to the States...how wazzit?" ...
The Dickies: More Than Just Another Crazy Band From L.A.
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 June 1978
Dickies n. pl. 1: Fake undershirts originating in U.S. high schools in the mid 60s, when "creeps" who wanted to look like the Beatles without ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 June 1978
FEELING RUTHLESS, you could divide the entire spectrum of pop and rock'n'roll into two. ...
Bob Dylan: Earl's Court, London
Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 June 1978
MY THEORY was that this Bobby the Zee concert was strictly for nostalgia-lovers, music fans keep clear. ...
Bootsy Collins: 'Don't Leave Home Without Your F.U.N.K!'
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 June 1978
"I WANNA PLAY with the kids", Bootsy Collins said, yearning. Walking down the gravel path winding past the white neoclassical pillars of Kenwood House, Highgate, ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 24 June 1978
REMEMBERING THAT electricity comes from other planets... ...
David Bowie: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 June 1978
EVERYBODY I spoke to was complaining. A front row of seats had been sold then removed to fit the stage extension in. The roadies thought ...
Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 24 June 1978
THIS BLOKE stands menacingly in the entrance to Bath Spa Station. "Hmm," I muse to myself, taking note of his close crop, "a West Country ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie And The Banshees: The Unacceptable Face Of '78
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 24 June 1978
'Overground – from abnormalityOverboard – for identityOverground – for normalityOverboard – on identity'– 'Overground' ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 24 June 1978
NEW YORK/NEW WAVE NO INTRODUCTION ('COS OUR AUTHOR DIDN'T WRITE ONE) ...
Tom Robinson Band: The Starwood, LA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 24 June 1978
CONSIDERING THE relative lack of any amount of hype, the Starwood was respectably full, if respectable' is a word you could use to describe the ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 24 June 1978
OH JESUS! After Devo, the (marketing) deluge. ...
The Subway Sect: Subway Sect: Life Underground
Interview by Jon Savage, Sounds, 1 July 1978
Everyone's a prostituteSinging in the song in prisonMoral standards the wallpaperThe wall's a bad religionMedia teach me what to speakTake my decisionsIt's how to find ...
Van Morrison: "Sam Cooke Still Turns Me On"
Interview by Davitt Sigerson, Sounds, 1 July 1978
A short and rather scruffy man, accompanied by a handsome L.A. Ethnic (tee-shirt, jeans, clean black moustache) is milling around Oxford on an afternoon characterised ...
The Clash, The Specials: The Clash/The Specials: Friar's, Aylesbury
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 July 1978
FOR PEOPLE who like to put things in neat little pecking orders – and because of our conditioning there's a lot of them – the ...
Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Graham Parker, Joan Armatrading: Blackbushe Festival - Nice To See Ya, Bob
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 July 1978
...OR RATHER, IT would have been, but at least we heard him and that made the hassles worthwhile, reports our survivor of the million dollar ...
Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols: The Great Pistols Movies Fiasco
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 29 July 1978
VIVIEN GOLDMAN ON THE 'OFFICIAL' MOVIE WHICH STILL ISN'T FINISHED — AND THE BRILLIANT ONE MALCOLM WONT LET YOU SEE ...
Anthony Braxton: Living In The Dynamic Operating Arena
Profile and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 August 1978
IT HAS TO be said that playing an Anthony Braxton album is the quickest way I can think of to clear a rock fan's room. ...
Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 26 August 1978
'Monkey men allIn business suitTeachers and criticsAll dance the pootAre we not men?We are Devo!Are we not men?D-E-V-OWe must repeatOK let's go!' ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Poet And The Roots: Dread Beat An' Blood
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 26 August 1978
'All oppressionCan do is bringPassion to de heights of eruptionAn' songs of fire we will sing'– 'All Wi Doin' Is Defendin' ...
Interview by Davitt Sigerson, Sounds, 26 August 1978
WEBSTER’S gives "Excessive, extravagant; Fanciful, fantastic; violent, unrestrained" as definitions of "outrageous". ...
The Dictators: The Starwood, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 26 August 1978
FOR A START, L.A. is about as distant from the Bronx as Tunbridge Wells, and not just geographically, here they are very serious about punk/rock/whatever, ...
The Rich Kids: Ghosts of Princes in Towers
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 26 August 1978
What do you do with what you've got? ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: Wayne County: A Transexual In Transit
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 August 1978
KCHUNK. NOTHING. Kchunk. Cherry Vanilla, bare tits with orange peel between her legs. Kchunk. Transomething Jackie Curtis in 1969, glittered eyes. Kchunk. Patti Smith, youthful ...
Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings and Food (Sire)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, September 1978
SUCH A CIVILISED BAND. You may think this is no way to run a review but I'm going to quote all the words to one ...
Blue Oyster Cult, UFO: Blue Oyster Cult/UFO: Live In Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 September 1978
THEY DON'T have a Trades Descriptions Act in the States. If they did, then the Cult might be in trouble. Their ads (and, what's more, ...
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 September 1978
HUSTLE MINUS hype, really. Still, it could only happen in Hollywood, that's for sure. Where else but in dream-machine country could a 16-year-old girl with ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Poet Of The Roots
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 September 1978
"The one crowded space in Father Perry's house was his bookshelves. I gradually came to understand that the marks on the pages were trapped words. ...
The Beach Boys: Summer Days (And Summer Nights)
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 2 September 1978
LATER SHE realised she'd really been attracted to him because he looked sad. All the other boys on the beach were so cheerful, and the ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 September 1978
Rabid roster on the rampage ...
The Who: Sweat, Bollocks & Guts
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 September 1978
IN ORDER that you wouldn’t get lost in the huge Universal Studios complex, accidentally find yourself on a glam-tram and off on a tourist-view of ...
Wild Man Fischer: Wildman Larry Fischer: Neurotic? Paranoid? Depressed?
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 September 1978
THE FIRST time I met Larry Fischer was early one Sunday morning in the shadow of the Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, at the fabled ...
Blast Furnace & The Heatwaves: The Chord Is Mightier Than The Pen
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 September 1978
HEAR THE CLASH OF LEWIS LEATHERS AS PETE SILVERTON MEETS BLAST FURNACE ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 September 1978
I JUST decided there is no such thing as Art Rock; all there is is different levels of commerciality. ...
John Cooper Clarke: Just Another Ex-Gravedigger Poet Into Dada and the TV
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 September 1978
GARRY BUSHELL GOES PUNK-SURREAL ...
Mick Farren: Vampires Stole My Lunch Money
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 September 1978
MICK FARREN, in case you didn't know it, is a rock journalist and author who very occasionally makes records. Remember The Deviants' amphetamine hippy-boogie, or ...
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 16 September 1978
IF 10cc HAVEN'T yet clambered back onto the pedestal they managed in their original incarnations, they have at least pulled together all the necessary elements ...
Blondie: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 September 1978
Y'WANNA HEAR a plangent melody? Forget it, Blondie are a rock 'n' roll band who have (at last) gotten to the point where they can ...
Bryan Ferry: The Bride Stripped Bare
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 16 September 1978
I MUST confess myself horrified to recall, just as I was about to start this review, that my first ever album review was of Bryan ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Private Practice
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 16 September 1978
The Worthington White Shield of Rock ...
Joy Division: Band on the Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 16 September 1978
IT WAS during the unforgettable summer of '77 that I had my first encounter with Joy Division (then named Warsaw). Through a steamy Electric Circus ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 16 September 1978
'Joke supergroup' have last laugh ...
Midge Ure, The Rich Kids, Slik: Midge Ure: Confessions Of A Pop Performer
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 September 1978
SLIK: TEEN IDOL MARK ONE ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 16 September 1978
Let's give the Fingers a big hand ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 16 September 1978
JOEY RAMONE sips tea, strikes Janet Street Porter pose... ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 16 September 1978
I UNDERSTAND it has remained OK to like Genesis (which I don't) but it's not OK to like Yes (which I do though no longer ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 23 September 1978
VULNERABILITY MEANS never having to say you're sorry... ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 23 September 1978
"HELLO, MY name's Mick Farren...I wanna drink!" ...
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 23 September 1978
HUGH FIELDER OBSERVES BONECRUNCHING ROCK IN SANITISED TV STUDIOS (AND ALSO TAKES A DRAW) ...
Ted Nugent: Long Beach Arena, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 23 September 1978
ISN'T IT nice to know that in this ever-changing world there is always something you can rely on to stay the same? Apart from a ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 23 September 1978
How can grown men sing stuff like this and mean it? ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Some Enchanted Evening
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 30 September 1978
IT COULD be just my fevered imagination running away with me, but right now it seems that Sandy Pearlman (wily old fox and Cult behind-the-scenes ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 September 1978
DESPITE ALL your Weather Reports, Coreas, Dukes and such, Brand X remain the sum total of British jazz-rock to reach what might reasonably be termed ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 September 1978
A CAMEL Caravan from Canterbury (two down, three across). You couldn't fit the solution into The Times crossword though. It took an hour-and-a-half to play ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 30 September 1978
SO: THE next stage. The ending of one, the beginning of another? But of course, all the world's a stage. Aaaaaaah... ...
Electric Light Orchestra: Anaheim Stadium, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 30 September 1978
I KNOW those were pretty strange-looking cigarettes the people from Jet Records were handing out on the coach down from LA to Anaheim stadium, but ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 September 1978
THIS GENTLE Giant album could present you with some difficulty and even expense. The problem is that you'll have to set your record player up ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 30 September 1978
THE INSTANT reaction is to scoff at someone as blatantly marketable as Grace Jones. An astonishingly beautiful model, she prompts writers to haul their most ...
Joan Armatrading: To The Limit
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 September 1978
I'M UNDER strict instructions to make this Joan Armatrading review a little less like a love letter than its predecessors. Well it's hard you know ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 30 September 1978
AN HOUR or so in the company of Kate Bush is rather like being trapped for the duration as an unwitting participant in a very ...
Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Discography
Discography by Dave Lewis, Sounds, 30 September 1978
PRE-LED ZEPPELIN SESSIONS ...
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 30 September 1978
He's also lead guitarist for RUSH and writes songs about the politics of oak trees, shapeless spirits and The Real Truth. Psychiatric care by Geoff Barton. ...
The Undertones: 'Teenage Kicks' Is The Undertones' EP
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 30 September 1978
DAVE McCULLOUGH FINDS PURE PUNK IN DARKEST DERRY ...
Jan & Dean: Jan and Dean: Starwood Club, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 October 1978
THEY'VE RENAMED LA's Starwood club the Surfwood for the night. ...
Linda Ronstadt: Living In The U.S.A.
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 7 October 1978
HI AGAIN. It's only me and this is only another Linda Ronstadt review. The words 'rock and roll' are used in the ads for this ...
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 October 1978
IF MY FIRST sight of Jake Burns had been while keeping myself occupied on a bus by speculating on the lives of the other passengers, ...
The Skids: No Comedy, No Intellect, No Politics, No Punk
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 October 1978
GARRY BUSHELL INTERVIEWS THE SKIDS AND GETS CONFUSED (AGAIN). AN EVERYDAY STORY OF SCOTTISH LADS IN A POP GROUP. ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 14 October 1978
I SHOULD have been prepared for it, being in San Francisco and all that, but I hardly expected that a Boston concert would find me ...
Penetration: Moving Targets (Virgin)****
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 14 October 1978
WE'RE NOT the same, you're not the same, they're not the same. ...
Joan Armatrading: Perrier Water and Privacy: Joan Armatrading
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 October 1978
"LOOOK this way pet, wooood you dear," said the photographer in a voice fusing Andy Stewart and Larry Grayson. "Please pet". Fussing, fussing. ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 14 October 1978
AKRON'S BRIGHTEST star smiles knowingly and proves that everyone else has it all wrong, because nope, you don't have to exhibit an air of disdain ...
Overview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 14 October 1978
UNTIL RECENTLY, watching rock on the box was the worst of media masochism. ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Scream
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 14 October 1978
NO MATTER what anyone may say or think, the success of 'Hong Kong Garden' was neither predicted nor predictable. Despite its obvious instantness (primarily, of ...
Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 14 October 1978
I LEARNT to love the Abyssinians at the kitchen sink, age 7 or so. As I sang Beatles tunes in three-part harmony doing the washing ...
Weather Report: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 October 1978
IF YOU spent an evening in the company of some guys and the only word they uttered was 'Goodbye' you might well think they were ...
Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 October 1978
THESE ALBUMS are famous, if at all, for not being famous. Now that the all too seductive veil of obscurity has been lifted (and therefore ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 November 1978
NOT JUSTA BUNCHA COMMIES, SEZ DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Kilburn & The High Roads: Wotabunch!
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 November 1978
'ORRIBLE SLEEVE! Revolting stuffed animals and tacky cardboard cut-out Kilburos abound. I fear Stiff are disassociating themselves from Wotabunch!, which is understandable when you consider ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young & Crazy Horse: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 11 November 1978
COMES A time when even Neil Young has to do something different with his live shows than the acoustic set followed by hard-rock-with-band bit. ...
Pere Ubu: Dub Housing (Chrysalis CHR 1207)*****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 November 1978
HIT ME with a snorkel and call me Cousteau but this is what the man who delivered my Dub Housing said; MAN: "You for the pair o' U-boats, ...
Stephen Stills: Thoroughfare Gap
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 November 1978
IN THE end all will be disco, or so it would seem, so the best you can hope for is that your chosen hero exercises ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 11 November 1978
EVEN BEFORE slotting the stylus into the grooves, you're aware that this is one of the most bizarre albums ever to make it a: far ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 11 November 1978
WHEN WHITESNAKE first hit the road six months ago (with Brian Johnston on keyboards) the generally buoyant Coverdale let out one cry of pain to ...
Boomtown Rats: This Feature Is Guaranteed Free From Bob Geldof
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 18 November 1978
...THAT'S THE PETE SILVERTON PLEDGE ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 November 1978
NOT YER average roots of mystic religion jazz-fusion ...
Joy Division: A short, pulsating feature on a small, pulsating band
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 18 November 1978
THROB,THROB, THROB, THROB. "Hey Miss, a bottle of Newcastle please, what? Oh, a bottle of Pils then." THROB, THROB, THROB, THROB. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 November 1978
IT WILL probably come as a surprise to most people who saw them during their early months last year, but The Police have finally come ...
Foreigner: Live in Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 25 November 1978
FOREIGNER ARE pretty much a thinking man's Bay City Rollers. ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 25 November 1978
JAPAN OUTPOSED IN NEW YORK CITY AS WITNESSED BY GEOFF BARTON ...
Rod Stewart: Blondes Have More Fun
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 November 1978
OR BLOATED egos with lots of money get to see more of the world. ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie and the Banshees: The Most Elitist Band In The World
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 November 1978
'A gig is often an exaggeration of what we feel every day and therefore it can probably seem a bit ridiculous at times maybe. It ...
The Clash: Town Hall, Middlesbrough
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 25 November 1978
PERSPECTIVE. THE Clash are heroes (but not mine). ...
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 November 1978
I LIKE Wire a lot and sometimes I dislike them. ...
XTC: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 25 November 1978
HAVING BEEN, so to speak, mis-directed in a choronological sense leads to a somewhat briefer exposure to XTC radiation than intended — meaning exposure to ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 December 1978
THE TRICK experience, but hardly cheap at £8.50 a shot. Even so, it's worth it, as is evidenced by the fact that Flyover in Hammersmith ...
Demis Roussos: Life And Love (His Greatest Hits) (Phillips 9199873) !!!!!
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 December 1978
NO STARS for this at all. The Roussos experience transcends any structure as fragile as the star-rating system because he isn't involved in the making ...
Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 December 1978
THE OLD Testament followed by the New (also written some while ago you will recall). For once there was hardly a vacant seat by half ...
David Johansen, New York Dolls: Funky (But Chic): David Johansen At Point Blank
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 December 1978
RIGHT BETWEEN the eyes, pilgrim. Yeah, he does look like Lee Marvin. In walks the supposed progenitor of all this punko nonsense, ex-New York Doll ...
Jim Morrison: An American Prayer
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 December 1978
A BOOK could be written (and has been), about James Douglas Morrison, sometime sex symbol, filmmaker, poet, drunk and rock 'n' roll star, so I ...
The Doors, Jim Morrison: Jim Morrison: An American Prayer (Elektra 5E-502)*****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 December 1978
Flashes from the archives of oblivion (Thank you, Roy Harper) ...
Julie Covington: Julie Covington
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 December 1978
AND SO this is Christmas. ...
National Health: Of Queues And Cures (Charly CRL 5010) ***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 December 1978
CHURN, GRIND, hubble-bubble. Merde alors. I ask my brain to supply me with words to describe the instrumental music of National Health and that's all ...
Pere Ubu: Invasion Of The Warm, Friendly Bodysnatchers
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 December 1978
SEE THE ALIENS. See the room. See the aliens in the room. The aliens call themselves Pere Ubu. See Pere Ubu. See the big alien ...
Queen: Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 December 1978
IT'S BEEN five years or so since Queen last played in New Orleans and the fans, having heard the glowing reports of last year's US ...
Sniff 'n' the Tears: Fickle Heart
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 December 1978
DON'T BE misled by the collective title. Sniff 'N' The Tears is no more a real band than Tommy Dunbar's imaginary Psychotic Pineapple. Everything here ...
The Cars: (I Love The Sound Of) Fading Brakes
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 December 1978
The Cars: Lyceum, London ...
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 December 1978
Terminal weirdness... ...
Mike Oldfield: The Nu(de) Mike Oldfield
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 2 December 1978
IF THE Moslem New Year in 1961 fell on June 15 and Haley's Comet will become visible again on February 9, 1986 then the new ...
The Subway Sect: The Northern Soul of Vic Godard
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 December 1978
A SUBWAY SECT INTERVIEW concerning John Travolta, Françoise Hardy, Les Dawson, Zola, Nosmo King, Abba and other street heroes. By DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Alternative TV: A Different Kettle of ATV
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 December 1978
WHEN I FIRST mooted that I'd be interested in scribbling out a feature on Alternative TV, the thinking man's all-purpose unpunkgroup, the band's hustler and ...
Bob Dylan: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 9 December 1978
THE 18,000 people who presumably didn't pitch tent early enough to make Dylan's sold-out summer date in L. A. but packed into the Forum this ...
Public Image Ltd: Public Image (Virgin)
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 December 1978
AND THE BOY looked at Johnny. And he shouted: "Look, ma, the Emperor's got no clothes." ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 16 December 1978
THE WORLD funk extravaganza circus comes to Manchester. ...
The Runaways: And Now The Runaways
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 December 1978
HOW DOES it feel to be on your own? ...
Report by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 16 December 1978
"HI, THIS is the Nightbird, Alison Steel, brought to you by the Army Reserve. And tonight my guests in the studio are Scott Gorham and ...
The Only Ones: Another Year Another Planet
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 30 December 1978
1979 is the year of the Only Ones sez GIOVANNI DADOMO ...
Neil Young: Live Rust (Reprise)
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1979
THE WORD is, of course, survivor. Just Neil left on the Reprise label and Neil being the only remnant of the sixties still hanging in ...
The Clash: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Sounds, 1979
The Clash: Live At The Roxy, Los Angeles A CLASH TREAT for their fans this, a five dollar ticket and a smaller setting than bands ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 1979
"THERE'S NOTHING like a Grateful Dead concert." This oft-quoted statement from past hand-out material was going through my head as I stumbled over the attendant ...
Penetration, Punishment Of Luxury: Penetration/Punishment Of Luxury/Neon: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 January 1979
THIS WAS A night to crush Cleveland, bugger Bloomington and give the arse to Akron. North British talent ruled, and it was OK. Well, no, ...
The Clash, The Slits: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 6 January 1979
A love that burns ...
The Ruts: support your local punk band
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 January 1979
FOR EXAMPLE, TAKE THE RUTS. PLEASE. (OI, I'LL DO THE JOKES — G. BUSHELL) ...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 January 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON ON THE TUMESCENCE OF THROBBING GRISTLE ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 13 January 1979
IF YOU WANT IT FAST, Bob Segarini is the Canadian Nick Lowe. He's a veteran of god knows what bands but notably The Dudes, who ...
Richard Hell: The Return Of The Bug-Eyed Monster
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 13 January 1979
RICHARD HELL AND GIOVANNI DADOMO VISIT THE BOAT SHOW ...
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 13 January 1979
THANKFULLY, AFTER their last atrocious album Attention Shoppers (ugh! That's worse than Olias Of Sunhillow for an LP title), this fourth Starz disc finds the ...
Scritti Politti: The Nitty Gritty on Scritti Politti
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 January 1979
Tea and empathy shared by DAVE McCULLOUGH * ...
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 13 January 1979
...RABIN, THAT IS. THE MAN WHO, GEOFF BARTON RECKONS, WILL 'DO A BOSTON/FOREIGNER/VAN HALEN'. (SPARE US — ED.) ...
Albert Collins: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 20 January 1979
CONFESSION: WHEN it comes to blues I don't know shit from sugar. But I know what I like. Albert Collins hails from Texas, cut his ...
Crass: The Spirit of '76 is Alive and Well and Living in Ongar (in a Commune)
Profile by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 January 1979
"YES THAT'S right, punk is dead/it's just another cheap product for the consumer's head/bubblegum rock on plastic transistors/schoolboy sedition backed by bigtime promoters/CBS promote the ...
Jilted John: This week's fine point of philosophical conjecture: Melancholy Is Truth
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 January 1979
In support, drama student Graham Fellows (ex-Jilted John), a man given to public displays of raw feeling. ...
Joe Jackson: Nashville, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 January 1979
Spiv rock — the big thing in '79? ...
Buzzcocks, Fast Cars, V2: Buzzcocks, V2, Fast Cars: Manchester Polytechnic
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 27 January 1979
Still friends of mine ...
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 27 January 1979
WHEN YOU "do the singles", as we in the trade like to term the chore, it's a harrowing task. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 January 1979
THIS COULD have been very embarrassing if you lot had caught me at it. I was cruising round the kitchen introducing my ears to this ...
The Mekons: Hope & Anchor, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 27 January 1979
THE HOPE and Anchor is stuffed. If you're aiming to pour one more leather jacket into this crypt, you'd be wise to have remembered the ...
Moon Martin, The Runaways: The Runaways, Moon Martin: Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 27 January 1979
THEY CAME down the stairs on to the stage to screams from the sardined crowd and whistles from the majority male contingent, despite the rejection ...
Alicia Bridges: Alicia Bridges (Polydor Super 2391 364) ****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 3 February 1979
"IT'S A joke I've learned to live with/Being different from the crowd/They'd like to polish me up/Give me a trim/Water me down/And make me like ...
Eddie Money: Life For The Taking
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 3 February 1979
THE FIRST Eddie Money album was the more or less happy outcome of moderate talent breaking bread with the neat idea and contriving solid formula, ...
Kiss: The Timeless Quality Of Platform Boots
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 3 February 1979
KISS' PAUL STANLEY, GEOFF BARTON AND 'PERHAPS THE GREATEST INTERVIEW OF ALL TIME' ...
Crass, Ludus, Poison Girls: Ludus/Poison Girls/Crass: The Factory at the Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 February 1979
She's So Modern ...
Cheap Trick, Fundamental Ache And The Concept Of Divine Effort
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 February 1979
SINCE THE onset of 'serious' rock criticism in the late Sixties there seems, for the most part, to have been a parting of the ways ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 10 February 1979
An exercise in calculation ...
Linda Ronstadt: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 10 February 1979
GOING TO a Linda Ronstadt concert, apart from finding yourself in the midst of unbridled passionate devotion like a born-again fanatics convention, is like sitting ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material (Rough Trade)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 10 February 1979
POOR OLD Stiff Little Fingers. They stormed across the Irish Sea last year and confused most people by talking loudly about being Ulster Boys without ...
The Dickies: The Incredible Shrinking Dickies
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 February 1979
IN ESSENCE, The Dickies make silly music for silly people. Whereas other punk groups have slavishly copied the three-chord assault of The Ramones with deadpan ...
Village People: People Are Strange
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 10 February 1979
BUT CANCEL THAT BOOKING FOR THE YMCA, YOUNG MAN, 'COS VILLAGE PEOPLE AIN'T THAT STRANGE, CLAIMS HUGH 'MACHO MAN' FIELDER ...
James Chance & the Contortions, Cristina, DNA, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks: No New York
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 February 1979
PETE SILVERTON meets the second generation of New York new wave bands... TEENAGE JESUS AND THE JERKS, THE CONTORTIONS, DNA and other assorted weirdos ...
Tanya Tucker: TNT (MCA MCG 3530) ****½
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 February 1979
More rambling justifications for liking girls ...
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 February 1979
"SO YOU think we lost the battle — then go home and weep about it. Sometimes you’ve got to wake up in the morning and ...
The Human League: Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 17 February 1979
Discovering silliness in League with severity ...
Velvet Underground: 1969 Velvet Underground Live (Mercury)
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 February 1979
BUT LOU REED, Lou’s got real problems. Ever since he started out he’s been trying to wheedle Jehovah into making him Keith Richard (‘Rock And ...
999, the Members: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 February 1979
A state of emergency ...
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 24 February 1979
"Sin after sin I have endured But the wounds that I bear Are the wounds of love..." IT'S A GRIM fact of life that, unlike Casablanca compatriots Kiss, the ...
Earth, Wind & Fire: One Nation Under a Groove
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 24 February 1979
COSMIC KARMA QUESTIONNAIRE COMPILED BY SYLVIE SIMMONS ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 February 1979
The Fast way to become intellectual ...
Lene Lovich: Sax And The Single Girl: Lene Lovich's Lucky Number Comes Up
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 February 1979
LAY-NA LUV-ITCH. The woman suddenly appears behind the counter and with the cheeriest of smiles starts to sign 12-inch copies of her chartbound 'Lucky Number' ...
The Stranglers: The Stranglers Live (X Cert)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 February 1979
A CHILL WIND blows down the grimy alley, hidden in shadows and overpacked with freshly stinking mounds of rotting vegetation left over from the neighbouring ...
Wreckless Eric Cleans Up His Act
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 February 1979
PETE SILVERTON JOINS HIM ON THE WAGON ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Breakout in Newport: Stiff Little Fingers
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 3 March 1979
All the action of life at the top as Phrantic Phil Sutcliffe, our man with his finger on the pop pulse, goes "on the road" ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 3 March 1979
THE MOTÖRHEAD GUIDE TO YOUTH AND FITNESS. BY GIOVANNI DADOMO (92 IN THE BODY OF A 103 YEAR OLD) ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 3 March 1979
ALL PRAISE must go to John Cooper Clarke for transforming the freezing, bored alcohol-starved Mancunians into a warmly responsive audience. ...
Ted Nugent: Going Beyond the Threshold of Pain
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 3 March 1979
"A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I WAS TOO LOUD," ADMITS TED NUGENT. GEOFF BARTON LISTENS AGHAST ...
Bad Company: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 March 1979
I WALKED into a pub before the gig and... go on, guess what was playing on the jukebox, 'Alright Now'. Eh? You don't get the ...
Richard and Linda Thompson: The Venue, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 10 March 1979
QUITE HONESTLY the Venue would be such a nice place if they didn't have those bands on. You're trying to focus on Richard and Linda ...
Roxy Music: Manifesto (Polydor POLH 001)***½
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 10 March 1979
HOW ABOUT a little fanfare? Not that this is a comeback. Oh no. The accompanying propaganda takes pains to point out that this is just ...
Sniff 'N' The Tears: A Change Of Art
Interview by David Hepworth, Sounds, 10 March 1979
SNIFF 'N' THE TEARS, not a band to be sneezed at says DAVID HEPWORTH ...
The Skids: Hope, Glory and Albert Tatlock
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 10 March 1979
SANDY MUIR looks like he's just won the pools. His head is severed in half by a cheeky, nervous grin, his hair is tidily groomed, ...
Toto: A Growth Industry For Modern People
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 March 1979
A TOTO/SANDY ROBERTSON MULTI PLATINUM FINANCIAL READOUT ...
Bram Tchaikovsky, Uriah Heep: Uriah Heep/Bram Tchaikovsky: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 March 1979
HEEP AND Tchaikovsky? All I expected to want to write was a letter to the civic authorities asking them to put Andrex instead of Bronco ...
Graham Parker and the Rumour: Squeezing Out Sparks
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 March 1979
One current school of thought – represented at our editorial meetings by the capitalist Ruislip reader faction – has it that Graham Parker has well ...
Peter Tosh: Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 March 1979
A LONG LINE snaked round the corner from the squalid end of Santa Monica Boulevard. Disinterested-looking cops in riot helmets were scattered all around. People ...
The Pretenders: Pretenders, Strangeways: the Nashville, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 17 March 1979
Paralysed by expectation ...
Tanya Tucker: Yet Another Excuse To Print A Picture Of A Young Girl With A Guitar
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 March 1979
WILL THE ICE remain unbroken? Shucks, these phone interviews are a pain (both for the artist and the journalist). I mean, it's not easy encapsulating ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 March 1979
Psychotic awareness — it's the new thing ...
Report by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 March 1979
...sometimes. The rock critic as musician. By Sandy Robertson ...
Toto: The Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 17 March 1979
We're an American b(l)and ...
Van Halen: Van Halen II (Warner Brothers K 56616) ***
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 17 March 1979
Van ordinaire (too much, too soon) ...
Alicia Bridges: Ackshon Replay
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 March 1979
ALICIA BRIDGES OVER(COMES) TROUBLED WATERS, PUNS GARRY 'DISCO BOY' BUSHELLL ...
Crass: The Feeding Of The Five Thousand (Small Wonder, Weeny 2) **
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Obscene oaths do not the revolution make ...
Doll By Doll: Remember (AutomaticK56618)**
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Dull by Doll ...
Journey: Hold The (Balls On The) Line
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 24 March 1979
AN ADMIRABLE PHILOSOPHY. BUT WILL IT BE ENOUGH TO POPULARISE THE JOURNEY BRAND OF AMERICAN AOR IN THE UK? GEOFF BARTON SEEMS TO THINK SO ...
Linton Kwesi Johnson: Forces Of Victory (Island ILPS 9566)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Stricker ishion (Roughly translated, some of the finest reggae ever made in England) ...
Ray Campi: Runaways schoolteacher meets biker acid heads at the grass roots of rockabilly
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 24 March 1979
"I was raised in Central Texas/Where we played our guitars reckless/And we took our country music seriously/We loved the sound of Ole Hank Williams/Ernest Tubb ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Teardrop Explodes: Band on the Wall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 24 March 1979
SUDDENLY, OUT of the depths of complete obscurity the Teardrop Explodes have become the most talked about new band in the North West. Two weeks ...
The Fall: Live At The Witch Trials (Step Forward SFLB 1) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Music for the man who has everything (and wants it all on one album) ...
The Specials: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 March 1979
Speciality of the house ...
The Pop Group: We Know There’s Something Wrong Somewhere: The Pop Group
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 March 1979
This and other astute observations on life, art and the consumer society in THE POP GROUP interview. ...
Graham Parker: You Can't Be Too Strong
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 March 1979
THE HOSPITALITY room backstage at Newcastle City Hall welcomed me like a cold echo. A table load of cellophane-covered salads and the muffled sound of ...
Joan Jett: Keep On Running: Joan Jett And The Hollywood Dream
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 31 March 1979
...She decided she had the potential to become a Vocalist... she cut her first demonstration record. The record was sent to several companies and resulted ...
The Rezillos: Can’t Stand The (Other) Rezillos
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 April 1979
A Family At War. A live album from a dead band. Or, as our contribution to Einstein’s centenary, PHIL SUTCLIFFE proves that 3+2=0, ...
Lowell George: Thanks I'll Eat It Here (Warner Bros. K56487)***
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 7 April 1979
WITH HIS powerfully sentient vocals, frequently marrow-moving guitar-work and considerable song-writing capacity, it wouldn't be doing his fellow musicians too much of an injustice to ...
Popol Vuh: Nosferatu (Egg)****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 7 April 1979
SHROUDED IN mystique since their inception in the early 70's, Popol Vuh are arguably the least known exponents of Teutonic 'rock' music in this country. ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: (Stair) Case History
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 April 1979
BUSHELL'S BRIEF BANSHEES BANTER ...
Chic, Sister Sledge: Sister Sledge: We Are Family (Cotillion K50587)***
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 7 April 1979
THE SNAP on the front may be Janet Reger boudoir and the one on the back corn row ethnic, but such image upgrading doesn't alter ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Inside the Hit Factory
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 April 1979
(PETE SHELLEY'S BACK PARLOUR IN GOSPORT, ACTUALLY, REVEALS PETE SILVERTON) ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: Inside The Hit Factory
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 April 1979
"It's really amazing. I can just sit there and go dee-da-dee-da-dee, da-dee-da-dee, put some words to it, teach the other three how to play it, ...
The Members: At The Chelsea Nightclub (Virgin)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 April 1979
BEFORE WE start let something be said: if lesser papers want to slag off Sounds they're quite welcome to try, but per-lease don't use the ...
The Only Ones: Newcastle Polytechnic
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 7 April 1979
Of serpents and session men ...
The Specials: Rude Boys in the Jungle
Profile and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 7 April 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH REJOICES AS THE SPECIAL AKA (MORE COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE SPECIALS) BREAK FREE AND GAIN COMPLETE CONTROL. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 April 1979
Dateline Hollywood: SYLVIE SIMMONS demurely averts her gaze from the tight satin loonpants and sez: Gimme the track-by-track lowdown on the new album. At least, ...
After The Fire: Brunel Rooms, Swindon
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 14 April 1979
A YEAR AGO, After The Fire must have felt like rock and roll lepers. And even today they're probably not a name to be bandied ...
Daevid Allen: N'Existe Pas! (Charly)***½/ Banana Moon (Charly)***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 April 1979
YOUR PLANET Gong correspondent reporting again, and with better news than of late, Both of these albums have much to commend them to Daevid Allen ...
Kate Bush: The Perfumed Garden Of Good And Evil
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 14 April 1979
DID YOU EVER visit some distant relative for tea and cakes, and as a postscript have to sit through the "party piece" of their little ...
Kevin Coyne, Dagmar Krause: Kevin Coyne: Trans-Derby Express
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 April 1979
Being An Inter-City Heart-To-Heart featuring KEVIN COYNE. Engaged Comment: Giovanni Dadomo, Slightly Surreal Robot Reporter. PS: The food was lousy! ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 14 April 1979
"THEY THINK THEY'RE FIGHTING FASCISM ON BEHALF OF BLACKS, BUT THEY'RE FOOLING THEMSELVES" ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 April 1979
★ America's answer to Lena Zavaroni! ★ The Seventies' Brenda Lee! ★ Stiff's 'alternative' to Little Jimmy Osmond! ★ A brat ★ Five foot nothing ...
The Police: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 14 April 1979
THERE'S SOMETHING schizophrenic about this group. An English band with an American drummer, a Californian who knows how to bash out rock and roll – ...
The Pop Group: Y (Radar RAD 20)***½
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 April 1979
This is the (Penguin classic) modern world ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 14 April 1979
GARRY BUSHELL FOLLOWS THE T(H)IN MAN AND THE REST DOWN THE YELL O'BRICK ROAD ...
Angelic Upstarts: Gonna Be A Prison Break-In
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 21 April 1979
THE BAND THE POLICE LOVE TO HATE INVITED TO DO A PRISON GIG? ...
Dire Straits: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 21 April 1979
IF THERE really is the third British Invasion the Californians keep talking about, platinum-sellers Dire Straits, welcomed to L.A. by bunting across the Sunset Strip ...
Doll By Doll: Doo Laing Doo Laing Doo Laing
Profile and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 21 April 1979
FORGET THE RD LAING/MUSIC FOR PSYCHOTICS BIT AND GIVE DOLL BY DOLL A CHANCE, PLEADS "MAD" HUGH FIELDER. ...
Judas Priest: The Starwood, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 21 April 1979
THIRD NIGHT at the Starwood and they're still packing them in. Limbs flailing through the dry ice that fills the stand-up section in imaginary guitar ...
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 21 April 1979
ANOTHER YEAR, another Lou Reed in a different toilet. ...
Steve Forbert: So You Thought You'd Seen The Last...
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 21 April 1979
...of introspective singer/songwriters in blue jeans with acoustic guitars and pained expressions... Well think again as globe-trotting talent scout Hugh Fielder proclaims: "I have seen ...
The Damned, The Specials, UK Subs: The Damned/UK Subs/The Specials: The Lyceum, London
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 21 April 1979
WITH ENOUGH police grouped manacingly outside in coaches, in squad cars and standing around to supervise a couple of Manchester United away fixtures, I suppose ...
The Rezillos: Mission Accomplished…But The Beat Goes On (Sire)***
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 21 April 1979
HEY, EVER known what it's like feeling like you're E.J. Thribb? Try reveiwing this album. Phil Sutcliffe got it just right in his 3 plus ...
Japan, Reggae Regular: Japan, the Regulars: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 28 April 1979
Hype springs eternal ...
Patti Smith: Further Adventures of Wonder Woman
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 5 May 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON PLAYS BULLETS AND BRACELETS WITH PATTI SMITH ...
Penetration: Movement Is The Message
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 5 May 1979
THE PENETRATION EXPLANATION BY PHIL SUTCLIFFE ...
The Undertones: The Undertones (Sire SRK 6070)*****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 May 1979
Teenage dreamland ...
The Tubes: Tube in Charlie's Angels oral sex shocker
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 5 May 1979
Jerk in the box FEE WAYBILL explains The Tubes' new-look TV Times. I didn't realise there was so much in it gasps SYLVIE SIMMONS ...
ABBA: Voulez Vous (Epic Epc 86) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 May 1979
Fall fan's strange Abbaration ...
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 12 May 1979
FISCHER-Z are among a host of bands gigging round the club circuit who are coming up to the debut album stage. Word Salad does them ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 12 May 1979
Words and puzzled expression by SANDY ROBERTSON ...
Magazine, Simple Minds: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 12 May 1979
"YEAH! WHO-O-O! Magic!" yells the guy from Arista sitting a couple of seats away, in a burst of paid-for enthusiasm during Simple Minds' set supporting ...
Magazine: Down in the Warehouse at Midnight
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 May 1979
Fresh-faced cub reporter Dave McCullough is summoned to a bizarre battle of wits with sinister mastermind Howard Devoto ...
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs: Things Your Mother Never Told You (Safari GOOD 2) *****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 12 May 1979
More songs about toilets and marines ...
Ted Nugent: Divorce, Ted Nugent Style
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 May 1979
TED NUGENT (Hammersmith Odeon, second house): "There can come a time when you baby turns to you and says 'I'm splittin'' and you're so sad ...
Report by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 19 May 1979
THE NEW WAVE OF BRITISH HEAVY METAL: FIRST IN AN OCCASIONAL SERIES BY DEAF BARTON ...
Iggy Pop: I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night
Report and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 19 May 1979
IGGY POP'S FREUDIAN SLIPS IN THE NIGHT. COUCH AND NOTEPAD: GIOVANNI DADOMO ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 May 1979
THE DISTANT echo of faraway voices playing faraway games — who'd have thought that a rock'n'roll music for fun and against privilege would have somehow ...
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 19 May 1979
The timeless quality of cowboy boots ...
Nips, The (aka The Nipple Erectors): The Nips: Death To Art Rock!
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 19 May 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH GETS HIP TO THE NIPS ...
The Specials: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 May 1979
Tighten up: Long Shot Kick The Bucket (Slight Return) ...
The B-52s: B-52s: War in the hair
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 26 May 1979
LAST YEAR was none helluva year for singles. Ones that graced the airwaves like 'Hong Kong Garden' and 'Rhythm Stick'. Ones that were just a ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 May 1979
ANOTHER THESIS would be the straw that broke the camel's back. Now there's a line that could easily have been snipped from one of David ...
Donna Summer: Bad Girls (Casablanca CALD 5007)***½
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 May 1979
Open wide (Knoworramean?) ...
Judas Priest: Whips over Walsall
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 26 May 1979
"SEE THIS badge?" asks Rob Halford. Smiling, he points to a narrow shiny, sausage-shaped piece of metal pinned to the left lapel of his leather ...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 May 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON meets some young boys, interviews THE SCORPIONS and unearths a conspiracy of silence. ...
The Mekons: Songs of Innocence and Experience
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 May 1979
I BEAT ON the front door of a huge, decaying terrace house in Leeds. No response. Tried the bell but it was dead. Rattled the ...
The Monochrome Set: Cheap Titillation And Anti-Pop
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 26 May 1979
THE MONOCHROME SET FIND HOW TO HAVE FUN IN AN AVANT-GARDE WORLD ...
EMI: Saturday Night Beneath The Corporate Umbrella
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 June 1979
MUSIC, FILMS TV, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, MEDICINE, WEAPONS...HOW A GIANT RECORD COMPANY NOW EXTENDS INTO EVERY AREA OF LIFE – AND DEATH. ...
Gang of Four: The Gang's All Here
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 June 1979
...WELL ALMOST, AS GARRY BUSHELL DISCOVERS DURING A DRUNKEN DISCUSSION WITH THE GANG OF FOUR ...
Joe Jackson: Further Thoughts On The Foolishness Of Polka Dot Ties
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 June 1979
"I THINK people realised it's about time they had some decent music over here", says the man behind the desk at the top of the ...
Judas Priest: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 2 June 1979
IT'S A CHARGE that most of 'em would dispute till the cows come home, but heavy metal fans and heavy metal bands are incredibly conservative. ...
Nick Lowe: Labour Of Lust (Radar)***.5
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 June 1979
PEOPLE USED to slate Frank Zappa by dragging out some old rock critic's smart jibe that however Francis would parody 'Louie, Louie' till he was ...
Rick Wakeman: Rhapsodies (A&M)***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 June 1979
A MAN of honour is old Rick. Some three years ago when he was preparing No Earthly Connection he said he would like to do ...
Allman Brothers Band: The Allman Brothers Band: Live in Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 June 1979
THE CROWD is going apeshit. A five-figure bunch of America's Finest with cowboy hats and beer bellies are whooping it up like it's New Year's ...
The Knack: How You'll Be Getting It
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 June 1979
I LEANED over and whispered in the ear of the blank-looking blonde girl seated next to me: "I'm a stranger in this town, so maybe ...
The Lurkers, The Wall: Wirrina, Peterborough
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 June 1979
Lurkers out in the dark ...
Wayne County & The Electric Chairs: The Wayne County Interview
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 June 1979
WAYNE COUNTY was already in the car. I was ushered into the front seat, leaving Wayne staring down the back of my neck. That was ...
Throbbing Gristle: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 June 1979
WHEN I WAS watching Throbbing Gristle where were you? ...
Tom Robinson Band: Live in Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 June 1979
"EDUCATION", CLAIMS the motto six feet above the head of Tom Robinson for his second time in LA, "is learning to use the tools which ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 June 1979
"ROOD BOIZE" Yeah! "ROOOOODD BOOIZZZZ" Uh huh! ...
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 June 1979
THE PARTY was catered for two hundred or so guests. You could tell no expense had been spared — there were real bits of shell ...
The Cramps, Bobby Henry, The Police: Police, Cramps, Bobby Henry: Odeon, Edinburgh
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 June 1979
VALUE-ADDED. A three band tour. Expenses shared, exposure for the musician, extras for the audience. A good thing. Which is at least one reason why ...
Secret Affair: Mods Without Parkas
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 June 1979
"HEYYY, don't crowd me, wanna be the only one. Heyyy, won't you give me a break, I'm gonna be second to none." ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 June 1979
STIFF LITTLE Fingers are all about movement, aggression, passion and action. All these qualities lie in the band's lyrics and the way in which these ...
The Cramps: Rockabilly Retardation
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 June 1979
THE SOUND OF SOUTHERN CULTURE FALLING APART IN A BLAZE OF PICKUPS ...
The Roches: The Roches (Warner Bros Import BSK 3298)****½
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 9 June 1979
Dogs and married men ...
Def Leppard: The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal — Part Two
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 16 June 1979
BY DEAF BARTON ...
Kirsty MacColl: Exchange and Martyrdom
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 June 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON finds yet another excuse to talk to young girls ...
The Knack: Get The Knack (Capitol EST 11948)****½
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 June 1979
Talkin' 'bout re-generation ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 16 June 1979
...but instead you'll be relieved there are no Police puns in this headline ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 16 June 1979
IT WAS ALL going so well too, that was the point. So everyone assumed it was part of the act. I must admit I was ...
Robert Gordon: Down And Out In Paris The Robert Gordon Way
Review and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 23 June 1979
Robert Gordon: Palais des Sports, Paris ...
Judie Tzuke: Welcome To The Cruise (Rocket)
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 23 June 1979
'FOR YOU' WAS one of last year's better off-the-wall singles, a remarkable vignette of overdubbed and interlocking harmonies backed by a classical string quartet which ...
Rickie Lee Jones: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 23 June 1979
CHUCK E.’S IN the audience. Got up just in time for the show. No doubt Chuck E.’s also in love. He’s definitely in business. The ...
Interview by David Hepworth, Sounds, 30 June 1979
DAVID HEPWORTH shoots the breeze with DIRE STRAITS ...
Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel: Ian Dury: Eye-On Mashes the Swedes
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 30 June 1979
THE DOG and bone tinkles into action and an East End accent barks out from deepest Deutschland, "Garry, Kozmo 'ere, the Dury feature's on. Meet ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 30 June 1979
IF INTENTION automatically equalled success then this would be one hell of an album. As it is, it's beautifully recorded, self-consciously precious, a maddeningly white ...
Nick Lowe, Rockpile: Rockpile: Strictly For The Laughs (so laugh, then)
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 30 June 1979
THE ROCKPILE PHILOSOPHY AS TOLD TO DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Gloria Gaynor, Village People: Village People, Gloria Gaynor: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 30 June 1979
TONIGHT I learnt why discos are held indoors. The Beautiful People look a bit silly with water splashing around in their transparent sandals and rain ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 July 1979
ENCAPSULATED VERSION: five-piece group from as near to Boston as matters bust their balls and abuse their bodies digging their way out of the grime ...
The Sex Pistols, Sham 69: Goodbye Sham 69
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 July 1979
"WE WANT SHUM! WE WANT SHUM! WE WANT SHUM!" Friday night in Glasgow The Apollo is packed to capacity and if you want understatements the ...
Herman Brood, Nina Hagen: Herman Brood: The Further Adventures of Herman and Nina
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 July 1979
'It's a magic, fantastic, plastic fireball/makes you strong for life/makes you stumble and fall/they're gonna call you names you never heard before/they got you comin' ...
Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Johnny 'Guitar' Watson: What The Hell Is This ****½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 July 1979
THIS IS a real mutha for ya, from the first seconds of the title track which go for your vitals with a rivet gun of ...
Lowell George, Little Feat: Lowell George hangs up his sailing shoes
Obituary by David Hepworth, uncredited writer, Sounds, 7 July 1979
LOWELL GEORGE, founder and leader of Little Feat, collapsed and died in Washington DC last Friday. Thirty-four-year-old George, father of four children, had just started ...
Penetration: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 July 1979
I'D SEEN the name around several times, but I'd never seen the band until tonight. Strange how your luck can change. ...
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 July 1979
AM I CRAZY or am I in the UK? Strolling through a discount record store I look to the right and there's Blondie's Parallel Lines ...
Swell Maps: A Trip To Marineville
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 7 July 1979
YOU EITHER talk about the reality that is rock and roll or you talk about nothing. You either express truth or you express 'Truth', the ...
The Beach Boys: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 July 1979
POTTED PALM trees, fishing nets, dry ice aka sea mist, the Captain (sans Tenille) and a backing band in a boat. Degenerate drummer in Brian-sized ...
The Ramones: Rock'n'Roll High School (Sire Import) ****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 7 July 1979
THE ERA of the compilation is upon us, and this soundtrack album of smarties and arties is another rapid fire job, featuring the next best ...
The Roches: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 July 1979
THE ROCHES. Pronounced as in bugs. Maggie and Terre and Suzzy, three sisters somewhere in their 20s. ...
Van Halen Makes Your Day Go Away
Report and Interview by David Hepworth, Sounds, 7 July 1979
DAVID HEPWORTH GOES TO HALEN BACK (NEWCASTLE, ACTUALLY) ...
Motörhead: A State of Semioutofitness — 12 Hours on the Road with Motorhead
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 July 1979
MOTORHEAD'S DRUMMER Phil Taylor was bent double with his backside pressed against a window, his head down by his knees, his flies open and his ...
Destroy All Monsters: Monster Mash
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 July 1979
Giovanni Dadomo talks to Destroy All Monsters. Sounds editor falls for Niagara (geddit) and says, "I think we have a Debbie Harry situation with regards ...
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory Records Fact 10) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 14 July 1979
DEATH DISCO ...
Madness: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 14 July 1979
TOO 'OT, MUCH TOO HOT... Prince Buster had it sussed yonks ago. Tuesday night down the Moonlight and people are evaporating just standing still. Feverishly ...
The Clash, The Mo-dettes, Tenpole Tudor: The Clash
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Dave McCullough, Sounds, 14 July 1979
"Punk was about change. We don't want to belong to any tradition... we don't walk around with green hair and bondage trousers anymore. We just ...
The Teardrop Explodes, The Wall: Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 14 July 1979
TWO CONTRASTING styles of modern musick. ...
Duffo, The Lurkers, Tubeway Army: Beggars Banquet: Laughing All The Way To The Banquet
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 July 1979
FROM SECOND-HAND RECORD SHOP TO NUMBER ONE SINGLE AND ALBUM. THE STORY OF BEGGARS BANQUET ...
Herman Brood: Herman Brood And His Wild Romance (Ariola) ****½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 21 July 1979
THE ONLY thing against Herman Brood is his nationality. The world may simply not believe that a Dutchman can sing filthy English-language rock like this ...
Rod Stewart: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 21 July 1979
YOU DON'T have to be hungry to make good rock and roll, but it helps. Sitting through a Rod Stewart show is like watching a ...
Ry Cooder: Bop Till You Drop (Warner Bros.)*****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 21 July 1979
THERE'S PROBABLY a whole bunch of enormous ironies knocking around this world but right now I can't think of a bigger or more slap-happy one ...
Report and Interview by David Hepworth, Sounds, 21 July 1979
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON ROCK AND ROLL REVEALED TO DAVID HEPWORTH BY THE B-52s ...
AC/DC: More Songs About Humping And Booze
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 28 July 1979
HAVE AC/DC GONE DISCO? 'NAH' SNARLS PHILTHY PHIL SUTCLIFFE ...
Joy Division: The Factory, Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 28 July 1979
TOGETHERNESS IS a quality found in few bands. In these days of the inflated ego most rock outfits tend to thrive on the opposite. The Fall, ...
Cockney Rejects and the Rise of New Punk
Interview by Garry Bushell, Dave McCullough, Sounds, 4 August 1979
'I WANNA go back to where it all began/I wanna do a gig in my back garden/I wanna have a laugh before the press get ...
Journey: Do You Sincerely Want To Be Liked?
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 4 August 1979
...JOURNEY do, and they flew SANDY ROBERTSON to LA just so he'd have a chance to like them close-up. And he did ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 4 August 1979
Manchester city fun ...
Madness, The Selecter, The Specials: The Specials, Madness, The Selecter: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 4 August 1979
In the heat of the night ...
Angelic Upstarts: Teenage Warning
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 August 1979
HOW MANY p's in oppression? Aww, what can you say? Contrary no doubt to opinions expressed elsewhere on the subject, Teenage Warning is not an ...
Chic: Risqué (Atlantic K50634)****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 11 August 1979
Chic at twice the price ...
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 August 1979
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE MANCUNIAN WAY — DAVE McCULLOUGH GETS NO JOY (INFORMATION-WISE) FROM JOY DIVISION ...
Kiss: Ecstasy in the Garden of Eden
Report by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 11 August 1979
AN UNAPOLOGETICALLY OVER THE TOP REPORT OF KISS IN NEW YORK. BY GEOFF BARTON, OUR MAN WITH THE FRIED FLESH AND SINGED EYEBROWS ...
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, David Hepworth, Sounds, 11 August 1979
OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY ...
Saxon: Saxon (Carrere CAL 110)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 11 August 1979
Sheezabigteaza! (And other lyrics of note) ...
The Knack: Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 11 August 1979
Let's hear it for the little guys ...
Angelic Upstarts: The Nashville, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 18 August 1979
THE MUSIC Press is a middle class toy, perpetually pampered, easily bored, easily bought off. It's too easy to sit pretty in your safe mortgaged ...
Saxon: Big Teasers From Barnsley: Saxon
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 August 1979
HERE'S A challenge to sort the men from the boys. From new "grassroots English heavy metal band" Saxon to the latest American skullcrushers to go ...
Chas and Dave: Don't Give A Monkey's (Rockney EMC 3303) ***½
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 18 August 1979
CHAS AND Dave are a public bar on Saturday night chock-full of pissed punters blowing their greengages on rivers of alkyhol while some half-cut old ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 August 1979
JOAN BAEZ is 38 and has a lifetime of quotable quotes at her disposal from her plaintive remark to an audience in 1961: "The world ...
Led Zeppelin: Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 August 1979
WELL. I quite like them. ...
New Barbarians: Knebworth Festival, Hertfordshire
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 18 August 1979
ROCK AND ROLL having as it does sod all to do with music and a whole lot to do with sex and drugs (even to ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 18 August 1979
CHRIS WILSON, lead singer of the Flamin' Groovies, was once described as "looking a bit of a prick in orange satin", but he got off ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 18 August 1979
"She used to do a topless/Down at the Surrey Docks/With tassels on her wotsits/She did a t'riffic job/Of raising all the eye-brows/Of every lunch time ...
Talking Heads: Fear Of Music (Sire SRK 6076) *****
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 18 August 1979
Don't eat, talk ...
Nils Lofgren: The Second Coming of Nils Lofgren
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 18 August 1979
IT'S A COMMON complaint among watchers of American late-night television. Everything is going along as normal, all the right cliches are being spoken, when you ...
XTC: Drums And Wires (Virgin)****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 18 August 1979
I'M WELL qualified to write about XTC. I don't understand them at all. I prove that publicly last autumn when a couple of days in ...
Dire Straits, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming (CBS 86095)*****
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 25 August 1979
Rich man enters kingdom of heaven shock ...
Def Leppard: Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 25 August 1979
Big cat's big let down The Def Leppard backlash starts here (what, already? — Ed) ...
Judie Tzuke: Hard Times and Soft Furnishing
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 25 August 1979
THE LEERING, MANIC FACE OF MENSI fades into the television screen to be replaced by the hearthrug features of Dave Lee Travis. "And now for ...
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: The Fabulous Thunderbirds (Takoma TAK 7068) ***
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 25 August 1979
IT WILL not have escaped your attention that America is one beast of an extensive country. As far as it concerns rock and roll music ...
The Pretenders: The Perils of Christine
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 25 August 1979
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE PICTURE ABOVE. THE PRETENDERS ARE DEPRESSED. MEETING PETE SILVERTON MAKES THINGS WORSE. AND CHALKIE DAVIES DOESN'T HELP MUCH, EITHER ...
Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes: The Teardrop Explodes, Echo & the Bunnymen: Zoo Games
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 25 August 1979
A small label at the warm end of the cold wave. The music of the Eighties! says Dave McCullough. ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 1 September 1979
FA FA fa fa love song! Al Green used to be a soul singer and now he's An Entertainer. Fa fa fa fa, goodbye! ...
Led Zeppelin: Close The Door, Put The Light Out… Led Zeppelin: In Through The Out Door (Swan Song)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 1 September 1979
YOU'RE PROBABLY not interested in our problems, but I think an explanation is in order as to why Sounds is carrying a review of the ...
Genya Ravan: …And I Mean It! (20th Century Fox import) ****½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1 September 1979
DON'T EVEN let it cross your mind that I'm influenced by Ms Ravan being the only artist who's given me a great big kiss at ...
Report by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1 September 1979
ROCK AND ROLL at this level can be a damn luxurious business, I reflected in the air-conditioned comfort of the Nazareth limo sashaying and bumping ...
The Slits: One Day, All Girls Will Be Made This Way: The Slits: Cut (Island) *****
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 1 September 1979
SLACK JAW, warm hearts: Cuts is astoundingly good. ...
The Skids: Out of the Valley: The Skids Now
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 1 September 1979
THIS WAS a feature that caused me innumerable problems. Not because I didn't know what to say, but because I had too much to say. ...
Kim Fowley, Helen Reddy: Sandy Robertson's Hollywood Confidential
Report by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 September 1979
"On my first visit to Los Angeles I was conventionally prepared for almost anything except for what it really looked like – a quite beautiful ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Siouxsie And The Banshees: Join Hands
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1 September 1979
WHADDA YA MEAN, is it extreme? Can you honestly imagine the Banshees doing anything —whether it be throwing shapes for a camera, getting dressed for ...
The Barracudas: Hanging Ten in West London
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 September 1979
SERIOUSLY, WOULD you expect even one of the skinheads who inhabit the feral slums of Ladbroke Grove to have the slightest notion of the origins ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 1 September 1979
AHH, EXCUSE me a modicum of nostalgia but I still remember as if they were only last year, those chaotic '78 Ruts days, and thankfully ...
Cheap Trick: Dream Police (Epic) ****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 September 1979
IT'S NO mere coincidence that Dave Edmunds openly admires Rick Nielsen, has dinner with him and appears onstage alongside Cheap Trick at the drop of ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 8 September 1979
A movement with no name... and a festival with no people (But a 'staggering event' all the same, says our man Middles) ...
Meat Loaf: Meatloaf: Meat The Wife
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 September 1979
WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT MEAT LOAF AND UNDERSTANDING? QUIPS SANDY ROBERTSON ...
Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band: Boogie 'Til You Puke
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 8 September 1979
TENDER MOMENTS IN THE COMPANY OF ROOT BOY SLIM AND THE SEX CHANGE BAND. By GIOVANNI DADOMO (AGAIN) ...
Sham 69: The Adventures Of Hersham Boys (Polydor)***
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 September 1979
WHAT DID Sham mean to you? I don't really give a monkey's cos to me and a lot of my mates they were the business. ...
This Heat: This Heat (Piano Records This 1)****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 September 1979
Metallic, but not nocturnal. Knoworrimean? Probably not ...
Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine (Elektra Import) ***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 September 1979
IMAGINATIVE TITLE, eh? Nah, but hand it to him for resilience, you really thought you'd seen the last of teevee after the hostile critics were ...
UK Subs: Another Kind Of Blues (Gem)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 September 1979
THIS REVIEW lasts 180 seconds and reads 1-2-3-4. It starts with a loud guitar burst, then bass and drums explode and your voice roars 'GARAGELAND' ...
Cheap Trick: Portrait of a Tragic Figure
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 September 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON analyses CHEAP TRICK ...
Faulty Towers: Miles Copeland’s New Wave
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 September 1979
MILES COPELAND is prone to saying things like "cracking America and the world is a big job and we're going to have to work really ...
John Hiatt and the Sub-American Shoe Polish
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 September 1979
HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, at four in the afternoon; sultry, but no rush hour. A street strewn with soggy cheeseburgers, watery Coke (registered trade mark) in giant ...
Michael Jackson: Off The Wall (Epic FE 35745)****
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 15 September 1979
IF ANYONE was worried whether Michael Jackson could keep his act in one piece in the face of the inexorable march of the years (the ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: In Aberdeen...No-one Can Hear You Scream
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 September 1979
THE GEEZER standing next to me in the urinal said "Hey, have you heard the rumour? Two of the Banshees have run off. They're not ...
The Atrix, The Blades, DC Nien, U2, The Virgin Prunes: U2 et al: Coming up for Eire
Report by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 September 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH GOES STRICTLY DUBLIN-WISE AND UNEARTHS A BUNCH OF EXCITING NEW SOUTHERN IRISH ACTS ...
Mahogany Rush: Why Does This Man Look Like This On The Verge Of 1980?
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 22 September 1979
SYLYIE SIMMONS MEETS FRANK MARINO OF MAHOGANY RUSH AND MANAGES TO TALK ABOUT THINGS OTHER THAN HIS SHIRT, BOOTS AND THE PIMPLE ON HIS FACE ...
Penetration: Coming Up For Air (Virgin) ****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 September 1979
UP! THAT'S what Penetration are. Such stimulation. A Japanese masseuse on speciality-of-the-house rates could hardly have tickled more of a tingle into every nerve-end from ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 September 1979
THE LONG cool sleaze of Rickie Lee Jones wafted through the Dominion Theatre with a balmy breeze that fulfilled the expectations of those who'd come ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: The Boot Boys Are Back In Town
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 22 September 1979
"PUNK IS BACK, PUNK IS BACK, WO-AH, WO-AH!" ...
The Cure: Capitol Theatre, Aberdeen
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 September 1979
THIS GIG with The Cure supposedly supporting the Banshees had a somewhat surprising outcome which you'll have read about last week in this journal but ...
The Jam: This Is The Modern Poet
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 22 September 1979
Paul Weller gets serious with Dave McCullough ...
The Shirts: Street Light Shine (Capitol) ***½
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 22 September 1979
THE SHIRTS are the problem children of the New York rock scene, but they don't let it show; desperation wouldn't suit them at all. ...
The Slits: Awkward in Interviews, Awkward in Life
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 22 September 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH CONFRONTS THE SLITS ...
Patti Smith: Walking Down The Kings Road With Lenny Kaye...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 22 September 1979
...can be a disagreeable experience. Sandy Robertson gives the Patti Smith Group the elbow. ...
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 September 1979
And keeping it there ...
XTC: Apollo Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 22 September 1979
STUDYING THE development and, um, progression of XTC is one of my favourite past-times. ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: "Humourless? Us?" - Siouxsie & the Banshees
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 September 1979
"...Thy Kingdom come / They will be done / In Earth as it is in Heaven / Amen... Knock, knocking on Heaven’s door / Let ...
Fashiøn: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 September 1979
PRODUCT PERFECT they called their album and the song of that name was in their set at the Odeon when they supported the Police. But ...
Gary Numan: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 29 September 1979
Are pin-ups electric? ...
John Cooper Clarke: Cool for Catholics
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 29 September 1979
John Cooper Clarke makes a good confession to Pete Silverton (lapsed) ...
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 29 September 1979
'We were just another band out of Boston/On the road and tryin' to make ends meet'. ...
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 29 September 1979
TUESDAY LUNCHTIME: Cleveland Airport. With a couple of hours to kill before my one-stop-only flight to Minneapolis and the first date on the Clash’s second ...
Madness, The Selecter, The Specials: 2-Tone: Ska Authentic And More.
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 October 1979
GARRY BUSHELL CHECKS OUT 2-TONE ...
Gary Numan: Do Sheep Dream Of Electric Androids? The Gary Numan Enigma
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 October 1979
DATA: Gary Numan found his stage name in the Yellow Pages. The original Numan is a vendor of domestic appliances. In German "nu" means "now' ...
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 6 October 1979
WHO'D BE a rock'n'roll star? The strategy and balance needed to make the thing work to a maximum effect is enough to make the slyest ...
Ludus, Swell Maps: The Factory, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 6 October 1979
THE VERY sloppy Swell Maps are presently attempting to conquer the art of turning badness into madness. Their jokey, half-formulated view of rock'n'roll is intriguing ...
Buzzcocks: Sex, Fast Cars and a Different Kind of Buzzcock
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 6 October 1979
The spiritual awakening of Steve Diggle. ...
Styx: Cornerstone (A&M AMLK 63711)
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 6 October 1979
Styx come up Tramps ...
The Human League: Reproduction (Virgin V2133)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 October 1979
DON'T BE a dummy... Zarki looked at the cover: naked babies trampled on by adults. A cheap shock shot masquerading as message? There’s a baby ...
The Kinks: Low Budget (Arista)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 6 October 1979
FOR OLD codgers like me it’s very difficult to pin down reactions to albums by old codgers like the Kinks. These we have loved. ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Which One's Psycho Derek?
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 6 October 1979
GIOVANNI DADOMO keeps tabs (Old Tripper's Joke No. 2467A) on The PSYCHEDELIC FURS ...
AC/DC: Long Beach Arena, Long Beach CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 October 1979
AC/DC discover harmony... after a fashion ...
Joe Jackson: Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 13 October 1979
HURRAH'S IS, for the moment, the in-crowd club in New York's rock circle, having taken over the limelight from CBGB and Max's. Those who seem ...
Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne: How Black Was My Sabbath
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 October 1979
Angry Ozzy Osbourne gives his first interview since the Sabs split to SYLVIE SIMMONS in Los Angeles. ...
Status Quo: Whatever You Want (Vertigo 9102 037)
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 13 October 1979
THE ONLY sensible critical comment ever passed on Status Quo came, I am informed, from the Right Hon Charlie Gillet. If twelve bars of unswerving ...
Talking Heads: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 October 1979
DON'T KNOW quite what it is, but those skinny American men with high voices have got something. Maybe it's the weekly shot of Charles Atlas ...
Buzzcocks: The Buzzcocks: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 13 October 1979
Same old rubbish in a different theatre ...
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 October 1979
Dave McCullough hits the Sardine trail to the Portuguese outback for a knees-up with the Stranglers ...
The Freshies, The Undertones: The Undertones, The Freshies: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 13 October 1979
CASUALLY, NERVOUSLY, Manchester's newest wonderpoppers, The Freshies, hobble onto their first major venue stage. Chris Sievey tries hard to appear relaxed as he attempts to ...
Foreigner: The Other Mick Jones Interview
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 20 October 1979
SUPERMEGAPLATINUM SALES TECHNIQUE FOR BEGINNERS: FOREIGNER EDUCATE SANDY ROBERTSON ...
Penetration: Coitus Interruptus
Report and Interview by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 20 October 1979
THE DREAM is over. Penetration are breaking up. From the stage of the City Hail in Newcastle, the town where they played their first gig, ...
Richard Hell & the Voidoids: CBGBs, New York NY
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 20 October 1979
THEY SAY that Richard Hell is damaged, and it doesn't surprise me. After quitting the spartan discipline of Television, fans of rock's elite expected the ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 20 October 1979
JIMMY PURSEY talks about sex, Mod, the Pope, Christmas, Scum and stuff like that... GIOVANNI DADOMO listens and listens and listens and ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 October 1979
SKANKING AND BACON SANDWICHES WITH THE SELECTER BY GARRY BUSHELL ...
The Specials: Specials (2 Tone CDL TT5001)***
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 October 1979
Rudies in a rut ...
Whitesnake: You may not believe it, but... these men are bathing in innuendo
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 20 October 1979
PHIL SUTCLIFFE STRUTS LIKE A PEACOCK TOWARDS WHITESNAKE AND ASKS "ARE YOU A BUNCH OF LIBIDINOUS HALF-WITS?" ...
The Ruts: Tears On The Notepad
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 October 1979
EVEN FOR THE wacky, fun-loving RUTS there comes a time for serious reckoning, a time to pour it all out, a time for... ...
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 3 November 1979
IF YOU'RE expecting a low key, LA-id back show from Judie Tzuke in the same vein as her album then you're in for a surprise. ...
Girlschool: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's … Girlschool
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 3 November 1979
I MET GIRLSCHOOL in a pub called the Leather Bottle, which was appropriate because leather is what they wear and bottle is what they've got ...
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 3 November 1979
UP UNTIL now the idea of Samson has appealed to me much more than the actual music. I mean, this a band whose drummer dresses ...
Pat Benatar: In The Heat Of The Night (Chrysalis CHR 1236) ***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 November 1979
INVENTING YOUR own personality is one thing, having someone else do it for you is another ball game. ...
REO Speedwagon: After The Ninth Album You Don't Throw The TV Set Out Of The Window
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 10 November 1979
THE INEVITABLE PROCESS OF MATURITY AS EXPERIENCED BY REO SPEEDWAGON. SANDY ROBERTSON WRITES ...
Various Artists: Pebbles Vols. 1-4
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 10 November 1979
[To be read in a C&A Paisley shirt and matching tie, black lace-up school shoes and a pair of 16" cuff flared trousers re-cut from ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 November 1979
Breathe in that clean Swedish mountain air... and chew that high quality gum ...
Essential Logic: The Logical Song
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 November 1979
DAVE McCULLOUGH FINDS THE SPIRIT OF FIFTIES JAZZ ALIVE AND WELL IN DEEPEST ACTON ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 17 November 1979
HAIRCUTS, HAIRCUTS everywhere and 70p a drink. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island Ml) ***½
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 November 1979
NOT SO much a comeback as a c-c-c-comeback. Marianne Faithfull has restarted her career more times than Frank Sinatra's retired. ...
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 17 November 1979
CHEERFUL CHAP, TV Smith. Here we are convened together for the first time in a professional capacity, officially as some sort of obituarising process for ...
The Jam: Setting Sons (Polydor POLD 5028)****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 November 1979
THE WHO, why and where is of no concern here but someone once said of the Clash that they didn't want to become stars, they ...
Madness: Blue Beat and Pork Pies
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 November 1979
Not so much New Boots and Panties, more a case of...Blue Beat and Pork Pies. Britain in the grip of Madness. Report by Garry Bushell. ...
Motorhead, Saxon: City Hall, Newcastle
Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 24 November 1979
Beyond the wall of sound ...
Poison Girls: Old People Can Be Rebels Too: Poison Girls
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 November 1979
LOOK AT Poison Girls on stage and you see a straight line of straight faces, clothes all red and black in front of a red ...
Public Image Ltd.: Metal Box (Virgin)*****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 November 1979
PiLled to the gills ...
Pink Floyd: The Wall (EMI SHSP 4111)*
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 1 December 1979
There can only be one place to line up tax-exile millionaires who make concept albums about what a terrible hand life has dealt them... UP AGAINST ...
Robert Palmer: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 1 December 1979
A BIT trendy-poo's, y'know? ...
Samson: I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 1 December 1979
DON'T BRING YOUR PET GOLDFISH ANYWHERE NEAR SAMSON WARNS GEOFF BARTON ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: His Time Has Come
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 December 1979
THE STRAIGHT-looking I guy flipped open the leather case, revealing a row of gleaming bottles. "Liquid cocaine," he explained as he selected one of several ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam and the Ants: Dirk Wears White Sox (Do-It RIDE 3)**
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 December 1979
DIRK MAY well wear white sox but the berk, aka Adam the Grade 'A' ham, wears his pretentions on his sleeve with his hand in ...
George Jones: My Very Special Guests (Epic EPC 83163)***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 December 1979
BABY, THIS is the Star Wars of country music. Well, maybe not, but it sure makes for an arresting opening sentence and the concept's a ...
The Human League: Human League: The Humour League Have Not Broken Up
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Nor The Human League either. GIOVANNI DADOMO finds big laughs, upended bears and assorted cigars in Sheffield. ...
Pat Benatar: Wonder Woman meets ZZ Top
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 December 1979
The PAT BENATAR experience defined by SANDY ROBERTSON ...
Rachel Sweet: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 8 December 1979
THE RECENT transfiguration of Rachel Sweet into hard punchin' rock and roll chicklet series two may be causing the continent of her birth to curl ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Top skanking inna Lewisham ...
The Cure: Durham University, Durham
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Even the bad times are good ...
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Shrieks from the Grove ...
Scritti Politti: This week's literary headline... Turn Of The Scrits
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Scritti Politti are the Henry James of rock, says DAVE McCULLOUGH, THE JOURNALIST. ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 December 1979
Honesty goes out of control ...
The Clash: London Calling (CBS) **
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 15 December 1979
Give 'em enough rope... and watch 'em turn into the Rolling Stones ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 December 1979
Bleaking out is a very modern desire, reveals Phil Sutcliffe ...
The Jam: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 December 1979
Slap your back ...
The Police are the best reggae group in America
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 15 December 1979
A WHOLE NEW PERSPECTIVE ON JAMAICAN MUSIC BY SYLVIE SIMMONS ...
Throbbing Gristle: Mouthfuls of Gristle
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 December 1979
SANDY ROBERTSON goes to lunch with "the Velvets of a new age" ...
ZZ Top: Deguello (Warner Brothers HS 3361 import) ****
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 15 December 1979
AS A ONE-time Spanish A-level student, I find myself in the privileged position of being able to tell you that 'deguello' means 'slaughter' or 'butchery', ...
The Bodysnatchers: Invasion of The Bodysnatchers
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 22 December 1979
UNDER NORMAL circumstances, the only people paying attention at a band's fifth gig should be a few friends and the cousin who's been roped in ...
Splodgenessabounds, U2: U2, Idiot Dance: Bridge House; Splodgenessabounds: Woolich Tramshed, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 29 December 1979
Bottoms of the bill ...
Stevie Wonder: Hotter Than July
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 1980
IF THIS ALBUM had been issued between Fulfillingness First Finale and Songs In The Key Of Life I think I'd still have given it four ...
Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Laughter (Stiff)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, January 1980
I'M IN the mood for superlative hyperbole (oh – and love). I may have caught some flak from the Arts Page faction when in a ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Last American Hero
Essay by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 5 January 1980
MUST BE some new kind of drug or somethin', 'cos even a 16-year-old don't do a graveyard shift of four hours and then dance on ...
Holly & the Italians: Days of Future Pasta
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 January 1980
Mario: Look-a, Luigi, 'Da Sounds-a, 'e's a gotta recipe page-a! Luigi: Don't be a cretino. Mario. Thees is-a no recipe, is a Holly and ...
Kim Fowley: Snake Document Masquerade (Island ILPS 9572) **
Review by David Hepworth, Sounds, 5 January 1980
A personal harem of tasty tarts is not enough ...
The Mo-dettes: Mo-Dettes: Les Bains-Douches, Paris
Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 January 1980
Fun with girls in showers ...
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 5 January 1980
THE ROTUND gentleman sitting at the next table in this Leeds coffee bar demolishing his quadruple eggs, sausage, beans, chips and grease, is regaling us ...
Chaka Khan, Rufus: Rufus and Chaka Khan: Masterjam (MCA MCG4007) **½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 5 January 1980
CHAKA KHAN is known for the biggest mouth and the funkiest abdominal scar on the soul scene and what's more there was a time when ...
Au Pairs: The Au Pairs: Battle of the Sexes
Profile and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 January 1980
I REMEMBER I got a letter some time ago from Ali of Another Tuneless Racket fanzine from Scotland, in which the author questioned the reasoning ...
Chelsea, The Dickies: The Dickies, Chelsea: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 January 1980
Dickie Chavvy ...
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 5 January 1980
Love is like oxygen ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 12 January 1980
FROM WHERE I'm sitting Chris Stein looks like a chubbier version of Paul Foot, his tousled hair spilling over the thick black frames of his ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 12 January 1980
HOWCUM? ASKS SYLVIE SIMMONS ...
Fleetwood Mac: The Forum, Inglewood CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 12 January 1980
Tusk force ...
Gang of Four: Family Entertainment
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 12 January 1980
The Gang of Four expound a spot of dialectical materialism for PETE SILVERTON. ...
Japan: Quiet Life (Ariola AHAL 8010)****
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 January 1980
Glitter for industry ...
Dead Kennedys, Sham 69: Sham 69, Dead Kennedys: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 12 January 1980
SOME PEOPLE join a band to get out of the crowd. Jello Biafra, I'm convinced, joined the Dead Kennedys to guarantee a space in the ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 January 1980
LONDON CALLING? It hardly covers the situation. Every is-or-was punk fan in the country must be quietly slavering to see the Clash film and apprehensive ...
Sector 27, This Heat: This Heat, Sector 27: Ritzy Cinema, Brixton, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 January 1980
I DONT KNOW what This Heat's vision of an ideal setting for their singular brand of music would be but I'd guess the Brixton Ritzy ...
Profile and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 January 1980
LIKE HEY! What is going on around me? ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980
THE AWARD for the most improved band in Manchester must go to the rhythmic, pulsating, vibrating Certain Ratio. ...
Alicia Bridges: Play It As It Lays (Polydor Import)**
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 January 1980
THE CREDITS for this album run to twenty separate headings including a small army of sidemen and numerous listings in particular for Ms Bridges and ...
Blondie: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 January 1980
JUST LOOKING ...
Simple Minds: Not as simple as all that
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 19 January 1980
Simple Minds talk to DAVE ("we hoped it would someone nicer") McCULLOUGH ...
Dexys Midnight Runners, Geno Washington: The Dexedrine Gang: Dexy's Midnight Runners
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 January 1980
BY THE TIME I'd reached the counter, I'd forgotten it. "What was it again?" I called over to the Dexy's tables. They said "Five teas ...
The Fall: Manchester Polytechnic
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 January 1980
LET US all get together and cry for rock's little problem child. The Fall are a damn nuisance. They are continually prodding the music media, ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 January 1980
The money programme ...
The Pretenders: 'The Night I Played Top Of The Pops With No Underwear!'
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 January 1980
I CAN TELL you I was worried about this Pretenders thing. I thought they'd be too much for me – well, not so much 'they' ...
Annette Peacock: The Venue, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 February 1980
ANNETTE PEACOCK is a lovely enigma. Once in a while she emerges from obscurity to titillate her panting public with her possibilities and her perversities... ...
Cherie and Marie Currie, The Runaways: Cherie and Marie Currie: Messin' With The Boys (Capitol) **½
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 February 1980
"THEY" SAY that Capitol have got themselves in the position of having to blow a bunch of bucks on promoting this turkey if they want ...
Comment by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 February 1980
IT SEEMS, at the present at any rate, there's no escaping The Crass Phenomenon. The "alternative charts" (the accurate few at that!) see them emerging ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 February 1980
GARRY BUSHELL takes advantage of a brand new page logo to talk technical turkey with LEE 'KIX' THOMPSON and discovers that madness is a Selmer ...
Neil Diamond: September Morn (CBS)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 February 1980
THAT SLIGHT tremor in his voice tells you that Neil Diamond is emotional and vulnerable. Those bass notes tell you he's manly and he can ...
The Doctors of Madness, Richard Strange: Richard Strange: A Revox Doesn't Answer Back
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 2 February 1980
A Doctor Of Madness goes it alone. ...
Rockpile: Newcastle Polytechnic
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 2 February 1980
Piles of cheap beer and bingo ...
Splodgenessabounds: Help Stamp Out Splodgeness!
Profile by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 February 1980
MANY DISTRESSED Sounds readers have written to us about the alarming outbreaks of 'Splodgenessabounds' currently sweeping through lower class areas of South East London. This ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 2 February 1980
Despite the hit single 'Babe' Styx are still Pomp Rock Supremos, Claims Geoff Barton from the USA ...
The Beat: Electric Ballroom, London
Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 February 1980
Ranking dead stop ...
Flying Lizards: The Flying Lizards: The Flying Lizards (Virgin) **½
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 2 February 1980
SOME TIME ago, American journalist and alliterator Tom Wolfe wrote an essay, 'The Painted Word', on the world of post-war American painting. ...
The Revillos: Sunderland Polytechnic
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 2 February 1980
THE REVILLOS are the most superficial, trivial band I've ever seen. There, I've said it and I don't care (Thinks: what about the Dickies then, ...
The Sex Pistols: The Very Best Of
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 February 1980
THE PERFECT contradiction: The Japs offer such fine pressings, this album'll cost you about £9 if you want it…and I'm reviewing it as usual on ...
The Tubes: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 February 1980
A TUBES show without the props is a bit like the Royal Family without Princess Margaret: a lot of money for something expendably traditional without ...
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 February 1980
LIGHTERS COME on round the arena, a couple of firecrackers go off, then on strides Petty with his rockstar lope, leans into the microphone with ...
Mikey Dread: Who's The Man Plays Dubwise Selection Without Objection? Mikey Dread, Of Course
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 2 February 1980
MICHAEL CAMPBELL is a man of many parts. Producer of numerous dub, toasting and vocal sides he has also worked for such luminaries as King ...
A Certain Ratio: The Graveyard And The Ballroom (Factory) ****
Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980
A CERTAIN Ratio (currently the hippest combo in Manchester) typify the approach, style, feel, and idealism of Factory Records. They are distant, difficult to touch ...
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 9 February 1980
The way I heard it, at the panty-creaming peak of his career, Al Green was so drunk on the cortical rush of his fame and ...
Buggles: The Age Of Plastic (Island) **
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 9 February 1980
THE BASTARDISATION of "new music" continues! From Numan to New Musik they dress up their pop pulp with synthetics and call it futuristic; now The ...
Expressos: Hope And Anchor, London
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 9 February 1980
FIRST IMPRESSIONS are sometimes lasting impressions: first look at Roz Rayner, leading Expresso, would suggest an appearance not unadjacent to one Chrissie Hynde – second ...
Iggy Pop, The Psychedelic Furs: Iggy Pop/Psychedelic Furs: Friars, Aylesbury
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 February 1980
THREE BANDS shaped up as good value but that wasn't all. There was an unannounced surprise star guest – all the way from Vegas let's ...
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 9 February 1980
Plenty good posin' ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 February 1980
YOU NEED a publicist? Look no further than Dean Klevatt, a young man who makes Phineas T Barnum himself look like a shrinking violet. ...
Sparks: Terminal Jive (Virgin) **
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 9 February 1980
D.I.S.C.O. HOW many of you recoil in horror at the word? Are you one of the legion of Sounds readers who would venomously denounce it ...
The Mekons: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 9 February 1980
I COULDN'T believe my eyes. ...
The Mo-dettes: The Bridge House, Canning Town, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 February 1980
THE TYPE of people who write about The Mo-Dettes in the music mess (and wrap them up in their own self-conscious hypes and silly self-deceits) ...
The Selecter: Too Much Pressure (2 Tone TT5002)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 February 1980
FIRST TIME I heard 'Three Minute Hero' I was convinced it was gonna be the single to bust the 2-Tone flush. Third time I heard ...
The Sex Pistols: Flogging A Dead Horse (Virgin V2142)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 February 1980
THIS RECORD gets no stars at all 'cos it's totally worthless, all the tracks included are still readily available elsewhere, Pistols fans will have them ...
The Skids: Richard Jobson Goes Over The Wall
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 9 February 1980
THE TAXI-Driver left us nervously on the street where Checkpoint Charlie straddles East and West Berlin in a row of ragged, low-key huts and buildings ...
The Sports: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 9 February 1980
LITTLE RIVER Band, Livvy Newton-John, Sherbet. Is it really any wonder people think that Australian rock is something kangaroos jump over (or in the case ...
Alex Chilton: Like Flies On Sherbert (Aura) ****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 23 February 1980
ABSOLUTELY ONE of a kind, because, while archivists insist they wish that Jimbo was still here or that Syd would make another album, Alex Chilton ...
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 23 February 1980
Shattered Dolls ...
Iggy Pop: I Can't Stand to be Alone
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 23 February 1980
TO OPEN A DOOR and find Iggy Pop behind it is like opening a well shaken-up can of lager unawares. ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 23 February 1980
HEAVY METAL has been around for as long as I can remember. It grew from the blues and just never died despite years of cold ...
Linda Ronstadt: Mad Love (Asylum) *
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 23 February 1980
ROBERTSON DIDN'T want to do it. He'd reviewed the last eighty-five Linda Ronstadt albums or some such totally dubious excuse he made up on the ...
Madness: When The Screaming Had To Start
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 23 February 1980
"'ERE, SUGGSY...'Ere, Suggs." ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Who Was That Masked Man?
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 23 February 1980
SOMETHING GARDENS the place was called. Gardens? At a conservative estimate not so much as a blade of grass had dared to peep above ground ...
Pink Floyd: Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 23 February 1980
WELL IT figures, doesn't it? ...
Rick Derringer: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 23 February 1980
RICK DERRINGER, walking away with both the Alvin Lee Memorial Award and the Suzi Quatro lookalike rosette, played a set at The Roxy that shook ...
UK Subs: Live Kicks (Stiff) **
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 23 February 1980
POGO? I thought I'd never start. ...
Cockney Rejects: Greatest Hits Vol 1
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 1 March 1980
WHEN I first met Micky Geggus and Stinky Turner and heard their tape I knew there was something about it and them that said they ...
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 1 March 1980
THE LEPPARDS CAUGHT IN AN A'N'R INDUSTRY STRANGLEHOLD. WILL THEY BE THROTTLED? ASKS GEOFF BARTON ...
A Certain Ratio, Joy Division: Joy Division, A Certain Ratio: Osbourne Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 1 March 1980
TO THE centre of the city in the night waiting for Joy Division. ...
Martha and The Muffins: Greetings From Echo Beach
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 1 March 1980
THE TECHNIQUE is worn but fairly efficient. A pop music group assembles, shapes up, plays gigs, acquires some sort of following, signs with a record ...
Martha and the Muffins: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 1 March 1980
ON THE strength of just one single, Martha And The Muffins have had the usual, obvious names thrown at them as influences: B52s, XTC, Blondie, ...
Prince Buster: Fabulous Greatest Hits (Melodisc) ****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 1 March 1980
1966 BEING 1966, a couple of light and bitters in the Sussex (a good two years underage) was the strongest refreshment to hand. Weed was ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: The Psychedelic Furs (CBS 84084)***¾
Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 1 March 1980
So fur so good ...
Stiff Little Fingers: Nobody's Heroes (Chrysalis) ***
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 1 March 1980
ONCE YOU adjust to the crappy cover and the initial sense of anti-climax you realise this is mostly an alright album, although it's frustrating and ...
Stiff Little Fingers: The Voice Squad
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 1 March 1980
'WE'RE GONNA BLOW UP IN THEIR FACE' ...
The Bodysnatchers, The Ruts, The Selecter: The Selecter/The Bodysnatchers: Live Injection
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 1 March 1980
ROCK HAD started to get very boring again. Very self-important and pompous. Old concepts were rearing up on young shoulders with bands raiding Pink Floyd ...
The Specials: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 1 March 1980
WE GOT to hear the second – the best – half of the show twice. The first time sardined in the long line outside the ...
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Pier Pavilion, Hastings
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 15 March 1980
I can't stand up for long enough to finish the show ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rossington Collins Band: Lynyrd Skynyrd: If I Leave Here Tomorrow
Retrospective by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 15 March 1980
Dear Everyone,I would like to say how shocked and sorry I am at the deaths of Steve, Cassie and Ronnie. I know how it must ...
Pete Frame: The Man Behind the Trees
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 15 March 1980
FIRST, I suppose, I should declare an interest. I get thanked for my help three times in Pete Frame's Rock Family Trees (Omnibus £3.95) and ...
Chic, Sister Sledge: Sister Sledge: Love Somebody Today (Cotillion K506639)****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 March 1980
STRANGE ONES, to be sure, are the disco misfits that emerge from (ahem) the Chic Organisation Ltd, aka plain ole Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, ...
The Knack: …But The Little Girls Understand
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 March 1980
IT'D ALMOST be a relief to be able to say that this second Knack album is a stinker and a sure-fire failure, because then I ...
The Specials: Rude Boys Can't Fail
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 15 March 1980
THEY DON'T muck about, the Yanks. These buildings go all the way up like the architect was getting paid by the cubic foot although exactly ...
The Vibrators live in Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 15 March 1980
BACK WHEN the world was young, punk was an expression of individuality, rather than a life style followed by those who feel so insecure that ...
Fabulous Thunderbirds: Thunderbirds Are Go!
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 March 1980
"I'M REALLY good at this kind of thing." said Kim Wilson. "Broken hearts or broken legs, they're all the same to me." He jabbed a ...
Warren Zevon: Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School (Asylum) and Wanted Dead Or Alive (Pickwick)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 15 March 1980
IF YOU'VE been scanning this paper long enough you'll know that Warren Zevon's last album, Excitable Boy, got a snazzola review in same. That was ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 15 March 1980
IT'S HARD to know what to make of little Eric. I'm glad he's there but I'm not sure why. I keep getting this tantalising feeling ...
ZZ Top: Long Beach Arena, California
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 15 March 1980
ALMOST THREE years ago ZZ Top became ZZ Stop, pensioned off the steers and circus animals Texas-style that went with their live performances and went ...
Elvis Costello: The Elvis Enigma
Profile by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 22 March 1980
WHEN I HEARD the first Elvis Costello single, 'Less Than Zero', I figured it was Stiff's mainstay of the time, Nick Lowe, having a bit ...
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 22 March 1980
NAPA HOSPITAL, Californian mental institution, the half-way ward. Lux Interior is reminiscing. ...
Phil Lynott: Phillip Lynott: Solo In Soho (Vertigo 9102038)
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, April 1980
Black and Irish is beautiful ...
Bad Manners: Bad Manners (Magnet) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 April 1980
OH DOCTOR I'm in trouble (well goodness gracious me), not only have I forgotten the rest of the words to the Peter Sellers/Sophia Loren teen ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 April 1980
From the vaults ...
Genesis: Duke (Charisma CBR 101)
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 5 April 1980
Power pomp supremos ...
Genesis: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 5 April 1980
More tricks from the wardrobe ...
Iron Maiden: Iron Maiden (EMI EMC 3330)****½
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 5 April 1980
ULP — I can hear them now, sickening snaps echoing throughout the land as HM fans suddenly stop in mid headshake. Ugh, yeah — I ...
Kevin Coyne: Bursting Bubbles (Virgin)
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 5 April 1980
WHATEVER ELSE it might be, Kevin Coyne's universe is not a comfortable one. ...
Madness: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 5 April 1980
Prince Buster cracks LA at last ...
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 5 April 1980
THIS ONE can talk. He'll talk abut anything you care to mention or that wanders into his apres-gig mind, be it his bisexual pedigree dog, ...
Penetration: Going Underground
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 5 April 1980
SO YOU'RE learning to write music, Pauline – how's it done then? ...
Medium Medium, Prince Far I: Prince Far I, Medium Medium: Rock Garden, Middlesbrough
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 April 1980
Prince Far I 'a joke' claim ...
The Psychedelic Furs: Psychedelic Furs: Rock Garden, Middlesbrough
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 April 1980
A bad trip, man ...
Rush: The Moustache That Conquered The World
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 5 April 1980
SOMEWHERE in America in that black hole known as the Midwest, little bands are slogging their balls off to become big bands, and big bands ...
Slaughter and the Dogs: Slaughter: Get Ready To Do Ruck Steady
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 April 1980
THREE MONTHS into the weighty Eighties and pop paper medics decide it's time for Slaughter's funeral. ...
The Jam: Civic Theater, Santa Monica
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 5 April 1980
HERE IN peanut butter land they call jam jelly and it's transparent, slick and insubstantial, easily assimilated sweetness. Maybe that's why The Jam are having ...
The Stranglers: Cocky Saint Jacques
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 April 1980
THE BEST-KNOWN bassist in Britain squats on a table in a part-converted warehouse not a beet's throw from London Bridge, unmistakably himself: the saggy black ...
UK Subs: Brand New Age (GEM)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 April 1980
WHEN I was at school we used to have a big fat Scottish Geography teacher who was forever clotting you round the head and saying ...
Van Halen: Women And Children First (Warners) *****
Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 5 April 1980
VAM! BLAM! KAPOW! SPLAT! ...
Laurel Aitken, Spartacus R: Laurel Aitken, Spartacus: The Venue, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 April 1980
THIS CONCERT was billed as a comeback but it proved to be a travesty. Poor old Laurel Aitken. He was the original ska king back ...
Paul Young, Q Tips: Q Tips: Soul Survivors
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 12 April 1980
Q-TIPS, THE masterly new soul band now warming the airwaves with Joe Tex's 'SYSLJFM', were found on the wreckage of success - and you do ...
Sammy Hagar: Muscle of Love (A physical education lesson from San Francisco)
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 12 April 1980
STILL FIT TO BOOGIE? SAMMY HAGAR IS, GEOFF BARTON (WORDS) AND ROSS HALFIN (PIX) AREN'T ...
Sledgehammer: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 12 April 1980
SUGAR RAY Leonard, undefeated welterweight champion of the world, would seem to be the perfect metaphorical embodiment of the music I like best. As no-nonsense ...
The Go-Go's: Ready Steady Go-Go's
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 12 April 1980
GO-GO'S: 1. Bouncing entertainment; choreographed Happy Pill; females showing a hell of a lot for little reward. 2. Hollywood pink-punk band; all of the above ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 April 1980
The Undertones backlash starts here. Well, not really. But Dave McCullough is worried... ...
B.B. King: B B King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 April 1980
THE QUALITY of B. B. King is not strained, it droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven...and I only wish Bill Shakespeare (what a fine ...
Fatal Microbes, Honey Bane: Fatal Microbes: Femme Fatale
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 April 1980
A BOOZER IN beautiful down-town Stepney is the rendezvous and despite London Transport I manage to arrive at the right time on the right day ...
The Beach Boys: The Life of Brian
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 April 1980
'Strange Gods arrive in fast enemy poses' – Jim Morrison ...
Beat, The (U.S.): The Beat (US): Beating For Pleasure
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 19 April 1980
THE KNACK without the goofball, Tom Petty without the peroxide and angst, the Beatles without the suffix. ...
The Members: 1980 — The Choice Is Yours (Virgin)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 April 1980
Members 'not has-beens' debate ...
UB40: The Russell Club, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 19 April 1980
HOPEFULLY, UB40 will help English reggae slip sneakily back into its true direction. The effects of the past 12 months of 2 Toned overkill are ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 April 1980
Four horsemen of the apocalypse ...
The Bodysnatchers: Ruder Than The Rest
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 26 April 1980
GARRY BUSHELL VERSUS THE BODYSNATCHERS ...
The Pop Group, The Slits: World of our own: The unshackling of the Slits and the Pop Group
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 26 April 1980
THE SLITS AND the Pop Group have been in this world for some time now. ...
Lou Reed: Growing Up In Public (Arista)***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 3 May 1980
THIS BUGGER don't give up, and, like poseurs of antiquity, rumours of his death have been greatly exaggerated. ...
Fist, Mythra, Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang, White Spirit: Are You Ready For The NENWOBHM?
Report and Interview by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 17 May 1980
In other words, the North East New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. IAN RAVENDALE reports from Wallsend, matrix of metal mayhem (it says here) with ...
Bram Tchaikovsky: The Russians Are Coming (Radar)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 May 1980
SOMETIMES YOU open your mouth, but not a word emerges. Sometimes there's very little to talk about anyway. ...
Devo: Freedom Of Choice (Virgin)
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 17 May 1980
BACK IN the heady days of late '78, when the UK was brimming over with Devo-tees, Gerald V Casale, lead Devo, suggested that certain elitist ...
Joan Armatrading: Me Myself I (A&M)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 May 1980
JUST TO put new readers of my ongoing review of Joan Armatrading's work in the picture I should mention that I rather like this lady. ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 May 1980
THE NON-DEVOTO MAGAZINE STORY. CONFUSED? YOU WILL BE AFTER READING DAVE McCULLOUGH'S INTERVIEW ...
Paul McCartney: McCartney II (Parlophone)****
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 17 May 1980
MUCH AS I bless and honour the name of Paul McCartney, I haven't wholly enjoyed an album he's been involved with since McCartney and Ram ...
Young Marble Giants: Let's Hear It For Quiet Music
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 May 1980
Young Marble Giants come down off their pedestal to talk with DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Bauhaus: University of Surrey, Guildford
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 May 1980
TAKE RISKS and you win some and you lose more than you would if you didn't. Bauhaus declared their intentions with the title of their ...
Black Sabbath, Girlschool: Black Sabbath/Girlschool: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1980
THE SABS are back. And after a series of false starts to their British tour due to drummer Bill Ward contracting viral pneumonia they are ...
Eddie Cochran: 20th Anniversary Album (Liberty)**
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 May 1980
PHIL SPECTOR, for one, is of the opinion that Colonel Parker used to hypnotise Elvis into singing rhinoceros shit like 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Girls ...
New Musik: Doom Disguised as Jollity
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 24 May 1980
NEW MUSIK are not avant garde, Mancunian, Liverpudlian, hip or trendy. What they currently are and what many of those Mancunians and Liverpudlians must desire ...
Public Image Ltd.: PiL in Hollywood
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 24 May 1980
HUDDLED ROUND the side with a crowd of disco dancers waiting for their fifteen minutes of fame, watching a fake Doobie Brothers run through their ...
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 24 May 1980
...AND WATCH THE SEASIDE PIER SHAKING. GEOFF BARTON REPORTS AS SAXON STORM THE DISNEYLAND SHOWBAR, COLWYN BAY (YES, REALLY). ...
John Cooper Clarke: The Bard Of Beasley Street At The Seat Of Learning
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 May 1980
THE OXFORD University Union porter peered at us fish-eyed. "Are you members?" he said. "Er, no - we're with the poet." ...
The Beat: I Just Can't Stop It (Go Feet)****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 24 May 1980
A JOURNALIST of this periodical on being asked if he fancied interviewing the Beat remarked that, although he'd nothing against the idea in principle, he'd ...
The Cure: Seventeen Seconds (Fiction) ****½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 24 May 1980
REALLY HANDY for you isn't it, reviewing an album a month after release when it's already up to 20 in the charts? Sorry. Don't blame ...
The Human League: Travelogue (Virgin V2160) ***
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 May 1980
Paradoxes in industry chic ...
Orchids, The (US): The Orchids: The Orchids (MCA)****
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 24 May 1980
SO YOU thought The Orchids were a blooming figment of Sandy Fowley's imagination, huh? Perish the idea. They're not just cheesecake; they don't pursue the ...
The Spectres: Ghosts Of Sex Pistols In New Groups
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 24 May 1980
SINCE THE powers behind The Sex Pistols admitted it was all a wind-up anyway, the components of the group have had little success at coming ...
The Surf Punks: Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Back In The Water
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 24 May 1980
"Girls under 15 are not ready for me...over 18 they're looking to move in with a guy." ...
The Plasmatics: Beat To The Meat: The Plasmatics
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 31 May 1980
"You loved the Huns. You raved over the Vandals. You marveled at the Goths. You will SHIT when you see the Plasmatics." ...
Joy Division: Ian Curtis: The short goodbye....
Comment by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 31 May 1980
The last JOY DIVISION feature ...
Graham Parker And The Rumour: The Up Escalator
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, June 1980
THIS IS one of the best albums I've ever heard. It's so good that professional priorities went out the window and before I sat down ...
Girlschool: Girls At Their Best
Report by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 7 June 1980
THESE SCHOOL-TYPES WILL MAKE THE ORCHIDS WILT, SEZ PETE MAKOWSKI ...
Judge Dread: Music Machine, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 June 1980
WAS A TIME eight years ago when Judge Dread could sell a million singles and shock the snobby self-appointed guardians of public morals with the ...
Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel (Charisma)
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 7 June 1980
YOU COULDN'T call Peter Gabriel prolific. And neither of his solo albums so far have lived up to expectations, mainly because the ideas and the ...
The Beat: Off The Beaten Track
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 7 June 1980
Dave McCullough suddenly discovers unexpected subtleties, lurking within 'the tatty tinkle of rude boy muzak'. And not because he's just found out that the Beat ...
Toyah Wilcox: Toyah Willcox: The Blue Meaning (Safari)***1/2
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 June 1980
IN TERMS of energy input and output Toyah Willcox probably gives and takes more before breakfast on a slow morning than you or I in ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 June 1980
NO DISRESPECT to Dave 'half-a-shandy' McCullough but, myself, I get no pleasure from records that sound like tin baths falling down coal chutes. Witless soul ...
UK Subs: The Masters Of Pure Pogomatic Power Pound On (Part 86).
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 7 June 1980
NO DISRESPECT to Dave 'half-a-shandy' McCullough but, myself, I get no pleasure from records that sound like tin baths falling down coal chutes. Witless soul ...
Peter Gabriel: Mr. Clean: Peter Gabriel
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 14 June 1980
PETER GABRIEL was a little flustered. He is both a well-mannered and considerate man. He doesn't like to keep you waiting and possibly give the ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 21 June 1980
Guest list grotesquerie ...
Spizz: Athletico Spizz 80: Back Into The Future
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 28 June 1980
IN VOGUE BUT OUTDATED 'ATHLETICO SPIZZ 80 ARE THE NEW BORING OLD FARTS' — A SHOCK CLAIM FROM DAVE McCULLOUGH ...
Fleetwood Mac: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 June 1980
CROWDS, HOWEVER passive, make me unhappy. As Eli Wallach said on TV (The Magnificent Seven) last Sunday afternoon, "If God didn't want them to be ...
The Police: Crisis of Identity
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 28 June 1980
SOMETHING CAUGHT the corner of my vision, I spun round and there was Superman bounding straight towards the window and alighting on the sill with ...
Klark Kent, The Police: The Police: Crisis of Identity
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 28 June 1980
WHO WAS THAT MASKED MAN? KLARK KENT, STEWART COPELAND AND PHIL SUTCLIFFE REVEAL ALL (NEARLY) ...
The Rolling Stones: Emotional Rescue (Rolling Stones)****
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 28 June 1980
"IMAGE IS so important to rock stars. Mick Jagger is the rock star with the longest running image. He's the one all the young white ...
The Romantics: Detroit's Answer To The Ramones
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 June 1980
SANDY ROBERTSON distills the essence of THE ROMANTICS and avoids dodgy boilers ...
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 28 June 1980
THUNDER SPREADS across the weathered visage of Selecter's dumpling coach driver Tennessee Roman Reynolds. He thumps the breakfast table like he's an SPG man working ...
Van Halen: New Boots and (Stretch) Panties
Report and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 28 June 1980
GEOFF BARTON encounters the metal might of VAN HALEN and becomes a victim of the furry ...
Willie Nile: What Would You Do If You Got Rich?
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 June 1980
NEW YORK. The Bowery is a Hell's Angel being shot in the ass by an off-duty cop he's just tried to strangle. The Bowery is ...
X: Beyond the Valley of the Doors
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 28 June 1980
HOLLYWOOD PUNK. Sounds about as real and desirable as cocktail-lounge muzak. If there's anything genuine or worthwhile in there it certainly isn't easy to find. ...
Cockney Rejects: Have They Bitten Off More Than They Can Chew?
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 July 1980
"THIS IS A once in a generation band. The sort of band who'll either be massive in eighteen months or dead or both." ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Mayfair, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 5 July 1980
Ram Jam repercussions ...
Echo & the Bunnymen: Bunnymen in a Handbag Factory — Crocodiles 1; Bunnymen: 0
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 July 1980
Dave McCullough doesn't fret as E & The B's go AoR ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 5 July 1980
THE CLOSE QUARTERS in Nashville Tennessee claims to be America's only rock and roll hotel. Bar's open day and night, drugs no problem, you can ...
Aerosmith, Joe Perry: Joe Perry: I've Done It All
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 5 July 1980
'I've been through millions of dollars I've wrecked expensive cars. I've done it all!' ...
Mink DeVille: The Venue, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 5 July 1980
"FROM THE streets of New York City..." went the opening announcement, and Willy DeVille's new crew kicked off their late-starting second show of the evening ...
Peter and the Test Tube Babies: Peter & the Test Tube Babies: Beano Bop Beano Bop Beano Bop
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 July 1980
The inexorable tide of Punk Pathetique sweeps GARRY 'Beano Boy' BUSHELL to Brighton, home of Peter And The Test Tube Babies... ...
Suicide: Suicide As A Way Of Life
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 5 July 1980
"I THINK," breathes the camp dwarf in the sweatshirt and stubble, "that people should only write songs about economics and sex, because that's all everybody's ...
Q Tips, Tenpole Tudor: Tenpole Tudor: Thomas A' Beckett; Q-Tips: Marquee, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 July 1980
The pathetique symphony ...
The Motels: Careful (Capitol) ***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 5 July 1980
IF YOU'RE a Motels fan don't get mad at me, just take it as an indication of the way interest has rapidly curved away from ...
The Subway Sect, Vic Godard: Vic Godard: Young Existentialist
Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, 5 July 1980
VIC GODARD makes Feargal Sharkey look like Gene Simmons. His normality is outrageous. When Vic Godard sits in his bedroom listening to Peter Skellern on ...
The Jam: The Making of The Jam: The Men Behind The Scenes
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 19 July 1980
THE JAM: it's a family affair. A family of blood and/or loyalty, stick-together adhesion and sense of common purpose you might expect to come ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 July 1980
IN THE STRANGE WAY it has at certain phases of your life, time is running backwards for Joan Armatrading. She's growing younger. To prove it ...
Delta 5: The Delta Of Venus: Delta 5
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 2 August 1980
"DEL-TA-5! DEL-TA-5!" is good to chant. It feels as good as "Up-Starts! Up-starts!" or "A-C-D-C! A-C-D-C!" What might surprise you is that Delta 5 — ...
Girlschool: Back to Schooldays
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 9 August 1980
Pete Makowski deciphers the scrawl in his exercise book. Mike Laye makes with the paints, crayons and Box Brownie ...
Split Enz: True Colours (A&M) ***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 August 1980
THE NAME might just ring a bell. Split Enz, the most unlikely musical product of the Antipodes (taking it that Duffo has nothing to do ...
Split Enz: True Colours (A&M) ***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 August 1980
THE NAME might just ring a bell. Split Enz, the most unlikely musical product of the Antipodes (taking it that Duffo has nothing to do ...
Ted Nugent: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 9 August 1980
Going, going, Gonz ...
Killing Joke: That Primitive Feeling: Killing Joke
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 August 1980
I MET KILLING Joke in one of the hellhole dressing-rooms at the Music Machine. I introduced myself to various people who weren't in the band ...
The Exploited: I Still Believe In Anarchy
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 August 1980
SOMETIMES I wish my mind and body were under the same management. Anyone with half an eye on the dictates of fashion and media double-think ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 August 1980
POINTLESS, PERHAPS so late as to be irrelevant, maybe. An opportunity missed, certainly. No Fun is all these things, I guess, but it does provide ...
American Spring, The Surf Punks: The Surf Punks; American Spring: The Starwood, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 9 August 1980
AMERICAN SPRING – Brian Wilson's wife Marilyn and various in-laws – came out from under a pebble after five years of seclusion, threatening to become ...
Pink Floyd: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 16 August 1980
The grandiose dream of a paranoid millionaire... ...
Samson: The Sound of Silent Thunder
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 16 August 1980
Why did Samson's drummer decline to speak to Sounds? Was it because Deaf Barton had mislaid his hearing aid and he was afraid of being ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 16 August 1980
AT THE risk of getting into a this week's big thing situation, I've got this feeling in my bones that Tenpole Tudor are gonna be ...
The Durutti Column: Columnar Collusions
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 August 1980
DURUTTI FRUTTI, THE DAVE McCULLOUGH FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH ...
The Kinks: One For The Road (Arista)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 16 August 1980
THE KINKS' dilemma is one I'll take in preference to the one that concerns the Who, if only because leader Ray Davies isn't given to ...
The Professionals: Diary Of A Man Who Likes To Stay In
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 16 August 1980
THE PROFESSIONALS' debut single 'Just Another Dream' is about twenty bus stops down the road from 'Anarchy In The UK' if you're using words like ...
Kate Bush: Passion Always Wins
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 30 August 1980
WHAT THEY say about Kate Bush is that she’s a lisping innocent, a born-with-a-silver-spoon, a too-good-to-be-true, a safe and uncontroversial, soppy, record industry banker. ...
Spandau Ballet: The New Romantics — a Manifesto for the Eighties
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 13 September 1980
"INITIALLY 'mod' meant a very small group of young working class boys who, at the height of the trad boom formed a small, totally committed ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 20 September 1980
I'M HERE to testify they've done it! Gone back, right along the de-evolutionary scale, down to the Bill and Ben stage. What an achievement! Five ...
Pere Ubu: "We wanna beat the art rap"
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 20 September 1980
David Thomas and Mayo Thompson tell DAVE McCULLOUGH: "We're not weird/bleak/gloomy etc" and also give him the name of an excellent tailor ...
The Piranhas: The Piranhas (Sire)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 September 1980
I HATE to say I told you so but I TOLD YOU SO, you sick toerags. The Piranhas are dead, they said. They've missed the ...
The Specials: More Specials (2-Tone)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 September 1980
TO BET or not to bet, that is the question. Whether it be nobler to sit pretty with a winning formula or take a gamble ...
Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Ozz: City Hall, Newcastle
Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 27 September 1980
Old dog fails to learn new tricks ...
UB40: Smiling Faces, Angry Words: The UB40 Paradox
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 27 September 1980
THE UB40 TEAM met in a caff, the Wimpy opposite their office in central Brimingham. In fact Ali, Robin and Brian had arrived ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 11 October 1980
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN once said simply this: "I want it all." I've taken it out of context but, judging by the recent Dave Marsh biography, it ...
Motorhead: Ace Of Spades (Bronze)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 25 October 1980
BUZZARDS CIRCLE high above the heads of the three outlaws standing silently waiting far out in the arid badlands of New Mexico. Suddenly, the tranquility ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Techno Conservationists
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 25 October 1980
Dave McCullough bumps into Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark ...
Talking Heads: Remain In Light
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 25 October 1980
WELL ALRIGHT, I may never be going back to my old school, but I remember a saying they had out in the yard that's one ...
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, November 1980
THE ARBITRARINESS, the inconsistencies of rock tend to help arid hinder, but more hinder a band such as The Sound. It makes some look at ...
James "Blood" Ulmer: James Blood Ulmer: Are You Glad To Be In America? (Rough Trade Rough 16)
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 8 November 1980
BEING IRISH, I'll answer James Blood's question with another question. Can you still listen to music the way you should listen to music? Or even ...
The Beat, Talking Heads: Talking Heads and The Beat at the Greek Theater Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 8 November 1980
THIS WAS no mere toe-tapper. We're talking worn shoe-leather tonight, holes in the soles and corns on the toes, sore feet in a venue more ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 22 November 1980
A meal on wheels... and it's finger-lickin' good, sez PHIL SUTCLIFFE ...
Aretha Franklin: At the Victoria Apollo
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 29 November 1980
PREJUDICES ON THE TABLE: I think Aretha Franklin has the most stirring, moving voice I've every heard, but I'm much less sure about the use ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 6 December 1980
THE MINUTE I walked in the joint, I could see he was a man of distinction, a real big spender... king of the nighttime jungle, ...
XTC: Slaving For The Yankee Dollar
Report and Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 20 December 1980
FUNNY HOW life is. Guess who Elvis Presley, Bonzo and Ian Curtis are expecting for Christmas? You know the answer. Yet he and the other ...
Aztec Camera.....After The Fall
Report and Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 3 January 1981
FLICKING THROUGH the yellow faded pages of a 1913 storybook entitled Happy Rhymes And Funny Times, you come to a page with a picture of ...
Pylon, The Soft Boys: Pylon, Soft Boys: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 10 January 1981
THE SPORTING SBs stepped down for Pylon, Athenians from Georgia, after their Music Machine extravaganza was blown out by a freak fire. Best described by ...
The Stranglers: Well They Said Anything Could Happen...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 10 January 1981
Duff equipment, Close Encounters and bog-wall poetry… The Stranglers in America ...
Tygers of Pan Tang: Tygers, Tygers, Burning Bright
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 10 January 1981
The TOPT are even better with new singer JOHN DEVERIL, claims PHIL SUTCLIFFE ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 17 January 1981
THIS IS getting ridiculous. I'll have to do a heavy metal band soon. You mean you don't even drink? Jon Lawrence said No with a ...
Generation X: Gen X: Kiss Me Deadly (Chrysalis CHR 1327) ****
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 17 January 1981
A young girl's fancy ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 17 January 1981
Let there be ruck ...
The Polecats: Polecats: Odour-Free
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 January 1981
Sandy Robertson says Stray Who ...
Sheena Easton: Take My Time (EMI EMC 33 54) *
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 17 January 1981
Pipe and slippers at the ready ...
Basement 5: 1965-1980 (Island ILPS 9641) **
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 January 1981
This album degrades women ...
Elvis Costello And The Attractions: Trust (F-Beat)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 24 January 1981
All trussed up (and nowhere to go) ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 24 January 1981
...once again we bring together the finest minds of our generation. This week: New Punk/Skin music. Refereed by GARRY BUSHELL ...
The Passions: (Suddenly) Everybody Needs Passions... but don't mention the German film star
Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 31 January 1981
The Passions are in love with themselves. With each other. (For a week, at least.) ...
Depeche Mode: This Year's Mode(l)
Profile and Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 31 January 1981
DISPEL FROM your minds the untenable notion that Futurists are either bored Mummy's boys tinkering with expensive gadgets or desperately earnest avant-garde merchants trying to ...
Felt: The Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 31 January 1981
RATHER FRAGILE and stark, Felt played the Moonlight as support to some Godforsaken lacquery crew named Modern English and most of the time looked distinctly ...
Splodgenessabounds: Woolwich Tramshed, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 31 January 1981
The Splodge is dead, long live the Splodge ...
The Fall: The Prestwich Horror And Other Strange Stories
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 January 1981
Mark Smith of The Fall discloses fragments of the "Totale Mythos" to Edwin Pouncey. ...
Elvis Costello, Squeeze: Sports Arena, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 February 1981
The feeding of the 15,000 ...
Report and Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 7 February 1981
Go vest, young man. In the studio with Spandau Ballet ...
The Plasmatics: Confessions of a Ballbuster
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 February 1981
THE AMPLIFIERS are screaming. Well wouldn't you be? Ritchie Stotts in Playboy bunny garb has just mountaineered them; Wendy O Williams in shaving foam that ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 14 February 1981
A LOT OF people rabbit on about a punk "legacy" but they just don't seem capable of realising that Punk ain't and could never be ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 14 February 1981
Betty Page meets Landscape's Richard Burgess, computer man behind Spandau Ballet, Visage and Shock ...
Department S: "We're not just a bunch of silly cults..."
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 21 February 1981
...at least we think that's what they said. DEPARTMENT S get cocky with BETTY PAGE. ...
Dollar: The Paris Collection (WEA K58246) ****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 21 February 1981
Dollar duo in 'Cabaret Voltaire influence' shock claim ...
Profile and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 21 February 1981
IF AMERICAN TV ever decides to produce low-budget rock 'n' roll sitcoms, they could well cast Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey as The Odd Couple. ...
The Subterraneans: Tunnel vision
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 21 February 1981
Sandy Robertson goes to ground with The Subterraneans ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 28 February 1981
Chaos is the rule ...
Cockney Rejects: Have the Rejects dumped Oi for HM?
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 28 February 1981
Garry Bushell in the troubled waters of London's punk/metal crossover ...
Elvis Costello: Elvis goes eyebrow
Report by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 28 February 1981
Mr Costello and a high class chatshow confrontation witnessed by Sylvie Simmons ...
Spandau Ballet: Journeys To Glory (Chrysalis/Reformation CHR 1331) *****
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 28 February 1981
The men of my dreams ...
Warren Zevon: Hollywood's Prince of Darkness
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 28 February 1981
I SHOULD'VE known better with an excitable boy like him. "You misjudge my sense of humour," said Warren Zevon, carefully disarming me of my .44 ...
Brian Eno, Talking Heads: Eno: The Life of Brian in the Bush of Ghosts
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 7 March 1981
BRIAN ENO, currently working on two new albums, is many things to a lot of men. ...
The Human League: Human League: Half A League Onward
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 7 March 1981
NEVER BEFORE in the annals of male/female relations, in the ongoing man/woman battleground, has there been such a spicy love/hate scenario as in the new ...
Duran Duran: Sundown Club, London
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 21 March 1981
Duranosaurus rocks ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 21 March 1981
MARC ALMOND has never quite been able to live down our scathing pic caption which accompanied the review of the landmark Some Bizzare Album. ...
The Pretenders: Pretending To Be Different
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 21 March 1981
I'VE LONGED to say it in print: The Pretenders are, for me, the virtual embodiment of the ideal popular music group. ...
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 28 March 1981
THE ASSOCIATES' own Mackenzie renounces all evil and talks to Dave McCullough instead ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Rainbow, London
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 4 April 1981
Dead fans "awake" shocker ...
Altered Images: Night Of The Living Dead Pop Stars
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 April 1981
THIS IS a musical box. The figure at the top is a pretty girl called Claire. She does a spinning entrancing dance. It's an old ...
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 11 April 1981
IT SEEMS that trend conscious individuals aware of the need to change should immediately dispose of their superfluous accoutrements and don sharply cut suits in ...
The Birthday Party, Mass: Moonlight Club, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 April 1981
WALKING THROUGH the doors we were confronted by a half-demonic Greek grin from Harry Pop. From behind it the unmistakeably masochist vowels soon intoned: "You've ...
REO Speedwagon: The Prairie Dog Has His Day
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 2 May 1981
Fifteen years of slogging around the mid-west of America in clapped-out Chevrolets and crashing planes has finally put REO Speedwagon on the No. 1 album ...
Linx: The Cats Who Took The Cream
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 9 May 1981
By using intuition, Sandy Robertson gets down to some intelligent conversation with Linx ...
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 9 May 1981
IT WAS WITH a considerable degree of lingering dubiety that I ventured beyond the chimney-potted horizons of the far west from my humble North London ...
Girlschool: Hit and Miss? Yeah, right...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 16 May 1981
GARRY "Mr. Nasty" BUSHELL has a few reservations about Girlschool ...
Kraftwerk: Computer World (EMI EMC 3370) ***
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 May 1981
Deutschmark doublethink ...
New Order: Forum Dance Hall, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 May 1981
Mystic energy on tap ...
Black Uhuru: Red (Island ILPS 9625)*****
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 30 May 1981
THE KING of reggae may be at rest, but the beat he spent his life supporting lives on. While the media have paid their varied ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 6 June 1981
LIFE WITHIN buildings: being shut in a dimly-lit, secluded studio with David Sylvian. Sounds like a scenario straight out of a Nipponese schoolgirl's fantasy, but ...
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 6 June 1981
IF EVER a girl looked vulnerable in the rock and roll business, Judie Tzuke does. The set-up is almost perfect: shy young English rose sets ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 June 1981
TWO LUVLY black eyes, oh what a surprise. Or more to the point, OWWW! what a surprise. I know it's traditional for hacks to liken ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Insanities In Ten Cities
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 June 1981
NEW YORK'S Plaza Hotel is so posh you wouldn't be at all surprised to turn round and catch the Queen Mum sliding down the bannisters ...
Au Pairs: The Au Pairs: Spot The Differents
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 6 June 1981
DAVE McCULLOUGH gets on the AU PAIRS platform ...
Duran Duran: This Is Planet Mirth
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 June 1981
Dave McCullough gets jolly with Duran Duran ...
Bim, Prince: Prince, Bim: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 13 June 1981
Monarchy in the UK ...
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 20 June 1981
Tea and Anarchy: Edwin Pouncey sees Crass in action ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 June 1981
FIVE MONTHS ago the prospect of doing an interview shut inside an airless, sterile studio would have made Depeche Mode run all the way home ...
Light Of The World: Free Trade Hall, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 27 June 1981
Soundtrack to the end of the world ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: Juju ****1/2
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 June 1981
WITHOUT WISHING to sound demeaning or sexist, I have observed that the most popular women in the r'n'r world are fond of playing character-roles within ...
Was (Not Was): Was (Not Was) (ZE ILPS 7015)
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 June 1981
Funk up (no funk up) ...
Killing Joke: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 4 July 1981
This noise annoys ...
Nico: Drama Of Exile (Aura)*****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 4 July 1981
TANGLED UP in myth, perspective gets shot all to hell. Even the official biographical sheet accompanying this album repeats the old chestnut that John Cale ...
The 4-Skins, the Business: Chaos In The City
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 11 July 1981
What really happened? ...
Black Uhuru: Stepping On The Dragon
Report and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 18 July 1981
THE COACH journey from London to Bristol went quicker than I had originally expected. It hardly seemed five minutes since we were stepping aboard the ...
Diamond Head: "We are the natural successors to Zeppelin"
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 25 July 1981
THIS ASSIGNMENT begins in suburban Stourbridge, definitely not the R'n'R capital of the world, but a peaceful dwelling place satellite to Birmingham, England's second city, ...
Spandau Ballet: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 25 July 1981
Young girls' rapture ...
Van Halen: The Forum, Inglewood CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 25 July 1981
Skintight savages ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 1 August 1981
"COMING!" SHREIKS a familiar voice, as we knock on the door of the flat that appears to have been built on a slag heap in ...
The Higsons: Welcome to the Monkey House
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 8 August 1981
MICK SINCLAIR goes bananas to track down THE HIGSONS ...
Def Leppard, More: The Luxury Of Real Fur: Def Leppard/More: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 8 August 1981
SUBTLE AS THE brain-scalding squeals of a skewered pig on the barbecue, roasting alive. Ass-kickin', rabble-rousin', atom-splittin', hard-livin', ever givin'. More had the ear-ringin' toned ...
Blondie, Kurtis Blow: Kurtis Blow: Rap-sody in Blow
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 15 August 1981
Ms Harry's mentor talks to BETTY PAGE ...
Riot (V): Riot: Fire Down Under
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 15 August 1981
YESSIRREE, THEM rich yankee dudes comfy smokin' their tabbacy'ed exhaust pipes in those croccy-skinned swivel-chairs sure am gonna be mighty peeved when they get that ...
James Chance & the Contortions, The Higsons: Venue, London
Live Review by Graham K. Smith, Sounds, 22 August 1981
No chance ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 29 August 1981
FIRST THINGS FIRST. When X get to England (sometime in September hopefully) see them. They're good. ...
The Wailing Souls: Breada Gravilicious
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 5 September 1981
LLOYD "BREAD" McDONALD tells the Wailing Souls story to EDWIN POUNCEY ...
Altered Images: Happy Birthday (Epic EPO 84893)
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 12 September 1981
A nursery crime ...
Pat Benatar: Fire And Loathing
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 12 September 1981
Can Pat Benatar survive the American Rock Business? ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 12 September 1981
The Skids come back down to earth ...
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 19 September 1981
The Thinking Man's Schenker SCENE: Our capital's glorious, raz-ama-dazzling West End. Twenty-five feet across a spacious apartment in Chrysalis' head office, the other side of a ...
The Loved One: "We are the psychic telephone"
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 19 September 1981
IT CAME to them in the deepest reaches of nether-Oxfordshire, close to a four track machine where months seemed like days: that personal Hiroshima that ...
Tom Verlaine: Facts About Sneakers
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 19 September 1981
SANDY ROBERTSON cancels his membership of the Tom Tom Club ...
Popol Vuh: Popol Music — A Clearer Vuh-Point
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 26 September 1981
RUN SILENT, run deep. Like still waters, like Greta Garbo, like Charlie Parker said about his man Thelonious: "The Monk runs deep". ...
The Residents: Mark Of The Mole (Ralph RZ 8152)
Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 26 September 1981
SOME THREE or four years back I stalked the streets of suburbia besuited in an eclectic and vast selection of safety pins, verily enough of ...
Dollar: Working For The Swanky Dollar
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 26 September 1981
DAVE McCULLOUGH unearths the grisly truth behind pop's most loving couple ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 3 October 1981
IN THE MANNER of any smooth operation worth its nuts and bolts, the British Electric Foundation chose to discuss the prospective publicity of one of ...
Profile and Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 21 November 1981
Geoff Barton writes his first Rush feature for (count'em) three years and asks, is there life after Maple Leaf Mayhem? ...
Prince: Controversy (Warner Bros.)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 21 November 1981
THERE IS only one message on a Prince record. The message is the massage, or vice-versa, the politick of the dick. Fortunately, Prince's unilateral (he ...
Blue Rondo a la Turk: Bluenote, Derby
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 28 November 1981
The back flip is not dead ...
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 5 December 1981
IN THE BLACK CORNER, Sabbath. In the white corner, their sworn adversary, Ozzy Osbourne. Or vice versa. ...
Dead Kennedys: Let Them Eat Jello Beings
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 5 December 1981
Garry Bushell exhumes a living Dead Kennedy ...
AC/DC: For Those About To Yawn: AC/DC: For Those About To Rock (Atlantic K50851) ***
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 5 December 1981
WHEN I humbly volunteered to undertake this venture, I knew full well what a pasting I'd be letting myself in for. Pitting my feeble opinion ...
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 5 December 1981
THIS IS the bass player. His dinner jacket's splattered with a multiplied spectrum of colour. A Dulux hoarding on legs. Or maybe he walked under ...
Haircut 100: A Little Off The Top
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 December 1981
DAVE McCULLOUGH collects snippets of information from HAIRCUT 100 ...
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 5 December 1981
The Lunch that made me sick ...
Marine Girls: Mysterious tales of the deep
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 5 December 1981
MICK SINCLAIR dons his scuba gear to meet the MARINE GIRLS ...
Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 5 December 1981
Higher Ranking ...
The Scorpions: Lord of the Stings
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 5 December 1981
PHILIP BELL makes buddies with Scorpions' skinsbeater HERMAN RAREBELL ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 19 December 1981
Hot on the heels of the Dead Kennedys come L.A. punx Black Flag. ...
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 19 December 1981
Phillip Bell takes a squawk on the wild side with HM survivors Budgie ...
Depeche Mode: Speak And Spell (Mute)
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 19 December 1981
THE FACT that the boys chose to depict an absurd, surreal swan draped in a plastic bag on their LP cover rather than to sell ...
Dolly Mixture: DMs Put The Boot In
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 December 1981
Dolly Mixture get (slightly) bitter. Garry Bushell gets (light and) bitter ...
Mari Wilson And The Imaginations: Dingwalls
Live Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 19 December 1981
IT SINGS, it dances, it's an amazing Do-lt Yourself Motown Upsidedown-town Kit including one aloof chanteuse, two saxophonists (with shades and poseable hips), drummer (Las ...
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 19 December 1981
PAGE ONE, question one How the hell do you go about an anatomical analysis of an album when you know you love it, but shouldn't, ...
The Police: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 26 December 1981
One Law For Them ...
Adam & the Ants: Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 2 January 1982
Reach for the thigh ...
Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 2 January 1982
Sounds kinda progressive ...
Glenn Branca: The Ascension (99 Records 990011p — Import)*****
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 2 January 1982
GLENN BRANCA has accomplished with this debut release what others often strive in vain for over many years, that is, to catch the listener entirely ...
Lone Ranger: Rose Marie (Black Joy)****
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 2 January 1982
THIS BRAND new selection without objection is the first released album in this country from the Lone Ranger since he last bared fangs on the ...
Poison Girls: Total Exposure (xntrix)***½
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 9 January 1982
POISON GIRLS' music doesn't tell you anything new. Barely evolved from the ugly end of punk it grinds or charges along with an oppressive grimness ...
Sammy Hagar: Standing Hampton (Geffen) ***½
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 9 January 1982
Sammy gets his Hampton caught ...
Wipers: Youth Of America (Park Avenue)***½
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 12 January 1982
THE WIPERS come from Seattle Washington, deep in the great American Northwest, home previously to the likes of The Sonics and Paul Revere and the ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Country Club, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 16 January 1982
FIRST TIME I've seen Blue Oyster Cult in ages. Actually seen them. Last time HM's Santas-little-helpers played in the neighbourhood was one of those monstrous ...
Method Actors: Little Figures (Armageddon)***¾
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 16 January 1982
STRANGE AS it may seem, I find myself in the possession of Vic Varney's old boots. Thus it would be possible to expedite the dread ...
Buzzcocks, Pete Shelley: Pete Shelley: Origin of the Species
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 16 January 1982
Pete Shelley discusses humanity with Mick Sinclair ...
23 Skidoo: King's College, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 23 January 1982
GOODNESS KNOWS, it's hard enough to sit yourself high in the air and look down penetratingly at anything in rock/pop with a view to clocking ...
Alan Vega: Collision Drive (Celluloid)
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 23 January 1982
ALAN VEGA'S recent departure into ersatz neo-rockabilly will elicit a variety of responses from his admirers. Some will call it a sell-out, but that's a ...
Bucks Fizz: Let's Get Fizzical
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 23 January 1982
Gasps Mick Sinclair ...
Fad Gadget: I'm A Born Again Pagan
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 23 January 1982
SEEDY CITY, sleazy films... creeping up a back staircase by the stage door of Paul Raymond's Windmill Theatre... tiptoeing up more stairs past stacks of ...
Ozzy Osbourne: LA Sports Arena, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 23 January 1982
ACT ONE Scene One: Outside, on the coldest night of the year, the wind is howling. But a noise more unearthly still emanates from the ...
Rip Rig And Panic: London University Union
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 23 January 1982
Ripped to shreds ...
Sammy Hagar: Hagar The (not quite so) Horrible
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 23 January 1982
Philip Bell meets the untypically reticent man behind that Standing Hampton ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 23 January 1982
The grim face of reality (punk) ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 23 January 1982
A MASSIVE clenched fist clutching a spanner makes an imposing backdrop for the new UFO show and inspires hopes that the band are belatedly rallying ...
Black Flag: Damaged (SST Import)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 30 January 1982
Hardcore heaven ...
Orange Juice: The Venue, London
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 30 January 1982
SOMETHING IS happening with Orange Juice. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm certain I don't like it. ...
The 4-Skins: Danson Youth Centre, Bexleyheath, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 30 January 1982
Hard as diamonds ...
The Waitresses: Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful? (Polydor)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 30 January 1982
FOR STARTERS, The Waitresses first came into being through one Chris Butler, who created the group as a spillover for musical ideas that were incompatible ...
Yellow Magic Orchestra: Live in Tokyo
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 30 January 1982
THE PROSPECT of The Orch being pruned down to its three component parts was initially somewhat alarming for the quivering foreign journalists, who sat in ...
Def Leppard: The Leppard Doesn't Sleep Tonight
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 6 February 1982
ROUGH NOTES/ROUGH NOTES (Prelude) ...
J. Geils Band: J Geils Band: Freeze Frame (EMI America)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 February 1982
THESE GUYS have moved over the last decade from being celebrated white R&B critical fave raves on Atlantic (hardworking moderate successes), to a recent megachart ...
The Gun Club: Fire Of Love (New Rose Records)
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 6 February 1982
FIRST THERE was The Flesheaters, carving Americana with a lurid libido and off-colour arcana. Now the same frame of mind and music has thrown up ...
Yellow Magic Orchestra: No More Hiros
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 6 February 1982
BEFORE MAKING the obvious comments on such an album title as Neuromantic and collapsing into sarcastic guffaws, consider for a moment the man who coined ...
Black Uhuru: Tear It Up (Island)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 13 February 1982
BLACK UHURU'S tour of English provinces last year took place at a time when the streets were torn with riot, ironically the perfect setting for ...
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 February 1982
"What Alice Cooper was to dead babies and corpses, Kiss became to fire breathing and sadomasochism. With Kabuki-whitened faces, they leap on stage puking blood, ...
The B-52s: Mesopotamia (Island)****1/2
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 13 February 1982
OOOOH, C'MON, hey, wow, yeah, party, watusi, fandango, pistachio...Nuts. ...
Anvil: Hard 'N' Heavy (Attic Records)****½
Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 20 February 1982
Hammer and tongues ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 February 1982
'Five years on and you've still got nothing' ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 20 February 1982
1978 WAS a good year for the poses, for nascent pre-Romantic Bowieisms and embryonic electro-disco; halcyon pre-Blitzian days when everyone dressed up like toy soldiers ...
Iron Maiden: Run For The Pils!
Report and Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 20 February 1982
The flanning of Iron Maiden: report by PHILIP BELL ...
Mötley Crüe: Crüesin' and Blüesin'
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 20 February 1982
"FIRST YOU got to cut it real jaggedy. And you need this stuff." ...
Orange Juice: You Can't Hide Your Love Forever (Polydor)**
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 20 February 1982
AHH, ST Valentine's Day! Dingle-dongle Meepy Goblin loves Fluffy Bunny Wunny, Rickiepoos wants Leggy Plumplet-Puds to be his Potato Dumpling and Owange Juiciepies expect their ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 February 1982
An Heroic encounter narrated by Betty Page ...
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts: I Love Rock 'n' Roll (Boardwalk)****
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 27 February 1982
FORGIVE ME for dragging the old reprobate's moniker into such lively proceedings, but Kim Fowley has at last been vindicated in his endless trumpeting of ...
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 27 February 1982
UNLIKE LEGIONS of musical kompatriots, Krokus have nothing to prove. Nobody in the kamp has tempted fate by kontroversially shooting their mouth off about anything, ...
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 27 February 1982
CHASE THE ALBUM. "Here's a track from our new album, out on September 12th," quoth mag-estic Bob Catley . . . at Reading Festival, 1980. So, ...
Planning By Numbers: Catch The Beat (Beggars Banquet)
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 February 1982
PBN is not just a band, but also a system developed by one Stephen Milford to classify information concerning band and album completely in numerals. ...
The Business: Minding Their Own
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 27 February 1982
'The winter of discontent is nearing/Thatcher's got trouble with her hearing/The voices of millions are going unheard/I'd try to laugh if it wasn't so absurd/This ...
The dB's: The dBs: Repercussion (Albion)
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 27 February 1982
THE dB's PANDER to no-one, patronise no single style, are interdependent on each other and independent of just about everyone else. Repercussion is better than ...
Interview by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 27 February 1982
Do The Rods live up to their name? Geoff Barton gets their measure. WARNING: this feature may cause offence to supporters of Rock Against Sexism. ...
The Waitresses: The Peppermint Lounge, New York
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 27 February 1982
ONE BY ONE out of the cold, graffiti-decorated dressing room, The Waitresses leap on to the stage to be greeted by a hailstorm of applause ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 27 February 1982
GARRY BUSHELL enjoys a noisy pint (of blood) with VENOM ...
Iron Maiden, The Rods: Mark Of The Beast: Iron Maiden/The Rods: Queensway Hall, Dunstable
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 6 March 1982
BEEN A LONG TIME since the Queensway Hall's played host to such an uncouth, freakin' gang of insuffisticates as the Rods. ...
Tank: Filth Hounds Of Hades (Kamaflage)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 March 1982
IMAGES OF destruction – of a solid steel stallion smashing through barbed wire, ploughing through miles of muck and wire to mutilate your mind. Visions ...
The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour and Live At Acklam Hall, London 1980
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 6 March 1982
IN A constantly flowing stream of creativity, through each consecutive fad, fantasy and fashion The Fall have always strived to go against the grain to ...
Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 6 March 1982
ALTHOUGH THERE is every possibility that any of a hundred lesser known bands have the potential to one day produce as good an artefact as ...
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 March 1982
RIGHT TO Work Marchers, like punks, skins and soccer herberts, are apparently fair game for any Old Bill trying to keep his 'nick-nick' quota up ...
The Waitresses: What The Butler Said
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 6 March 1982
THE WAITRESSES give tips to EDWIN POUNCEY on how to cure irony ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 13 March 1982
More Tales From The Bean Factory from the hottest young fart at play. ...
Blancmange: Custard's last stand
Profile and Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 13 March 1982
Blancmange crack the instant whip ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 13 March 1982
WHAT'S SIX to eight yards long, gets tucked and tied, gathered up, taken round and pleated not less than seven times? Clue: it often takes ...
Poison Girls, Rubella Ballet: Rubella Ballet: Pop! Go the measles
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 13 March 1982
MICK SINCLAIR accepts a dinner date from Rubella Ballet ...
The Rossington Collins Band: Born Again
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 13 March 1982
AFTER SO much tragedy and so much pain the Skynyrd people are back on their feet again...almost. ...
UB40: "UB40 is just a normal bunch of blokes. But people ask us heavy political questions"
Interview by Lesley White, Sounds, 20 March 1982
LESLEY WHITE is one of them ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 March 1982
"Oi has spoilt punk. I really hate the idea of the Oi thing even if some of the music's alright...if Oi and punk are the ...
Graham Parker: Another Grey Area (RCA)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 20 March 1982
WHILE IT'S oft been said that The Rumour couldn't do without Graham Parker, here's a slab of evidence that the reverse is also true. Another ...
Private Lives: Whose Lives Are They Anyway?
Profile and Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 20 March 1982
WHEN BANDWAGONS grind to a halt, the only means by which to save face, to swim above the surface with grace, is quality. ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 20 March 1982
Mick Sinclair experiences some new PASSIONS ...
The Viceroys: We Must Unite (Trojan)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 20 March 1982
THE CULT phenomenon, as with other realms of popular music, is also almost predominantly featured in the world of reggae. The Viceroys, a mysterious trio ...
Ultravox: Number 1 With A Bullet Train
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 20 March 1982
HUGH FIELDER goes along for the ride with ULTRAVOX in Japan ...
Blue Rondo A La Turk: The Royalty, Southgate
Live Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 March 1982
WITH ONE bombed single under their finely coutured belts and another progressing painfully slowly, Blue Rondo have had little choice but to come out. This ...
B-Movie: Go Wild In The Country
Profile and Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 March 1982
IT'S TAKEN longer than an elephant's pregnancy, but B-Movie have finally dragged themselves into the '80s – visually, musically and verbally. The hicks from Mansfield ...
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 27 March 1982
ONE DAY by the seaside. A menacing ocean rears up and surges landward. Cruel winds lash our locks into matty rastafarian entanglement. Doomy clouds are giving ...
Iron Maiden: The Number Of The Beast (EMI)****1/2
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 27 March 1982
DREAMS DON'T come true too often so when they do it's worth making a song and dance about them. The Steve Harris story is a ...
The Higsons: Lost but not lonely
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Sounds, 27 March 1982
THE HIGSONS go "Waap" to Adam Sweeting. ...
The Scorpions: Boom! Boom! Out Go The Lights
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 27 March 1982
HERE WE are in Spain – San Sebastian to be precise. Poli de Portivo is the name of the venue and the Scorpions have just ...
Visage: The Anvil (Polydor)***
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 27 March 1982
SO WHAT can I tell you that's new? As I write, Steven is welcoming guests to his super new Sunday Tea Dance club in Kensington. ...
The Birthday Party: After The Pope's Blood: Gatecrashing The Birthday Party
Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 3 April 1982
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY? Well, yeah, like in blowing out candles on a cake. This party is a crashed party and anyone with a part of ...
Lou Reed: Blue Reedo A La Talk
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 3 April 1982
LOU REED has a song on his new album about the day President Kennedy was shot. His manager looks like the kind of guy who ...
Motorhead, Tank: Motorhead/Tank: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 3 April 1982
HOLY MIGRAINE, Batman, howcomes my brain feels like Ardiles just borrowed it for a kickabout and put it back upside down? And who the hell ...
Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot: Randy Rhoads: Requiem For Randy
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 3 April 1982
The last interview by GARRY BUSHELL ...
Anvil: What Heavy Metal Dreams Are Made Of
Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 17 April 1982
LET ME tell you about Canada's number one secret weapon. It's called Anvil and when they finally decide to unleash themselves on this poor unsuspecting ...
Christian Death: Only Theatre Of Pain (Frontier)
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 17 April 1982
HERE I sit, twiddling my thumbs, meanwhile – "Incurable disease on the day of rest/Walking on the water in a sea of incest/I've got the ...
Can, Holger Czukay: Holger Czukay: Ode to normailty
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 17 April 1982
Mick Sinclair in spontaneous discussion with HOLGER CZUKAY ...
Robyn Hitchcock: Groovy Decay (Albion)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 April 1982
WITH THIS new label and second album Robyn Hitchcock looks to be attempting a runner from the substitute Syd Barrett image previously imposed on him ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 17 April 1982
AFTER CLOSE encounters with most of the Mute bands, you'd think Uncle Dan had ordered them to live up to their oft-lively label's name. But ...
The Scorpions: Manchester Apollo
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 24 April 1982
APOLLO was clearly the operative term as German blitzkreig '82 style blasted off. ...
Anti-Nowhere League: We Are…The League (WXYZ)*****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 1 May 1982
ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I give in. Let's face it, this just ain't the sort of music (?) to lend itself to sensitive in-depth philosophical probings. ...
Foreigner: Fame, 4 Tune + 4 Play
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 1 May 1982
Sylvie Simmons joins the FOREIGNER legion to meet Mick Jones ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 May 1982
Sandy Robertson finds out what's eating Christine McVie of FLEETWOOD MAC ...
Altered Images: Pinky Blue (Epic)***
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 8 May 1982
DA DOO doo doo, da da da da, is all I have to say to you. Da da da da, do doo doo doo, that's ...
The Blasters: Blasters: The Blasters
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 8 May 1982
PLAY IT on mono and it could be 1956, just play it once and you could find yourself buying a gross of Brylcreem, a shipment ...
Clerical Error: Expresso Bongo
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 May 1982
VIEWERS OF LWT'S London Programme were recently treated to a sneak preview of a band I'd wager we'll be seeing a lot more of on ...
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 8 May 1982
INKING THE dotted line with major record company MCA has instigated no dramatic transformation in lifestyle for Stourbridge's stealthiest grafters, Diamond Head. ...
Joan Jett: Jett Set for Summer
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 May 1982
Sandy Robertson heralds the second coming of JOAN JETT ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 May 1982
COINCIDENCE AND surprise save the world from going flat! Like, the same issue of Artforum which boasts that superb Laurie Anderson flexidisc also has an ...
Vice Squad: Stand Strong, Stand Proud (EMI/Riot City ZEM 104)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 8 May 1982
THIS ISN'T a great album but it is a very good one. For Vice Squad it's a crucial show of strength because their first album ...
Bucks Fizz: Are You Ready (RCA RCALP8000)
Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 15 May 1982
EARLIER THIS year in a moment of secret passion, Cheryl Fizz bit my earlobe and confided "our next LP will be rockier and heavier". ...
Duran Duran: Rio (EMI EMC 3411)
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 May 1982
Don't take me to the Mardi Gras ...
The Clash: Combat Rock (CBS FMLN 2) *****
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 15 May 1982
Fight to the finish ...
UFO: Object, Refuse, Rejects Abuse
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 15 May 1982
"JOIN SHOUNDS, hic, and shee the world," Big Al Lewis (Ed Rtd; now Mega-Ed) had shlurred on that historic day in 1978 when I conned ...
The Human League: Human League: Palladium, New York NY
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 May 1982
Haughty culture ...
Marillion: The Dial Inn, Glasgow
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 22 May 1982
MARK MY WORDS. Critics will choke and chuckle en bleeding masse. But when action's sizzling at grass roots level, to apathetically ignore it would be ...
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 29 May 1982
HUGH FIELDER ENJOYS A HAPPY HOUR WITH ALTERED IMAGES ...
Blondie: The Hunter (Chrysalis)**½
Review by Betty Page, Sounds, 29 May 1982
The lumber of the beast ...
Blue Oyster Cult: Extraterrestrial Live
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 29 May 1982
ANGLE OF VIEW, that's the ticket, the key to the mystery of this one! BOC, y'see, have made two previous excursions into the highly dubious ...
Burning Spear: Farover (Radio)***
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 29 May 1982
TWO YEARS on from his last collection finds Winston Rodney, the African teacher, aka Burning Spear, relating the same universal message of cultural education through ...
Duran Duran: From Brags To Riches
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 29 May 1982
ONCE UPON a time, five fresh-faced boys based in Brum summoned a cynical hackette to witness the emergence of a certain indefinable sort of big-bam-glam-electro-rock ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 29 May 1982
SEATTLE'S SPACE Needle is the architectural equivalent of the male nipple. Just sticks up there, totally redundant except as an amusing thing to play with ...
Roxy Music: Avalon (Polydor)***1/2
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 29 May 1982
ROXY MUSIC must surely represent the greatest 'might have been' episode in the murky catalogue of rock's squandered riches. ...
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 29 May 1982
Edwin Pouncey spars with TOYAN ...
UFO: Tonka, Wailer, Snowman, Sailor
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 29 May 1982
REGULAR READERS of my exciting adventures may recall that two weeks back your humble scribe was snowed under with top rock band UFO in the ...
Lora Logic: The blank(et) generation
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 5 June 1982
My temple or yours? MICK SINCLAIR asks LORA LOGIC ...
Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 5 June 1982
TRY NOT TO laugh...Curt, one of The Marines currently on manoeuvres with Mari Wilson, is telling me wryly straight-faced that when the name game that ...
Sonic Youth: Sonic Youth (Neutral Records Import)***1/2
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 5 June 1982
SONIC YOUTH, the first release on avant-garde missionary Glenn Branca's Neutral Records, is an EP in LP's clothing, and in many ways the music it ...
Black Uhuru: Chill Out (Island)****1/2
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 12 June 1982
AFTER THE blistering scorch that came out as Red, things in the Uhuru camp just had to cool off before the next major assault could ...
Interview by Betty Page, Sounds, 12 June 1982
"PEOPLE THAT plan interviews are really boring. I just say what I want when it comes into my head. People in Scunthorpe don't care what ...
Joy Division, New Order: FAC~T or Fiction
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 12 June 1982
Dave McCullough corresponds with Factory boss TONY WILSON. ...
Cockney Rejects: The Wild Ones (NEMS pre-release)****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 19 June 1982
Flairs and riffers ...
Laurie Anderson: Looney Spoons and Merrie Melodies
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 26 June 1982
The Super Adventures of Laurie Anderson ...
ABC: The Lexicon Of Love (Neutron NTRSI)
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 3 July 1982
Never trust a Lexicon ...
Judas Priest: Screaming For Vengeance ****
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 3 July 1982
Vengeance is mine ...
X: Under The Big Black Sun (Elektra)*****
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 3 July 1982
NO LESS a person than Slash magazine's very own Kickboy Face once told me that X were most popular among the inhabitants of LA's Mexican ...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 10 July 1982
IT HAS ALREADY been wisely stated elsewhere that any thoughts of tribal ceremony soundtracks brought direct from the bush by intrepid white David Fanshawe types ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 10 July 1982
THE BLOKE who spends his life writing things like 'Let's Lurk' and 'Lewisham Lurkers' over every available wall on my estate, and who's probably single-handedly ...
Profile and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 10 July 1982
AHA AHA AHA...Video didn't kill any radio star who wasn't already tottering dodo-like on the edge of extinction anyway. The best and brightest radio stars ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 July 1982
FORMULA, BEATS-per-minute, ahhh. Fleetwood Mac really do have a lot of honour for folks with such a pile of cash. Coming after this line-up's eponymous ...
Jimmy Page, Genesis P-Orridge, Throbbing Gristle: Mister Crowley
Retrospective by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 July 1982
Who the Hell is ALEISTER CROWLEY and why do pop people keep saying weird things about him? asks Sandy Robertson. ...
The Church: The Blurred Crusade
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 17 July 1982
THE CHURCH, by christening their second album The Blurred Crusade, provide us with an emblematic image of their music which, like so many churches throughout ...
Live Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 24 July 1982
BOING, boing, boing, boing… Cor what a pair! ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: This one will run and run
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 24 July 1982
...
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 July 1982
ALREADY WRITTEN about in rival publications but well worth another mention here to remind you of their greatness. ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 7 August 1982
ASYLUM RECORDS really should get rid of Warren Zevon; he's so good he shows up just how dire everybody else on the label really is. ...
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 21 August 1982
WIMP ROCK. Every time you turn on the radio out here, there it is, hitting your ears with all the strength and power of a ...
Iron Maiden: Unleashed With The Beast
Report by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 28 August 1982
CORPUS CHRISTI lies humid and unhurried under a scorching Texas sun. The shining orb's efforts to reduce the populus to mobile blobs of molten jelly ...
King Sunny Ade: Sunny Side Of The Beat
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 28 August 1982
Edwin Pouncey meets the 'Minister Of Enjoyment' and monarch of juju music KING SUNNY ADE ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 28 August 1982
STUCK IN a jam on the Hollywood Freeway, staring for five miles at a yellow Smiley bumper sticker telling me to have a nice day, ...
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Ice Cream For Crow (Virgin V2237)*****
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 11 September 1982
TO THE casual observer, Captain Beefheart's vibe must appear to be similar to the window blind painting he has created to adorn his latest batch ...
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Sounds, 11 September 1982
Helen Fitzgerald gets intoxicated by the exotic mixture of the Cocteau Twins. ...
Duran Duran: World Domination By 1984
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 11 September 1982
THEIR AMBITION – Simon's least, and in all probability the rest of them – is to one day become Bryan Ferry. They didn't say that ...
Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel (Charisma)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 September 1982
SHORTLY BEFORE the release of the Genesis album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, the entire band was replaced by superior alien intelligences, physical duplicates ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 September 1982
"KIDS LOSE interest fast," mused the boy as the tots in the playground drifted back to their balls and rollerskates, having assimilated and dispensed with ...
Twisted Sister: Under The Blade (Secret) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 11 September 1982
THERE'S A body of opinion that holds that Pete Way couldn't produce a rabbit out of a hat. There's a similar one holding that Twisted ...
Clint Eastwood & General Saint: Bishops Park, Fulham, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 18 September 1982
Fruit for thought ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 18 September 1982
THE VERY concept of a band like Coming Blood is about as shock-horror near-the-knuckle punky as you can get. Their name alone is a verbal ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 18 September 1982
THE INTENTION of the artwork on the cover of the latest Gillan opus seems to be an evocation of something merging images of David Nixon, ...
The Gun Club: Gun Club: Miami (Animal) *****
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 18 September 1982
IN A MUSICAL world that is forever being bedevilled and picked at by the bland spirits of so called 'new pop', the emergence of a ...
Motorhead, The Plasmatics: Motorhead & The Plasmatics: Tammy Can You Hear Me?
Report and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 18 September 1982
A DREAM or a nightmare, in retrospect it still sounds like the kind of project so daft that both parties involved would, by virtue of ...
The The: The Devil in Mr Johnson
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Sounds, 18 September 1982
THE ANTI-HIP CRUSADE STARTS HERE, MATT JOHNSON aka THE THE WARNS HELEN FITZGERALD ...
Iggy Pop: Zombie Birdhouse (Animal Records/Chrysalis) ***
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 25 September 1982
IGGY POP is a man of honour. Not for him the Lou Reed path of self-mockery; the one time he tried it for money's sake ...
Electric Gypsies: Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves
Interview by Phil Bell, Sounds, 2 October 1982
This p-p-p-p-FEATURE is a ber-ber-ber-bout per-per-per-p-p-Bernie Torme's Electric ch-ch-ch-Gypsies. ...
Explainer: Man From The Ghetto (Sun Burst SB/LP05)****
Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 2 October 1982
SOCA it to me ...
Peter Gabriel: Don't Touch Me There
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 2 October 1982
Hugh Fielder gets an earbending from PETER GABRIEL ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 2 October 1982
MICK SINCLAIR goes down on Swans Way ...
Tank: Power Of The Hunter (Kamaflage)
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 2 October 1982
MENTION TANK to yer average cloth-eared critic and these thoughts will run on autocue through his lazy mind: Tank are a three-piece with a bassist ...
The Jam: Brighton Centre, Brighton
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 October 1982
I WASN'T exactly willing to be converted but I was willing to be entertained. ...
The Runaways: The Best Of (Mercury) *1/2
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 2 October 1982
RARELY HAS a 'Best Of' collection been so totally at odds with its title. ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 9 October 1982
SLOPING OFF the Inter-City at Manchester Piccadilly, I was suddenly overcome by a torrid tinge of terror. ...
Billy Squier: The Man Who Hides In His Apartment
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 9 October 1982
DALLAS, TEXAS: How to pull a rock star. Go to the front of the stage, reach up for a leg and grab. ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 9 October 1982
FELT boast of their brilliance to MICK SINCLAIR ...
Peter Gabriel, Genesis: Genesis and Peter Gabriel: Milton Keynes Bowl
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 9 October 1982
March Of The Giant Hogwash ...
Blitz: Voice Of A Generation (No Future) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 16 October 1982
THIS REALLY is the big one, final proof if any were needed that the punk renewal of the last two years is more than just ...
Culture Club: Kissing To Be Clever (Virgin V2232) *½
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 October 1982
IS IT a boy? Is it a girl? Is it a plane? Is 'it' a goldfish? What colour of underpants does 'it'/he/she/the goldfish wear? ...
Dennis Brown: Hornsey Town Hall, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 16 October 1982
THE PARANOID inside can't help wonder if there is some kind of conspiracy going on... ...
Michigan & Smiley: Papa Michigan & General Smiley: Downpression (Greensleeves GREL 42)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 16 October 1982
THE SEMI-triumphant return of the two forkheads who, after Rub A Dub Style, their epic legend-creating slab of rap for Coxsone's Studio One, were mysteriously ...
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 16 October 1982
Garry Bushell comes to the Orange-aid of Peak District punksters The Violators ...
The Gun Club: Gun Club: Calling On Thunder
Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 23 October 1982
IN THE beginning Jeffrey Lee Pierce was born in Texas and raised in Los Angeles. ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Helen Fitzgerald, Sounds, 23 October 1982
ESCAPISM — a tendency to escape from realities of life into fantasy — is what I expected. Nothing real, nothing pertinent, inspiring or important. Escapism, ...
Kim Carnes: Here's Looking At You
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 23 October 1982
SANDY ROBERTSON'S voyeuristic tendencies encouraged by KIM CARNES ...
Everything But The Girl, Marine Girls, Tracey Thorn: Tracey Thorn: Ahead of her time
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 23 October 1982
MICK SINCLAIR dials TRACEY THORNE and wonders if she's... ...
Wall Of Voodoo: Call Of The West (Illegal)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 23 October 1982
THE LIGHTED office door on the cover of the second Wall Of Voodoo album is sealed shut while the tumbleweed haunted mists of Western legend ...
Angelic Upstarts, Cockney Rejects, Splodgenessabounds, UK Subs: Oi! and Skinheads: Coming a Cropper
Comment by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 6 November 1982
A passionate defence of skinhead culture by GARRY BUSHELL. ...
Psychic TV: The Sound of 32 Human Thighbone Trumpets from Tibet
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 6 November 1982
IT WAS only last December when I concluded the debut PTV feature by suggesting that those involved might just be crazy/inspired enough to freeze-frame all ...
Duran Duran: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 13 November 1982
Ghouls on film ...
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: Live in Los Angeles
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 November 1982
FLASH – AAAAH! Saviour of the Universe. Saviour of my sanity, anyway. "The Message" shines out from amongst the New Musik murk they play out ...
Daryl Hall & John Oates: Hall & Oates: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 November 1982
Roughage riders ...
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 13 November 1982
"SO SOUNDS think I'm an old hippie, do they?" muses John Martyn as we stand in the hotel lobby waiting for the limo (the manager's ...
Michael (Mikey) Smith: Michael Smith: Mi Cyaan Believe It (Island)
Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 13 November 1982
Keep on believing ...
Orange Juice: Rip It Up (Polydor POLS 1076) *½
Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 13 November 1982
DO THEY want me to be kind? I don't really believe they do. ...
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 13 November 1982
The permanent new wave of HM rolls on with Tank reports GARRY BUSHELL ...
The Residents' Mole Show: The Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 13 November 1982
Mountains out of Molehills ...
UK Subs, Urban Dogs, The Vibrators: Urban Dogs: Doggie Doings
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 13 November 1982
CHARLIE HARPER is late, Charlie's always late. Me and Knox sit in the office cracking the usual jokes about it being his pension day. Not ...
Cock Sparrer: Strictly For The Birds
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 November 1982
COCK SPARRER'S come-back couldn't have been better timed. Just as the street rock scene was getting staler than a Marie Celeste bread roll, the original ...
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 20 November 1982
CONTRAST: "Biddy-biddy bong-bong, biddy bong-bong, biddy bong-bong, biddy men. Bong bong, biddy bong-bong, biddy bong-gong, biddy geng, biddah-men ahwooy biddy-men. Ehyaaah!" (Rough translation of intro ...
Report by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 20 November 1982
KENNY LAGUNA and Joan Jett are a real double-act for the funnybone. It's no empty coincidence that their names fit together: JETT-LAG. Like Little and ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Talk Of The Devil (Jet) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 November 1982
EXACTLY HOW and why this extraordinary album came about is a mystery on a par with the Turin Shroud. I personally fancy it's Ozzy's way ...
Psychic TV: Force The Hand Of Chance (Some Bizzarre)***
Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 20 November 1982
IMITATING COUNTLESS gurus before him, Genesis P-Orridge embarks here and now on a cynical and puerile journey to the heart of pantomime profundity, stopping at ...
Venom: Black Metal (Neat) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 November 1982
OH LORD forgive them for they know not what they do. ...
Profile and Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 4 December 1982
A PERSISTING feeling about this lot, an initial notion akin to hurt and confused indifference that just won't say goodbye, is my proof that I'm ...
Gregory Isaacs: Gregorian Rants
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 4 December 1982
The elusive Mr Isaacs tracked down by Jack Barron ...
Live Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 4 December 1982
IT'S AMUSING TO SEE just how much Oi/punk inevitably rides the rails of the trad rock curve on its way to hell and bucks. This ...
Rainbow: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow: Seeing is Believing
Report and Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 4 December 1982
MOST PEOPLE reckon Ritchie Blackmore's a miserable bastard. Mean, moody, mysterious, macabre and, by implication, Mandraxed to the gills, the Blackmore of popular imigination has ...
Culture: University Of London Union, London
Live Review by Jack Barron, Sounds, 11 December 1982
HAVING RUPTURED with cultural brothers Walker and Paley, and with a new album Lion Rock booming out from the city's more select record shops, Joseph ...
The Farmer's Boys, Orange Juice: Orange Juice, Farmer's Boys: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 11 December 1982
IN THE sound ruining Lyceum even the normally wondrous Farmer's Boys have trouble. Their chirpy minimal sound gets distorted into a tinny grating which performs ...
Slade: Slade On Stage (RCA) *****
Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 11 December 1982
"'TWAS CHRISTMAS Day in the Workhouse, the radio was at full blast, when up jumped an old age pensioner with a face like a lump ...
The Jam: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 11 December 1982
Jam-bore-e ...
Velvet Underground: Everything You've Ever Heard About… (VU Records)
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 11 December 1982
THE LEGEND rolls on and on, the more it grows the more it encourages. In the context of the semi-legal this was the one we'd ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 18 December 1982
BACK IN the days before Asteroids took over, Kiss was the pagan religion for America's pimpled adolescents. ...
Report and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 December 1982
PETE MAKOWSKI finally delivers the goods on RUSH ...
The Danse Society, The Fall, Felt: The Fall, Danse Society, Felt: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 18 December 1982
FELT ARE hinged around guitarist and singer (in that order) Lawrence, a lovably naive, hick-ish figure from a village just outside Birmingham. ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 25 December 1982
GIVEN THE Warhol crowd's former wailing buddy's penchant for affixing (ahem!) her name to contracts wherever she finds them without regard to previous moves, 'tis ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 1983
ACCORDING TO my copy of the Weekly World News, the end of the world is due precisely on the 30th October. That's just around the ...
Michael (Mikey) Smith: Mikey Smith: Poet and His Roots
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 8 January 1983
Mikey Smith recites to Jack Barron ...
Frank Chickens: First Bites: Frank Chickens
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 12 February 1983
ONE OF the most unusual and likeable entertainments currently intruding upon the gig circuit are Frank Chickens. As the name inscrutably doesn't indicate, they are ...
Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 12 March 1983
IT'S NOT OFTEN that you find this rag covering an artist who wants to be the new Evelyn King and who numbers Michael Jackson as ...
Marillion: Sob Standard: Marillion: Script For A Jester's Tear (EMI) *****
Review by Phil Bell, Sounds, 12 March 1983
PREDICTABLE? Little over a year has elapsed since Marillion were first propelled into the public eye by your fave rock weekly. What with X Russell, ...
Thin Lizzy: Lizzy's Last Stand?
Interview by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 12 March 1983
Garry Bushell investigates ...
Marine Girls: Lazy Ways (Cherry Red)
Review by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 26 March 1983
RISKING ACCUSATIONS of unseemly drooling, I'll simply state that I actually feel quite close to the Marine Girls. I don't wish to boast but I ...
Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 16 April 1983
Mick Sinclair scrapes Frank Want off the wall ...
Prefab Sprout: From Brussels with Love
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 April 1983
HERE WE go again, and all the young men go marching past. Now with gloomy faces, their hopes dashed. Or something like that. ...
Clint Eastwood & General Saint: Action Stations
Interview by Jack Barron, Sounds, 23 April 1983
JACK BARRON jumps ab