The Word
Initially launched in 2003 as Word, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth's post-Q/MOJO baby was a monthly music magazine that ran for 114 issues. It was shuttered in 2012.
292 articles
List of articles in the library
Ed Harcourt: From Every Sphere
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, March 2003
IF THEY DON'T write songs like they used to, no one told Ed Harcourt. Before the 26-year-old former chef put out his first album — ...
Nick Cave: Makes Darkly Melodic Records of Rare Beauty
Interview by Robert Sandall, The Word, March 2003
He gets up at five a.m. and works. He leads an ordered domestic life. Bob Dylan likes him. He is clean and sober. ...
Richard Thompson: The Old Kit Bag
Review by David Sinclair, The Word, March 2003
ONE OF THE MANY extraordinary things about Richard Thompson is how resistant he is to the image-making process. After all, here is a man who ...
Kinky, Manuel Galbán, Ry Cooder: Ry Cooder & Manuel Gálban: Mambo Sinuendo; Kinky: Kinky
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2003
Perfuming Each Moment ...
Eminem: What's SO F***ing Great About Eminem?
Essay by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2003
The worst character traits imaginable assembled into violent, cautionary cartoons have produced the charismatic star of the moment, now further immortalised in an acclaimed movie. ...
Fairport Convention: Fairport Convention, What We Did On Our Holidays, Unhalfbricking
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, April 2003
Three reissued albums find Fairport Convention on the edge of greatness ...
Elvis Costello: Nobody talks like Elvis Costello
Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2003
On the eve of his second quarter century Elvis looks back, sideways but most of all forward. "I've started to sing from directly inside of ...
Luke Haines: Goodbye To All That
Interview by Roy Wilkinson, The Word, June 2003
Luke Haines is music's Graham Greene, a scowling misanthrope with a highly-placed following and a withering perspective on his homeland. How has the who who's ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Word, July 2003
"I LOVE HIM, I love him, I love him, I love him/ This time, I'm gonna keep it to myself." Björk is swaying as she ...
Report and Interview by David Quantick, The Word, July 2003
Born in a place anyone would be desperate to leave, Grandaddy decided to stay, and earn their wit and wisdom the hard way. Now their ...
John Cooper Clarke: Buster Rhymes
Interview by Andy Gill, The Word, July 2003
Punk's not dead, and neither is its poet laureate, John Cooper Clarke. ...
Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People
Review by Toby Manning, The Word, July 2003
All hail the Glaswegian cochlea-botherers ...
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, July 2003
Success came swiftly for Röyksopp, their smart, guileless electronic pop becoming ubiquitous on high-earning TV soundtracks. But this doesn't sit comfortably with a complex Norwegian morality. "We're ...
Steely Dan: Everything Must Go
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, July 2003
They used to be great... they still are ...
Gillian Welch: The Girl With No Name
Profile and Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, August 2003
The fastest-rising folk singer of her generation is an urban college girl writing spare, soulful country tunes set in a bygone America. Her natural mother ...
Simply Red: Mick Hucknall: Songs of Freedom
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Word, August 2003
Mick Hucknall is performing a record he made at home, released on Simply Red's label, in a restaurant he owns in Paris. This kind of ...
Neil Young: On The Beach/American Stars 'N Bars/Hawks & Doves/Re•ac•tor
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, August 2003
I SPOKE TO Neil Young in 1992, when one of his riffs was the shortcomings of digital sound. "You ever sit down with a CD ...
Super Furry Animals: Phantom Power
Review by Toby Manning, The Word, August 2003
NORTH WALES' scenery is some of the most beautiful in the world, and yet this beauty belies its elemental dangers, barely a month going by ...
Shaun Ryder: What's the story behind Shaun Ryder killing all those pigeons?
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Word, August 2003
IN THE LANGUAGE of advertising, Shaun Ryder is an early adopter. A man who tends to walk ahead of the pack and influence those behind ...
Interview by David Quantick, The Word, September 2003
DIDO LIVES in Islington, along with half the Labour Party, the entire cast of EastEnders and the late Arthur Mullard, who used to sit outside ...
Randy Newman: What made Randy Newman invisible at the Oscars?
Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, September 2003
RANDY NEWMAN comes from Hollywood's leading musical family. Two of his uncles were major screen music composers and conductors. His own father was a musician ...
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: Sleep/Holiday
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, October 2003
Wales has never sounded so far away or magical ...
Eva Cassidy: The Afterlife Of Eva Cassidy
Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, October 2003
Dorian Lynskey meets Eva Cassidy's lover and producer, family and friends and the key figures in a uniquely sad story to discover exactly why the ...
Review by Robert Sandall, The Word, November 2003
IF YOU'VE NEVER heard her earlier records — which, if you've been resident in the UK for the past 10years, you probably haven't — Liz ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, November 2003
David Beckham's favourite act powers ever onward with his manager-mother, his zero-carb diets, and his own personal jeweller. But what drives Usher's insomniac craving for ...
Emmylou Harris: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
Profile and Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, December 2003
For Emmylou Harris it was more than just "practice". She started out playing four shows a night six nights a week, became the "chick singer" ...
Profile and Interview by William Shaw, The Word, December 2003
A thin evolutionary strand connects the forgotten sounds of the psychedelic North and a meticulous chronicle of megalithic Europe. It's Julian Cope, a man whose ...
Interview by James Medd, The Word, December 2003
After years on the dark side of the street, Nick Cave lightens up. ...
Elliott Smith: Bottle Up And Explode
Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, January 2004
Elliott Smith never managed to get past Step One of any 12-step recovery programme, yet he made quixotic music that lifted the lonely and the ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2004
TAKING THE ZEITGEIST by its shirt tails used to be Madonna's job — having hunches about cutting-edge producers and trends, placing a jazzily-painted nail on ...
Johnny Cash: The Last Great American — Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American)
Review by Mark Cooper, The Word, January 2004
Johnny Cash's final recordings were as powerful as anything in his whole career ...
Miles Davis: The Prince of Darkness: So What: The Life Of Miles Davis by John Szwed (Arrow)
Book Review by Andy Gill, The Word, January 2004
Miles Davis: what demonic spirit possessed him? ...
Retrospective by Danny Baker, The Word, February 2004
"The Seventies' attitudes, cultures and repercussions are almost too incredible for a modern youth to imagine" By Danny Baker ...
Retrospective by Chrissie Hynde, The Word, February 2004
"In the Sixties our motto was: never trust anyone over 30. It was all about youth — and youth was a huge threat", by Chrissie ...
Jonathan Ive: The Father Of Invention
Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Word, March 2004
In a world where computer technology is a religion and its curvy iconography is changing everything, a shy 37-year-old Englishman is the newly-elected High Priest. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Word, April 2004
When the police found him howling at the moon in a mud-stained Santa suit after calling his mother the worst word imaginable, it was another ...
N.E.R.D.: Dweebs In Pepperland: N*E*R*D: Fly Or Die (Virgin)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, May 2004
As producers, the Neptunes rule the world. But as N*E*R*D they're losing their way — by Dorian Lynskey ...
Interview by Paul Gorman, The Word, May 2004
In forty years of recording everyone from Dylan and Hendrix to Abba and Lena Zavaroni, a studio engineer sees a lot of strange things. ...
Steve Earle Gives New Meaning To The Expression 'Lifetime Achievement'
Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, May 2004
MARRIED SIX TIMES TO FIVE DIFFERENT WOMEN, HE'S ENDURED THE JUNKIE'S LIFE, DONE TIME AND LIVED TO TELL. NOW A CHANGED CHARACTER, HIGH PROFILE CAMPAIGNER ...
Review by Mark Cooper, The Word, June 2004
Slave To The Rhythm. Prince: the old school's head boy gets back to basics. ...
The Killers: Hot Fuss (Lizard King)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, July 2004
MANY PERFORMERS see out their careers with a lucrative stint in Las Vegas but few actually hail from the city beyond the pleasure palace walls. ...
Prince: The Artist Formerly Known As
Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, The Word, August 2004
Prince has dumped the "glyph", reverted to his real name, expunged the profanities from his set-list and now apologises for his past megalomaniac excess — ...
Metallica: Band on the Ruin: Metallica's Some Kind of Monster
Report and Interview by James Medd, The Word, October 2004
Metallica was facing meltdown and group therapy — then the film crew arrived. The result is the greatest music documentary ever made. ...
Björk: Medúlla (One Little Indian)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, October 2004
Stark spirituals, tortured hymns and schizophrenic requiems: Medúlla sees our favourite Icelander at her most ethereally eccentric ...
Marianne Faithfull: "La Saboteuse"
Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, October 2004
IT IS THE EVENING of the day – a very balmy day in San Francisco – and, perhaps, Marianne Faithfull shouldn't be here. ...
Sean Rowley: Post-cool is the rule
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, October 2004
Sean Rowley's Guilty Pleasures compilation invites you to revel in the musical sins of the 1970s. ...
Elliott Smith: From A Basement On The Hill (Domino)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, November 2004
The posthumous album from the quiet American idol, written From A Basement On The Hill ...
Nancy Sinatra: Nancy Sinatra (Sanctuary)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, November 2004
Nancy Sinatra: our seasoned muse comes good, courtesy of Morrissey, Cocker and Bono ...
Interview by Andy Gill, The Word, December 2004
If the world-beating line-up of Pink Floyd ever flies again you can thank the drummer. Nick Mason tells Andy Gill his peace-keeping personal history of ...
Robyn Hitchcock: Why Is Robyn Hitchcock Better Off Without Hit Records?
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Word, December 2004
ON FIRST impression, only the birds printed all over his shirt detract from Robyn Hitchcock's professorial air. It was his idea to rendezvous in Swiss ...
Overview by Caitlin Moran, The Word, December 2004
For centuries celebrities have loomed large in our pub-time fairytales. Now electronic media has made our thirst for gossip insatiable. Well at least that's what ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2005
Silent Alarm is a promising debut from this year's Franz Ferdinand ...
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, The Word, March 2005
NINE WAS A memorable age for Roberta Joan Anderson. Three things occurred that year, more than 50 years ago, which affect her to this day: ...
Françoise Hardy: Melancholy Bébé: Françoise Hardy: Tant De Belles Choses
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2005
Forty years on a new album reveals the mature mettle of the great Yé-Yé girl ...
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, June 2005
AS A STAUNCH advocate of pop music that's actually popular, that revels in its ability to make human connections, I can't begrudge Coldplay their unquestionable ...
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2005
JUST WHAT do you do if you are Paul McCartney? You could bathe in liquid gold and shine your shoes with royalty cheques, of course, ...
Mike Scott, The Waterboys: Mike Scott
Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, 2006
OF ALL THE PLACES to establish a spiritual community, one mile from a RAF base seems a trifle ill-conceived: transcendence must require every ounce of ...
Review by David Sinclair, The Word, February 2006
WHEN I TOLD my 16-year-old daughter that I was reviewing the debut album by Arctic Monkeys, she was not particularly impressed. "Yes, yes," she said. ...
Review by Toby Manning, The Word, February 2006
A celebration of the life and music of Richard Thompson: folk rock legend so culty they boxed him twice: this time for fans only. ...
Talking Heads - Same as it ever was?
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, February 2006
I MAY BE mistaken but, as I recall it, the term 'New Wave' was coined to accommodate Talking Heads. Publicists needed a tag other than ...
Report by David Sinclair, The Word, March 2006
Internet phenomenon MySpace provided the Arctic Monkeys with their fast track to fame. It's now adding a million users every week and guess who's just ...
Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy: The Rise, Fall, Rise, Fall and Rise of Stephen Duffy
Retrospective and Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Word, March 2006
He was the founder of Duran Duran whose idealistic visions never quite chimed with the times. CAITLIN MORAN charts the Lazarus-like multiple recovery of the ...
Wilson Pickett: Farewell, Wicked Messenger
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2006
Wilson Pickett: you couldn't sing 'In The Midnight Hour' the way he did without a terrible temper and in this respect the man from Prattville, ...
Cocteau Twins: The Cocteau Twins
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, April 2006
IN THE SUMMER of 1981, a member of staff at the Earl's Court branch of Beggars Banquet Records noticed an odd-looking couple loitering outside the ...
Willie Nile: Streets Of New York
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2006
MUSICIANS NEVER give up, which is more often a cause for sadness than celebration. I reviewed my last Willie Nile record in 1980. I thought ...
Cocteau Twins: Lullabies To Violaine Volumes 1 and 2
Review by David Quantick, The Word, May 2006
THE COCTEAU TWINS, in their 15-year career, were extremely fond of the EP format, so it makes sense for 4AD to bring all these together ...
Lily Allen: The Sound Of The (Garden) Suburbs
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, July 2006
Lily Allen makes urban music with a difference — she's had a life she can't complain about. And via MySpace and a daily blog she's built ...
Scritti Politti: The Green Piece
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, July 2006
A PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION to begin. Why are we all here? Well, it's because pop music's fucking great, isn't it? ...
Evan Dando: Keep Off The Grass
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, September 2006
...unless you're Evan Dando, in which case the sex/drugs/rock & roll cocktail appears to be your ticket to eternal youth. He's done Bad Things, he ...
Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2006
THE PROBLEM with so many virtuoso musicians is that their technical skill impedes the act of communication: it becomes the focus of all the attention, ...
Michael Jackson: Called To Account
Report by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, October 2006
If Michael Jackson had put his money in a Post Office account he could have bought a small country, but his legendary spending has left ...
Joanna Newsom: The New Kate Bush?
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, November 2006
Angelic voice, radiant songs about "flickering wastelands" and childhood trips to Folk Summer Camp. Meet Joanna Newsom. ...
King Creosote: It's the Wee Folk Hobbit!
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, December 2006
After 20 years, King Creosote — humble cottage-industry troubadour — has reached the Rivendell of a major label and a signing to Elton John's management. ...
The Magic Numbers: Those The Brokes (Heavenly)
Review by Toby Manning, The Word, December 2006
The Soft Parade: Those The Brokes hits the ballad button — a touch too hard ...
Status Quo: Whatever You Want (To Eat): Having Lunch With Status Quo
Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, December 2006
Note: This is the original "director's cut" version of the piece that ran in The Word. ...
Ray Charles: Ahmet Ertegun, 1923-2006
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2007
AS MUSIC BUSINESS people go, Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun was a giant amongst pygmies, a mover and shaker whose colossal impact on the course ...
Lady Sovereign: Public Warning (Def Jam/Casual)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, February 2007
Public Warning by "white midget" Lady Sovereign — a few years too long in the oven, but funny in parts. ...
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2007
IT'S NOW AN acknowledged item of rock and roll faith that the sun-kissed life of the West Coast hippie aristocracy was underpinned, and ultimately undermined, ...
Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneaky Pete Kleinow, 1934-2007
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2007
AS PEDAL STEEL guitarist with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Sneaky Pete Kleinow probably did more than any other musician to establish that instrument in rock ...
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, April 2007
IT WAS IN "the green pastures of Harvard University", according to the genial introduction on his debut album, that Bob Dylan cribbed the chord-structure of ...
Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith: Elliott Smith et al: It's All Too Beautiful
Report by Graeme Thomson, The Word, June 2007
Pale eulogies on fan sites are giving even obscure dead musicians a career in the afterlife. But does the net build an idealised version of ...
The Only Ones: Night Of The Living Dead
Report and Interview by David Sinclair, The Word, June 2007
COME TOGETHER: After 26 years apart, the Only Ones have climbed aboard the reunion bandwagon. They have more reasons than most, as they tell DAVID ...
Blur: Alex James: Where There's Muck, There's Blur
Interview by James Medd, The Word, July 2007
Britpop pin-up, champagne-guzzler and gentleman farmer... Just how much of Alex James's extraordinary life has gone into his new book? ...
Review by David Quantick, The Word, July 2007
Aloof yet commercial, glacial but rich... Editors are an awful lot more than the Joy Division that never went disco. ...
Report and Interview by William Shaw, The Word, August 2007
In years to come, will the picture on the right be as unacceptable as the one above? The music business has a green problem, and ...
Georgie Fame: Rik Gunnell, 1931-2007
Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, August 2007
RIK GUNNELL, who died recently aged 75 in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbuhel, where he owned and ran a bar called The Londoner, was ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, September 2007
AS THE 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd's debut album, Piper At the Gates Of Dawn rolls around, it's interesting to ruminate on what became of ...
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, November 2007
SEVEN YEARS AGO, Robert Plant rang country music superstar Alison Krauss and one imagines, toying casually with the telephone cord, said something like, "Hey, we ...
Feist: The Lady From The Advert
Profile and Interview by Roy Wilkinson, The Word, December 2007
She's the latest beneficiary of the TV ad "sync" but there's more to folk apparition Feist's story than would fit on a nano ...
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, December 2007
THE '70S BEGAN and ended in turmoil, with strikes, crises, terrorism, class war and new political orthodoxies on the march. ...
Amy Winehouse: Life Imitating Art...
Comment by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2008
...imitating life. When did Amy Winehouse start to inhabit her songs, wonders KATE MOSSMAN. ...
Review by David Quantick, The Word, February 2008
The indie Fleetwood Mac reveal a rough bark on their reissued debut EP. ...
Hot Chip: Super Fry Guys: Hot Chip's Made In The Dark (EMI)
Review by John McCready, The Word, February 2008
Hot Chip: Brains from Thunderbirds and his science-block mates create wonderful dance music — that you don't have to dance to. ...
Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree (Mute)
Review by John McCready, The Word, March 2008
Country Casuals: Farewell to Equus Goes Rollerdisco and "Hello trees, Hello flowers" as Goldfrapp undertake their own bucolic Relocation, Relocation ...
Review by David Quantick, The Word, March 2008
There's a lot of Morrissey's newer, louder, less subtle music on his latest greatest hits. David Quantick finds his patience is at an end. ...
The Hot 8 Brass Band: Basin Street Boogie
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2008
The Hot 8 Brass Band are the missing link between traditional New Orleans jazz and hip hop. But three members have been shot dead along ...
Review by John McCready, The Word, April 2008
Imagined in London, bankrolled by pop hits and prog rock — the disco-dub collision at Compass Point Studios created shockwaves. ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, May 2008
EVERYBODY KNOWS a Steve Miller song, yet he's hardly a household name. For every hit of his you can whistle – 'The Joker', 'Fly Like ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: CSI: Ambleside
Review by John McCready, The Word, June 2008
Forget the TV-obsessed japery of their John Peel years. Half Man Half Biscuit are now the most perceptive satirists in British music. ...
Martha Wainwright: I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too (Drowned In Sound)
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, June 2008
DRAPED UPSIDE-DOWN over the couch, high heels pointing at the sky, little black dress hiked high on her thighs, Martha Wainwright is waiting for someone. ...
John Martyn: A Golden Age: John Martyn
Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, July 2008
NOTE: This is the original "director's cut" version of the piece that ran in the The Word. ...
The Zutons: You Can Do Anything
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, July 2008
Epic yet humble, the third Zutons album shows the cosmic Scousers can do grandeur with a human face. ...
Pink Floyd, Ron Geesin: Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother Redux
Report by Jim Irvin, The Word, August 2008
IN JUNE 1984, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, unequivocal as always, told Richard Skinner on Radio 1: "If somebody said to me now: 'Right...here's a million ...
Shirley & Dolly Collins: Down In Albion — Shirley and Dolly Collins: The Harvest Years (Harvest)
Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, September 2008
The collected classics of Shirley and Dolly Collins constitute a phantasmagoria of English folk. Warning: contains crumhorns. ...
Big Brother & The Holding Company: R. Crumb: So Last Century
Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, The Word, 12 September 2008
The world of R. Crumb – where every record sleeve wishes it was still 1920. ...
Kevin Ayers: Exile On Mean Street
Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, October 2008
Rumpled romantic, booze-fuelled philanderer, gifted golden boy of art-rock, Kevin Ayers fled abroad 40 years ago and now lives a strange, impecunious life wrestling with ...
Review by James Medd, The Word, October 2008
Cosmic cowboys Mercury Rev, mushroom mariachi merchants Calexico, heartbroken hobos Giant Sand. Can you even call this stuff Americana anymore? ...
Saint Etienne: London Conversations (Heavenly/Universal)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, October 2008
IT'S ONE OF life's lovely ironies that Saint Etienne, an English group named after a French football team, tell us everything there is to know ...
Lucinda Williams: Little Honey (Lost Highway)
Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, November 2008
WHENEVER A MUSICIAN announces that their new offering is the "most eclectic album they've ever made", it's sure to be a rough ride. ...
Guy Peellaert: The man who invented rock and roll
Comment by David Hepworth, The Word, 20 November 2008
I'VE ONLY JUST noticed that Guy Peellaert died the other day. Lots of people have never heard his name but the fact remains that, rightly ...
The Killers: Razorlight: Slipway Fires (Mercury); The Killers: Day And Age (Mercury)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, December 2008
Young Men In A Hurry: What's the verdict on those tricky third albums from Razorlight and the Killers? It's all a bit forced. ...
Guns N' Roses: Guns N'Roses: Chinese Democracy
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, 2009
"ALL I'VE got is time" sings Axl Rose in the opening, title song of Chinese Democracy. ...
Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Word, January 2009
The cold wind of recession is already freezing record companies — but what will it mean for the kind of music that artists want to ...
Various Artists: A Complete Introduction To Northern Soul (Universal)
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, January 2009
A COMPLETE HISTORY? Yes. A Short Introduction? Yes. But A Complete Introduction? Surely a contradiction in terms. ...
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, March 2009
IT HAS NEVER occurred to me before Graham Nash points it out, but 'Marrakesh Express' isn't just a breezily literal account of the illicit delights ...
The Bird and the Bee: Greg Kurstin: Mister Fairy Dust
Interview by James Medd, The Word, March 2009
When Lily Allen, Kylie, Britney, Beck, Flaming Lips, Ladyhawke or Little Boots need a multi-instrumentalist or musical director, they send for Greg Kurstin. And for ...
R.E.M.: Murmur (Deluxe Edition)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2009
IT CAME FROM the South, as all the best American myths do: a strange collection of songs by a group named after a stage in ...
The Cramps: Lux Interior, 1946-2009
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2009
SOMETIME IN THE mid-'70s, Erick Purkhiser of Stow, Ohio, exchanged his given name for words he found in an automobile catalogue. ...
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, April 2009
Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan rewrote their pasts. The same goes for Ramblin' Jack Elliott. ...
Report and Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, April 2009
T-Bone Burnett has been producing records for over 40 years and is busier now than he's ever been, pursuing a lifelong fascination with "the boom ...
The Who: Sell Out: Deluxe Edition (Polydor)
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2009
The Who Sell Out was muddled enough with all those fake ads getting in the way. It's certainly not made "deluxe" by such additions as ...
Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (V2)
Review by James Medd, The Word, June 2009
The hot-air balloon, the electric iron and the current trend for shiny '70s and '80s-inspired synthpop: the French tend to get there first. ...
Liz Phair: Exile In Guyville (15th Anniversary Edition)
Review by Laura Barton, The Word, August 2009
All's Phair In Love And War: Raw, rude and "very 1993", Liz Phair led Girl Power's first offensive. ...
Prefab Sprout: Erase And Rewind: Paddy McAloon
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, September 2009
Paddy McAloon’s lost folly has just been released after 17 years. Many and complex were the obstacles in its path, as he tells GRAEME THOMSON. ...
Yo La Tengo: You Never Knew There Was So Much In It
Profile and Interview by James Medd, The Word, September 2009
James Medd meets Yo La Tengo – American music's feverishly industrious purveyors of jazz-folk-funk-samba-epic-ballad-space-rock. ...
Muse: Dystopian Rhapsody: Muse's The Resistance
Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, October 2009
Queen-like symphonies, "thought police", a nameless evil... Muse are wrestling with Something Very Important — that never quite arrives. ...
Interview by James Medd, The Word, October 2009
Nick Cave's new fiction hero is a monstrous expression of the male psyche grotesquely obsessed with sex, he tells James Medd. Did he evolve from ...
Review by James Medd, The Word, December 2009
They keep saying this is the golden age of live music. So why don't live albums sound as good as they used to? Nirvana: Live At ...
Nick Drake: Robert Kirby, 1948-2009
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, December 2009
THE SPARSENESS of the three albums Nick Drake released in his lifetime are part of their enduring appeal. On two of those albums, string arrangements ...
David McAlmont, Michael Nyman: This Just In: David McAlmont and Michael Nyman
Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, December 2009
A bizarre collaboration between David McAlmont and Michael Nyman revives the dying art of the topical news story in song. ...
Various Artists: Disco Discharge – Classic Disco, Euro Disco, Gay Disco, Disco Ladies
Review by Jon Savage, The Word, December 2009
AS IS THEIR wont, the Pet Shop Boys really summed it up on 'Can You Forgive Her?':"She's made you some kind of laughing stock/Because you ...
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me (Drag City)
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, 2010
IT'S NOT going out on any limbs to declare that Joanna Newsom's voice divides opinion. ...
Tom Waits: Albums of the Decade: Tom Waits' Real Gone
Review by James Medd, The Word, January 2010
ISTHERE A musician whose stock is higher? It's certainly hard to think of another whose songs are covered by both the singer of Led Zeppelin ...
Hot Chip: One Life Stand (Parlophone)
Review by Simon Price, The Word, February 2010
THE NAME, of course, is one of pop's great double entendres. As well as carrying the sense of overloaded silicon circuitry, "Hot Chip" — like ...
Taylor Swift: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, 10 February 2010
Taylor Swift's conquest of the teenage-girl market is so controlling it's creepy. In the front stalls: Kate Mossman. ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Listen To the Voices – Sly Stone In The Studio 1965-1970 (Ace)
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, May 2010
Sly Stone's pharmaceutical habits attracted an undue level of bad press, but the studio would always be a place of refuge. ...
The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Polydor)
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, May 2010
HAVING DRAWN THE Stones' latest, double album from its unsettling, monochrome sleeve, how long did it take contemporary listeners to realise this wouldn't be business ...
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, July 2010
HEY, THIS IS a first. I'm reviewing this record on an InterCity train. I've accessed it via Spotify and been able to put it — ...
Propaganda: A Secret Wish (ZTT/Salvo)
Review by John McCready, The Word, September 2010
Fizzing with conflicting creative energies, Propaganda could have been a disaster. Instead they constructed a masterpiece. ...
Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny: Sandy Denny: Sandy Denny
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, September 2010
A monumental box for a great voice. ...
Joan As Police Woman: What I Like
Interview by James Medd, The Word, January 2011
Joan As Police Woman aka Joan Wasser, fearsome singer, songwriter and serial collaborator, formerly of Antony & the Johnsons and Jeff Buckley's girlfriend ...
Pet Shop Boys: Neil Tennant: "Twitter Is Sickly"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2011
Social-network agnostic, high-church robe-fancier; supreme pop strategist — Neil Tennant casts a weather eye over the wind-lashed landscape of learning. ...
Lady Gaga, Muse: Spectacles: Muse and Lady Gaga
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, January 2011
Muse pushed the envelope of live spectacle, while Lady Gaga was oddly intimate. Who won? ...
Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2011
Now in new hands, Rounder Records looks back after four decades of progressive signings in country, blues and folk. ...
Anaïs Mitchell: Going Underworld
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2011
Anaïs Mitchell reworked the Opheus myth into the micro-folk stage show Hadestown in '06. My, how its grown... ...
Cat Power: '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'
Retrospective by James Medd, The Word, February 2011
SHORN OF A RIFF and chorus that are both as familiar as any in rock and roll, just verses and rhythm and a single guitar, ...
Cristina, Peggy Lee, Leiber and Stoller: Cristina's 'Is That All There Is?'
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Word, February 2011
HERE ARE TWO gutsy blondes, a million miles apart musically, turning people's heads with the same Leiber and Stoller song. ...
Gregg Allman: Low Country Blues
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2011
T-Bone Burnett brings Gregg Allman back from the brink with a blues injection. It's the best solo album he's ever made. ...
John Cooper Clarke: "The Secret Of Longevity Is Idleness"
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, February 2011
Spidery bard, beanpole buddha of suburbia, GCSE syllabus fixture — John Cooper Clarke plants his flag on the summit of Mount Wisdom. ...
Johnnie Allan, Chuck Berry: Johnnie Allan's 'Promised Land'
Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2011
ON 5th MARCH 1960, the same day that his rival Elvis Presley was being discharged from the army and welcomed back as an all-American icon, ...
Review by James Medd, The Word, February 2011
Three records rich in charm and melancholy. Give it up for Mélanie Pain, Joan As Police Woman and Anna Calvi. ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, February 2011
The splintered psychology of Jacko is laid bare in a "final" album, recorded over 25 years and finished after his death. ...
Randy Newman, Nina Simone: Nina Simone's 'Baltimore'
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, The Word, February 2011
WHEN RANDY NEWMAN'S Little Criminals was released late in 1977, ending a three-year drought for the irony tsar of Tin Pan Alley, critics queued up ...
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, March 2011
IT'S THREE AND A HALF MINUTES into Build A Rocket Boys, and Elbow are sounding like a band. And that band is Genesis, circa 1973, ...
Elton John: The Man Who Loved Records
Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, March 2011
No downloads for Sir Elton John, thank you. No miming either. And don't get him started on Simon Cowell. Rob Fitzpatrick meets a passionate purist ...
Jello Biafra, Peter Hammill: Peter Hammill and Jello Biafra: Prog vs. Punk – Who Won?
Interview by Jim Irvin, The Word, March 2011
One was uncool but enduring, the other hip but short-lived. Two pioneers, Peter Hammill and Jello Biafra, fight their respective corners. ...
Review by James Medd, The Word, March 2011
PJ Harvey is "a human being affected by politics" in an absorbing new record suffused with imagery from wars past and present. And they said ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Band: A Dog's Life
Review by David Quantick, The Word, March 2011
The ever-rising legacy of the Bonzo Dog Band — every shade of music and humour faithfully packaged in one 3CD box. ...
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, April 2011
IT'S PRONOUNCED "hommy", rhymes with "mommy". Everyone gets it wrong, but Homme seems more fitting anyway for this great big tank of manhood, the Queens ...
Smog: Bill Callahan: Searching For Smog
Profile and Interview by James Medd, The Word, April 2011
How, after 11 albums, has the mysterious Bill Callahan stayed so supremely unknowable? ...
Katy B, Jamie Woon: Jamie Woon: Mirrorwriting, Katy B: On A Mission
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, April 2011
TWO GRADUATES from the school of dubstep — a brooding introvert and a Saturday-night extrovert— bypass the awkward stage. ...
Lennon, Lenin, The Oz Schoolkids Issue And Me
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, The Word, April 2011
In 1970 Charles Shaar Murray answered an ad in furry freak magazine Oz for a bunch of juveniles to edit a Schoolkids issue. Next thing ...
Paul Simon: So Beautiful Or So What
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2011
After a 70-year emotional odyssey, Paul Simon offloads his hard-won black humour and shrugging folk wisdom. ...
Blancmange, The Human League: The Human League: Credo/Blancmange: Blanc Burn
Review by John McCready, The Word, April 2011
Shiny new albums by Blancmange and the Human League show they'll stop at nothing in the service of "electronic ideals". ...
The Strokes, The Vaccines: The Strokes: Angles/The Vaccines: What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, April 2011
Every few months, along comes another band ready to "save rock and roll". Who'll take care of it this time: the Strokes, back after six ...
Fleet Foxes: Modern Life Is Rubbish
Interview by Andy Gill, The Word, May 2011
Fleet Foxes dust down their antique marxophones and twanging one-string zithers — and record it all on tape. ...
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, May 2011
PAPARAZZI CAME to the Baglioni Hotel at Hyde Park Gate this morning to catch Debbie Harry, who's staying in Room Four. They went into bonus ...
Foo Fighters: Lightning In A Bottle: Foo Fighters: Wasting Light (RCA)
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, May 2011
Supercharged spontaneity captured straight to tape — yet Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters remain emotionally elusive ...
Mickey Newbury: American Trilogy (Saint Cecilia Knows/Mountain Retreat)
Review by Rob Young, The Word, May 2011
Mickey Newbury's songs were made famous by other people. In his own hands they reveal a strange and magical thumbprint. ...
Fleet Foxes: Pack Mentality: Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues (Bella Union)
Review by Rob Young, The Word, May 2011
Fleet Foxes return, warmer and more bracing, with a set of vivid utopian folk songs for an age of modern austerity ...
Rock Critic Superpower Summit: Nick Kent meets Greil Marcus
Interview by Nick Kent, The Word, May 2011
On-site action terrorist Nick Kent and stay-at-home scholar Greil Marcus. Would they mesh or clash if The Word brought them together? ...
Book Review by Rob Young, The Word, June 2011
AROUND 15 MAY 1970, Neil Young glanced at Time magazine's coverage of the killing of four students at Kent State, grabbed a guitar and within ...
Kate Bush: Double Exposure: Kate Bush: Director's Cut (EMI/Fish People)
Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, June 2011
Kate Bush re-examines a handful of her own songs. The result? Restoration, radical reinvention and unfettered weirdness… ...
Loudon Wainwright III: "Don't be an actor"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, June 2011
Bounder, famously fallible patriarch, six-stringed self-analyst and chronicler — consider the dust-caked dictums of Loudon Wainwright III ...
Report and Interview by James Medd, The Word, June 2011
Mercury Rev's masterpiece was inspired by an orchestral record of Rip Van Winkle from childhood. Deserter's Songs has just reawaken. ...
PJ Harvey: Polly Harvey: An Interview
Interview by James Medd, The Word, June 2011
SHE'S SO ON-BRAND, it's like 20 years never passed: a black sleeveless vest top over a physique suggesting food is not an interest, the black ...
Robert Johnson: The Centennial Collection
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, June 2011
Robert Johnson used a variety of tricks to hide his remarkable technique from copyists, even dancing while he played. ...
The Fugs — Suppose They Gave A War And Nobody Came?
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, June 2011
"KILL FOR PEACE" ironists The Fugs have reunited after 27 years and are "preparing to go out in a blaze of leaflets". ...
The National: An Interview with Matt Berninger
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, June 2011
It's been a long, slow slog to the summit for The National — "You either plant your flag or you're forgotten" ...
Review by Rob Young, The Word, July 2011
After the world's greatest break-up album, Bon Iver has pulled himself out of the quagmire of regret — with invigorating results. ...
Duane Eddy: "All Pilots Are Musicians"
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, July 2011
Downhome philosopher, barrier-busting King Of Twang noise-bringer — Duane Eddy strums the semi-acoustic soundbox of sagacity. ...
Rory Gallagher: Blues for the Muse
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, The Word, July 2011
A lost studio album is out – by Rory Gallagher, the man who put all he had into his music and took nothing back in ...
Roy Harper: Songs Of Love And Loss: Volumes 1 & 2
Review by Rob Hughes, The Word, July 2011
Like Marmite and modern jazz, Roy Harper tends to polarise opinion. The man allergic to authority gets a digital reboot. ...
Arctic Monkeys: Surfeit Safari: Arctic Monkeys: Suck It And See (Domino)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, July 2011
Arctic Monkeys latest adventure — an overload of hyper-chiselled lyricism and a touch too much of yer manly riff-rock ...
Interview by James Medd, The Word, August 2011
"THE FIRST 50 years have been eventful, haven't they?" asks Andy Kershaw, reassuringly still the cocky young'un off The Whistle Test despite 2009's half-century. ...
Fountains of Wayne: Sky Full Of Holes
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, August 2011
Lost souls and unsung heroes still stalk the landscape for Fountains Of Wayne — but has the well of compassion run dry? ...
Johnny Cash: When Johnny Came Marching Home
Retrospective by Graeme Thomson, The Word, August 2011
In 1993 Johnny Cash sat on Rick Rubin's sofa and began playing songs — just as a "getting to know you" exercise. It turned out ...
Justin Townes Earle: Ripped Genes
Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, August 2011
Steve Earle is your dad. You're sent to a boot camp for teenage delinquents. But watch what happened next for Justin Townes Earle... ...
Stephen Malkmus: Things I Like
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, August 2011
Pavement founder turned Jick-In-Chief, Thin Lizzy nut, chaser of "the cinematic '70s", jealous of Joanna Newsom. ...
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, August 2011
Leather-clad pop cat, amateur Soviet historian and Tony Hancock aficionado. Do not disturb between 4 and 6pm. * ...
They Might Be Giants: If You Can't Take A Yoke (You Shouldn't Have Joined)
Retrospective and Interview by James Medd, The Word, August 2011
Johns Flansburgh and Linnell formed They Might Be Giants during punk's "amnesty for oddballs". In the 30 years since, they've represented for Marmite-flavoured ebullience in ...
Foo Fighters, Lil Wayne: View From The Top: Foo Fighters: Back And Forth/Lil Wayne: The Carter
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, August 2011
The rock soap opera of Foo Fighters' journey to a happy place versus the soul-sapping, airlocked celebrity world of Lil Wayne ...
Goldie, Pat Metheny: When Goldie Met Metheny
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, August 2011
Obsessed drum'n'bass muscle writes daily letters to jazz wizard (and to Beethoven and Elgar). Eventually he posts one. Word arranges a summit ...
Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, September 2011
CHILDLIKE VOICE, murder ballads with a dark country shuffle... Amy Lavere thinks of her songs as "mini-movies". ...
Björk: Manchester International Festival
Live Review by Rob Hughes, The Word, September 2011
Björk's new live show: sci-fi, gothic soundtrack and head-scrambling visuals. Each song comes with an interactive app. ...
Paul Simon: How does Paul Simon deal with his compulsive side?
Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, September 2011
THE MEASURE OF Paul Simon's output first came home to me over 20 years ago when I went to see him perform at Wembley Arena. ...
Glen Campbell, J. D. Souther: J.D. Souther: Natural History/Glen Campbell: Ghost On The Canvas
Review by Laura Barton, The Word, September 2011
Half-centuries of rugged individualism are celebrated in two finely-chiselled new records. ...
Jonathan Wilson: Gentle Spirit (Bella Union)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Word, September 2011
OVER A DECADE AGO, a very nice man named Simon Raymonde – son of cult '60s arranger Ivor – came to my house to answer ...
Mary Anne Hobbs: Things I Like
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, September 2011
Music-deprived teenager turned DJ, bikini motorcyclist, Raymond Carver fan. Reads Stuart Maconie on repeat. ...
Patti Smith: Outside Society – Greatest Hits
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, September 2011
Patti Smith wouldn't thank you for calling her a pop star. In fact, there's no higher praise — as this compilation attests. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, September 2011
"Unwanted Alien" — the stamp on Roy Harper's passport in 1962. It's been the story of his life: troubled outsider tries to break in. ...
Review by Rob Hughes, The Word, September 2011
Three of the planet's most diffident, messy and murky indie bands throw open the doors and let the pop stream in. ...
Book Review by Andy Gill, The Word, September 2011
FORGET JAMES BROWN: the hardest working man in show business is surely bluesman Bobby "Blue" Bland, who played over 300 shows per year, for decades ...
Tony Bennett: "Legalise drugs!"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, September 2011
Reformed doper, WW2 footsoldier, gilt-tonsilled balladeer — Tony Bennett takes a cable car to the top of Mount Wisdom ...
Jon Anderson, Yes: Yes: Fly From Here/Jon Anderson: Survival And Other Stories
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, September 2011
Cruelly replaced by a tribute-band replica, Jon Anderson manages to conjure more magic than his former Yes colleagues. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2011
Crowded House's recording career was becalmed in 1990 until an unplanned injection of sibling rivalry sparked off the masterpiece that was Woodface. It couldn't last ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, October 2011
The ravishing, quasi-pagan soundscapes of Feist's third album connect most powerfully just before dawn. Prepare to be spooked. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, October 2011
Head Bunnyman; admires The Doors' "sea shanties" the lyrics of Shania Twain, the poetry of John Betjeman and the voice of Alan Yentob ...
The Coasters, The Drifters, Ben E. King, Big Mama Thornton: Jerry Leiber, 1933-2011
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, October 2011
The man who made "15-minute radio plays" into hits. ...
Little Feat: 40 Feat – The Hot Tomato Anthology 1971-2011
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, October 2011
Five years of inspiration and another 35 of re-creation in a box of Little Feat, the band that nearly became the next big thing. ...
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, October 2011
The new Louis Armstrong box set isn't the vast trunk you'd expect, more an overnight hag — but it has everything you need. ...
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, October 2011
Mara Carlyle's album was jinxed — delayed for years in legal wrangles, then all the stock was burnt in a riot-related warehouse fire. But in ...
Review by Rob Young, The Word, October 2011
Those in search of rapturous folk meditations with all the urgency of the '60s revivalists... tune in to Meg Baird. ...
Review by Laura Barton, The Word, October 2011
Come raise a glass in the small, vivid, brilliantly disordered universe of Nick Lowe — its life, just not quite as we know it. ...
Profile and Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, October 2011
The moment their kids left home, Neil and Sharon Finn formed a new band. Pajama Club is their "empty-nest album". ...
Peter Gabriel: "Don't try to be liked"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, October 2011
Sage, musicologist, digital pathfinder, born-again dad — Peter Gabriel offloads his recyclable bag of wisdom ...
Queen, Roger Taylor: Queen: Bismillah! We Will Not Let You Go!
Retrospective and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, October 2011
At the age of 11, Kate Mossman began a manic seven-year obsession with the baroque fantasies of Queen – but thought she'd now made a ...
Thomas Dolby: Appliance Of Science
Interview by James Medd, The Word, October 2011
Name a musician that hasn't felt the magic plug-in of hyperactive studio dweeb Thomas Dolby. ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, November 2011
Antacid, pierced glook and regional epithets — the enduring joy of a new album from Birkenhead's finest satirists. ...
Book Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, November 2011
For ten solid, supercharged years Bowie was always one step ahead. Peter Doggett considers a decade of "magical thinking" ...
Marc Ribot, Tom Waits: Marc Ribot: Swamp Thing
Profile and Interview by James Medd, The Word, November 2011
The genius fog-filled guitarist who pushed Tom Waits' signature sound off the piano stool. ...
Chic, Nile Rodgers: Nile Rodgers: The Winter Of Our Discotheque
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, November 2011
Chic's Nile Rodgers recalls the chilling dance-music backlash of 1979 — "the more dominant tribe basically saying, It's time to thin out the herd" ...
Thea Gilmore: The Long Goodbye
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, November 2011
THEA GILMORE has written music for ten lost Sandy Denny lyrics. Creative time-travel or over-milking a legacy? ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Word, November 2011
IT SHOULDN'T NEED to be said but I'll say it anyway: Tom Waits' career is one of the more extraordinary examples of mutation in the ...
Florence and the Machine: Florence + The Machine Ceremonials (Island)
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, December 2011
Fabulous theatre, preposterous lyrics, tribal rhythms — has Florence made the most overblown female solo album in years? ...
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, December 2011
A Kate Bush song can be a game, a riddle, a library, a plane ticket, a night at the movies, a love affair, an hallucination, ...
Kevin Avery: Everything is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson (Fantagraphics)
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Word, December 2011
NOTE: This is a slightly expanded version of the review that ran in The Word. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, December 2011
HIP-HOP DREAM-WEAVER, advocate of the Ray Charles boutique label system, Rastamouse apologist. ...
Kate Bush: The Frost Report: Kate Bush: 50 Words For Snow (Fish People/EMI)
Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, December 2011
A winter's tale from Kate Bush: low pressure, deep drifts, a cold front moving in — and a crisp cameo from Stephen Fry. ...
Amy Winehouse: Lioness: Hidden Treasures (Island)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, January 2012
Danse Macabre: Subdued cover versions and a posthumous "duet" — the final album from Amy Winehouse is an unsettling experience ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, January 2012
Siren of art-house blues-rock, raised on Beefheart and modelled on Edith Piaf. Ashamed of her attraction to Glee. ...
Retrospective and Interview by James Medd, The Word, January 2012
Multi-instrumental session vet Charlie McCoy has a motto: have harmonica, be eternally employable. ...
Elbow: Guy Garvey: Elbow ambassador; Joni Mitchell torch-carrier
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2012
ANY WOMAN interviewing guy GARVEY will inevitably drift to thoughts of what he would be like to live with. This is because every anecdote that ...
David Bowie, Peter Frampton, The Herd, Humble Pie: Peter Frampton: Fables Of The Resurrection
Interview by David Quantick, The Word, January 2012
He had the biggest-selling album of all time and then "completely tanked" for 28 years. Peter Frampton, this is your rebooted life! ...
Florence and the Machine: Q&A: Florence Welch
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, January 2012
Pop sorceress, Oscars attendee ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, January 2012
Anyone else apart from Roy Wood ever been sued by a prime minister? ...
Adele: Live At The Royal Albert Hall
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jim Irvin, The Word, February 2012
Adele Adkins, USA-slaying superstar from Tottenham, plays the Albert Hall. It's being ordinary what makes her so popular. ...
Overview by James Medd, The Word, February 2012
They are "the glue" that cements the music, the mysterious put-upon souls plying their crucial trade in a cloud of dry ice by the drum-riser. ...
Beth Jeans Houghton: Eat To The Beat
Interview by James Medd, The Word, February 2012
Managers, labels, producers — all of them got short shrift. Beth Jeans Houghton knows precisely how she wants things to be — "edible". ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: Different Drum
Profile by James Medd, The Word, February 2012
Evan Dando's dismissal as the work-shy poster boy of bubble-grunge masks a monumental talent. Reconsider this man! argues James Medd. ...
First Aid Kit: The Lion's Roar
Review by Rob Young, The Word, February 2012
Gorgeous close-harmony singing and undiluted Americana —from the wide-open prairies of Stockholm ...
Simple Minds: Jim Kerr: The Things I Like
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2012
Simple Mind, Celtic FC supporter, fan of prog and proto-punk. Buys much of his new music via TV ads ...
Guide by Rob Hughes, The Word, February 2012
Folk luminary, former librarian, Anne Briggs acolyte and breadmaker. Well-versed in the history of war. ...
Bon Iver, Kathleen Edwards: Kathleen Edwards and Bon Iver: Love Triangle
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, February 2012
There's three in this relationship — Kathleen Edwards, Bon Iver and the big, sad, shimmering record they've made together. ...
Kent Hartman: The Wrecking Crew – The Inside Story Of Rock And Roll's Best-Kept Secret
Book Review by James Medd, The Word, February 2012
If it's Monday it must be the Beach Boys, Tuesday it's Sinatra. The fantasy life of L.A.'s fabled sessioneers told as soap opera ...
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, February 2012
Laughing Len's new outing seems to imply it could be his last. But then again, he's done that before... ...
Various Artists: Country & Western Hit Parade 1961-1965
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2012
At the height of rock and roll, country music fought hack with a string of urban-hillbilly hits. But did they go too far? ...
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, March 2012
Moon pies, Brylcreem, Elvis... Why has Chris Isaak been stuck in the '50s since the 1960s? ...
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, March 2012
JOHNNY OTIS was relaxing in his San Francisco hotel room one afternoon in 1954 when his manager called from the lobby and said he was ...
Henry Rollins: "Playing your hits is living a lie"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2012
Punk pugilist turned spoken-word turbo-philosopher, Henry Rollins puts the wanting world in a headlock ...
The Black Keys: How The Black Keys Rose Without Trace
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, March 2012
"There's a lot that goes into being a band aside from the music," say the quiet pair from Ohio. "We pay attention to that stuff." ...
Profile and Interview by James Medd, The Word, March 2012
Like David Byrne and Gary Numan, Ladyhawke suffers from Asperger's — a tough call in an industry based entirely on communication. ...
Pet Shop Boys: Format 1995-2009
Review by Jude Rogers, The Word, March 2012
Pet Shop Boys' later B-sides — now compiled into a titillating album — offer an alternative narrative to the last two decades. ...
Alex Chilton: Show Your Working!: Alex Chilton: Free Again: The 1970 Sessions (Omnivore/Ace)
Review by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2012
Former teen idol Alex Chilton found his feet writing songs. The first efforts were strange, charming and totally schizophrenic. ...
Spiritualized: Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Review by Simon Price, The Word, March 2012
His last creative fix was religion, now its sugar-coated psych-pop. Has "J Spaceman' finally found redemption? ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, March 2012
Music, pop-up stores, all-ages art, cabaret: Wilco's Solid Sound Festival is "what we can't get across in a live two-hour show" ...
Overview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, March 2012
Because sometimes the only way musicians can actually talk to each other is by writing songs ...
Review by James Medd, The Word, April 2012
AS A RULE, violins have no place in rock. Fairport Convention went wrong at Liege & Lief, ELO were all about the synths and 'Geno' ...
Bow Wow Wow: Annabella Lwin: What She Likes
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, April 2012
McLaren protégée, voice of Bow Wow Wow, Pitbull fan and romcom freak. Identifies with Marie Antoinette. ...
Annabella Lwin: What She Likes
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, April 2012
McLaren protegee, voice of Bow Wow Wow, Pitbull fan and romcom freak. Identifies with Marie Antoinette. ...
Dion: The Bard Of Bronx County
Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, April 2012
HOW DID THEY miss Dion DiMucci when they were casting for The Sopranos? Even at 72 and now resident in Florida, doo-wop's Bronx apostle still ...
John Martyn: One World... One John
Film/DVD/TV Review by Laura Barton, The Word, April 2012
A new John Martyn film is well-intentioned and clearly created with love — but falls short of the grand setting he deserves. ...
Paul Weller: "Be Mutton Dressed As Ram!"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, April 2012
Curmudgeonly theorist, phone-hacked serial dad, raffish poster-boy for inquisitive middle age — Paul Weller gives himself a good talking-to ...
Review by Laura Barton, The Word, April 2012
Paul Weller's unchanging image limits our view of him. His third "experimental" record fizzes with aural innovation. ...
Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, April 2012
The Sandy Denny tribute show is expanding, a long-running fight to "give her songs a future". ...
Talk Talk: The Party's Over/It's My Life/The Colour Of Spring/Spirit Of Eden
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, April 2012
It was only when Talk Talk dropped the pop and headed into the ether that they created the template for serious modern rock. ...
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, April 2012
IN SEPTEMBER 2009, Whitney Houston performed in Central Park for the TV show Good Morning America. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: The Lost Prophet
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, The Word, May 2012
A new documentary presents Bob Marley in the raw, in the round, in close-up and in perspective. CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY recalls their weed-scented encounter in ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Word, May 2012
AFTER SEVEN YEARS OFF THE RADAR, Bonnie Raitt takes on a set of sophisticated, often contemporary covers — and wins. ...
Jack White: Exit Wounds: Jack White: Blunderbuss (XL)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, May 2012
Jack White certainly isn't gunning for his ex, but their split seems to have fired some of his most riveting work yet ...
Janis Joplin: The Pearl Sessions
Review by Laura Barton, The Word, May 2012
Janis Joplin was a great storyteller. Here's the final album — with notes, sketches, first drafts and alternative endings. ...
Joan Baez: "Don't re-live the sixties"
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Word, May 2012
Martin Luther King support act, first folk superstar, Downton Abbey obsessive — Joan Baez offers a little steely-voice sagacity ...
The Divine Comedy: Neil Hannon On Lyric-Writing
Interview by James Medd, The Word, May 2012
It takes weeks to make it sound this easy, says Divine Comedy songsmith. ...
Richard Hawley: Standing At The Sky's Edge
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, May 2012
It's trippy up north. Richard Hawley has made a full-blown, widescreen psychedelic rock album — and it's a masterpiece. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, May 2012
Songwriting, film-scoring opera-pop dandy with formative Thomas Hardy habit. Puccini apologist and Family Guy fanatic. ...
T. Rex: Electric Warrior (De Luxe Edition)
Review by David Hepworth, The Word, May 2012
Marc Bolan's magical flair for a pop hook was giddy and touching — and owed as much to Chuck Berry as Roy Harper. ...
Depeche Mode: Vince Clarke and Martin Gore: Silent Mode
Report and Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, May 2012
Vince Clarke and Martin Gore were out of touch for 30 years, then made a record by email, only speaking to discuss the title. Weird ...
Beach House, Niki & the Dove: Beach House: Bloom/Niki & The Dove: Instinct
Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Word, June 2012
ONE OF THE most underrated qualities in music is doing one thing very well. We instinctively cherish the wayward souls, the confounders of expectation, the ...
Dexys Midnight Runners: Dexys: One Day I'm Going To Soar
Review by Stuart Maconie, The Word, June 2012
The rebooted Dexys' soulful and stirring despatches are hobbled by stiff arrangements that never really take flight. ...
Gaz Coombes: The Things I Like
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, June 2012
Mutton-chopped Britpop anthem-penner, absurdist and Muppeteer. Sucker for slow, intense camera work. ...
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, June 2012
'THE NIGHT THEY drove old Dixie down' is the perfect emblem for the life and career of Levon Helm. This one song, written by Robbie ...
Lucky Luke, Trembling Bells: Lucky Luke: Travelling For A Living/Trembling Bells: The Marble Downs
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, June 2012
Lucky Luke were the greatest folk band that never was. They live on in Trembling Bells — now with added Will Oldham. ...
The Beautiful South, The Housemartins: Paul Heaton: "Armed Revolution Is The Only Cure"
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, June 2012
Baleful tunesmith, habitual cyclist, pub-owner, radical — Paul Heaton puts a foot on the ball and surveys the pitch ...
Paul Heaton: "Armed Revolution Is The Only Cure"
Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, June 2012
Baleful tunesmith, habitual cyclist, pub-owner, radical — Paul Heaton puts a foot on the ball and surveys the pitch. ...
The Blue Nile: Love In A Cold Climate
Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Word, June 2012
Every band falls out in the end — even glacially paced chill-ambient sound-weavers the Blue Nile. ...
Review by Simon Price, The Word, June 2012
The ongoing rivalry between two woozy West Coast bands is mystifying — particularly when one is peddling pure pastiche. ...
Regina Spektor: What has Regina Spektor found in the poet-singers of her native Russia?
Interview by James Medd, The Word, June 2012
NEW YORK IS JUST WAKING UP TO spring, but inside Russian Samovar on 52nd Street hearty borscht and warming horseradish vodka are still on the ...
Obituary by David Hepworth, The Word, July 2012
AT A TIME when pop music seems to be dominated by solo female artists, it's hard to imagine that they were once a relative rarity. ...
Ray Davies, The Kinks: The dramatic ups and downs of Ray Davies
Interview by Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word, July 2012
RAY DAVIES is not an easy man to pin down. Our interview is planned for 5pm at a café in Highgate. No, hang on; it's ...
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, August 2012
ANTONY HEGARTY is a very persuasive man. He rarely smiles, he doesn't crack jokes, but there's something about that whisper, which at first sounds cool ...
Ed Sheeran: And another thing: Miserable songs
Comment by David Hepworth, The Word, August 2012
Writing miserable songs doesn't make you deep, boys and girls ...
Retrospective by Andy Gill, The Word, August 2012
Elton John was prospecting in the land of his dreams long before he set foot in the States as a flamboyant frontiersman. ...
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