Films, docs, video, TV and theatre
1,107 articles
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 29 April 1961
Bad Manners At Beat Show ...
Marty Wilde: Shakespeare Swotting — that's For Me Says Marty Wilde
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 29 April 1961
PETER JONES REPORTS ...
Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 26 November 1961
NASHVILLE, TENN. After thirty-five years of broadcasting, the grand old dinosaur of American radio, Grand Ole Opry, is as boisterously alive as ever. The show ...
Chubby Checker: American Bandstand: $250,000 of Talent Sang 'Happy Birthday'
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 16 December 1961
* BOBBY RYDELL SWORE ME TO SECRECY * CHUBBY'S GREETING CAN BE KILLING * EYDIE'S COUGH GETS INTO ACT HARRY WALTERS talks to June Harris about ...
Cliff Richard, The Shadows: The Young Ones (dir. Sidney J. Furie, Warner-Pathé)
Film/DVD/TV Review by June Harris, Disc, 16 December 1961
CLIFF SHOWS HOW POP STARS SHOULD MAKE FILMS June Harris reviews The Young Ones ...
Rolf Harris: Rolf-Of-Every-Trade
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 21 February 1962
ROLF HARRIS, the man who currently makes with 'Sun Arise' one of the most interesting noises in the hit parade, was tired. He had been ...
Doris Day: Doris Looks Younger Every Day
Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 March 1962
REMEMBER THOSE not so far off days when the charts were aglow with Doris Day numbers like 'Sentimental Journey', 'Que Sera' and 'Secret Love'? They ...
Rick Nelson: Ricky Nelson: Now Ricky's Name Change Is Official!
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 April 1962
'YOUNG WORLD' is probably the last disc by Ricky Nelson you'll see in the NME Charts – but don't panic. At 21 Ricky has no ...
Bobby Darin: Confident Darin Is Careful Over Films
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 26 May 1962
CONFIDENT. That's the word that seems to describe Bobby Darin better than any other. He has known what he wanted, has set out to get ...
Henry Mancini: Thirty-Minute Song Will Make Mancini A Fortune
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 9 June 1962
"I RECKON I'll have made around $100,000 dollars on 'Moon River' within the next two years or so," said Henry "Hank" Mancini, or the song ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 August 1962
THE NEWS that Cliff Richard is being sought for American TV's world-famous Ed Sullivan Show this autumn couldn't be more appropriate than it is right ...
Elvis Presley: Dates With Elvis
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 October 1962
Presley's Follow That Dream co-star ANNE HELM talks to Alan Smith ...
Tommy Steele, The Tornados: Alan Smith On Film Sets With The Tornados and Tommy Steele
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 February 1963
A HAUNTING theme-tune echoed across the stage of a dingy London theatre on Tuesday morning, as film cameras turned on that "Globetrotting" hit group, the ...
Elvis Presley: Is Elvis Becoming a Hermit?
Comment by Wesley Laine, Record Mirror, 16 February 1963
WESLEY LAINE takes a look at the continued non-appearance of Elvis... both in Britain and in the States... ...
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 23 February 1963
DICK CLARK, top U.S. D.J., tells DISC ...
Marion Williams: Just keep on clapping — it's Miss Williams
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 2 March 1963
CHRIS BARBER, they tell me, has been to see her twenty times. Humphrey Lyttelton cannot keep away. ...
Connie Francis: Strictly For The Boys — That's Connie!
Interview by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 9 March 1963
CONNIE TELLS US ABOUT FOLLOW THE BOYS... ...
Jack Good: Well, he's come back — the man who really started it all
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 6 July 1963
IT WAS Jack Good who I first sold us rock 'n' roll. This is one of my wilder generalisations and it takes no account of ...
John Leyton: Leyton Wants a House — in the South of France!
Interview by Jean Carol, Disc, 6 July 1963
JOHN LEYTON, was happily posing for photographers near EMI's office in London. As usual he was handsomely groomed and well dressed. And, despite the fact ...
The Dave Clark Five: Dave Clark: He Loves Acting Just As Much As Singing!
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 14 December 1963
...
The Beatles Go Home To Liverpool In Triumph
Report by Alan Walsh, Disc, 14 December 1963
RINGO STARR, perched on a dais six feet above the stage of Liverpool's Empire Theatre, looked chilled despite his overcoat. Below him on the stage ...
The Beatles' views on Juke Box Jury
Report by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 14 December 1963
WELL, NOW we KNOW what the Beatles really like, loathe, love and feel "nowt" about on the pop scene. Their take-over job on the panel ...
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 21 December 1963
This year has been just fantastic, but despite what the pessimists say, the next 12 months could be even bigger for the Beatles. Nobody can look ...
Freddie & the Dreamers: Pantos are great fun, says Freddie
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 4 January 1964
THERE ISN'T enough room to swing a mouse in Freddie and The Dreamers' dressing room at the Chester Royalty, what with costumes lining the four ...
The Beatles: Beatles Panned By U.S. Critics
Report by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 10 February 1964
But they wow TV audience and bring out mounted police ...
The Beatles: Livin' Eatin' Breathin' Beatles Film!
Interview by Keith Altham, Fabulous, 7 March 1964
THE VERY LATEST INFO ON THE FAB FOUR'S FIRST FILM BY KEITH ALTHAM ...
Interview by Keith Altham, Fabulous, 21 March 1964
Each week millions of eager record buyers watch Juke Box Jury and they know three young girls who have a knack of picking hits, Adrienne ...
The Beatles: Sshhh!!!!! Silence!!! Lights!!! Camera!!! Action!!! It's Those Beatles!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, Fabulous, 16 May 1964
BEATLES HERE. Beatles there. Beatles tearing about everywhere, down at Twickenham film studios. I didn't expect any of them to have time for a chat, ...
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 30 May 1964
WHAT'S behind the New Look Juke Box Jury? ...
Elvis Presley: The Facts About Elvis
Report and Interview by Peter Jones, Keith Matthews, Record Mirror, 30 May 1964
FROM JIMMY SAVILE ...
The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (Dir: Richard Lester)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 11 July 1964
It's a Great Day's Night! ...
The Rolling Stones: Wow! It's The Stones On R.S.G.
Report by Vicki Wickham, Fabulous, 3 October 1964
FRIDAY morning — Ready, Steady, Go! day. I'm late again, so take a taxi to work to try to redeem myself. At Television House I say good-morning ...
James Brown, Lesley Gore, The Rolling Stones: TAMI, Electronovision's Latest, Gets N.Y. Showing
Report by uncredited writer, Billboard, 21 November 1964
PRESS, TEENERS GET EYEFUL ...
Report by Vicki Wickham, Fabulous, 21 November 1964
"Hello, whack. What a rush, but we're here. Is there possibly anything to eat — we're starving?" It could only be The Beatles. ...
The Chipmunks: He Is Those Chipmunks
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The San Francisco Examiner, 29 November 1964
Ross Bagdasarian's Electronic Creatures Are Vastly Real ...
Doris Day: Favourites Again — Grant And Day
Report and Interview by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 11 December 1964
Hollywood, Thursday. ...
The Beach Boys: In The Space Age Will It Be Surf?
Report and Interview by Vicki Wickham, Fabulous, 15 January 1965
Will it be Surf in the Space Age? Well, The Beach Boys are pioneers of this new sound. They combine the satin-smooth feeling of the ...
Ray Charles: Ballad in Blue (Dir. Paul Henreid; 20th Century Fox)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 19 February 1965
Good-value Ray Charles ...
Ray Charles: Ballad In Blue, Ray Charles (Ardmore Pictures)
Film/DVD/TV Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 27 February 1965
Ray's singing makes this film worthwhile ...
Andrew Loog Oldham: What Has Truth Got To Do With Pop?
Comment by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 13 March 1965
ROLLING STONES DISCOVERER ANDREW OLDHAM SLAMS AT RSG's NEW POLICY ...
The Beatles: Hullabalooer and Ringo
Interview by Dave Hull, Derek Taylor, KRLA Beat, 31 March 1965
THE REPORT that the Beatles planned to name their second movie "Eight Days a Week" proved to be about 25 per cent correct. The first ...
The Beatles, John Lennon: John Lennon: Beatle Rumors Ended!
Interview by Dave Hull, Derek Taylor, KRLA Beat, 14 April 1965
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third in a series of Beatle interviews by Dave Hull and Derek Taylor, who talked to John, Paul, George and ...
Bang Went The Silence — And Ready Steady Hogg Emerged
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 12 June 1965
MICHAEL LINDSAY-Hogg is a large young man of 25 with calm brown eyes set in a calm round face. One of ITV's youngest directors, he ...
Report and Interview by Sylvia Stephens, Fabulous, 12 June 1965
IT LOOKED like Ready Steady Goes Live. It sounded like Ready Steady Goes Live. It was taking place in the Ready Steady Goes Live studio. ...
Elvis Presley: More Old Songs: Tickle Me
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 June 1965
Tickle Me isn't the GREATEST film Elvis has ever made, but it isn't the worst, either. ...
Report and Interview by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 24 July 1965
IVOR DAVIS, BOULDER, COLORADO. FRIDAY. With fishing, horse racing, work, and a family there's plenty in life to keep a man busy ...
Vicki from Inkpen, Berks, may not look like a girl with power — but she's got it, lots of it
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 31 July 1965
SHE'S BACK! THE GIRL WHO REALLY KNOWS THE POP PEOPLE ...
The Animals, Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones: Stones Take Over!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 September 1965
ON THE TV monitor was Andrew Oldham, clad in bobcat waistcoat, miming to Cher's voice singing "I don't care if your hair's too long" and ...
Manfred Mann: You Won't See Paul Jones Crying When The Pop TV Shows Stop
Interview by Nick Jones, Melody Maker, 25 September 1965
MANFRED'S MAN IN THE MIDDLE WEIGHS IN ...
The Beatles: Paul: Secrets of the New Beatle Film
Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, December 1965
Another RAVE exclusive! RAVE reporter Maureen O'Grady finds out the latest news about the next Beatle film, straight from Paul himself in this personal interview. ...
An ordinary girl, Cathy, and that's why she succeeds
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 11 December 1965
CATHY McGOWAN'S career is based, when you come do think of it, on her very ordinariness. Most people get their jobs because of an ability ...
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 December 1965
Reports KEITH ALTHAM who previews the show ...
Donovan, Petula Clark: Fun, Work Behind The Cameras At Filming of 2nd T.A.M.I. Show
Report by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 25 December 1965
A COUPLE OF weeks ago The BEAT took you behind the scenes of a recording session to show you that it was not so easy ...
Cilla Black: Little Red Riding Hood, Wimbledon Theatre, London
Live Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 31 December 1965
Cilla a most vital 'Red Riding Hood' ...
TV Pop: When will the raving have to stop?
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 29 January 1966
The men (and woman) behind the cameras answer back ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 5 March 1966
James Brown arrives In England next week for a couple of concerts and to perform, with his entire troupe, throughout the March 11 Ready Steady ...
James Brown: Four days that shook the British pop world: The Brown Bomb!
Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 March 1966
James Brown brought something that has been missing... ...
James Brown: Ready Steady Go! (Rediffusion Television)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 19 March 1966
AND TELE VIEWER RICHARD GREEN SAYS... ...
The Who, The Yardbirds: With Who And 'Birds At Paris Allez-Oop!
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 8 April 1966
READY, Steady, Allez-oops, from the Locomotive in Paris last Friday, was largely held together by the efforts of the Who and the Yardbirds, who were ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 April 1966
…and wasn't Dusty a gas on RSG? ...
Jim Reeves: Kimberley Jim (RCA Victor)
Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 14 May 1966
WHEN JIM Reeves last visited London, he and I talked long and earnestly about what he wanted to do with his career. He had hit ...
Ethel Merman: The role she made her own — Annie gets her gun again... 20 years after
Interview by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 5 June 1966
THERE REALLY is no business like show business. Ask Ethel Merman, who this week, at the age of 57, got to play the part of ...
Elvis Presley: Paradise Hawaiian Style
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 8 July 1966
Presley's usual (Hawaiian) style ...
Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick: Composer Burt Bacharach Avoids Pop Music Pitfall
Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 11 July 1966
BETWEEN BITES of eggs Benedict in an elegantly subdued lunchery, Burt Bacharach, the gold-fingered composer of 'What's New Pussycat?', 'Wives and Lovers', 'What the World ...
Elvis Presley: Paradise Hawaiian Style – NME Readers Reply
Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 15 July 1966
B. UYDER, Sheffield: Why should Alan Smith (NME last week) have to apologise to Elvis fans for saying what he thinks of his new film ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis, Usually Surrounded By Girls, Is Now Encircled By Controversy
Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 22 July 1966
SOME Of Elvis' staunchest British fans want to boil me in oil again. Another suggests I lower myself into a spin-dryer and turn it on. ...
Paul Jones: How I went on Juke Box Jury — and LIVED!
Report by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 July 1966
Disc and Music Echo singles reviewer whose Jury appearance this week was recorded last Saturday. ...
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 25 September 1966
Monkees Ape Their Betters ...
Paul Jones: The Imperfect Pop Star
Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, October 1966
"I'm not perfect. I'm nothing. I hate you for what you've done to me!" Paul Jones will be working his way through some pretty dramatic ...
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 14 October 1966
ACTION stations for Sonny and Cher. In a transatlantic phone call from his home in Encino, Sonny told me that their first film, Good Times, ...
Herman's Hermits, Peter Noone: Herman To Fool Them And Leave Wax For An Acting Career
Profile by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 22 October 1966
FUNNY HOW someone comes along, walks into a scene he didn't make. Has a hit and hears that he'll never last 'cause he has no ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: It's Shakespeare and All That Rock for Jerry
Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 29 October 1966
CAN YOU imagine Jerry Lee Lewis swinging his way through a musical version of Shakespeare's play Othello? You can't? Then get ready for a shock ...
Report by Vicki Wickham, uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 19 November 1966
Ready, Steady Go! Editor Vicki Wickham reviews highlights of the TV aeries that ends on December 23 ...
Profile by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 19 November 1966
MOST GROUPS happen. The Monkees were made. If they weren't intentionally created, it is conceivable that they would not exist for it is highly unlikely ...
Why did Ready Steady have to... Go!
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 19 November 1966
ALAN WALSH CARRIES OUT THE POST-MORTEM ON THE DEATH OF ANOTHER POP TV SHOW ...
Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, January 1967
WHEN PAUL Jones entered our offices he was wearing a very handsome racoon coat and a very confident grin. It's a grin he's always had ...
The Monkees — They're What's Happening Baby!
Profile by Derek Taylor, Rave, January 1967
An exclusive story by Derek Taylor ...
The Monkees: The Monkees (RCA)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 21 January 1967
CATCHEE MONKEES — on their first great LP ...
The Monkees: Cow Palace, Daly City CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 23 January 1967
A Gleeful Time With the Monkees Spoofing, Chatter Thrill Youngsters ...
Report by Miranda Ward, Hit Parader, February 1967
WHEN OTIS REDDING was over here, Ready, Steady, Go! built up an entire programme around him, using his own band (only 9 of them came over, ...
The Monkees: Monkees Amid Controlled Confusion
Report by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 11 February 1967
WHAT IS THIS, Knock The Monkees Year? Some sort of a giant conspiracy to destroy, devour and flush four people down the drain to wallow ...
The Rolling Stones: Sex, Stones & Sullivan
Comment by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 11 February 1967
"I'M NOT superstitious" remarked Mick Jagger at London Airport on Friday January 13. And to prove his point he marched jauntily beneath a couple of ...
The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: I Was Hungry, Ugly, Skinny, Poor! By MIKE NESMITH
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 18 February 1967
IT'S VERY hard for me to write about my life, since I can't remember farther back than two years! I don't think there's much of ...
The Monkees: Mike Grant meets Davy Jones, the Mini Monkee
Interview by Mike Grant, Rave, April 1967
MY ADVICE to anyone thinking of making a "monkey" out of Davy Jones is to forget it! ...
Herman's Hermits, Peter Noone: The Kaleidoscope That Is Peter Noone
Profile by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 22 April 1967
HE'S ACTUALLY a kaleidoscope. Young, old, funny, serious. A businessman, a clown, an extremely competent actor. Formally known as Herman, he now prefers to be ...
Pills (not THE Pill but Pills for the Mind): Hollywood Grasps a Hot Theme
Report by Ivor Davis, Daily Express, 3 May 1967
ONCE HOLLYWOOD shunned controversial subjects for its pictures. Now it has became even bolder than some of the European film-makers. ...
Elvis Presley: Easy Come, Easy Go (Dir. John Rich, Paramount Pictures)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 26 May 1967
Nothing But Plenty Of Elvis ...
The Monkees: Colour Monkees Are Terrific
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 27 May 1967
DAVY JONES is sitting in a chair facing the camera. His face has a rich brown tan, and his brown eyes and brown hair stand ...
Sonny & Cher: Good Times (Dir. William Friedkin, Columbia Pictures)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 17 June 1967
Sonny and Cher's Film: Great Fun ...
Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back (dir. D.A. Pennebaker)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 17 June 1967
BOB DYLAN'S first and only movie (so far) called Don't Look Back is currently being screened at an "underground" theatre in San Francisco, where it ...
Moby Grape, The Monkees: The Monkees: Headquarters (Colgems); Moby Grape: Moby Grape (Columbia)
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 1967
Monkees Upgrade Album Quality ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, July 1967
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart are responsible for a lot of Monkee music and soon, a lot of their own music. In the following interview ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1967
IF YOU own the first two Monkees' albums, you know that Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote 'Last Train To Clarksville', 'I'm Not Your Steppin' ...
Report and Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 4 August 1967
TO US LULU is the name of a comic strip character, but to the British Lulu is the name of an adorable 18-year-old pop singer. ...
The Monkees: Bob Rafelson: Man Behind The Monkees
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 August 1967
Why I picked THESE four ...
John Lennon: How I Won The War (Dir. Richard Lester, United Artists)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 19 August 1967
HOW DID JOHN LENNON WIN STAR BILLING? asks ALAN SMITH ...
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 August 1967
"ELVIS," SAID Nancy Sinatra, as she drew back the curtains and looked out at the sun shining down on Los Angeles, "is at once a ...
The Monkees: It's Monkeeteers Now! — all forone and one for all
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 September 1967
Says MONKEE friend, SAMANTHA JUSTE to ALAN SMITH ...
John Lennon: How I Won The War (Dir. Dick Lester, starring John Lennon)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 21 October 1967
BEATLE JOHN Lennon reveals a talent for acting and a sense of bitter irony in the part of Private Gripweed in Dick Lester's How I ...
The Beatles: Harrison Finds Help In House
Report by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 21 October 1967
GEORGE HARRISON'S contribution to the soundtrack of the Beatles' self-directed hour-long television show Magical Mystery Tour is a new song which he wrote while he ...
Donovan, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 96 mins)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Goldstein, The New York Times, 22 October 1967
Dylan: 'We Trust What He Tells Us' ...
The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (Apple Corps/BBC)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 6 January 1968
WE HEAR a lot in the pop world about that magical mystery word "communication." ...
Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Paul Revere & The Raiders: Dick Clark: Packager of Pop
Profile and Interview by Richard Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 7 January 1968
Though the folk-rock era ended his pop music dictatorship, there are signs Dick Clark is inching his way toward the center of the scene again. ...
The Monkees: What Makes a Monkee Fan?
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 13 January 1968
IT WAS hard to tell Peter Tork from the mutter of a fierce press of journalists. ...
The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Moody Blues: London: Beatles Clip Banned
Column by Nick Jones, Rolling Stone, 20 January 1968
THERE ARE a few gloomy faces in England these days since our pound has devalued (what?) but it's mainly the profiteers who can't bear the ...
The Beatles: Beatles in TV Controversy
Report by Tony Barrow, KRLA Beat, 27 January 1968
A VIOLENT storm of controversy surrounded the London unveiling of Magical Mystery Tour, the Beatles' first self-made TV movie. When the show was screened by ...
Electric Flag: The Electric Flag: The Trip — An Original Motion Picture Sound Track (Sidewalk)
Review by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, February 1968
THE ELECTRIC Flag, an American Music Band, is Mike Bloomfield's new group. Their debut record, The Trip — An Original Motion Picture Sound Track, is ...
The Rascals: Shooting The Rascals
Report by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 24 February 1968
SOUNDSTAGES EVEN at major motion picture studios tend to be barns. But when you rent one on Sunset Blvd. down the street from Columbia Pictures ...
The Who: A Further Discourse with Peter Townshend of the Who
Interview by Paul Nelson, Hullabaloo, May 1968
The lowdown on Blow-Up, all about the Who's influence on the Beatles, and who really invented feedback! ...
Cilla Black: Work... Is A Four Letter Word starring Cilla Black (Dir. Peter Hall)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 25 May 1968
CILLA BLACK is a lovely bird. She's warm, loyal to old friends, vivacious and charming in her own way. She may even make a competent ...
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 1 June 1968
NANCY SINATRA is a flag, waver and you know it the minute you walk into her brand new Boots Enterprises office above the Sunset Strip. ...
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 1 June 1968
MICKEY DOLENZ reveals their plans for a change of image in the future ...
The Rolling Stones: UFOs Are Landing In My Garden Says Keith Richard
Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 15 June 1968
KEITH RICHARD, Rolling Stones guitarist and co-writer of songs with Mick Jagger, believes that he lives on a UFO landing site. ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Set Studio On Fire!
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 16 June 1968
First film gets off to a blazing start ...
The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (Apple Corps/BBC)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Tom Nolan, Los Angeles Free Press, 21 June 1968
THE BEATLES' Magical Mystery Tour is superb, brilliant, great, heavy, boss, light entertainment, good clean fun, a Message Picture, an entertaining nightmare, and it has ...
The Rolling Stones: Will Charlie Watts Wake Up The World?
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 22 June 1968
BEACH BOYS, Beatles and Donovan chased round the world after the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in search of spiritual peace. ...
The Monkees: Question Time With Monkee Davy
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 6 July 1968
BEFORE Davy Jones completed his famous disappearing trick and returned to America, I joined the hordes of reporters and photographers waiting to see "Mighty-Monkee" at ...
Elvis Presley: In TV-Film Show With Elvis!
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 20 July 1968
On steps five feet from him ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis Takes Off Tiny Tim And Richard Harris
Report by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 27 July 1968
The continuing story of ELVIS and ANN MOSES (Editor of Tiger Beat) ...
The Monkees: A Very Personal Day With The Monkees!
Report by Carol Deck, Flip, August 1968
CAROL DECK (FLIP'S GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD) TAKES YOU ALONG TO SPEND A DAY ON THE MAD, MAD SET OF THE MONKEES' MOVIE! ...
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Rave, August 1968
IT'S BEEN THREE long years since the Rolling Stones first announced their intention to become film stars. ...
The Rolling Stones: Our Live Shows More Subversive Than 'Street Fightin' Man'! admits Keith Richard
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 September 1968
Part two of the Jagger-fights-on story. ...
Jack Good: Blasting British Pop TV
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 5 October 1968
T.V. whizz-kid Jack Good flies in to make a spectacular and says: "I don't want the masses; they can go watch Coronation Street" ...
Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: I Miss Mick's Bath Scene
Report and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 9 November 1968
...moans KEITH ALTHAM but catches up with Jagger later ...
Joe Cocker: Joe gets by, with a little help from fags
Report by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 9 November 1968
Day in the life of Joe Cocker by CAROLINE BOUCHER ...
The Beatles: Yellow Submarine (King Features/Apple Corps, Dir. George Dunning)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lita Eliscu, East Village Other, 15 November 1968
YELLOW SUBMARINE is the full-length cartoon made on the basis of the Beatle's Sgt. Peppers' album, and as the story goes, the Beatles wanted nothing ...
Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back (Dir. D.A. Pennebaker)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968
TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT DYLAN ...
Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (Dir. Don Pennebaker)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 16 November 1968
Evil genius? Volatile? Merciless? Hydra headed Monster? Film shows other side of Bob Dylan ...
The Rolling Stones: One Plus One (Dir. Jean Luc Godard)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 23 November 1968
COMING NOT-too-shortly, I hope (the official London premiere is at the National Film Theatre on November 25) — the Rolling Stones in One Plus One ...
The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith Tells It Like It Really Is!
Interview by Carol Deck, Flip, December 1968
MIKE NESMITH has always been the most outspoken of the Monkees, but in this exclusive FLIP interview Mike reveals an astonishing honesty and candor about ...
Essay by Geoffrey Cannon, Oz, December 1968
Update, 2019. My Oz episodes — 1. IN DECEMBER 1968, age 28, I was interviewed for the post of editor of Radio Times, the BBC's ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis (NBC, Dir. Steve Binder)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 4 December 1968
Rock Star's Explosive Blues Have Vintage Quality ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis (NBC Television Special)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 13 December 1968
If you're lookin' for trouble, you came to the right place If you're lookin' for trouble, just look right in my face... ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis (NBC Television Special)
Film/DVD/TV Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 14 December 1968
Elvis television triumph ...
Eric Clapton, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, The Who: Rolling Stones: The Greatest Show On Earth
Report by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 21 December 1968
THE ROLLING STONES put in some overtime last Wednesday when they spent 17 hours working on their telethon production of The Rock and Roll Circus ...
Ben Webster: Reminiscing with Big Ben
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 28 December 1968
"DID YOU ever hear about my film? It's a half-hour thing made by Johan van der Keuken for Dutch TV last year. It would be ...
Easy Rider: The Rock Generation Takes Over
Film/DVD/TV Review by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 1969
Songs by Steppenwolf, the Byrds and the Band underline the message of EASY RIDER ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis, The Great Speckled Bird, 13 January 1969
Yellow Submarine is rapidly on its way to canonization, so I felt that along with unrestrained praise for its animation designer Heinz Edelmann, should go ...
Hair: Not a Show for the Sqeamish — for Audience or the Cast!
Report and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 1 February 1969
WHATEVER the Lord Chamberlain may have thought about Hair, its message and content, the cast agree on one thing — it is not a shocking ...
Wilson Pickett: "I'm tired — I ain't doing no TV"— but he does!
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 15 February 1969
Alan Smith welcomes to England an unhappy WILSON PICKETT ...
Hamilton and the Hamilton Movement , Paul Nicholas, Oliver Tobias: The Wild Young Men of Hair
Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, March 1969
Maureen O'Grady meets the three male stars of the smash-hit tribal, love-rock musical. ...
Jimi Hendrix: "Western Movie For Jimi" Says The Man Himself
Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 15 March 1969
AFTER SPENDING some time trying to track Jimi Hendrix down, I finally found myself sitting in his rooftop pad drinking tea with Jimi and girlfriend ...
The Kinks: Kinks' 'Bum' & The BBC!
Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 10 May 1969
I MET FOUR disconsolate Kinks last Thursday. Disconsolate because they'd just been told that a film for their latest record 'Plastic Man' was not going ...
Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Doug Kershaw, Joni Mitchell: The Johnny Cash Show (ABC TV/Screen Gems)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 12 June 1969
TV CASHES IN ...
The Rolling Stones: One Plus One (Dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 19 July 1969
SYMPATHY For The Devil, re-titled One Plus One, is the Jean-Luc Godard film which features the Stones as they were before Brian's death — enough ...
The Rolling Stones: One Plus One aka Sympathy for the Devil (Dir. Jean Luc Godard)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 19 July 1969
Stones Long Awaited Film Retitled Sympathy For The Devil. R.M.'s Lon Goddard Gets Special Preview... ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: An Evening with John and Yoko: Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 20 September 1969
John Lennon — Genius or Just a Bore ...
Easy Rider (Columbia Pictures; Dir. Dennis Hopper)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 29 September 1969
"The basic unit for contemporary art is not the idea, but the analysis of and extension of sensations. (Or if it is an idea, it ...
Arlo Guthrie: Alice's Restaurant (Dir. Arthur Penn; United Artists)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 20 December 1969
THE FILM of Alice's Restaurant lacks the whimsical outlook that made the LP track of the same name. On the LP, Arlo Guthrie seeks to ...
Top Of The Pops: Are These The Two Most Frighteningly Powerful Men In Pop?
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 7 February 1970
PROBABLY ONLY one in a thousand teenagers have the vaguest ideas who Mel Cornish and Stanley Dorfmann are, but in the pop record business they ...
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 February 1970
IT'S ALL very well to go round saying pigs can't fly, but who can honestly say that they expected to see Lee Marvin in the ...
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash — The Man, His World, His Music (Dir. Robert Elfstrom, Verité Production)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 February 1970
DON'T MISS THIS JOHNNY CASH FILM advises RICHARD GREEN ...
Arlo Guthrie: Trying to escape from Alice's Restaurant
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 February 1970
ARLO GUTHRIE is a young man trying to escape from Alice's Restaurant. He says he likes the movie, and he enjoyed seeing it again at ...
Report by David Dalton, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1970
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was an entertainment extravaganza planned and put on by the Rolling Stones in December 1968. Originally done as ...
Zabriskie Point (dir. Michelangelo Antonioni)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 2 April 1970
"I understand man, with his faults and his virtues; those of many men I know, and no doubt my own as well. But what I ...
Mick Jagger: Performance: A Victory For The Directors
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 11 April 1970
IT'S DANGEROUS and more than slightly unfair to review a film before its final cut; but Performance is too exceptional to wait. I was fortunate enough to ...
Woodstock (Dir. Michael Wadleigh, Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 11 April 1970
WOODSTOCK FILM IS WORTHWHILE ...
Essay by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 4 May 1970
Part 1 WOODSTOCK IS AN amazing piece of technology, one of the most important films ever made. We have long been accustomed to experiencing films as ...
Woodstock producer Bob Maurice
Interview by Miller Francis Jr., The Great Speckled Bird, 4 May 1970
(The following dialogue with Bob Maurice, producer of the Woodstock film, is an edited version of a long interview taped last week at the Marriott.) ...
The Beatles: Let It Be (Dir. Michael Lindsay-Hogg, United Artists)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 May 1970
Unusual, fascinating Beatles documentary ...
Woodstock (Dir. Michael Wadleigh, Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 May 1970
WOODSTOCK — BEST FILM EVER MADE ABOUT POP ...
Various Artists: Woodstock (Atlantic, stereo 2663001; 150s)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970
Monster albums from Woodstock ...
Live Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 16 June 1970
2 Happenings Make Exciting Weekend ...
Hair Is Making $310,000 a Week
Report by Al Aronowitz, Rolling Stone, 25 June 1970
NEW YORK — Oh happy day, when you could finally walk out of the cramped misery that this city gives you for a home and ...
Ten Years After a Week: Alvin Lee
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 July 1970
WOODSTOCK FILM BIG BOOST FOR ALVIN ...
Eric Burdon, War: Burdon on War, Peace, Love and Hate
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 18 July 1970
HIGH UP on the sixth floor of the plush Londonderry Hotel, Mayfair, Eric Burdon was sitting with his feet, clad in pumps, tucked beneath him; ...
Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 9 August 1970
PERFORMANCE IS the movie starring Mick Jagger. Don't get it mixed up with Ned Kelly, the other Jagger starrer. Performance unlike Ned Kelly is supposed ...
The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith: No Monkee Business
Interview by Keith Altham, Record Mirror, 3 October 1970
EX-MONKEE Mike Nesmith has withdrawn from the bubble gum stakes to regain his country and western identity with the First National Band. ...
Frank Zappa: Was this the real Ruben Sano standing up at last?
Report and Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 23 January 1971
FRANK ZAPPA sauntered in, poured himself into the chair at the front of the room, folded his arms, crossed his legs and assumed the appearance ...
Shakespeare in the 70s: Jack Good's Catch My Soul
Interview by Norman Jopling, Music Now, 23 January 1971
CATCH MY SOUL, as you've doubtless read, is a rock musical based on Shakespeare's Othello. It was conceived by Jack Good who plays the title ...
Olivia Newton-John, Toomorrow: Olivia Newton John: Olivia Emerges from Shambles of Toomorrow
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 March 1971
"EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! James Bond man launches new supergroup! Toomorrow tipped for the top!" Remember all that carry-on a few months ago ...
Dennis Wilson, James Taylor: On Location With James Taylor
Report and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, April 1971
DURANT, OKLAHOMA – James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (drummer of the Beach Boys) were into their sixth week of filming their first movie. The toll ...
The Faces: Faces "jam" — in a midget studio, or... A Night in the Life of Disco 2
Report by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 8 May 1971
IT'S THURSDAY at the BBC Television Centre, which means it's Disco 2 day, and there's feverish activity in a tiny studio high up in the ...
Joe Cocker, Leon Russell: Joe Cocker: Mad Dogs & Englishmen (A&M Film))
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Cromelin, Creem, June 1971
Something Like a Rock'n'Roll Tour ...
T. Rex: Marc's science fiction film
Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 24 July 1971
WITH THE surge or phenomenal interest that has arisen for T. Rex, Marc Bolan has become infinitely aware of the difficulties facing some fans who ...
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (Dir: Albert and David Maysles, Cinema V)
Film/DVD/TV Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 31 July 1971
STONES' FILM TERROR ...
The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: Michael Nesmith
Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 20 September 1971
MIKE NESMITH was a member of the Monkees, now he's doing his own thing, come see him at the press party at the Bistro. That's ...
The Jackson 5, Diana Ross: Diana Ross: Diana! (BBC 2)
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 8 October 1971
MOTOWN'S MUCH-heralded first independent production centred on Diana Ross, proved to be all it was cracked out to be – and more! Screened on B.B.C. ...
Comment by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 24 October 1971
THE PROBLEM with Jesus Christ Superstar as a rock spectacle is not that it goes too far, but that it doesn't go far enough. ...
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 ...
Isaac Hayes: Good Hayes music, but a flat film!
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
"JUST ONE moment please. Mr Hayes will be right with you," said the voice at the other end of the transatlantic phone. Fifty minutes later ...
Jimi Hendrix: Rainbow Bridge (Reprise. K44159, £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 27 November 1971
THIS IS the second album of hitherto unreleased Hendrix material put out by different companies in as many weeks, three if you count the duplications ...
Labelle, Dusty Springfield: Vicki Wickham: The Secretary That Roared
Interview by Toby Mamis, Phonograph Record, December 1971
I'D CONSIDERED doing this piece since mid-June. So, frankly, when the time came, I was thoroughly prepared. Prior to my interview with Vicki Wickham, I'd ...
The Truth About Truth of Truths
Report by John Mendelssohn, Rolling Stone, 23 December 1971
A FEW WEEKS ago, because Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times was unavailable, yours truly was invited to be the token rock critic on a local ...
Velvet Underground: Gerard Malanga: Screen Test
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972
Interview with poet GERARD MALANGA, former associate of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground ...
Rick Nelson: The Dirty Rock & Roll Smile
Retrospective and Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 11 March 1972
RICK NELSON tells how he grew from being America's cute kid brother to rock 'n' roll teenage rage... and what happened after that ...
David Cassidy: The Real David Cassidy
Profile by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 19 March 1972
A FEW WORDS in defense of Mr. David Cassidy. What is this nonsense about "writhing sensuality" and "apple pie and sex"? ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nancy Lewis, New Musical Express, 1 April 1972
BANGLA FILM RELEASED ...
Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Boz Scaggs: Bill Graham: Mister Fillmore
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Melody Maker, 27 May 1972
Loraine Alterman in New York previews Fillmore, the film about America's legendary rock centre... and talks to its star, super-impresario Bill Graham ...
Diana Ross: Gems Amid The Schmaltz
Report by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 June 1972
IF ANY one soul artist has totally transcended the limitations of the term and become a star of ultimate "show business" status then it must ...
Paul Williams: The Dwarf Genus
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 8 July 1972
HE WAS hanging out in one of those saucy marble and satin masterpieces tucked away neatly behind Piccadilly. His suite, equipped with Scotch, peanuts, a ...
Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Ravi Shankar: The Concert for Bangla Desh (Apple/Twentieth Century-Fox)
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
A SPECIAL PREVIEW BY JOHN PIDGEON ...
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come (dir. Perry Henzell)
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
"The oppressors are trying to keep me downMakin' me feel like a clown" ...
Ringo Starr, T. Rex: T. Rex: Marc
Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 5 August 1972
MARC BOLAN'S first film, titled Born To Boogie, is due for release on the cinema circuit in September. It would appear that it's a logical ...
Curtis Mayfield: Super Fly (Curtom)
Review by Robin Katz, Disc, 12 August 1972
MAYFIELD'S MOVING MESSAGE... ...
James Brown, The Rolling Stones: The T.A.M.I. Show
Retrospective by Jonh Ingham, Creem, September 1972
Monster Rock Flick Flips Out Freaks Coast To Coast ...
Roberta Flack: Sounds for Saturday (BBC-2)
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 8 September 1972
Roberta Flack TV Special... deliberately brilliant? ...
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 ...
Walter/Wendy Carlos: The Walter Carlos Sonic Boom
Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 23 September 1972
"There's music in the sighing of a reed; There's music in the gushing of a rill; There's music in all things, if man had ears; The Earth is ...
Report and Interview by John Pidgeon, New Musical Express, 30 September 1972
KEEP ON ROCKIN' is in town, and so is the rock film revolutionary who created this celluloid spectacle of Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck ...
Pink Floyd: Obscured by Clouds (Harvest 11078)
Review by Dan Nooger, Fusion, October 1972
WITH THE arrival of Meddle last year, even Pink Floyd's most ardent followers must have found themselves wondering if the group hadn't outlived themselves. The ...
Curtis Mayfield: Superfly (Buddah Super 2318.065 £2.25) *****
Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 20 October 1972
CURTIS, THE Gentle Genius, joins the ranks of Black music-men who have supplied their musical talents towards film scores. However, Curtis surpasses all of them, ...
Curtis Mayfield: Curtis the Crusader
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 18 November 1972
FIGHTING A DRUG MENACE IN AMERICAN GHETTOES ...
Billie Holiday, Diana Ross: Lady Sings The Blues (Motown/Paramount Pictures)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Dave Marsh, Creem, December 1972
I had to be darkened down so the show could go on in dynamic-assed Detroit. It's like they say, there's no damn business like show business. ...
Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder, Randy Newman: Ry Cooder
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 9 December 1972
On himself, BEEFHEART and RANDY NEWMAN — and backing JAGGER by remote control. ...
The Beatles, Marc Bolan, Ringo Starr, T. Rex: Ringo: Apple to the Core
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 16 December 1972
RINGO WAS always supposed to be like that empty-headed klutz who followed Peter Sellers everywhere in the Magic Christian — a good-humoured and honourable Tonto-figure ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 10 February 1973
ISAAC HAYES, ROD STEWART and assorted FACES were at the preview of a new soul film. So was MM's RICHARD WILLIAMS... ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
IT'S BEEN nearly 18 months since we heard anything new from Paul Butterfield. In 1971 he released Sometimes I Just Feel Like Smilin' which was, ...
Curtis Mayfield: Things Go Better With Coke: Curtis Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 March 1973
Charles Shaar Murray previews SUPERFLY ...
David Cassidy: A Partridge Planning to Leave the Nest
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc, 10 March 1973
Looking through the eyes of Caroline Boucher at DAVID CASSIDY, with whom she spent a day at his Los Angeles home ...
Diana Ross: Lady Sings The Blues (Tamla Motown TMSP 1131)
Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 24 March 1973
Diana hits the big one ...
Billie Holiday, Diana Ross: Diana Ross: The Lady Is A Winner
Report and Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 27 April 1973
NO ONE is more aware than the lady herself of the totally negative attitude prevalent amongst quite a large number of people when it was ...
Jimmy Cliff: The Harder They Come (Starring Jimmy Cliff, Dir. Perry Henzell, New World Pictures)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, May 1973
THE POSTERS that appeared in the New York subways a few weeks before the film premiered were natural killers. They showed Jimmy Cliff, dressed in ...
Liza Minnelli: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
LUREX 'N ADULATION — OR, WHAT HAPPENED WHEN FLAME TORSO (with a T) REVIEWED LIZA MINNELLI'S RAINBOW GIG ...
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 ...
Tim Rice: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice: Bible Rockers Talking Shop
Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 21 June 1973
(PLEASE ALLOW the writers of Jesus Christ, Superstar and Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to introduce themselves). ...
Rita Coolidge, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson: Duel to the Death: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Report and Interview by Dave Marsh, Creem, July 1973
I DON'T KNOW whether Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid will be a great rock'n'roll western or merely a machismo wetdream. Three days on the ...
Interview by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 8 July 1973
I DON'T CARE how many superannuated Peter Noone groupies rushed the stage, Richard Nader's '60s nostalgia night was still a bomb, with a total lack ...
Rita Coolidge, Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Dir. Sam Peckinpah)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jonathon Green, International Times, 12 July 1973
Real Blood and Jizzum, Sam... ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, September 1973
SINCE THE black movie bonanza started, its two superheros have manfully avoided each other, respectfully allowing one another to prowl unmolested on their own turf. ...
Bob Dylan: Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, Soundtrack by Bob Dylan (Columbia KC 32460)
Review by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, 13 September 1973
Dylan Meets Billy: America's Albatrosses ...
David Bowie, The Troggs: David Bowie: Zigs and Troggs and Backless Nuns
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973
IT DOESN'T MATTER who's playing. The Marquee's always a drag on Saturday nights. It's hot, crowded, uncomfortable, and noisy, and it poses a severe visibility ...
Jimi Hendrix: Jimi Hendrix (Dir. Joe Boyd, John Head and Gary Weis; Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Cliff White, Black Music, December 1973
IN THE heady atmosphere of swinging London it was often overlooked that Hendrix was Black. Musically he was pigeonholed in a multi-colour no man's land, ...
Review by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 20 December 1973
'LIVE AND Let Die' is the best record Paul McCartney has made since Let It Be, although 'Maybe I'm Amazed' is an equally good composition. ...
Dick Clark: Godfather Of Free Rock
Interview by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, 3 January 1974
"ONE RECORD dance is the same as any other record dance, I can do one in my sleep," says Dick Clark, sitting in an administration ...
Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 2 March 1974
Silly words from Terry Jones to Rosalind Russell ...
Allman Brothers Band, KISS: Music on TV
Report by Marty Cerf, Phonograph Record, April 1974
IN CONCERT, Midnight Special and Rock Concert will herald mutations, they'll create new music concepts after they themselves are long retired. Dick Clark foresees pop ...
David Bowie, Marianne Faithfull: The TV Monsters: The Bowie Special
Report by Marty Cerf, Phonograph Record, April 1974
AS THE first network music special produced by the featured rock star, the David Bowie Midnight Special bears closer examination. ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: "Are They Too Rich To Rock?"
Report by Ron Ross, Phonograph Record, May 1974
The Rolling Stones: Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones ...
The Beatles, Marc Bolan, Ringo Starr: Ringo's Agenda: Movie, Music, But No Beatles
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Rolling Stone, 23 May 1974
LOS ANGELES — "No, it's not getting back together, I promise you, not this year, folks," said Ringo Starr, who should know whether "it," the ...
Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight: Gladys Knight: Claudine (Original Soundtrack)
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
IT MUST have seemed a good idea. Amalgamating the talents of Buddah stablemates Gladys Knight and Curtis Mayfield for the sound-track of Claudine. ...
Rock on TV: Old Grey Whistle Test
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974
Meanwhile, in a small, cramped studio, dedicated men wrestle desperately with obsolete equipment in a noble attempt to produce meaningful rock TV for 800 quid ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, August 1974
Ladies and Gentlemen the Rolling Stones is a film concert rather than a concert film, this distinction being that while most films of concerts cover ...
David Essex, Adam Faith: Stardust (Dir. Michael Apted)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 12 October 1974
Stardust: the heavy side of pop ...
Sun Ra: Space Is The Place (Dir. John Coney)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 14 November 1974
A timeless — also plotless — film of Sun Ra ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Singing His Way Into M*A*S*H
Interview by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 17 November 1974
CAPT. CALVIN Spaulding entered the Korean war recently as one of the crazed crew of doctors who staff CBS TV's M*A*S*H. But even the most ...
Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page: Led Zeppelin: The Graffiti of the Physical...
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974
...and the Exploration of the Metaphysical. A candid interview with Led Zep. ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
THE FIRST MAJOR black lyricist who comes to mind, circa 1955, is Chuck Berry. To many, Berry is rock 'n' roll. His lyrics, however, spoke ...
Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
That’s SOUL TRAIN, a TV showcase not only for the cream of US soul acts, but for the stuff-struttingest most fashion conscious kids on the ...
The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper Hits the Road
Report by Susin Shapiro, Crawdaddy!, February 1975
NEW YORK — It had to happen. The formation of a road show with the music of Lennon and McCartney had to be money in ...
David Bowie: Who Will I Be Now?
Report by Ron Ross, Circus Raves, February 1975
TWO YOUNG black men with Afros and Yes T-shirts gazed at the art-deco murals and shrugged their shoulders. As they awaited the debut of David ...
David Bowie: Cracked Actor (BBC 1)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 February 1975
I WOULDN'T care to examine the merits and de-merits of David Bowie on the strength of last Sunday's Omnibus programme on him. Titled Cracked Actor ...
The Who: Tommy the Movie: Hype-Hype-Hype-Hooray?
Report and Interview by Ed Jones, Melody Maker, 22 March 1975
"TOMMY IS THE GREATEST WORK OF ART the 20th century has produced." So says Ken Russell. He should know: he's just directed the film of ...
The Who: Tommy on the Silver Screen
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, April 1975
Pre-release skepticism was clearly in order. The handing over of Townshend’s likeable but jumbled spiritual parable to filmdom’s master of the Technicolor sick joke seemed ...
The Who: The Celluloid Passion Of Roger Daltrey
Interview by Barbara Charone, Crawdaddy!, April 1975
LONDON – "They just don't make records like they used to," the mini-cab driver complained, battling the mid-day London traffic, edging the car towards Battersea. ...
Rock and Western Films: My baby useta love western movies...
Essay by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975
OVER CHRISTMAS THE BBC showed The Magnificent Seven – and gave us a very forcible reminder of how great an effect western movies have had ...
Adam Faith: Budgie wiv Stardust Wings: Adam Faith
Interview by Anthony O'Grady, RAM, 29 June 1975
IN THE OLDE DAYS of Rock and Roll, it seemed as soon as anyone made No. 1 in the charts he wasn’t content to be ...
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. ...
The Who: Ken Russell: How Does He Feel About TOMMY
Interview by Ian Dove, Hit Parader, October 1975
BEAT THE drums. ...
David Bowie: Marvel-ous Angie, David's Black Widow
Report and Interview by Susan Whitall, Creem, November 1975
NEW YORK, N.Y. — While hubby David was slinking around Albuquerque filming The Man Who Fell To Earth Angela Bowie hasn't exactly been lollygagging around ...
David Bowie: The Return of the Thin Man
Report by David Hancock, Record Mirror, 6 December 1975
If you live in London, you probably saw it. If you don't you probably heard about it. But if you haven't done either here's the ...
Keith Moon, The Who: Keith Moon: The Chancellor and the Drummer Boy
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 January 1976
Is KEITH MOON The Biggest Loony in the World? Or is DENIS HEALEY Even Dafter? ROY CARR tells the heart-tugging tale of The Chancellor and ...
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? ...
Kris Kristofferson, Barbra Streisand: Bill Graham Staged a Concert And Barbra Streisand Sang
Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 April 1976
TEMPE, ARIZ. – Phil Ramone, one of the country's top recording engineers, is rather unused to working in the mid-day sun, since recording studios, like ...
Tony Wilson: So It Goes: A TV breakthrough or tubular balls?
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 17 July 1976
IT'S A LITTLE weird when you see something that is obviously well intentioned, is very close to what you and your own personal colleagues and ...
Jethro Tull: Too Old To Rock And Roll, Too Young To Die
Film/DVD/TV Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 24 July 1976
Dull Tull's big mistake ...
Marianne Faithfull: Kenneth Anger: My Boyfriend Left Me For Charlie Manson!
Profile and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
Hi! I'm KENNETH ANGER. Marianne Faithfull plays a demon in my new movie. This is a picture of me when I was three and a ...
David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, August 1976
THIS FILM stars David Bowie — a logical choice — as a space visitor who comes to Earth in an attempt to find a way ...
Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page: Hollywood Anger
Interview by Mick Brown, Crawdaddy!, September 1976
The gossip-monger who exposed Babylon, created Scorpio Rising and inspired 'Sympathy for the Devil', turns to Magick and the ascending Lucifer. ...
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 30 October 1976
THE FOUR members of Led Zeppelin received standing ovations at the premiere in New York last week of their film The Song Remains The Same. ...
Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same (Warner West End/ABC Shaftesbury Avenue)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
ZEP BLOW IT ...
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. ...
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 November 1976
A WARM HANDSHAKE, twinkling eyes and black hair grown thicker than he has allowed for some while – Jimmy Page arrived at his London office ...
Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin: Jimmy Page: The Roaring Silence
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
I WAS IN New York when they last asked me to write a thing on Led Zeppelin. An American magazine, it was, with strict deadlines ...
The Rolling Stones: Cocksucker Blues: A Film by Robert Frank and Danny Seymour
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, December 1976
This unreleased – and suppressed – documentary of The Stones’ ’72 US tour is far and away the most revealingly powerful rock & roll movie ...
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 ...
Jimmy Page: Anger Rising: Jimmy Page and Kenneth's Lucifer
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 1977
LED ZEPPELIN guitarist and leader Jimmy Page has been fired as composer for the soundtrack of the film Lucifer Rising by its director, Kenneth Anger. ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Record Mirror, 1 January 1977
NORMAN WHITFIELD has always been a ghost-like character in terms of his presence to music. As a producer and writer he has always been a ...
The Pointer Sisters, Rose Royce: Rose Royce (and guests): Car Wash (MCA MCSP278) ****
Review by Davitt Sigerson, Black Music, February 1977
WRITTEN AND produced for the film by Norman Whitfield, arranged by Paul Riser, performed by Rose Royce with some help from Wah Wah Watson, The ...
Report by Bob Spitz, Crawdaddy!, March 1977
NEW YORK — "Disc jockeys' mortgages were being paid, women were being provided; it was a slimy era." ...
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, ...
American Grandstand: The Reel Paper
Comment by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 19 May 1977
JOAN MICKLIN Silver's new movie, Between the Lines, purports to tell the story of the Boston Mainline, an alternative weekly not unlike Boston's relatively real-life ...
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: Enemies of the World
Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 11 June 1977
• FACT. Simply by stating 'No Future' the Pistols are creating one • FACT. Their music outshines, outflanks and outclasses much of the jetlagged ineptitude ...
The Sex Pistols on Top of the Pops (BBC1)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 23 July 1977
Out to Lunch ...
Mike Batt, The Wombles: Mike Batt: I'm Weary Of The Wombles...
Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 6 August 1977
...says the man who gave them voices ...
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 ...
Mike Batt, The Wombles: Mike Batt: Batting About The Bush!
Interview by Robin Katz, Jackie, 29 October 1977
IF MIKE BATT is sitting near a blank wall, he immediately begins to feel uncomfortable. He's exactly the same when it comes to a blank ...
Smokey Robinson, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Smokey Robinson (1977) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, November 1977
This is a transcript of Cliff's interview with Smokey. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Bob Dylan: Renaldo Zimmerman and the Cubist Movie
Report by Miles, New Musical Express, 10 December 1977
WHEN THE ROLLING THUNDER Revue ended two years ago, Bob Dylan took the 400 hours of film footage that had been shot during the tour ...
Report and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 5 January 1978
STEELY DAN WILL compose and perform the title track for FM, which is scheduled to begin filming this week at Universal Studios. Denny Rosencrantz, vice-president ...
Elvis Presley: Andy Kaufman Does De Elvis
Report by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 12 January 1978
OH, GOD, where did they find this poor soul, and what desperate circumstances could have resulted in his presence on stage before us? ...
The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb: How the Bee Gees captured America
Report and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 21 January 1978
"ONE OF the reasons for the Bee Gees' success," explains Robin Gibb at their rented Benedict Canyon home, "is that we've never used music as ...
David Bowie: From Brixton To Berlin
Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, February 1978
Michael Watts reports from the German film set where David Bowie is making Just A Gigolo ...
Don Letts: Cramp and Paralize Them and Those Who Worship Babylon
Interview by Robin Banks, ZigZag, February 1978
DON LETTS shares a comfortable flat in Forest Hill with three Rastafarian friends, a ferret named Brian, and various other permanent or transient guests. The ...
The Mamas and The Papas, Michelle Phillips: Michelle Phillips
Interview by Radio Pete, Rocky Mountain Musical Express, March 1978
A '60s songbird branches out: "But it's difficult to get people to take me seriously as an actress." ...
David Cassidy, Shaun Cassidy: Shaun Cassidy, Rock Star
Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 5 March 1978
An overnight sensation No time for an explanation Sensation, yeah, yeah, yeah — Shaun Cassidy, 'Teen Dream' ...
Bob Dylan, Joan Baez: Renaldo and Clara (dir: Bob Dylan; Circuit Films 232mins)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1978
Ballad in plain dull ...
The Bee Gees, John Travolta: Saturday Night Fever (X)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978
Directed by John Badham. Starring John Travolta (CIC) ...
Bob Dylan: Renaldo and Clara — A Film by Bob Dylan (Lombard St. Films, Inc.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, April 1978
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Bob Dylan... Even If You Didn't ...
Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson: Kris Kristofferson: Young Blue Eyes is Back
Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 8 April 1978
Kris Kristofferson was a hell-raiser. He also grabbed country music by the scruff of its neck and dragged it into the Seventies. Now he's to ...
The Band: A big-time goodbye for The Band
Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 30 April 1978
THERE WAS nothing small-time about The Last Waltz. It was a concert held in San Francisco a year ago last Thanksgiving to mark the final ...
Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1978
The erstwhile Marvin Lee Aday (with some contributions from collaborator Jim Steinman) talks about making Bat Out of Hell: the nature of his voice; working with Steinman; how they got their deal, and working with producer Todd Rundgren. He also talks about his theatrical background — Shakespeare, The Rocky Horror Show et al — and how he got his name; then he looks back at his early years in Popcorn Blizzard, performing in Hair, Stoney & Meat Loaf... and about his weight!
File format: mp3; file size: 71.1mb, interview length: 1h 14' 06" sound quality: ****
Interview by Rosalind Russell, Record Mirror, 27 May 1978
Blond hair, blue eyes and a tan send Rosalind Russell swooning homeward after talking to David Soul before the premier of his new film ...
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 ...
The Band: The Last Waltz: Time Gentlemen Please
Film/DVD/TV Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 5 August 1978
The Last Waltz (United Artists)Directed by Martin ScorseseStarring The Band, Bob Dylan etc. etc. ...
Report and Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 23 September 1978
HUGH FIELDER OBSERVES BONECRUNCHING ROCK IN SANITISED TV STUDIOS (AND ALSO TAKES A DRAW) ...
Report and Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 14 October 1978
On Monday night, Jethro Tull became the first rock group to appear live from America on British TV. CHRIS WELCH sat in the control booth ...
Overview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 14 October 1978
UNTIL RECENTLY, watching rock on the box was the worst of media masochism. ...
Patti Smith: Cowboy Mouth, Rock & Roll Theater Company: Club 57, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New York Rocker, November 1978
WHEN CAVALE, the Patti Smith-styled character in this play, tries to explain to her boyfriend Slim what rock 'n' roll is and what it means ...
Bob Harris: The Bomber bales out
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978
Carved up by the critics since his tube debut in 1972, Bob Harris is blowing the whistle on his TV career. It wasn't just the ...
The Blues Brothers: The Horrifying True Story!
Special Feature by Robert Duncan, Creem, April 1979
(or, Ain't Got No Love, Don't Want No Starch) ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1979
Kids Are Allright Director Jeff Stein Tells TP All About It ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 May 1979
POPOL VUH'S extended title for this soundtrack to Werner Herzog's remake of Nosferatu is 'On The Way To A Little Way'. That says a lot ...
The Ramones: Joey finally gets the girl
Report by Ira Robbins, New Musical Express, 12 May 1979
The Ramones' first feature film, Rock'n'Roll High School, had its world premier last week at a Texas drive-in. Will a touching tale of teen romance ...
Report by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 19 May 1979
After last week's Rainbow triumph the Who continued their return in France at the weekend with an open-air concert and the premieres of their two ...
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 June 1979
WHEN HE WAS LYING, HE WAS MORE INTERESTING THAN MANY MEN TELLING A STORY TRULY. ...
The Who: What's What With The Who Movie
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Mendelsohn, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 1979
THE KIDS Are Alright movie – opening Thursday at the Cinerama Dome – begins with the Who performing their ode to teen inarticulateness, 'My Generation', ...
Kevin Coyne, Dagmar Krause: Kevin Coyne: Babble, Oval House, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 24 August 1979
HAVING ALREADY seen Babble banned from one London theatre as the result of a sensationalist and grossly misrepresentative newspaper story, Kevin Coyne found it necessary ...
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 ...
Todd Rundgren, Utopia: Todd Rundgren: Video-Tripping With The Perfect Master
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, October 1979
THE TRAILWAYS bus to Woodstock takes about 2½ hours from New York City, gradually trading the clatter of urban motorways for the static peace of ...
Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, Viz, 1980
GENERALLY there exists a dichotomy between pioneering artists and their audiences – the potetial appreciator is apt to be surprised, disturbed, or simply unaccustomed to ...
Kate Bush Christmas Special: Kate (BBC)
Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 12 January 1980
WITH 1979 over and no Kate Bush album in more than a year, a television special by the lady that introduced six new songs was ...
14 Karat Soul: Sister Suzie Cinema Strikes 14 Karat Soul
Report by Don Waller, New York Rocker, 14 January 1980
The whole world is a stage And everybody's playing a part The stage is set, the curtain goes up The scene is a broken ...
Blondie, Meat Loaf: Blondie/Meatloaf: Meat To The Beat
Report and Interview by Dave DiMartino, Creem, February 1980
AUSTIN, TX – Talk about incongruity. Here we are speeding down a Texas highway, sun blazing overhead. We're in a van, naturally – the only ...
Interview by Fred Dellar, Smash Hits, 21 February 1980
GEOFF DOWNES is the one with 20/20 vision. Trevor Horn is the one with the go-go goggles. Together they're the Buggles, purveyors of clean-machine pop, ...
The Who: Quadrophenia (Dir. Franc Roddam, The Who Films Ltd)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Dave DiMartino, Creem, March 1980
Quadrophenia: Pass Those Purple Hearts ...
The Clash: Rude Boy: Directed by Jack Hazan; Starring Ray Gange and The Clash; Cert X
Film/DVD/TV Review by Robin Banks, ZigZag, April 1980
RUDE BOY CAN FAIL ...
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 1 May 1980
THE LATE sixties were a time for guitars, and five musicians — fifty fingers — appeared to naturally jump to the center of attention: Jimi ...
Stephanie Mills: The Stephanie Mills interview... The Sweet Sensation of Wizdom
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 17 June 1980
AT THE tender age of just twenty-three, Stephanie Mills has starred on Broadway, earned two Gold albums and a Gold single and headlined concerts in ...
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 6 July 1980
DESTRUCTION OF THE BLUES ...
Urban Cowboy: Country Music Stretches Its Legs
Report by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, August 1980
WHILE THE rock-crit establishment continues to ponder the future of new wave and the death of disco, U.S. music fans are quietly gravitating toward some ...
Sheena Easton: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Well, Almost)
Interview by Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, 9 August 1980
EMI. WHAT gods in human form have passed through those hallowed Manchester Square portals? The tall cuboid-like lump of concrete and glass sits benignly in ...
Paul Simon: One-Trick Pony (Warner Brothers K56846).
Review by Patrick Humphries, Melody Maker, 23 August 1980
An ace in a hole ...
The Blues Brothers, Aretha Franklin: The Blues Brothers: Original Soundtrack (Atlantic)
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 4 September 1980
WITH THEIR second LP, Blues Brothers John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd have moved from the gratuitously racist to the merely patronizing — progress of a ...
Paul Simon: What Do You Do When You're Not A Kid Anymore And You Still Want To Rock & Roll?
Profile and Interview by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 30 October 1980
IN ONE-TRICK PONY PAUL SIMON LOOKS AT THE WAY THINGS MIGHT HAVE BEEN. ...
The Clash: Rude Boy Produced and directed by Jack Hazan and David Mingay (Atlantic Releasing Corp.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Toby Goldstein, Creem, November 1980
Booed, Rude And Tattooed ...
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, January 1981
WARNING: This article might offend sensitive tastes! ...
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 ...
Hazel O'Connor: What Katy Did Next
Interview by Peter Silverton, Smash Hits, 16 April 1981
"I get letters saying, 'Did you change your name to Hazel O'Connor for stage work? Is your name really Kate?' They won't even let you ...
Blondie, Chic, Debbie Harry: Debbie Harry: First Lady of Chic
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 27 June 1981
Amateur gumshoe Adam Sweeting grills DEBBIE HARRY in New York ...
The Cramps Guide to Teenage Monster Movies
Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 25 July 1981
Movies nowadays are all high technology and no brains, no imagination. What do you call it when you do something real good and you didn't ...
Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Germs, X: The Decline of Western Civilization (Dir. Penelope Spheeris)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Don Waller, New York Rocker, September 1981
THE DECLINE of Western Civilization, Penelope Spheeris's documentary of the L.A. punk scene circa late '79/early '80, is by turns funny, provocative, pretentious, inspiring, boring, ...
In the Punk of the Night: Penelope Spheeris and the Underground of Shock
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 10 November 1981
WALKING ALONG Hollywood Boulevard one night in 1979, Los Angeles filmmaker Penelope Spheeris was drawn underground into a tawdry punk club called the Masque. What ...
Interview by Danny (Shredder) Weizmann, Flipside, 1982
PENELOPE SPHEERIS is the director of the now quite old L.A. punk film The Decline Of Western Civilization, and she turns out to be a ...
Randy Newman: Ragtime to Riches
Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 15 January 1982
EVER SINCE his 1968 debut album, many have considered Randy Newman one of the greatest songwriters in America. ...
Adam & The Ants, The Human League, Madness, The Nolans, Gary Numan, The Police, The Specials: Videos
Report and Interview by Johnny Black, Smash Hits, 21 January 1982
The rise and rise of the pop video has brought mini-movies into every living room; Adam in panto, The Human League in detective thrillers, Barry ...
The Beach Boys, Charles Manson: Surfin' Death Valley USA
Essay by David Toop, Collusion, February 1982
"WE'LL GET THE ROUGHEST AND THE TOUGHEST INITIATION WE CAN FIND."from Our Car Club (Brian Wilson/Mile Love) Beach Boys, 1963 What were the connections between Beach ...
Crystal Gayle, Tom Waits: Tom Waits: Hollywood Confidential
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 26 February 1982
LA's Hobo Laureate Creates the Score for Coppola's One From the Heart. ...
Goodbye Young Lovers (wherever you are)
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Face, March 1982
Jon Savage laments the Sixties attitudes still stubbornly enshrined in television's coverage of pop: "Boom Time is over and its children must shape up." ...
The Police, Sting: The Police's Sting considers a new career
Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 4 March 1982
PHILADELPHIA — DEEP in the bright yellow innards of Philadelphia's Spectrum Arena, the reluctant rock god known as Sting eyes a dressing room crowded with ...
David Bowie: Brechtfast In Bed
Report by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 6 March 1982
IN BAAL, DAVID Bowie finally shed his skin and played the part of someone else. ...
Bucks Fizz: Let's Get Fizzical
Interview by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, 13 May 1982
Few groups ever survive thee Eurovision Song Contest. Bucks Fizz haven't justsurvived, they've flourished. Their UK record sales are topped only by The Human League. Ian Birch ...
Bob Geldof, Pink Floyd: Pink Floyd and Bob Geldof: Pink Isn't Well
Report and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Creem, December 1982
AS A PINK Floyd fanatic, my biggest fear has always been that on some apocalyptic night as I sat with the rest of the Pinkoid ...
David Cassidy: Teen Dream From The TV Screen
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, The History of Rock, 1983
"CAN AMERICA'S top rock group prevail against the evil machinations of a fat but deadly enemy agent — without blowing their cool?" ran the blurb ...
Report and Interview by Johnny Black, Smash Hits, 6 January 1983
"I ACTUALLY ENJOY Top Of The Pops very much but it lacks the excitement of a live programme. You can't cheat the kids. You've got ...
Adele Bertei: Vortex — The Motion Picture Soundtrack (Neutral)
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
NOIR HEAT ...
Joe Cocker, Jennifer Warnes: Jennifer Warnes: With a little help...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 February 1983
WHEN JOE Cocker met Jennifer Warnes, he didn't know who she was. She, however, had first seen Cocker's appearance on America's Grammy Awards and been ...
Overview by Dave DiMartino, Vidiot, March 1983
THE RAPID acceptance of MTV throughout wired-up America proves three things. First, that there's Big Bucks at stake in the rock 'n' roll biz no ...
Report by Michael Goldberg, The San Francisco Examiner, 8 March 1983
WHEN BLACK superstar Rick James, who has sold more than 10 million albums during the past four years, first heard about MTV, he was enthusiastic. ...
The Kids from Fame: The Kids from Fame: The Famous Five
Interview by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 31 March 1983
...better known as Leroy, Coco, Bruno, Danny and Lydia. Dave Rimmer travels the length and breadth of America in search of the Kids from Fame. ...
Jonathan King: "I Think About 90% of the Public Really Hate Me — and I Don't Like Them"
Interview by Neil Tennant, Smash Hits, 14 April 1983
There you have it — the Jonathan King philosophy. So far it's got him loads of hit records, a slot on Top Of The Pops ...
Review and Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Creem, May 1983
Smithereens: directed by Susan Seidelman (New Line Cinema) ...
Rick James: Why MTV Is Shaking the Music Industry
Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1 May 1983
HUEY LEWIS, leader of the Marin County-based Huey Lewis and the News, loves MTV: "Everywhere I go," he says in a promo spot on the ...
The Band, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson: Robbie Robertson: Between Trains
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 6 May 1983
QUALITY IS something that Robbie Robertson definitely understands. ...
Michael Jackson: The Thrill Of It All
Report and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 7 May 1983
Michael Jackson tells Sylvie Simmons to beat it! ...
The Residents: All the Residents' Men
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 18 June 1983
Beyond the valley of a day in the life of a mole: The Residents struggle overground in their first formal public performance. Is the Mole ...
Irene Cara: Flashdance and Irene Cara
Interview by Ian Birch, Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 23 June 1983
THE FILM It's going to be the big box-office smash of the summer. And Dave Rimmer's already seen it. ...
The Cramps: Zip Guns In The Junkyard!
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 13 August 1983
GEEK MAGGOT BINGO IS THE film that trade Bible Variety characterised a "one geek, few maggots and no bingo". A lot they know! ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 10 September 1983
HIPPITY HOP! ...
Jennifer Holliday: Holliday Plans
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 1 November 1983
Jennifer Holliday has her aims firmly set: to become one of the best recording artists; to return to Broadway; and then to settle down to ...
Report by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 5 November 1983
Helen FitzGerald has a nightmare... and finds herself at the first night of THE TUBE. ...
Toyah Willcox: Toyah: In the Arms of the Law
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 5 November 1983
The increasingly extraordinary Adam Sweeting tackles the several personalities of the small but determined TOYAH. ...
Rock Cinema: It’s Only A Movie
Overview by Johnny Black, The History of Rock, 1984
How rock cinema fared in the wake of Woodstock IN MANY WAYS, THE FIRST HALF of the '70s was a drab time for rock music ...
MTV: Behind The Scenes (MTV Special Program)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, January 1984
MTV Or Not MTV ...
Irene Cara: What a Feeling! Irene Cara as Her Famous Self
Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 12 January 1984
FOR IRENE Cara, the price of Fame is to play… in film and on television… Irene Cara! ...
ABC, Sex Pistols, Ultravox: Julian Temple: From a Dandy to a Rogue
Interview by Chris Bohn, New Musical Express, 19 February 1984
PORTRAIT OF THE CAMBRIDGE FOP AS FILM MAKER Julian Temple, a Cambridge history graduate, was rescued from the National Film School, by The Great Rock ...
Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 23 March 1984
HOLLYWOOD — There have only been a few really great rock and roll movies — Gimme Shelter, Don't Look Back, Potemkin, Monterey Pop. Now, add ...
Jeffrey Daniel, Shalamar: Jeffrey Daniels: Popping Off The Rails
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 31 March 1984
Is Jeffrey Daniels on the right track? Gavin Martin has his doubts when he finds out that the king of the body poppers has been ...
ABBA, Bucks Fizz, Mary Hopkin, Cliff Richard, Sandie Shaw: Eurovision: It's That Time Again!
Retrospective by Tom Hibbert, Smash Hits, 26 April 1984
On May 5 it's The Eurovision Song Contest. And — admit it — you'll be there in front of the telly cringeing as this year's entry, Belle And The ...
Spinal Tap: Heavy Metal Blunder: This Is Spinal Tap
Review by John Mendelsohn, Creem, May 1984
THE MISSUS USED to be married to a little asshole who produced comedy specials for cable television. The principals of This Is Spinal Tap – ...
Michael Jackson: Thrills, Spills & Dollar Bills: Making Michael Jackson's Thriller
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lloyd Bradley, Black Music, May 1984
LLOYD BRADLEY drops a dissenting opinion into the torrent of hyperbole surrounding Making Michael Jackson's Thriller ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, May 1984
TOM WAITS writes great songs and sings them with greatness. He made his first album ten years ago. It was called Closing Time; he has been ...
Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 19 May 1984
SANDIE SHAW WAS ONE OF BRITAIN'S TOP SINGERS IN THE '60s. NOW SHE'S BACK IN THE CHARTS WITH THE '80s SOUND OF THE SMITHS' 'HAND ...
Spinal Tap: the Comics Behind the Funniest Rock Movie Ever
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 24 May 1984
Celebrating seventeen years of heavy metal's most painful career ...
Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 30 June 1984
Film break ...
Randy Newman: The Natural Soundtrack (Warner Bros.)
Review by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 13 July 1984
WHEN IT COMES to capturing the flavor of America at various points in this century, few songwriters have been able to do it as well ...
Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, August 1984
SAN FRANCISCO — Rock-video fans who don't get their MTV — and that means seventy-five percent of the country's households — were at the losing ...
Apollonia, Prince: First Avenue is New 2nd Family, Apollonia Says
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 5 August 1984
MOST OF Purple Rain takes place in an actual nightclub in downtown Minneapolis. In the film, the First Avenue club becomes a self-contained world, a ...
Spinal Tap: This Is Spinal Tap (15)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian Birch, Smash Hits, 30 August 1984
Remember The Bad News Tour? How The Comic Strip tore into the ludicrous excesses of heavy metal groups? ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Tennant, Smash Hits, 30 August 1984
PRINCE loves to pout. To press together his moist, full lips while throwing a sulky, sensuous stare with his big eyes. Even more, he loves ...
Prince, The Time: Prince's Purple Rain: 'Scuse Me While I Get Some Popcorn
Report and Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, September 1984
PRINCE...IT'S A great name, isn't it? It's a great name for a dog. It's a great name for spaghetti on Wednesday night. It's a great ...
Apollonia, Morris Day, Prince: Purple Rain; starring: Prince, Morris Day, Apollonia (Warner Bros.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
So just whose tongue is in whose cheek! ...
Spinal Tap: This Is Spinal Tap
Review by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Director: Rob Reiner; Starring: Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer ...
Spinal Tap: The Spinal Solution
Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 8 September 1984
Cynthia Rose shares a wake-up cuppa with Derek Smalls, Nigel Tufnel and David St Hubbins, the unlikely rockers who made it from New York back ...
Ray Parker Jr.: from sideman to lady's man
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 27 September 1984
'Ghostbusters' is his latest chartbuster ...
Report and Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, The Face, October 1984
"WHAT WE'RE DOING here is bringing back the talkies," David Bowie announces self-mockingly. His livid mask recalls the white-faced clowns and demons of the Commedia ...
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense (Dir. Jonathan Demme)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 25 October 1984
Heads play from heart in new film ...
David Bowie, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Sex Pistols: Julien Temple: The Inner Temple
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 1 December 1984
Wordsmith and sedentary snapper Adam Sweeting interrogates filmmaker and promo video master JULIEN TEMPLE... ...
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 16 December 1984
"PARIS, TEXAS IS like a perfect career job," reflects Ry Cooder, the composer of the film's haunting score. "It's the kind of film that if ...
Interview by David A. Keeps, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1984
La Ciccone talks about making Desperately Seeking Susan: wanting the part; the producers Orion's doubts; screen tests etc., and getting the part; on not being an overnight success; her next single, 'Like a Virgin', and its video, including an encounter with a lion; her plans for the next year, including touring; aspects of her personality: eroticism, vulnerability, snottiness, and how she can be wooed.
File format: mp3; file size: 40.3mb, interview length: 41' 57" sound quality: ** (background noise)
Transcript of audio interview by David A. Keeps, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Fall 1984
This is a transcript of David's audio interview with Madonna. Listen to the audio of this conversation. ...
Stevie Wonder: Selections From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: The Woman In Red (Motown)
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, January 1985
THE NEW Stevie Wonder album has this problem: It thinks it's a soundtrack. It doesn't get violent about it, true. In fact, except for the ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
OEDIPUS — SING TO YOUR MUM ...
Madonna: "I always acted like a star even before I was one!"
Interview by David A. Keeps, Smash Hits, 17 January 1985
And that time has certainly come. She's had massive hits both sides of the ocean, and she's started making movies and claiming she'd "like to ...
Talking Heads Film Combines Rock Show With Light Show
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 27 January 1985
"THE PROBLEM with the rock concert films I've seen," argues David Byrne of Talking Heads, "is they have no beginning, middle and end. But neither ...
Mick Jagger, The Redskins: The Tube: Thank God It's Friday
Interview by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 23 February 1985
MALCOLM GERRIE is the man behind Tyne Tees' groundbreaking pop TV show The Tube. Lynden Barber went to Newcastle to investigate the programme and its ...
Ry Cooder: Cooder at the Movies
Interview by Don Snowden, Musician, 28 February 1985
"A MOVIE SCORE is probably the last refuge of abstract music," remarks Ry Cooder in the spartan foyer of a Hollywood sound studio. "You can't ...
Andy Warhol: The Face Interview
Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, The Face, March 1985
"I HAVE NOTHING to say – read my books" is Andy Warhol's standard riposte to most would-be interviewers. ...
Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith: Ex-Monkee Puts Parts Together
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 March 1985
On TV, Michael Nesmith says he'll be 'the big cheese, the honcho, the stud duck' ...
Eurythmics: 1984 (For The Love Of Big Brother) (RCA)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, April 1985
IRONY BUFFS might have felt a twinge of interest recently when the Eurythmics' 'Sexcrime' was being banned in various quarters. In Orwell's 1984 the word ...
Ry Cooder's Mood Indigo Meditations: Paris, Texas
Review by Don Snowden, The Boston Phoenix, 4 April 1985
SOUNDTRACK ALBUMS – the genuine article, not song collections assembled in executive suites with an eye for tapping the teen demographic – are inherently strange ...
Overview by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 30 April 1985
RIGHT NOW a hit record carries more mass-audience clout than at any moment in the history of show business. Maybe not coincidentally, there are more ...
Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 9 May 1985
How Rosanna Arquette, Madonna and director Susan Seidelman lost tempers and found each other through Desperately Seeking Susan ...
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 May 1985
ARMS FOLDED across his chest, Louis Malle stares stoically across the Hollywood soundstage as the last scene of Alamo Bay, his new film set against ...
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 25 May 1985
Just when you thought it was safe to watch Top Of The Pops again... along comes the monumental DIVINE, determined to get his own back ...
Stewart Copeland, The Police: Stewart Copeland: The Rhythm Method
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 25 May 1985
STEWART COPELAND has been using his holiday from The Police to go exploring in Africa and make a video and LP called The Rhythmatist. Caroline ...
John Travolta: Practice Makes Perfect
Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 2 June 1985
John Travolta has gone from the disco hunk of Saturday Night Fever to the Rolling Stone reporter of his new movie. In between, he says, ...
Not a Perfect Portrayal Of Rolling Stone Editor
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 June 1985
I JUST saw Perfect, the new movie with John Travolta as a Rolling Stone reporter and Jann Wenner (the actual editor of Rolling Stone) as ...
Film Fest To Offer Jazz, Reggae Documentaries
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 12 July 1985
THE PAIR OF 1981 documentaries making their local premieres this weekend as part of the Fox International Theater's ongoing Summer Music Film Fest offers an ...
George Clinton, Thomas Dolby: Dog-Gone Dolby
Report and Interview by Max Bell, No. 1, 3 August 1985
Max Bell yaps with Thomas Dolby and George Clinton. ...
Jan Hammer: Miami Vice's Hammer: A Composer Blends Hot Cops, Cool Rock
Profile and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 September 1985
Kent, New York A SOUNDTRACK album for a TV show doesn't seem to make much sense. The thought conjures up a short stack of failures, albums ...
Ry Cooder, Frank Frost: Ry Cooder's Crossroads Blues
Report and Interview by Tony Scherman, Rolling Stone, 10 October 1985
THERE'S NO MONEY IN BEING A ROOTS-MUSIC VIRTUOSO, BUT THIS GUITARIST'S CAREER TURNED THE CORNER WHEN HE STARTED WRITING SOUNDTRACKS. ...
Divine: Palace Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 5 November 1985
AS A SINGER NOW, DIVINE ISN'T QUITE AS DIVINE ...
Giorgio Moroder, Ray Parker Jr., Tina Turner: Soundtracks Thrived in Summer of '85
Report by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 21 November 1985
Arranged marriages between movies and rock & roll produced spectacular results ...
The Five Blind Boys of Alabama: Fountain, Five Blind Boys Spout The Gospel
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 14 December 1985
"ACTING? IT'S nothing complicated. All you have to do is remember your lines," Clarence Fountain was saying. "I can talk — that's my job, talkin', ...
David Byrne: The True Story of David Byrne
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Mail On Sunday, 1986
THERE'S SOMETHING faintly forbidding about David Byrne. Oh, he's friendly enough, sitting over the table of a discreet suite at Blake's Hotel in Kensington for ...
Michael Nyman: Time Waits For Nyman
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 18 January 1986
Boffin, composer, systems musician, egghead and man with boring trousers MICHAEL NYMAN performed his soundtrack for A Zed And Two Noughts at the ICA last ...
Penelope Spheeris: The Hollywood Killers
Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 18 January 1986
Director PENELOPE SPHEERIS has worked in music video and on Saturday Night Live and made the L.A. punk movie The Decline Of Western Civilisation. Her ...
Ray Parker Jr.: Sex & The Single Man
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 18 January 1986
As you might expect, RAY PARKER JNR made a huge fortune from his Ghostbusters film theme. But he hasn't given up on music. His new ...
David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Working Week: Absolute Beginners
Special Feature by Brian Case, Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 22 March 1986
AT LONG last, it's almost here. Poor old JULIEN TEMPLE has been working on his movie of Colin MacInnes' novel Absolute Beginners apparently since the ...
Prince & the Revolution: Parade: Music From The Motion Picture Under The Cherry Moon (Paisley Park)
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 30 March 1986
THE PURPLE ONE'S FLOWER POWER ...
Velvet Underground: Oh God, Not The Bloody Velvets Again!
Report by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
Fingers on the "Record" button… Rock's most name-dropped group, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND have finally arrived in the high brow world of The South Bank Show. ...
George Harrison, Madonna: Madonna Speaks...
Report by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 21 May 1986
...and what do you think the press do? After weeks spent camping out at airports, breaking into hotels and getting themselves run over to get ...
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Bob Dylan In Concert - An HBO Special
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Columbia Flier , 3 July 1986
THE RECENT HBO cable TV special, Bob Dylan in Concert, gave us a sneak preview of what we can expect when Dylan arrives in Washington ...
Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid & Nancy: Love Kills
Interview by Brian Case, Ted Mico, Melody Maker, 19 July 1986
'Waddya wanna make a film about two dead junkies for?' said Malcolm McLaren when he heard of ALEX COX's plans to make a movie of ...
Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid And Nancy (Dir. Alex Cox; Palace Pictures, 18, 92 minutes)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Sylvia Patterson, Smash Hits, 30 July 1986
ALEX COX, film director: "In 1980 I tried to write a screenplay called 'Too Kool To Die'. It was about an English rock 'n' roll ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1986
The Talking Heads frontman on his film True Stories: about the meaning of Texas; conspiracy theories; yuppies and generational attitudes; the band's uneasiness with the film and soundtrack album; New York v the rest of the USA, and the meaning of cities.
File format: mp3; file size: 64.5mb, interview length: 1h 07' 11" sound quality: ***
Interview by Gene Santoro, Downbeat, August 1986
LATELY A lot of folks have been going back to school again studying the roots of the music they're making so they can grow their ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, Blitz, September 1986
THE PRINCELY PROCEEDINGS commence with a scene of such steamily symbolic eroticism you almost expect the censor's stamp to come crashing through the screen. ...
Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer, The Pogues: A Fistful Of Pesetas
Report and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
In the badlands of Spain, a strange scenario... JOE STRUMMER is shooting everyone in sight, SHANE MACGOWAN has been killed, ELVIS COSTELLO is serving coffee... ...
Asha Bhosle: The Celluloid Singing Star
Interview by Cath Carroll, New Musical Express, 20 September 1986
ASHA BHOSLE is India's best known singer of film soundtracks. CATH CARROLL meets the woman with 40 million record sales who began her career with ...
David Byrne, Talking Heads: Talking Heads' Byrne Chats Up His Movie
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 October 1986
THE LAST TIME we saw David Byrne on the big screen, he was herky-jerking his way through a Talking Heads concert, doing his chaotic, turkey-necked, ...
Nick Berry: Why Do All Actors Want To Be Pop Stars?
Report and Interview by William Shaw, Smash Hits, 22 October 1986
They're all at it these days: TV personalities (and almost everybody on EastEnders) making pop records. Isn't it all getting a bit out of hand? ...
The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: "Poor Sid — You were a good guy, but..."
Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 7 November 1986
SID AND Nancy, Alex Cox's film about the life and death of the Sex Pistols' bassist, Sid Vicious, and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, is a ...
The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid And Nancy (Dir. Alex Cox; Samuel Goldwyn Co.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kris Needs, Creem, December 1986
LOVE IS A ROSE ...
David Byrne: "It Didn't Feel Like Acting"
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Q, December 1986
True Stories: first the book, then the Talking Heads LP, now the film. David Byrne writes, directs, acts and supports the cause ordinary people everywhere. ...
Dexter Gordon: Bertrand Tavernier on Round Midnight
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 6 December 1986
THE DIRECTOR of Round Midnight is extremely un-Bebop in appearance. His supine bearing and serene features suggest a cross between Roland Barthes and Claude Chabrol, ...
Oran "Juice" Jones, Run-DMC, Slayer: Def Jam #2: World Domination Enterprises
Report and Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 3 January 1987
In the second part of his investigation into DEF JAM records, the world's hottest label, Frank Owen charts the careers of RICK RUBIN, RUSSELL SIMMONS, ...
Muriel Gray: Don't Touch That Dial, Sassenach!
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, New Musical Express, 3 January 1987
Sick of Jools? Fed up with Paula? Well, the only saviour for you on The Tube must be MURIEL GRAY, who's now branching out into ...
Sam Moore, Lou Reed, Sam & Dave: Sam & Dave & Lou
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 3 February 1987
Golden oldies never die, but they come back in different guises. Sam Moore and Lou Reed are currently scoring with 'Soul Man' — a veritable ...
John Barry: The Man With The Golden Baton
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, October 1987
COMPOSER AND conductor John Barry has scored 12 of the 15 James Bond movies, which is an impressive part of a spectacular career. However, on ...
Special Feature by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 19 November 1987
Eleven, years ago, the enigmatic leader of the Band walked away from the rock world. Now, after some years of wild living, he's joined with ...
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Face, Summer 1987
SEARCHLIGHTS SWAY IN THE SKY over Hollywood Boulevard and Vine as the premiere party for La Bamba the movie strides into full swing. The subject ...
Run-DMC: Run DMC's Celluloid Rap
Report and Interview by Kris Needs, Creem, January 1988
SOME INESCAPABLE facts accompany Run DMC's latest venture onto the big screen. They are probably the biggest rap group in the world. They sell millions ...
The Clash, Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer (1988)
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, February 1988
The former Clash front-man on recording the soundtrack to Permanent Record; his musical and acting participation in Walker and Straight to Hell; on the Clash compilation Story of the Clash Vol. 1; how touring with the Who led to the end of the Clash; playing with the Pogues, and his hatred of being spat at onstage; on Reagan and Thatcher; his (now) dislike of drugs; on his diplomat father; forming the 101ers, and the Rude Boy movie.
File format: mp3; file size: 83.8mb, interview length: 1h 27' 20" sound quality: *** (background noise)
Ennio Morricone: Film Music 1966-1987 (Virgin)****
Review by Richard Cook, Sounds, 6 February 1988
FILM SOUNDTRACKS are wretched records to keep because there's only a couple of minutes you want to remember on each one – the lavish sweep ...
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 13 February 1988
Sampled by such hombres as Cameo and B.A.D., and the creator of a bandolier of classic film themes, ENNIO MORRICONE is a master of his ...
Penelope Spheeris: Last of the Mohawkans
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 7 May 1988
PENELOPE SPHEERIS is the West Coast punk auteur whose movies have traced the decline and fall of hard core culture. Dudes completes her trilogy of ...
Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 13 May 1988
David Sinclair meets American guitarist Ry Cooder, in London to prepare for a six-city British tour ...
Godley & Creme: "We've got just the video for you, Sir!"
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, June 1988
You have entered the celebrated emporium of Godley & Creme — Makers of Bespoke Promotional Footage For The Rich And Famous. Money, no object. Egos, ...
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 16 June 1988
THIS YEAR'S award for Best Gospel Adaptation of a Greek Tragedy will surely go to The Gospel at Colonus, the Broadway musical that presents Sophocles' ...
Experience Unlimited (EU): E.U.: America gets behind a new dance
Report by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 30 June 1988
Spike Lee's film School Daze launches "da butt" ...
Prince: Sign O' The Times (Dir. Prince; Paisley Park Films)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 July 1988
Let the good times rock — Adam Sweeting finds brilliance abounds in Prince's latest film ...
Bob Dylan: Pennebaker Looks Back
Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 July 1988
Adam Sweeting turns the tables on the man who documented the young Dylan ...
Ryuichi Sakamoto: The Noise From Nippon
Report and Interview by Mark Dery, Elle, September 1988
"I DON'T KNOW what I am," says Ryuichi Sakamoto. "I was born in Japan but I don't think I'm Japanese. To be a stranger — ...
Savage Pencil: With Lead In His Pencil
Interview by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 3 September 1988
SAVAGE PENCIL has turned his art to original biker movies. CATHI UNSWORTH savours his hellraising Angel Dust ...
Eighth Wonder: Absolute Beginners
Profile and Interview by Julian Henry, Melody Maker, 28 September 1988
Patsy Kensit is 17 and has landed the lead role in the new Julien Temple movie Absolute Beginners. But she also fronts the hippest new ...
Michael Nyman: Drowning By Numbers (Virgin/Venture LP/ Cassette/CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 8 October 1988
WE DON'T want to know about Michael Nyman, they said. We want to hear about genuinely talented people like Kylie Minogue and the Godfathers. Well ...
The Call, Harry Dean Stanton: Harry Dean Stanton/Michael Been: Nightstage, Boston
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 26 October 1988
CAMBRIDGE – Harry Dean Stanton – full-time fringe actor (Repo Man; Paris, Texas; The Last Temptation of Christ) and part-time singer-guitarist-harmonica player – has gotten ...
U2: Band of Gold: U2 Rattle and Hum
Report and Interview by David Rensin, Premiere, November 1988
AGAINST A BLOOD-RED backdrop, four silhouetted figures file onstage to the pomp of a prerecorded organ. Dry ice smoke billows, and sparks crackle from lightning ...
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 17 November 1988
Does PHIL COLLINS keep up the tradition and slot into the file alongside Ringo and Keith Moon – tub-thumpers and "silly" actors both? LEN BROWN ...
Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 30 November 1988
Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue, eh? It's the kiss-up of the century, the romance of the millennium, is it not? "Er, no actually, we're really, ...
Fine Young Cannibals: Stay fresh and keep 'em hungry
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 8 February 1989
Roland Gift tells Lucy O'Brien about the Fine Young Cannibals' appetite for success ...
Jason Donovan: Somebody HEEEEELP ME!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 8 February 1989
Jason Donovan, eh? He is, as we all know, a clever 'n' rich 'n' good-looking pop type who thinks he's a bit sporty what with ...
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, March 1989
Even the most commercial artists can't be guaranteed to sell cinema tickets. But then history has rarely smiled upon the safe self-edited rock documentary. ...
Metallica: For Whom The Bell Tulls #2
Interview by Steffan Chirazi, Kerrang!, 25 March 1989
In the second part of our special feecher on Grammy loozers extraordinaire METALLICA, STEFFAN CHIRAZI probes the conception and production off the 'One' single and video, yet ...
Stock Aitken Waterman: Pete Waterman: The Prat Who Calls Himself The Hitman
Report and Interview by Simon Witter, Sky, April 1989
The prat who calls himself the Hitman is how Stock Aitken Waterman's Pete Waterman describes himself. It's an admission that a 42-year-old who throws himself ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Man on Fire: Going to Hell with Jerry Lee Lewis and Dennis Quaid
Special Feature by Nick Kent, The Face, May 1989
HE WAS trying to be courteous but you could tell almost at once that being courteous wasn't really part of his nature. "Wahl, ah looks ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Goodness Gracious
Interview by Gavin Martin, Spin, June 1989
If Elvis was rock's first celebrity, Jerry Lee Lewis, born in hellfire, was its first S.O.B. On the eve of Great Balls of Fire, a ...
Prince: Batman: Motion Picture Soundtrack (Warner Bros.)
Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 23 June 1989
A funky soundtrack by Prince ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
NEON NIGHT, LA. Clad in leather and flashing skull'n'dagger tattoos, Chris Holmes of WASP — the Peter Sutcliffe of heavy metal — is lounging on ...
KISS, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, W.A.S.P.: Spheeris of Influence
Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
The macho world of Heavy Metal is not the most likely place to find a female film director, but PENELOPE SPHEERIS took her camera and ...
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, September 1989
Batty Prince, Torn Between Good and Evil ...
W.A.S.P.: Penelope Spheeris: The "Mad Surgeon" of Film
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, RAW, 6 September 1989
That's American director PENELOPE SPHEERIS, whose documentary on the LA Metal scene The Decline Of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years has just opened ...
Liza Minnelli, Pet Shop Boys: Liza Minnelli: Results (Epic)
Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 14 October 1989
THE LAST time Ms Minnelli did anything of note was at the start of the decade. Her portrayal of shoplifting Linda, the object of Dudley ...
Kylie Minogue: Kylie: Taking Charge
Interview by Clinton Walker, The Edge, January 1990
It was always easy to make fun of Kylie Minogue. But now, having turned 21, she's started to take more control of her career and ...
Jason Donovan: Would Jason sell his granny for a packet of Twiglets?
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 10 January 1990
Who knows what lurks beneath that chummy, cheery exterior? IS JASON REALLY A MORALLY UPRIGHT CITIZEN OR IS HE A SCOUNDREL? Tom Doyle confronts him ...
Michael Nyman: The Nyman/Greenaway Soundtracks (Virgin Venture LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 January 1990
NYMAN'S LANDSCAPES ...
Chet Baker: Let's Get Lost (15) (Bruce Weber)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, February 1990
CHET BAKER'S James Deanish looks, rebel-type lifestyle and romantic jazz style made him a cult figure in the '50s, when he became one of photographer ...
Column by Danny Fields, Spin, April 1990
The Dish, The Dirt, The Inside Dope Sussed by DANNY FIELDS ...
Interview by Siân Pattenden, Smash Hits, 4 April 1990
JASON'S BACK! And he's rich! And he's famous! But is he happy? And is he really going out with Martika? SIÄN PATTENDEN investigates... ...
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, June 1990
I INTERVIEWED Madonna at the Disney Studios, of all places, where she was rehearsing her Blond Ambition tour. It's not really so odd that she ...
Bernard Herrmann: Blue Light Special: Bernard Herrmann
Retrospective by Richard C. Walls, Spin, September 1990
YOU MAY not know the name but you know Bernard Herrmann's work, or at least some of it. Everybody knows some of it. What most ...
Interview by Fred Goodman, Rolling Stone, 6 September 1990
A hit album, a role in Prince's new movie and a questionable future ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Q, October 1990
This Is Spinal Tap: the movie that became a legend, the spoof band whose name became a by-word for all that is incompetent, disastrous and ...
Big Fun, Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, New Kids On The Block: Kylie Minogue et al: Mild at heart
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 October 1990
Today's pop idols seem so insipid that fans are turning to turtles for thrills. Caroline Sullivan on the Kylie/Jason phenomenon. ...
Angelo Badalamenti, Julee Cruise: Angelo Badalamenti, and Julee Cruise: Way to settle the scores
Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 29 October 1990
Angelo Badalamenti talks to Andy Gill about scoring David Lynch ...
Interview by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 1 December 1990
"Sometimes a wind blows/And the mysteries of love come clear" – 'Mysteries Of Love', Julee Cruise ...
Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Goldmine, 28 December 1990
THE MOST AMAZING thing about Dick Clark is not that "America's Oldest Living Teenager" still fits that role at age 61. It's not that he's ...
Angelo Badalamenti, Julee Cruise: Angelo Badalamenti: Music From Twin Peaks (Warner Bros.)
Review by Betty Page, Vox, January 1991
A PEAK EXPERIENCE ...
Fields Of The Nephilim: See Ya Later, Terminator
Interview by Cathi Unsworth, Sounds, 23 February 1991
What do you do with a dusty, chaotic rock star who looks like the Grim Reaper? Why, cast him as himself in your movie and ...
Julee Cruise: Palladium, London
Live Review by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, 23 February 1991
A dream of Julee ...
The Doors: When The Movie's Over
Report by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, March 1991
Did you have a good world when you died?Enough to base a movie on?– Jim Morrison ...
Review by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 30 April 1991
'New Jack Hustler (Nino's Theme)' — Ice-T; 'I'm Dreamin'' — Christopher Williams; 'I'm Still Waiting' — Johnny Gill; '(There You Go) Tellin' Me No Again' ...
Essay by Charles Shaar Murray, The Guardian, July 1991
FASHIONS IN FOLK devils, like all other fashions, are subject both to painless expiry and to unexpected and possibly incongruous resurrections. ...
How MTV Plays Around the World
Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The New York Times, 7 July 1991
THE FACTS SPEAK for themselves. MTV Europe, the fastest-growing cable and satellite channel on the continent, is available in 24 million households in 27 countries, ...
Cher, Sonny & Cher: Cher: Self Made Woman
Interview by Mal Peachey, Vox, August 1991
CHER'S FAME USED TO BE BY PROXY, THAT OF HER PARTNERS. BUT A DAZZLING MOVIE CAREER PASSED THE REINS OF FORTUNE INTO HER OWN HANDS. ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, New Musical Express, 7 September 1991
The success of the visceral New Jack City has made Blaxploitation movies a thing of the past and debuting director MARIO VAN PEEBLES a hot ...
Top Of The Pops: Down The Pan?
Report by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 1991
Top Of The Pops has been the BBC's flagship music show for 27 years. But it's facing problems: stale format, falling teenage population, and public ...
The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Joy Division, New Order: Anthony Wilson: Renaissance Manc
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 30 November 1991
FACTORY: aloof, elegant, misunderstood Mancunian home of Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, possibly the coolest record label in the world — but there are ...
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, December 1991
2013 NOTE: This piece is slightly longer than the version that appeared in NME, since I took the liberty of reinstating a small handful of ...
Body Count, Ice-T: Ice-T (1991)
Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1991
The erstwhile Tracy Marrow talks about acting in movies; his gang roots; pioneering West Coast gangsta rap and telling the truth about black L.A.; still rapping though no longer in the hood; his Body Count thrash-metal band and the Black roots of rock'n'roll; "the intoxicating values of gangs"; white kids listening to rap, and America's need to separate the races.
File format: mp3; file size: 58.2mb, interview length: 1h 00' 26" sound quality: ****
The Rolling Stones: Bradford rolls away the Stones: At the Max
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bruce Dessau, The Guardian, 30 January 1992
Bruce Dessau reports on a Rolling Stones concert film — the first to be shown on IMAX ...
BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire: The BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Profile and Interview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, February 1992
SIX COMPOSERS, too shy to make claims for themselves, go to make it up. But Brian Hodgson, who's worked with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop since ...
Soundtracks: 'Mumble Mumble Film'
Overview by Andy Gill, Q, March 1992
As De Niro so eloquently put it, movie soundtracks are not what they were. Too often they're just second-rate rock songs slung together. There are ...
Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer: Giorgio Moroder: Throbbery With Intent
Retrospective and Interview by David Toop, The Wire, April 1992
David Toop takes the pulse of disco pioneer GIORGIO MORODER ...
Spinal Tap: It's an Ill Wind...
Interview by Paul Elliott, Kerrang!, 25 April 1992
...that brings East End boys made good SPINAL TAP back to the place of their roots. With the release of their first album in 10 years, Break ...
Tom Waits: Night On Earth (Island)
Review by Everett True, Melody Maker, 30 May 1992
NOT A new album as such, but the soundtrack to the new Jim Jarmusch movie, which stars, among others, Winona Ryder, Giancarlo Esposito and Beatrice ...
Unmen: Love Under Water And Other Motion Picture Music (Some Bizzare/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 4 July 1992
I KNOW bugger all about Unmen save that they're called Giles Perring and Nick Cash. About Giles Perring I know nothing, but I know Nick ...
Madonna: The Madonna Pornucopia
Preview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 21 October 1992
PSSSST! WANNA see some new Madonna product? ...
Report by John Harris, New Musical Express, 12 December 1992
So is THE WORD the prole art threat made flesh, or a load of amateurish toss? JOHN HARRIS travels to darkest Wembley to spend an ...
Interview by Richard Gehr, Spin, January 1993
MATT GROENING has breathed new life into prime-time animation and inspired a merchandising empire to boot. Richard Gehr talks to the show-biz guerrilla. ...
Blood Sausage, Huggy Bear, Linus: Huggy Bear: Will Not Be Televised!
Report by Sally Margaret Joy, Melody Maker, 27 February 1993
friday 9.40pm: one of the herd at The Word ...
Where Are They Now? Pan's People
Interview by Martin Aston, Q, March 1993
BEFORE POP video, before the miscegenetic raunch of Hot Gossip, before we knew better, there was Pan's People. They were Top Of The Pops' resident ...
Mick Harvey: Alta Marea & Vaterland (Mute IONIC 6 CD)
Review by Biba Kopf, The Wire, April 1993
A STRONG silent type, Mick Harvey is the unsung hero of The Birthday Party and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds. He also guided the neglected Crime ...
Soft Machine: Who Was That Masked Voice?
Report and Interview by Chas de Whalley, Vox, April 1993
So what if Elvis Presley isn't available for commercial breaks these days? Just get someone in who can impersonate him — the Hofmeister bear, for ...
Report by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 26 May 1993
It's a cowshed in Ireland. It's packed with foreigners sporting Pat Sharp haircuts. It's Our Sonia's big stab at Eurovision Song Contest fame. And its ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1993
The genius behind The Simpsons talks about the central part that music has played in his life, from his love of Zappa and Beefheart to his immersion in L.A.'s punk underground.
File format: mp3; file size: 76.1mb, interview length: 1h 19' 16" sound quality: ***
Pet Shop Boys: MTV Launches in Russia - and the PSBs Cut the Ribbon!
Report and Interview by Dave Rimmer, The Guardian, June 1993
2002 NOTE: This piece about the launching of MTV Russia was published by the Guardian in London, by Tip magazine in Berlin, and by the ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1993
The director of The Decline of Western Civilization parts I, II and III and Wayne's World talks about her recent Beverly Hillbillies flick; her southern carnival roots; starting out in film; getting into punk and making the (first two) Decline films.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.2mb, interview length: 48' 13" sound quality: ****
Pete Townshend, The Who: The Who's Pete Townshend (1993)
Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1993
Framed around his just-released solo album Psychoderelict and the recent stage production of Tommy, Townshend riffs on the nature of rockers growing old; on touring with the Who and his hearing loss; on re-examining his childhood and finding an ending for Tommy; on Who's Next, Ken Russell's Tommy movie... and Keith Moon's four nipples!
File format: mp3; total file size: 55.5mb, total interview length: 57' 49" sound quality: ****
Whitney Houston: Down and Dirty
Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 10 June 1993
YOU'RE EXPECTING her to float delicately into the room, but Whitney Houston strides in with a purposeful air. She's dressed way down in purple stretch ...
Whitney Houston Hit: The Bodyguard Soundtrack Has Shot at Sales Record
Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 July 1993
Astonishingly, six months after release, the rather unremarkable collection of songs is already halfway toward eclipsing the 40 million sales mark set 10 years ago ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 20 July 1993
Tina: a legend in her own time ...
U2: Welcome to Empty-V: U2's Zoo(ropa TV)
Comment by Stephen Dalton, Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 21 August 1993
Is Zoo(ropa/TV) a subversive, ironic multi-media bombardment and situationist statement or a two-hour post-modernist Pot Noodle advert made by politically naive, culturally unaware squares with ...
Ike & Tina Turner, Tina Turner: Bassett's boomtime
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Vogue, September 1993
Angela Bassett's astonishing portrayal of Tina Turner in the film What's Love Got to Do With It reveals her as an actress who can shimmy, shake and ...
The CBS Orchestra, Bernie Worrell: Funk master Worrell gets "a steady gig"
Report and Interview by Amy Linden, New York Daily News, 6 September 1993
Brilliant Bernie joins Letterman show's band ...
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: Boom shake shake the room for the Fresh Prince!
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 15 September 1993
WHEN WILL Smith walks into the room with his posse of baseball-capped, heavy duty "mates" (ie minders), you know someone really famous has arrived. And ...
Report by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 16 October 1993
SIMON PRICE endures the full horrors off 24-hour MTV. Could YOU handle it? ...
Comment by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 16 October 1993
SIMON REYNOLDS casts a critical eye over MTV and what it stands for and comes to some surprising conclusions ...
Suede: Fan Fare for the Common Room
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 6 November 1993
Recently returned from their second American tour, SUEDE have decided the US is their sort of place and they want out of cynical, self-consuming Britain. ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Smash Hits, 10 November 1993
AND THE FIRST QUESTION FROM THE TIN IS... ...
Penelope Spheeris: See You at the Bank, Dude!
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Vogue, December 1993
Like the subjects of her forthcoming film The Beverly Hillbillies, she went from a poor Southern background to become a Hollywood hotshot. Barney Hoskyns meets ...
Marvin Gaye: The Ostend of the Road
Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 28 March 1994
Arena's vivid documentary evokes Marvin Gaye's final years ...
The Beatles and Astrid Kirchherr: They Loved Stu Yeah Yeah Yeah
Report and Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 2 April 1994
They weren't always old men owning half of Scotland and giving all their money to spiritual motor racing gurus. On the eve of a Beatles ...
The Beatles: Backbeat and The Beatles Industry
Report and Interview by Graham Reid, The New Zealand Herald, May 1994
HIS LETTERS back home don't tell the whole story. But such letters seldom do. He says there are plenty of girls "but none of us ...
Report by Fred Goodman, Musician, June 1994
FOUR BIG RECORD COMPANIES WANT A VIDEO CHANNEL OF THEIR OWN ...
Culture Club, Duran Duran, Heaven 17, The Human League: Top Of The Pops and The '80s Brit Pop Boom
Overview by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994
YOU CAN tell if they're boys or girls these days, that's the trouble. Just look at them, these so-called modern pop phenomena. ...
Robert Palmer: Five Girls for Every Boy
Interview by Martin Aston, Details, December 1994
Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' made his all-girl band into icons. Where are they now? ...
Urge Overkill: Cocktail of the Unexpected
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 3 December 1994
Supersuave trashlords with cocktail lounge tendencies, Chicago's URGE OVERKILL are finally surfing the British chart on the back of a surprise hit, taken from the ...
Report by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 10 December 1994
The MTV European Music Awards happened last week. You might have seen them on the telly. Lots and lots of famous stars winning prizes for ...
Transcript of audio interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Summer 1994
This is a transcript of Andy's audio interview with Ice-T. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Interview by Martin Horsfield, M8, January 1995
Martin Horsfield interviews soap star turned pop star Michelle Gayle in the Halcyon, London ...
Richard Hell: Victor Bockris presents Susan Sontag & Richard Hell, New York City, 1978
Interview by Victor Bockris, The Poetry Project, February 1995
IT WAS THE EVENING of the fifteen-foot snow blizzard and SUSAN SONTAG was due at my Greenwich Village apartment from her 107th Street penthouse at ...
The Beatles: A Hard Day's Documentary: You Can't Do That! The Making of A Hard Day's Night
Retrospective by Kirk Silsbee, Los Angeles Reader, 3 March 1995
FILM CRITIC Roger Ebert ranks it "among the five best musicals I've ever seen." Andrew Sarris dubbed it "the Citizen Kane of jukebox movies." ...
Interview by Cathi Unsworth, Melody Maker, 25 March 1995
DICK DALE, man. Dick f***ing Dale. He's the King Of Surf Guitar. He taught Hendrix everything he knew. He breeds lions. They played his music ...
Juno Reactor, Traci Lords: Techno Queen of Melrose Place: Traci Lords
Report and Interview by Danny (Shredder) Weizmann, Los Angeles Reader, 7 April 1995
Seven years ago, Traci Lords was an underage Porn Queen. Now she's America's Girl Next Door. ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 May 1995
Hayes talks about "Skip" Pitts, who played wah-wah guitar on 'Theme from Shaft'; about how modern R&B has become too explicit and how it was more subtle in his day; about his film and TV work, including In Living Color; about the day he shaved off his hair in 1964, and how he pretended to be Booker T. Jones; about moving back to Memphis from Atlanta; about his roots in the southern Baptist church and how he become a Scientologist.
File format: mp3; file size: 29.2mb, interview length: 30' 28" sound quality: ***
Jools Holland: The Later, greater joanna ace
Interview by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 23 June 1995
Jools Holland, the man who gave Bands Playing Their Stuff on the Box a cool name, talks to Caitlin Moran ...
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the TV Bollocks
Report by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 11 August 1995
Jon Savage mulls over the four-year struggle to put his definitive study of Punk, England's Dreaming, on television ...
Profile by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, September 1995
JUICE? YOU want juice? Bust this: Long before Arsenio or BET, Don Cornelius single-handedly brought black music into living rooms nationwide. And he's kept it ...
East 17, The Human League: Mistletoe and Whine
Report by Susan Corrigan, The Observer, 17 December 1995
Schmaltz, schlock: and Slade. It's Christmas at Top Of The Pops and there's no need to be afraid ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1995
Zevon talks about recording new album Mutineer using modern technology; his early musical activities including being musical director for the Everly Brothers; his various record labels; his songwriting viewpoint, and not being a cynic; his drink and drugs use, and detoxing; being happy with his career; the success of ‘Werewolves of London’; meeting Stravinsky; novelists he likes; his fascination with the dark side of society; albums like Transverse City and Mr Bad Example; classical and other modern serious music; the Oklahoma bombing; writing with Carl Hiaasen, and writing music for television.
File format: mp3; file size: 103mb, interview length: 1h 47' 16" sound quality: ****
The Partridge Family: The Tragedy of Danny Bonaduce
Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, Vox, 1996
EVEN NOW, after almost three decades of relative sanity, it's utterly impossible to erase the excruciatingly impish image of Danny Bonaduce from the nation's collective ...
Leftfield: Kings of '95: Leftfield
Interview by Calvin Bush, Muzik, January 1996
A nomination for the Mercury Prize. An appearance on Top Of The Pops. Music for the soundtrack to Shallow Grave. Oh, and a gold album. ...
Oasis: Feeling Supersonic, Going Stratospheric
Report by Lisa Verrico, The Observer, 14 January 1996
TO SIGNAL The White Room's return for a new series, a special New Year's eve edition was recorded three days before Christmas. Despite featuring David ...
Rutles.The: The Rutles: The Making Of All You Need Is Cash
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Q, February 1996
The time had finally come to stick a pin in the monolithic zeppelin that was Beatles mythology – and with the aid of a star-sprinkled ...
Michael Jackson, Oasis, Pulp: A word from our censor
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 23 February 1996
In with the old, out with the true. How the Brit Awards were turned into a TV farce ...
Report and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, Q, March 1996
"THE BEST THING was when we had Tora Tora, or The Artist Formerly Known As Prince," says Chris Cowey, the noticeably effusive producer of The ...
Stereolab: It's The Sugarcubists!
Report by Siân Pattenden, Select, April 1996
OK, it isn't really. Only Stereolab would concoct a promo video set at a fictional 1930s surrealists' drug convention ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Q, October 1996
Creator of gripping filmic music enlists notable guest vocalists and breaks through to commercial seam. ...
Burt Bacharach, Carole King, Brian Wilson: Pop, In The Name Of Love: Grace of My Heart
Report and Interview by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, October 1996
The soundtrack for Grace Of My Heart, Allison Anders's film a clef about the early-1960s blossoming of artists such as Burt Bacharach, Carole King, and ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, November 1996
On December 10, 1968, some of the most exciting talent in rock history gathered for an event all the more legendary for having been quietly ...
Michelle Gayle: Sweet soul with a hard centre
Profile and Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 31 January 1997
Michelle Gayle is back, with a new album and, of course, the same old determination. Paul Sexton reports ...
Billy Bob Thornton Talks Movies and Music
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, 16 February 1997
ALL ACROSS AMERICA last week, there was one big question after the Academy Award nominations were announced: "Billy Bob who?'' ...
MTV's Unconventional Amp Takes A Stab At Reinventing Popular Music for the 21st century
Report by Matt Hanks, Memphis Flyer, 27 March 1997
SO YOU'VE HEARD about this new craze that's all the rage with the kids. Although it has yet to produce its first teen idol, 'electronica' ...
Jennifer Lopez, Selena: Jennifer Lopez on Selena
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Interview, April 1997
In the new movie Selena, Jennifer Lopez had the coveted - yet unenviable - task of playing the most adored Latina singer ever, the late ...
The Monkees: People Said They Monkeyed Around
Interview by David Quantick, Q, April 1997
...only they didn't. At all. For being The Monkees was no fun. They couldn't play on their records; their film was crap, but, unlike the ...
Courtney Love: Love's Labor Lost
Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 3 April 1997
How Courtney blew her fight for an Oscar nomination as the junkie wife of a porn king in The People vs. Larry Flynt ...
Sneaker Pimps: It's Great in the States... Yeah?
Report and Interview by Emma Warren, The Face, June 1997
The Chemical Brothers enter the Billboard album chart at Number 14. The Prodigy and Orbital play Lollapalooza. In LA kids breakdance to jungle. In Miami ...
Report by Neil Mason, Melody Maker, 5 July 1997
So, you are back home again, tucked up in bed, bad dose of the snivels. Your shoes are f***ed, your bones a bit soggy. Well, ...
Report by Eric Weisbard, Spin, August 1997
VH1's strange mix of retro specials and toothless rock have turned the network into something, completely unexpected: hip ...
Captain Beefheart: The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart (Dir. Elaine Shepherd, BB2)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 17 August 1997
WE AT the Observer can boast a couple of ancient links with Captain Beefheart, subject of tonight's Rock Cults programme, The Artist Formerly Known as ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 October 1997
The master film composer talks about writing music for film; his dislike of pop songs in movies; Midnight Cowboy, and working with directors; the soundtrack for Swept from the Sea; doing the Bond movies as serious pieces, and his favorite Bond; the importance of thematic melody, and Dances with Wolves; his family background, with a cinema-owning father, and studying music; breaking into film work with Beat Girl; England being the right place and time in the '60s, and not doing 2001.
File format: mp3; file size: 56.4meg, interview length: 58' 47" sound quality: ****
Master P: Survival of the Illest
Report and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 27 November 1997
New Orleans' MASTER P builds a hip-hop empire from the underground up ...
Johnny Thunders: Born To Lose: A Film About Johnny Thunders
Report by Paul Gorman, MOJO, 1998
NINETEEN YEARS in gestation, Born To Lose – which matches the addled life and times of its subject Johnny Thunders by being simultaneously intriguing and ...
Frank Sinatra: Nelson Algren's The Man With The Golden Arm
Retrospective by James Maycock, The Guardian, 1998
How Nelson Algren's acclaimed novel was made into Hollywood's first film about heroin. ...
Spice Girls: The Spice Is Right: The Spice Girls: Spiceworld: The Movie
Film/DVD/TV Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 3 January 1998
DIRECTOR: Bob Spiers STARRING: Sporty, Posh, Ginger, Scary, Baby, Richard E Grant, Roger Moore, Michael Barrymore ...
David Arnold, John Barry, Sheryl Crow: More Fun With Martinis, Girls and Guns on 007 Albums
Report and Interview by James Hunter, New York Observer, 12 January 1998
PUSHING HER voice to surge and sparkle in ways it just doesn't want to, Sheryl Crow tries and tries to manage the choruses of 'Tomorrow ...
Aphex Twin, Death In Vegas, Goldie, The Prodigy: Big Brother Is Watching Your Video!
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 31 January 1998
Seen that Prodigy video yet? What about the promo for Aphex Twin's 'Come To Daddy' single or Death In Vegas' 'Dirt'? Nah? Well, why not? ...
Propellerheads: One giant leap for Big Beat
Interview by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 3 February 1998
Everyone wants a piece of their music: Steven Spielberg, Shirley Bassey, Coca-Cola... but the Propellerheads have their feet firmly on the ground. MAX BELL meets ...
Holger Czukay: No Borders Here: Holger Czukay’s Movies and On The Way To Peak Of Normal
Review and Interview by Rob Chapman, MOJO, March 1998
Mute’s admirable disinterring of the entire Can-related catalogue reaches Holger The Bassman’s first two solo albums. ...
Isaac Hayes: Who Is the Man? Isaac Hayes
Interview by Matt Hanks, Memphis Flyer, 9 March 1998
IT'S 11:30 A.M. in New York City, nearly lunchtime for most people, but Isaac Hayes sounds like he just rolled out of bed. At first, ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 March 1998
'Ere, ducks, give that girl an Oscar ...
CCS: The Tune that Hooked a Generation
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 30 April 1998
Nick Coleman explains why Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' will always be Top of the Pops ...
I Feel Like I Win When I Lose: The Eurovision Song Contest
Retrospective by Rob Chapman, MOJO, May 1998
WHAT HAVE FRANCOISE HARDY, Esther Ofarim, and Ofra Haza got in common? Answer, they are all fine singers. But before they got such deserved reputations ...
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Hits, 22 May 1998
AN EXCLUSIVE HITS DIALOGUE WITH ICE CUBE ...
Dana International: Eurovision: Hanging Out at the Euro Shenanigans
Report by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 23 May 1998
WE WUZ robbed. Christ, not the UK, I mean Belgium. Did you hear the gorgeous Melanie Cohl's gasping sigh of Saint Etienne-style cine-pop, 'Dis Oui' ...
David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds: Dancing in the Street
Film/DVD/TV Review by Terry Staunton, Uncut, June 1998
THE ROCK'N'ROLL documentary is in fine shape in the Nineties, thanks mainly to the BBC. Second series of both Rock Family Trees and Classic Albums ...
Courtney Love, Nirvana: Kurt and Courtney: Love Will Tear It Apart
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
"I'M INTERESTED IN forbidden stories," says Nick Broomfield of his latest project, Kurt And Courtney, his drawling English vowels tanned with West Coast inflexions from ...
Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain: Kurt and Courtney; dir Nick Broomfield
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
Starring Nick Broomfield, Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love Directed by Nick Broomfield Opens July 3, Cert tbc, 99 mins ...
Wild Style: Hip Hop Don't Stop
Retrospective by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, July 1998
Re-released this month after 15 years, WILD STYLE isregarded as the seminal rap movie. Director Charlie Ahearn puts needle to the groove with Neil Kulkarni ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
Slam funkers: sixth release from rap collective once called "the greatest rock'n'roll band on the planet". ...
Report and Interview by Susan Corrigan, i-D, August 1998
Glitz and glamour, sex and celebs, drugs and death: Studio 54 was the ultimate New York nightlife hit. So is it any wonder they're trying ...
Jonathan Richman: There's Something about Jonathan
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, The Independent, 25 September 1998
Jonathan Richman introduced us to the abominable snowman in the supermarket. Now, like wow, he's a film star. ...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 9 October 1998
The Music Of Black Origin awards are now pop's trendiest bash, reflecting the dominant R&B influence in the charts. ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan Album Revives Interest in 2 Old Films
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, 17 October 1998
IT'S 1966 ALL over again in the world of pop music – and the Denver International Film Festival, which just concluded, was in the centre ...
Glam Rock: Scary Monsters, Super Freaks #1
Special Feature by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, November 1998
THE FREAKS ARE OUT IN FORCE TONIGHT. Squeezed into lurid outfits, hair dyed every artificial hue imaginable, braying and squealing and jostling for position. ...
Jools Holland, Squeeze: Jools Holland: Coolest cat on the tube
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Guardian, 7 November 1998
He's played piano with BB King and learned chords from Ruben Gonzalez — but deep down he's a rock 'n' roller who likes his nan's ...
Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy
Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 14 November 1998
...
Film Pop-Stars: This Much Talent!
Guide by Terry Staunton, Uncut, December 1998
SECONDS BEFORE surrendering to self-inflicted, drug-induced unconsciousness, reclusive rock singer Jim MacLaine turns to his friend and manager, Mike, to reminisce about the old days ...
RZA: The Man With The Microchip Brain
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Spin, December 1998
Wu-Tang Clan frontman RZA makes his first movie: the bizarre sci-fi hip-hop adventure flick, Bobby Digital ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, 1999
29 JULY 1974. Filming begins on the rock movie Slade In Flame, on location in the UK. ...
Book Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, January 1999
IT WAS during the '50s and early '60s that a young trumpet-player from York – ambitious, steeped in jazz tradition but possessing a unique pop ...
Hedwig and the Angry Inch: The Rock Musical That Isn't
Report and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Real Gone Music, February 1999
CHEATER IS A band that performs as the Angry Inch in the off-Broadway rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Hedwig is an East German ...
White Zombie, Rob Zombie: Rob Zombie: Monster of Rock
Report and Interview by Steven Daly, Rolling Stone, 4 February 1999
Hot Pants, Hot Rods, Guitars that spit blood: How he went from a television-addicted high school loser to the new King of Heavy Metal ...
Ennio Morricone: How to Buy Ennio Morricone
Guide by Rob Chapman, MOJO, March 1999
ENNIO MORRICONE single-handedly redefined our musical definition of the Western. Nobody can make jew’s harp and whistling sound more awe inspiring or one duck-call and ...
Dusty Springfield: My Date with Dusty
Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 7 March 1999
Britain's first lady of soul had chosen us to make what was to be her last video. We'd found the perfect location, we'd borrowed a ...
Martine McCutcheon, Barbara Windsor: Albert Square dancing
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 26 March 1999
EastEnders is having a right old knees-up at the moment. Caroline Sullivan talks to Martine McCutcheon about her million pound record deal and, below, finds ...
D.A. Pennebaker: I Film While Leaping From My Chair
Retrospective and Interview by David Dalton, Gadfly, April 1999
"Almost immediately reality gave in on more than one point. The truth is, it longed to give in." – Jorge Luis Borges ...
Fatboy Slim: Funk Sold Brother
Report by Marc Weingarten, Rolling Stone, 1 April 1999
With help from Nike, Miramax and TV Guide, Fatboy Slim puts some Rockafeller in his skank ...
Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
Review by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 7 April 1999
THESE SONGS, derived from an as-yet-unfinished musical that pops open the Verdi opera, are only putatively set in Egypt. ...
S Club 7: Warning: They're Part Spice Girl, Part Monkee...
Report by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 8 April 1999
Seen the show, read the book, got the T-shirt? You soon will have. Caroline Sullivan prepares for S Club 7, coming to your TV screen ...
Talking Heads: 1999 – Not So Eighties, After All
Report by Jaan Uhelszki, Rolling Stone, 27 April 1999
David Byrne joins his fellow Talking Heads ...
Geri Halliwell, George Michael, Spice Girls: Geri: life after spice
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 6 June 1999
Once, she was known to the world as Ginger, the sassiest, loudest Spice Girl. Now, she's grown up, grown out the red, and is ready ...
Heavy D. & the Boyz: Heavy D: There's Something About Heavy
Interview by Amy Linden, The Source, July 1999
WHEN HEAVY D was just a kid, when he was Dwight Myers, the youngest of six children in a Jamaican immigrant family, he used to ...
Martine McCutcheon: You Me & Us (Virgin)
Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 4 September 1999
THE TIFF GET GOING ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 18 September 1999
RY COODER'S tireless musical explorations hit unexpected paydirt when he visited Cuba in 1996 and recorded the sessions for the brilliant Buena Vista Social Club ...
A Golden Age: MTV Names The Only 10 Songs That Matter
Comment by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 20 October 1999
A COUPLE OF weekends back, MTV presented a late-night Hard Rock A-Z special: wide-ranging sets of several videos in a row, with minimal VJ banter. ...
Tom Verlaine: The Sound of Silents: Tom Verlaine
Live Review by Richard Gehr, The Village Voice, 20 October 1999
IF THE MODEST obligation of a silent-film accompanist is to serve the movie, Tom Verlaine succeeded admirably during his Arts at St. Ann's appearance on ...
Rock and Television: The Tube Top 40
Report by Erik Himmelsbach, Request, November 1999
DAWSON HAS Joey on a boat, and they’re passionately kissing. Adolescent hormones are quietly raging, and Dawson makes it clear he wants to, um, get ...
Retrospective by James Maycock, Untold, 2000
How The 2000 Movie Capitalized On The Original's Reputation ...
Retrospective by Victor Bockris, Gadfly, January 2000
BEFORE THE New Journalism of Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese, before the absurd cinema of Stanley Kubrick, before the Brave Gonzo World of Hunter S. ...
Chet Baker, John Barry: Playing by Heart: John Barry in All His Glory
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 17 January 2000
A SUPERNATURAL-LOOKING CD entitled Playing by Heart is billed to John Barry, Chris Botti and, weirdly enough, Chet Baker. On the black-and-white CD cover, in ...
Report and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Medialine, March 2000
Palm Pictures Embracing DVD, Web Delivery ...
U2: Billion-Dollar Dreams (Part 1)
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 March 2000
German TV interviewer: "You own a hotel. Now, you've made a film about a hotel. Why hotels?" Bono: "Rock bands tend to know a ...
U2: Bono: The Million Dollar Man
Report and Interview by Peter Murphy, Hot Press, 29 March 2000
IF IT'S PARIS it must be Spring. Bono's been out roaming the city of light with Miles' 1957 opus L'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaudon the headphones, feeling ...
Inner City Jam: A musical about rundown north London. In Leeds
Comment by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 11 April 2000
Inner City Jam is a colourful portrait of King's Cross. So why couldn't it find a theatre in the capital, asks Dave Simpson ...
Buena Vista Social Club, Omara Portuondo: Omara Portuondo: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 2000
Cuba's Edith Piaf ...
Report and Interview by David Quantick, Q, May 2000
Pop on telly: sounds foolproof doesn't it? So why — from Gas Tank to the gopping Jo Whiley Show — is it invariably cocked up? ...
Aimee Mann: Catcher In The Wry
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, May 2000
She scored with the heartbreaking Magnolia soundtrack, but Aimee Mann isn't gloating just yet ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: The Filth, The Fury, The Fun!
Report and Interview by Mark Paytress, Record Collector, May 2000
Director Julien Temple discusses the new Pistols film with Mark Paytress. ...
Report and Interview by Bill Holdship, LA New Times, 4 June 2000
Brian Wilson's back, recording a live album at the Roxy this week and preparing for a summer tour with symphony orchestras throughout the U.S. So ...
David Bowie, Nick Cave, Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, Sting: Acting, baby!
Retrospective by David Stubbs, New Musical Express, 10 June 2000
…it's obviously not as easy as it looks. Because although All Saints might have sucked big-time in Honest, they were merely part of a rich ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, August 2000
Cusack and crew Americanise Nick Hornby's novel with suss and style ...
Bob Dylan: Something Was Happening, But I Didn’t Know What It Was
Retrospective by David Dalton, Gadfly, September 2000
IN THE SPRING of 1970, I saw Les Blank’s lush, lyrical intimate documentaries about the blues singers Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb. They’re amazing films ...
Allman Brothers Band: Crowe's Nest: Film Festival becomes Almost Famous for its 25th anniversary
Interview by Noe Gold, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 September 2000
Director Cameron Crowe presented his poetically autobiographical Almost Famous to the Toronto International Film Festival at a world premiere gala screening in the Roy Thomson ...
Retrospective by Ian Penman, The Wire, October 2000
Ian Penman celebrates the late Jack Nitzsche, the rogue composer whose soundtrack legacy reads like a rollcall of the Hollywood damned. ...
Jason Donovan: Jason gets sorted
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 19 October 2000
Jason Donovan was the golden boy of soap and pop 10 years ago. Then he went bald and it all fell apart. Now he's reinvented ...
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 2000
From Brixton jail to fragrant Hell's Angels bunfight: a weekend with Alabama 3 is one worth "tooling up" for. So hide your shiv in a ...
Björk: SelmaSongs (One Little Indian TPLP1 51 CD)
Review by David Toop, The Wire, November 2000
THE FIRST admission to make is that I haven't yet seen Lars Von Trier's Dancer In The Dark, the film that stars Björk and features ...
Interview by Jeff Apter, Rolling Stone (Australia), November 2000
This interview was held in conjunction with the theatrical release of The Million Dollar Hotel in Australia. ...
Add N to (X): Invisible Jukebox: Add N to (X)
Interview by Rob Young, The Wire, November 2000
Every month we play a musician or group a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge ...
David Axelrod: 1968-1970: An Anthology (Stateside import); The Axelrod Chronicles (Fantasy)
Review by Will Hermes, Spin, December 2000
IMAGINE ITALIAN film-score wizard Ennio Morricone as an acidhead staff producer at Stax/Volt, and you have a rough idea of the utterly cosmic funkiness of ...
He Got a TV Eye on You: The Ken Tucker Interview
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, December 2000
ONE DAY, BACK in 1974, a Lower East Side resident named Ken Tucker wrote Village Voice music editor Robert Christgau an angry letter because the Voice wasn't covering the ...
Various Artists: Ken Burns Jazz - The Story of American Music/The Best of Ken Burns Jazz
Review by J.D. Considine, Revolver, Winter 2000
ANYONE FAMILIAR with the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns (Baseball, The Civil War, et al) knows that this man is unafraid of tackling the most ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Manchester, England ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Walden Robert Cassotto, 14 May 1936, New York, USA, d. 20 December 1973, Los Angeles, California ...
Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo: Danny Elfman
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 1954, Los Angeles, California, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. David Albert Cook, 23 July 1947, London, England ...
Down From the Mountain: Invasion of the Autoharp Damsels and Flat-Pickin' Boys
Report and Interview by David Dalton, Gadfly, 2001
OPENING SHOT: SOMEWHERE IN the mid-West. Through windscreen we see two-lane black top. Flat, farmland stretches out to the horizon. We pull back to see ...
Interview by David Dalton, Gadfly, 2001
AFTER A six-year break the outrageous Britcom Absolutely Fabulous is back with a new six-part series. The "Donkey" episode airing on the Comedy Channel on ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Frances Ethel Gumm, 10 June 1922, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA, d. 22 June 1969, London, England ...
The Sex Pistols: Sex Pistols: History Is Punk
Retrospective and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 2001
More than 20 years after they committed high treason during the Queen's silver jubilee, the Sex Pistols are still the kings of rock rebellion. As ...
Sigur Rós: Desolation Angels: Icelandic music
Report and Interview by Rob Young, The Wire, January 2001
Spearheaded by Sigur Rós, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and the Kitchen Motors collective, Iceland’s hardy children of nature are proving stubbornly resistant to the World Rock ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 12 January 2001
LET'S CUT TO the chase on Ken Burns's Jazz, which rolled out on PBS January 8, by invoking Wallace Stevens. ...
Bad Company, Free: Almost Famous
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2001
Shrewdly sweet eulogy to rock'n'roll fandom ...
Cameron Crowe: Bringing It All Back Home
Profile by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, February 2001
"If people have a problem with Almost Famous, what they're saying is they have a problem with my life." ...
On the Guest List: Almost Famous
Review by Ed Doheny, Rock's Backpages, February 2001
Ed Doheny on Cameron Crowe’s almost-good Almost Famous – the first movie with a rock journalist for a hero. ...
Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg: Jane Birkin: A Legend In Her Own T'aime
Profile and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 12 February 2001
In 1969, Jane Birkin shocked the world. Now her heavy breathing is back. ...
Heshima: Do the Harlesden Shuffle
Report and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Evening Standard, 16 February 2001
NW10 is a patch of London that suffers a reputation for drugs and violence — a "murder hotspot" according to the Met. But Harlesden has ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, March 2001
IN WHICH THE meanest mf-ers in contemporary hip hop, now wallowing in a gargantuan trough of dollars, give themselves 10 times more than enough rope, ...
Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, April 2001
Soundtracks from three Who-derived Seventies films — something old, something borrowed and something horrible ...
Ronan Keating: Mad about the boy
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 8 April 2001
Ronan Keating is the blue-eyed blond who stole the heart of every schoolgirl in the country with Boyzone. Now, he's going it alone and is ...
Full Tilt Boogie: The Long And Sometimes Bumpy Relationship Between Pop Music And Pinball Machines
Retrospective by Erik Himmelsbach, Revolver, May 2001
FEW INDUSTRIES RIVAL THE PEOPLE who bring you pinball machines when it comes to slavishly exploiting trends in popular culture. Back in the Forties, existing ...
Current 93: Invisible Jukebox: Current 93
Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, May 2001
Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...
All Access: Front Row. Backstage. LIVE!
Film/DVD/TV Review by Martin Colyer, Rock's Backpages, July 2001
"ROCK 'N' ROLL! PHEW!" It’s tempting to speculate what Jeff Bridges would say when faced with a B.B. King the size of a house, ...
Jazz on film: Play Misty for Me
Retrospective by John L. Walters, Jazzwise, July 2001
Jazz DJs don't always get in the hot water Dave Garver lands in during Play Misty For Me, says John L. Walters. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: 'Help Me, Rhonda' indeed!
Comment by David Dalton, Gadfly, 9 July 2001
HEY, ALL YOU surfin' dudes and hardbody wahinis, check out this thing on TNT. It's a tribute to the surf god, Brian Wilson! An American ...
Did Video Kill The Radio Star? MTV 20 Years On
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 28 July 2001
"MTV makes me want to smoke crack..." (Beck, 1992) ...
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Music From the Motion Picture)
Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, August 2001
THIS SOUNDTRACK arrives from a country that doesn't exist (or maybe it's just called Britain). ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis in Hollywood
Retrospective by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, August 2001
"I've had intellectuals tell me that I've got to progress as an actor, explore new horizons, take on new challenges, all that routine. I'd like ...
Björk: Alone in the Dark: Björk on Vespertine
Interview by David Toop, The Wire, September 2001
Björk's eerie night songs are infused with the mythological landscapes of her native Iceland and the concrete fjords of Manhattan. She tells David Toop about ...
Roni Stoneman: One Plucky Lady
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 13 September 2001
SO, HOW LONG has it been since Roni Stoneman, the First Lady of Banjo, played in the Washington area? ...
Vincent Gallo: Buffalo Boy: Vincent Gallo
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 30 September 2001
He's a self-confessed sexual compulsive, a teetotal right-wing extremist who made the hit movie Buffalo 66. Andrew Smith meets Vincent Gallo, painter, actor, model, director, ...
Jazz At The Movies: Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Special Feature by John L. Walters, Jazzwise, November 2001
JAZZ IS CRUCIAL to Sweet Smell of Success, the extraordinary and intense film drama made by British director Alexander MacKendrick in 1957. ...
David Bowie: The Making of The Man Who Fell To Earth
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, November 2001
CANDY CLARK (actress): I agreed to do the movie some time before Bowie became involved. I had known the director, Nic Roeg, quite well for ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: George Harrison: All Things Must Pass
Comment by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 November 2001
For those who grew up in the 60s, George Harrison's death further compounds the feeling that popular culture will never be as good again. ...
Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 1 December 2001
Art and ads still go together like a fish and a bicycle. ...
The Rolling Stones: Cocksucker Blues
Retrospective by Rick McGrath, Ojo, 2002
1972, Unreleased; 95 min, color (no video release). CAST: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Mick Taylor, Danny Seymour, Bianca Jagger, Tina Turner, ...
Jukebox Heroes: An Interview With Producer Paul Pierrot
Report and Interview by Colin Harper, Record Collector, 2002
ON THE ONE HAND they welcomed all sorts of pop pioneers and future legends into the nation's living rooms… and then, on the other, they ...
Transcript of audio interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2002
This is a transcript of Steven's audio interview with Madonna. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Robbie Williams: Nobody Someday (dir. Brian Hill)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Barbara Ellen, The Times, 3 January 2002
Let him entertain you ...
Comment by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, 5 January 2002
film soundtrack gets it right ...
Simon Cowell: "The White Stripes? Heard of them. Wasn't blown away."
Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 January 2002
He makes kids cry, hates fat people and he gave us Westlife. Now Pop Idol villain Simon Cowell turns his evil gaze on some NME ...
Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Robbie Williams: The Rat Pack: Boys Keep Swinging
Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, Q, February 2002
They were a gang of hard-drinking, soft-crooning, middle-aged smart alecs, and they were the walking, talking, wise-cracking definition of cool. Now, half a century later, ...
Pop Idol: Idols Made In Our Own Image
Comment by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 3 February 2002
AND THEN THERE were two... Last night's penultimate episode of the latest 'water-cooler TV' left only two hopefuls, Gareth Gates and Will Young, remaining from ...
Yann Tiersen: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 8 February 2002
BOOSTED BY the success of the rose-tinted flick Amelie, Yann Tiersen's fluffy and whimsical music is enjoying a surge of cultish popularity. ...
Marianne Faithfull: Rock Steady
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Vogue, March 2002
ON A DAMP December afternoon in bucolic Buckinghamshire, a legendary female icon of the '60s is leading her Noughties counterpart down the garden path. Literally. ...
Factory Records and 24 Hour Party People
Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, April 2002
THEY SAID IT could never happen again. But here we are, trapped in a recurring dream. A chilly Friday night in a cavernous warehouse in ...
Jools Holland: A little man goes a long way
Comment by Tom Cox, The Observer, 7 April 2002
Jools Holland can't sing and he isn't funny, so why exactly is he so successful and compelling? ...
The Band: The Night They Put The Band To Rest: The Last Waltz Revisited
Review by The Rev. Al Friston, Rock's Backpages, 26 April 2002
"THE LAST WALTZ" was The Band's star-studded swansong, staged on Thanksgiving Day, 1976. Martin Scorsese made a timeless rockumentary about it, inspiring a hundred alt.roots-rockers ...
Lemmy and Keith Allen: Grumpy Old Men
Interview by Ian Winwood, Kerrang!, 27 April 2002
Q: What do you get if you bring together two old school frinds with a reputation for raising hell? A: Lots of booze, lots of swearing ...
Joy Division: 24 Hour Party People: directed by Michael Winterbottom
Review by Djuna Parnes, Rock's Backpages, May 2002
MUCH TO MY surprise, this self-serving cinematic essay about and around Anthony H. Wilson of Factory and Haçienda fame is a resounding success. It's extremely ...
New Order: 24 Hour Party People: Faç Or Fiction?
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Dalton, Uncut, May 2002
Directed by Michael Winterbottom; Starring Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, John Simm Opens April 5, Cert 15, 110 mins**** ...
Vincent Gallo: Recordings Of Music For Films (Warp)
Review by Ian Penman, The Wire, May 2002
NOTE THAT STRICTLY utile title. Here we find not vanity project Muzak for 'imaginary' films, projected by some vain musclehead Hollyweird jerk-off with more friends ...
Retrospective by Gene Santoro, The Nation, 16 May 2002
WHEN I FIRST saw The Last Waltz in 1978, I almost walked out, although I was a fan of both director Martin Scorsese and The ...
Ozzy Osbourne: "Martha Stewart Can Lick My Scrotum!" Life chez the Osbournes
Review by David Dalton, Gadfly, 17 May 2002
A COUPLE OF years ago, my wife Coco and I did a few shows in which we played Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen if had ...
Ant and Dec: Ant & Dec: Sing When You're Winning
Interview by Angus Batey, The Times, 29 May 2002
Angus Batey meets the men behind the official England song, Geordie funsters Ant and Dec ...
A. R. Rahman, Andrew Lloyd Webber: Bollywood by numbers
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 May 2002
When Lloyd Webber wanted a composer for his Indian musical, it had to be AR Rahman. ...
Biggie and Tupac: directed by Nick Broomfield
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, June 2002
WHATEVER your take on Broomfield and his bumbling public school fecklessness, there's no denying the bloke makes riveting documentaries. Following up the chilling Kurt and ...
Curtis Mayfield and Superfly: No Exit
Retrospective by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, June 2002
"THESE GUYS WERE LIKE outlaws, the real cowboys," says Phillip Fenty of the street characters who inspired his screenplay of Superfly. ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Director's Cut: Nick Broomfield on Biggie & Tupac
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Uncut, June 2002
THE DIRECTOR OF KURT & COURTNEY ON HIS BRILLIANT NEW DOCUMENTARY INVESTIGATING THE MURDERS OF RAP SUPERSTARS TUPAC SHAKUR AND BIGGIE SMALLS. ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Meet the Osbournes
Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, June 2002
YOU KNOW THAT embarrassing scenario where you go round to visit a married couple and they end up having an unholy ruck in front of ...
Interview by Amy Linden, XXL, June 2002
IMMORTALIZED IN Woody Allen movies and Seinfeld, Manhattan's Upper West Side is old school New York. Graced with wide avenues and imposing buildings — the ...
Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne: Ozzy Osbourne: Summer of Love
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Blender, June 2002
Could things be any better for Ozzy Osbourne? His family's TV show, The Osbournes, is a runaway smash, and his traveling metal revue, Ozzfest, is ...
The Rolling Stones: The Maysles Brothers' Gimme Shelter (Criterion DVD)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Rick McGrath, Culture Court, June 2002
Directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, June 2002
"WHAT IS HEAD? HEAD IS THE most extraordinary adventure Western comedy love story mystery drama musical documentary ever filmed. And that's putting it mildly." ...
Ozzy Osbourne: The Osbournes Conquers Britain
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 2002
PICTURE THIS. It's next Monday night at Buckingham Palace, the grand finale of Queen Elizabeth II's jubilee concert. Stars of the British rock'n'roll firmament crowd ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur: Biggie & Tupac: Fear Of A Black Messiah
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, July 2002
Nick Broomfield's new film may well have solved the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Angus Batey went to seek out the facts. ...
Interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages audio, July 2002
La Ciccone talks about her love of foreign films; about London then and now; about her new film Swept Away and other stage and movie projects; about being slagged off as an actress; about the difference between British and American class; and about her lapsed Catholicism and her devotion to Kabbalah.
File format: mp3; file size: 82.4mb, interview length: 1h 25' 51" sound quality: ***
Flaming Lips: The Band That Fell to Earth: The Flaming Lips' Christmas on Mars
Report and Interview by Jason Cohen, CMJ New Music Monthly, July 2002
WAYNE COYNE'S creative mission for the evening is to get the pants off his manager's young intern. ...
Jamie Cullum: So you want to be a jazz star?
Comment by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 11 October 2002
It's the TV show that will never be made — but it would be a lot more fun than Popstars ...
Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, November 2002
Ken Nordine is the laird of language, the maestro of the monologue, the wizard of word jazz. Bill DeMain lends an ear. ...
Eminem: Marshall Mathers, Movie Star: Eminem in 8 Mile
Report by Edward Helmore, The Observer, November 2002
THREE YEARS AGO he was the foul-mouthed scourge of parents everywhere. A sulky, misogynistic, homophobic, mother-hating all-round bad influence. A white-trash Negro. A true punk ...
Comment by Richard Goldstein, The Village Voice, 12 November 2002
TWO EVENTS of lasting significance occurred last week: the breakdown of the Democratic party and the breakthrough of Eminem. His debut film, 8 Mile, became the ...
Eminem At The Top Of His Underclass: 8 Mile
Review by Wayne Robins, waynerobins.blogspot.com, 26 November 2002
8 MILE, Eminem's big screen debut, is middling as far as boxing movies go: Not as searing as Budd Schulberg's The Harder They Fall, and ...
Girls Aloud: Females with Attitude
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 16 December 2002
Despite the hype, could reality TV's Girls Aloud be the first girl band to matter since the Spice Girls? ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 December 2002
Chas Smash, joined by Suggs and Mike Barson, looks back at Madness then and now, Our House the Musical, reunions (theirs and others'), Buddhism, domesticity, and not doing Live Aid!
File format: mp3 File size: 42mb Interview length: 45' 50"; Sound quality: ****
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Campion, Tartan Films, 2003
MORE THAN JUST a nostalgic character study, George Hickenlooper's Mayor Of Sunset Strip is an artfully-constructed meditation on fame that scratches at the surface world ...
Eminem: The Most Hotly Anticipated Movie Of The Year!
Report by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 18 January 2003
…but is it any good? NME gives you the ultimate lowdown on Eminem's forthcoming blockbuster 8 Mile ...
The Rolling Stones: Time is On Their Side
Retrospective by Fred Goodman, TV Guide, 18 January 2003
After four decades, THE ROLLING STONES are still rockin' – now with a live HBO concert. Here, a jumpin' flashback to the band's most memorable ...
Eminem: Taking Over Tinseltown
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, February 2003
Is EMINEM the hip hop James Dean? ...
The Bay City Rollers, Courtney Love: Courtney Love: Love Will Tear Us Apart
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 14 February 2003
I WISH I'D saved the emails. There were eight, spanning December 1999 to April 2002, all written in unpunctuated lower-case. ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 1 March 2003
THERE ARE MANY reasons to see Live Forever, the new documentary about the 1990s Britpop years. Mostly they involve Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn being ...
The Cinematic Orchestra: Barbican, London
Preview by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 8 March 2003
Programme notes for Barbican Hall performance of The Man With The Movie Camera Part of the Only Connect festival, curated by Alex Poots ...
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 21 March 2003
Dollar's David Van Day continues to entertain — but not by singing ...
Johnny Cash: Cash's Video Adieu
Report by Martin Aston, MOJO, May 2003
It's been on CNN and it made Bono and Rick Rubin cry. Johnny Cash's video for Hurt might be the most powerful music video ever ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by John L. Walters, The Guardian, 1 August 2003
THE MAIN REASONS for buying a DVD of Donald Fagen's Kamakiriad are sonic: the crisp intelligence of the songwriting is matched by the sumptuous clarity ...
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 ...
Alice Cooper: Last Night A Record Changed My Life
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, MOJO, October 2003
Back when he was dodging Phoenix rednecks as frontman of The Spiders, Alice Cooper's heart opened to a Broadway show soundtrack. ...
Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, October 2003
The Radiohead axeman discusses writing and recording the soundtrack to Simon Pummell's Bodysong: the way he used tape to record it; the musicians he collaborated with, including jazzman Gerard Presencer; the process of working to pictures and the arcane instruments he used, including the Ondes Martenot. Along the way he talks about playing Viola, and about being colourblind.
File format: mp3; file size: 48.1mb, interview length: 50' 09" sound quality: ****
Review by David Stubbs, The Wire, December 2003
THIS IS THE soundtrack by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood to a unique film directed by Simon Pummell. It traces the journey from birth to death ...
Michelle McManus: The stars in our eyes
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 December 2003
Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus may claim to be happy with her size, but pop's obsession with image could well put an end to that, ...
Dazed and Confused: The ultimate hang-out movie
Retrospective by Tom Cox, Daily Telegraph, 2004
Richard Linklater's 1993 high-school hit Dazed and Confused is available on Netflix from today. In this feature, originally published in 2004, Tom Cox explains why ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004
SUSAN (The Trip) Strasberg is a deaf Carole Chaplin döppelganger at large in Haight-Ashbury in this hilariously inept 1968 "look" at the counterculture. Jack Nicholson, ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004
BEFORE THE TRIP starts, an earnest middle-aged voice warns us that we’re about to witness "a shocking commentary on a prevalent trend of our time". ...
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, 2004
DICK CLARK IS ONE of the most recognized personalities in entertainment in America: He hosts two nationally syndicated radio shows ("Rock, Roll and Remember" ...
The Fania All Stars: Fania All Stars: Our Latin Thing
Sleeve notes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, 2004
ON 19TH JULY, 1972, the first few images flickering on the screen at the premiere of Our Latin Thing in New York’s Line 2 cinema ...
Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea
Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 2004
2018 note: Steve Turner emailed me in 2004 and said he was working on the official biography of Johnny Cash, and had been told that ...
The Beatles: Richard Lester (2004)
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, 2004
Film director Lester looks back at A Hard Day's Night, Help!, working with Lennon on How I Won The War, and his life as a film-maker.
File format: mp3; file size: 51.2mb, interview length: 55' 53" sound quality: ***
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004
The "Prefab Four" star in self-deconstructing Help!-on-acid, scripted by joker Jack Nicholson. ...
Wasn’t Born to Follow: Easy Rider
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004
THE COUNTERCULTURE B-movie that went overground and kick-started the rebellious auteurism of ‘70s Hollywood, Easy Rider is at once mildly dated and compellingly authentic. ...
Elvis Presley: How 1968 Bought Elvis a King Sized Comeback
Retrospective and Interview by Gillian G. Gaar, Goldmine, 9 January 2004
AS 1968 BEGAN, Elvis Presley's career was in trouble, the result of too many formulaic films and equally uninspired soundtracks. But by the year's end, ...
Howlin' Wolf: The Howlin' Wolf Story
Film/DVD/TV Review by j. poet, Paste, 23 January 2004
THE DEBATE ABOUT precisely when the blues became rock'n'roll will go on forever, but the footage of The Howlin' Wolf Story makes a good case ...
Tenacious D: What was it that made Jack Black exit his perspex box in Times Square?
Interview by Craig McLean, The Word, February 2004
IT'S MIDDAY IN HOLLYWOOD, and Jack Black is just waking up at home after a heavy night in front of the telly. ...
Rodney Bingenheimer: L.A.'s own Mayor Zelig
Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 March 2004
A new film follows Rodney Bingenheimer's journey from a torn childhood to hanging with the hip bands of the music scene. ...
Vincent Gallo: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Chris Campion, Daily Telegraph, April 2004
OPINION IS polarised around the work of actor-musician Vincent Gallo, whose art is inseperable from his ego. His film Brown Bunny was given a drubbing ...
Barry Adamson & Russell Maliphant Company: Barbican, London
Preview by John Lewis, Barbican show programme, 8 April 2004
Featuring Barry Adamson Band and the BBC Concert Orchestra Russell Maliphant Company – Anna Williams, Marie Goudot, Flora Bourderon, Michael Pomero and Miquel de ...
The Advantage: Resurrecting the Riffs, A Nintendo Rock Band
Profile and Interview by Marc Weingarten, The New York Times, 29 April 2004
AS A YOUNG fan of Nintendo video games and an aspiring musician in Nevada City, Calif., Spencer Seim spent a lot of time in his ...
Gram Parsons: Parsons Lives in Film: Grand Theft opens in theaters tomorrow
Report and Interview by Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2004
IT'S ONE OF rock & roll's great mythologies: the day Phil Kaufman stole Gram Parsons' body, keeping a promise to give his friend a fiery ...
The unfortunate incident of the log in the night-time: Glasto on the box
Comment by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 21 June 2004
Caroline Sullivan will be enjoying Glastonbury from the safety of her sofa. She explains why she's delighted ...
Jim White: Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus ****
Film/DVD/TV Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2004
SHOWING FOR A limited time at London's National Film Theatre prior to an airing on television this is film-maker Andrew Douglas' road trip through America's ...
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chuck Eddy, The Village Voice, 2 July 2004
LAST FALL, a hilarious 3,000-word review of Metallica's unlistenable St. Anger by some guy named Colin Tappe circulated over the Internet. ...
Craig Armstrong: Why I turned Tom Cruise down
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 29 July 2004
He's worked with Madonna, U2 and Massive Attack, as well as scoring the blockbuster movies Moulin Rouge and Love Actually. Craig Armstrong, the hardest-working man ...
Report by Chas de Whalley, Record Collector, August 2004
How the Advertising Industry hijacked pop ...
Guide by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, September 2004
1. The Last Waltz THE BAND'S elegant swansong is the ultimate rock concert movie. Director Martin Scorsese's discreet camerawork and superb sound captures inspired performances from ...
Pet Shop Boys: The Pet Shop Boys: Pop-aganda
Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 3 September 2004
Potemkin and the sound of a Pet Shop Boy ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 19 September 2004
Metallica: Some kind of Monster (Released: October 1) ...
Townes Van Zandt: Van Zandt's New "Love"
Report by Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 23 September 2004
IF YOU KNOW your Texas music, it's a famous story: in 1970 a young Joe Ely picked up a hitchhiker on his way to Houston. ...
John Lydon: Anarchy In The UK Gold
Guide by Terry Staunton, unpublished, October 2004
JOHN LYDON is expected to put the cat among the pigeons during his forthcoming stint on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here — ...
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. ...
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), October 2004
Unlike their UK dance contemporaries Faithless, the rumours of Groove Armada's imminent demise remain firmly denied by the duo themselves. While Tom Findlay recently commented ...
Michael Franti: Various Artists: Reggae on the River
Film/DVD/TV Review by j. poet, Paste, October 2004
TWENTY YEARS AGO, the residents of Piercy, Calif., held a benefit concert to rebuild a community centre torched by a local arsonist. ...
The Beach Boys, James Brown, Lesley Gore, Marvin Gaye, The Rolling Stones: The TAMI Show Remembered
Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Los Angeles Times, 29 October 2004
THE ROLLING Stones were there, along with James Brown, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye and more, filmed live before their screaming ...
Chronicle Of A Mythic Concert: The TAMI Show Remembered
Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Los Angeles Times, 29 October 2004
THE ROLLING STONES were there, along with James Brown, the Beach Boys, the Supremes, Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye and more, filmed live before their screaming ...
Ray Charles: Brother Ray in Vision
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, 14 November 2004
AT A RECENT MOVIE screening, I bumped into a publisher friend who specialises in music biographies. Every so often, he told me, some film production ...
The Ramones: Ramones: We're Outta Here!
Film/DVD/TV Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2004
RAMONES GIGS were always exciting rather than accomplished affairs, and if this disc featured only their shambolic 1996 Los Angeles swansong there would be little ...
Report and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, December 2004
The Ramones mixed pop cuteness with garage-band crudity and came up with punk. You'd think nothing could be more fun. You'd be wrong – very ...
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, Spring 2004
FRANK ZAPPA was an irrelevant, redundant figure by the late ‘70s. The object of dorkish devotion, Ol’ Silly Beard had meandered off into cul de ...
Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones: The Achievement of Madness: Performance
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, Summer 2004
PERFORMANCE only gets better with the passing years. A key late ‘60s text, Donald Cammell and Nic Roeg’s film brings two Swinging London worlds together ...
Guide by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, January 2005
THEY LIGHT UP the screen with their dramatic talent, but for many fine thespians that's just not enough. Some of them have a few songs ...
Happy Mondays: It's a very happy Monday for Bez
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 24 January 2005
Victory for the man who tried to escape Celebrity Big Brother. ...
Tiny Pop TV: Get the kids on the right tracks
Report by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 31 January 2005
Children need more than Disney power ballads. So why not try your own record collection? ...
The Shins: Young Pilgrims Progress
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), 10 February 2005
THEY HAVEN'T released an album for nigh on 18 months, yet the fickle world of popular music has found Oregon residents The Shins slowly earning ...
The Rolling Stones: Skuawk! DVD Pick: The Rolling Stones - Rock and Roll Circus
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gary Pig Gold, skuawk.com, 11 February 2005
I THINK WE'RE more than all in agreement here that something very, very special took place during the middle 1960's; a magical, monumental something in ...
Noel Harrison: Keep on Grooving
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, The Independent, 20 February 2005
By 1968, Noel Harrison – son of Rex – had done it all: landed the glitzy film roles, lived in Hollywood pads and cut 'Windmills ...
The White Stripes: Under Blackpool Lights DVD (Third Man/V2)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Steven R Rosen, Harp, March 2005
EXCUSE MY misperception. I’d always considered the White Stripes as a modernist garage-rock band-hip to the melody of catchy songs like 'You’re Pretty Good Looking ...
9 Songs (Dir. Mike Winterbottom)
Review by Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, 20 March 2005
OK, SO BASICALLY what happens is this: a saturnine, monosyllabic bloke meets a self-obsessed, vacuous girl at a Black Rebel Motorcycle Club gig at the ...
Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin' – Live 1966 (MVD)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Wasserzieher, ICE, 22 March 2005
FOR DECADES, Spencer Davis has taken heat for having named his British Invasion band the Spencer Davis Group. One critic likened it to calling the ...
Juliette Lewis and the Licks: Natural Born Triller: Juliette Lewis
Interview by Jenny Valentish, Frankie, May 2005
THE BACON BROTHERS were critically acclaimed in the Kevin Bacon household, we hear. Bruce Willis and the Accelerators went down a storm at the private ...
The Tube: Sound Of The Underground
Essay by David Stubbs, The Guardian, 28 May 2005
THE RELEASE OF the first series of The Tube on DVD is a chance to give kudos to a groundbreaking programme that naively but bravely ...
Bruce Springsteen: Two River Theatre, Red Bank, NJ
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2005
Springsteen records his first-ever VH1 TV Storytellers session and rather likes it — two hours, eight songs and any amount of explanatory chat before an ...
Franz Ferdinand: Access All Areas
Report by Gavin Martin, The Independent, 17 June 2005
DURING THE RECORDING sessions for Franz Ferdinand's new album, the band have not just been making music. Between work on the eagerly anticipated follow-up to ...
Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, August 2005
Gus Van Sant befriended Kurt Cobain during his rise to global stardom. Now the director has made a film based on the grunge superstar's harrowing ...
Ray Charles, Brian Jones, Nirvana: Rock And Reel
Report by Paul Morley, Observer Music Monthly, August 2005
As new movies about Brian Jones and Kurt Cobain come to the big screen, Paul Morley trawls through the debris of rock movies past to ...
Phil Spector: The Killing Of A Barbarian Queen
Retrospective by Terry Staunton, DVD World, October 2005
It took a scandalous Hollywood shooting to catapult faded B-movie starlet LANA CLARKSON onto the front pages. TERRY STAUNTON looks back on the life and ...
Dan Zanes: The Making of the Next MTV Generation
Report and Interview by Will Hermes, The New York Times, 23 October 2005
TWENTY YEARS AGO, when Dan Zanes fronted the punky roots-rock band the Del Fuegos, MTV was changing the business of rock 'n' roll. He has ...
Elvis Costello: The Right Spectacle
Film/DVD/TV Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, November 2005
Anthology of 27 videos for hits, near misses and ones that got way. ...
Bon Jovi, Jon Bon Jovi: Jon Bon Jovi (2005) [transcript]
Transcript of audio interview by Maureen Paton, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 8 December 2005
This is a transcript of Maureen's phone interview with the Bon Jovi singer and actor. Listen to the interview. ...
The Clash, Sex Pistols: We're the daddies: Ladies and Gentlemen, We're the Fabulous Stains
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, Spring 2005
Anyone remember the legendary "lost" film featuring the Clash, Pistols and, erm, Ray Winstone? ...
Janis Joplin: Got Them Battlin' Janis Bio Blues
Report by Chris Smith, Texas Music, Summer 2005
AH JANIS. OK, so you gave us an alternate spelling for 'cosmic,' helped corral all the hippies into San Francisco, proved white people can sing ...
Comment by Chris Smith, Texas Music, Summer 2005
"BITCH TITS." That's the first thing that comes to mind whenever we think of Meat Loaf anymore. ...
Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 19 January 2006
Can a musical based on the group's cheesy '70s pop really attract new fans? Robert Sandall meets the men who believe it can. ...
Rock Fans, Sit Back, Relax, Enjoy the Show
Comment by Marc Weingarten, The New York Times, 24 January 2006
IN THIS digital age of expanding leisure options, some old-school ideas still have staying power. ...
Neil Young: Brush With Death Leaves Troubadour Grateful: Heart of Gold
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, 14 February 2006
JONATHAN DEMME orders orange juice for himself, Neil Young and a reporter at downtown's Zoom Restaurant in Park City, Utah - a refreshing way to ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Sharon Osbourne: Is Sharon "Loved"? Everyone I Know Can't Stand Her
Comment by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 13 March 2006
NEWS OF great note to stay-at-home mums, students, "freelancers", resting actors, members of indie rock bands, pensioners, columnists, people who work night shifts in factories ...
The World's Greatest Indoor Festival: Julien Temple's Glastonbury
Review by Caitlin Moran, The Times, 13 April 2006
THERE IS NO Glastonbury Festival this year — a fact that will, to be frank, be making the lives of about 120,000 people fairly bleak ...
Nick Cave and Australia's Bad Deeds
Report and Interview by Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 8 May 2006
Rocker's screenplay for The Proposition considers Australia's "open wounds" ...
The Beastie Boys: Awesome Welles: The Beastie Boys' Home Movie
Report and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, June 2006
THE WAY Beastie Boys rapper turned movie director Adam "MCA" Yauch tells it, the idea to film the band's sold-out homecoming gig at Madison Square ...
Nick Cave: The Proposition, Pop Music and Leonard Cohen
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinnati CityBeat, 7 June 2006
THE PROPOSITION, director John Hillcoat's solemn and violently unsentimental Australian western, has its fair share of stars in the cast. ...
Tom Waits, Neil Young: Jim Jarmusch: "Tom Waits said he would glue my head to the wall"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 9 June 2006
WHEN JIM JARMUSCH speaks, it is like a man emptying out his pockets. "Wild Zero. Guitar Wolf. Where they're killing zombies. Rude Boy. The Clash. ...
RIP Top Of The Pops, 1964-2006
Retrospective by Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, 26 June 2006
THE FACT IS, Top Of The Pops, the "iconic" British pop TV show, whose closure after 42 years was announced last week, was really never ...
Rock Star: Supernova is a High-Octane Rush
Report and Interview by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 15 August 2006
ON ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA, the series that notches the American Idol formula up to 11, what you'll see on TV tonight is only the half ...
The Final Countdown: Top of the Pops
Retrospective and Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, September 2006
With the BBC pulling the plug on Top Of The Pops after 42 years, the stars share their memories. ...
Charlotte Gainsbourg: Born Again Gainsbourg
Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, October 2006
Serge's girl Charlotte returns with her first album since 1986. ...
Juliette Lewis and the Licks: Juliette Lewis & the Licks: Astoria, London
Live Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 8 October 2006
IT'S HARD NOT to admire a woman who abandoned a thriving career as a Hollywood actress to front a rock band, and who has stuck ...
Make my day: the best (and worst) lines in the history of film
Essay by Paul Wellings, The Independent, 20 October 2006
As in life, first impressions count in cinema. In Citizen Kane (1941), the opening word, Charles Foster Kane's dying utterance "Rosebud", holds the key (perhaps) ...
My Chemical Romance: Saviours Of The Damned
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), November 2006
With talk of ghosts, pesky kids and freaky cartoons, My Chemical Romance's year to date could almost be a warped Scooby Doo cartoon. Although recording ...
Daniel Johnston: The Reporter and Daniel Johnston
Report by Michael Simmons, Artillery, November 2006
We all come from families and spend the rest of our lives embracing and escaping them and creating new ones. Art breeds its own family. ...
Mercury Rev: Hello Blackbird (V2)
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 3 November 2006
FOR MUCH of their career – certainly since they began exerting a modicum of discipline over their experimental leanings – Mercury Rev have seemed to ...
Stewart Copeland, The Police, Andy Summers: Kings of Pain: Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland
Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2006
More than 20 years after the Police split, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland have broken lengthy silences about their time in the band. Terry Staunton ...
Tenacious D: MEN Arena, Manchester
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 15 December 2006
NO ORDINARY BAND could have made their Manchester debut by packing the city's largest rock venue. But Tenacious D pulled off this impressive feat, thanks ...
Retrospective by Clinton Walker, The Australian, 2007
I USED TO have this attempted joke I'd pull out at sagging Sunday afternoon barbeques when I wanted to leave. Oh well, I'd say, I ...
Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, 2007
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a few decades make. When Queen first came to prominence in the early 1970s, the British band was panned for its bombastic ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Lewis, Sight & Sound, January 2007
Synopsis: Documentary about the Canadian singer, songwriter, poet, artist and novelist Leonard Cohen, based around a lengthy interview with him, punctuated by tributes from assorted ...
Overview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 25 January 2007
Dreamgirls is the latest in a long line of pop movies that fails to do its subject justice. So will Hollywood ever make a decent ...
Prince at the Super Bowl: A Preview
Report by Evelyn McDonnell, Times Herald-Record, 4 February 2007
WHEN PRINCE sat down with the producers of Super Bowl XLI entertainment to make his pitch for playing the halftime show, he had done his ...
Desperate Man Blues – Discovering The Roots of American Music
Film/DVD/TV Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2007
JOE BUSSARD, "King Of Record Collectors", would be an excellent contributor to the UK television series 'Grumpy Old Men'. ...
Philip Glass' Satyagraha at the ENO
Report and Interview by John Lewis, The Times, March 2007
A MAN DRESSED as Gandhi, in a loin-cloth and Alf Garnett specs, is curled up on the floor as twenty men brandish chairs and throw ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Lord of the Wings
Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 May 2007
He has snorted ants, tried to throttle his wife and bit the head off a bat. But now, Ozzy Osbourne tells Barbara Ellen, he is ...
Soweto Kinch: Absolute Beginners: Lyric Theatre, London
Report and Interview by John Lewis, The Times, July 2007
COLIN MACINNES'S 1959 novel Absolute Beginners remains a landmark in post-colonial literature, a brash, idealistic voyage through the Notting Hill race riots, seedy jazz dives, ...
Retrospective by Will Hermes, The Village Voice, 31 July 2007
OH YES, it was wicked cool: getting jacked at machete-point on the subway after a night of clubbing, and at bayonet-point outside of high school. ...
Brandi Carlile: The NeverEnding Story
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), August 2007
AFTER YEARS of slogging it out in any Seattle venue that would offer her a free meal in exchange for a music set, American songwriter ...
Joy Division: Closer Still: An Interview with Control director Anton Corbijn
Interview by Ken Scrudato, Filter, September 2007
THE ESSENCE OF DEATH, much like that of war, rests in how it has irreparably changed those left to grapple with its aftermath. Its effects ...
The Bee Gees, Robin Gibb: Robin Gibb remembers Saturday Night Fever
Retrospective and Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, September 2007
FOR BABY BOOMERS, this year marked the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. For hipsters worldwide, 2007 means that it's been three decades since ...
Jools Holland: Barefaced Lies and Boogie Woogie Boasts (Michael Joseph)
Book Review by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 7 October 2007
FOR JOOLS Holland, autobiography is a rigorously selective business. ...
Joy Division: Music to Brood by, Desolate and Stark
Retrospective by Simon Reynolds, The New York Times, 7 October 2007
THE MYSTIQUE surrounding Joy Division has always been way out of proportion to its record sales. Far bigger bands, like the Clash and Pink Floyd, ...
Siobhan Donaghy: Sugababe for Rent: Siobhan Donaghy
Report and Interview by John Lewis, The Times, 13 October 2007
She might have a starring role in a big West End production of Rent, but ex-Sugababe Siobhan Donaghy is a bit worried about her parents ...
David Arnold, Kaiser Chiefs: Kaiser Chiefs: This is the Modern Way
Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 26 October 2007
What happens when indie-rockers get together with a Grammy-winning composer? Kaiser Chiefs and David Arnold chat before their Electric Prom tonight. ...
Report and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, November 2007
REELIN' IN THE Years Productions and Stax Records (a division of Concord Music Group) has issued Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding on ...
Quincy Jones: Cinematic Soul: The Soundtracks of Quincy Jones
Overview by Michael A. Gonzales, Stop Smiling, November 2007
THE MUSICAL legacy of 74-year-old Quincy Delight Jones Jr. looms large over the landscape of popular culture. While our grandparents might remember him as the ...
Bob Dylan, The Who: From Dylan to The Who: Film-maker Murray Lerner
Profile and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, November 2007
Murray Lerner on his new The Other Side Of The Mirror – Bob Dylan Live At The Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 DVD and the just ...
James Hyman: A Quentin Tarantino Mash-Up
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, November 2007
SO YOU ALL will know the seriousness of my warning, I shall say this in English. I was trolling the Information Superhighway looking for some ...
Joy Division: Torn Apart: The Legend Of Joy Division
Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, November 2007
One of Britain's most influential bands is now the subject of a compelling new film. Paul Lester talks to Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard ...
U2: U2 3D (Dir. Catherine Owens and Mark Pellington)
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Lewis, Sight & Sound, December 2007
Live concert show filmed on the South American leg of U2's Vertigo Tour of 2005/2006. The film has been edited from footage of several different ...
Bob Dylan: He's Not There: Todd Haynes' Dylan
Essay by Mick Gold, Rock's Backpages, 2 December 2007
"THE MINUTE you try to grab hold of Dylan, he's no longer where he was. He's like a flame: If you try to hold him ...
RZA, Wu-Tang Clan: Wu-Tang Clan: Putting the record straight
Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 10 December 2007
The hunger has returned: Wu-Tang Clan, with group leader RZA are back and ready to rule the hip hop world again with new album 8 ...
Interview by Mark Paytress, MOJO, February 2008
Four years in the making, In Rainbows is both tortured and triumphant… Here, for the first time, is the unexpurgated inside story of the album ...
Michael Jackson, Steve Lukather, Spinal Tap, Toto: Toto: Get in the Van…
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), February 2008
Steve Lukather's resumé over the last three decades not only showcases a prolific musician, it also suggests a wildly divergent talent unafraid of variety. The ...
Miley Cyrus: Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert
Film/DVD/TV Review by Wayne Robins, Rock's Backpages, 20 February 2008
LAST WEEKEND J and I went to see Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert in the local multiplex. It was ...
The Band, The Rolling Stones: The Sounds of Scorsese
Overview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 26 March 2008
AS THE VETERAN FILM-MAKER RELEASES HIS CONCERT MOVIE ON THE ROLLING STONES, NICK COLEMAN APPLAUDS A DIRECTOR WHO'S ALWAYS PUT MUSIC AT THE HEART OF ...
Preview by John Lewis, The Times, 28 March 2008
David Lynch’s enigmatic film Lost Highway has become an opera ...
The Rolling Stones: Martin Scorsese: Shine A Light
Film/DVD/TV Review by John Lewis, Sight & Sound, April 2008
A live film of a Rolling Stones concert, recorded at the Beacon Theater in New York over the course of two nights (October 29 and ...
Interview by Noe Gold, Fancast.com, April 2008
BEGINNING IN August 2005, the Rolling Stones spent two years circling the globe on their "Bigger Bang" tour, taking in more than $580 million. ...
The Rolling Stones Shine A Light Concert Film Opens April 4th
Report by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, April 2008
ON APRIL 4th director Martin Scorsese's concert documentary on the Rolling Stones, Shine A Light, was released and distributed in the U.S. by Paramount Classics ...
Report and Interview by Gene Santoro, New York Daily News, 4 April 2008
THE LEFT-FIELD success of Juno didn't end at the movie box office. The Oscar winner's soundtrack went all the way to No. 1, making its ...
Adam Green, The Moldy Peaches: Adam Green: The Park Bench Balladeer
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 10 April 2008
Adam Green's music, featured in the movie Juno, has brought him fame. That's fine, he tells Laura Barton, but he'd rather be at home eating ...
Minnie Driver: Minnie adventure: Miss Driver turns her attention to country music and motherhood
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 8 May 2008
She's conquered Hollywood, stars in a hit TV series, and is one of Britain's most successful acting exports. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2008
The indie bards of daytime TV. They could've been contenders — if it weren't for Tranmere Rovers... ...
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 8 June 2008
Lou Reed's live version of Berlin, now a film, is hailed as his masterpiece. So, is he any easier to interview? Not really... ...
Massive Attack: Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Rick Pearson, The Evening Standard, 18 June 2008
THE FILM score to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic Blade Runner was always more than a fanfare for Harrison Ford's on-screen heroics. Eerie and ambient, Vangelis's ...
Deep Purple: Around The World Live (Eagle Vision)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Paul Elliott, Classic Rock, July 2008
Four-disc set documenting the Steve Morse era and Jon Lord's farewell. ...
Interview by Lois Wilson, Record Collector, July 2008
Mary Wilson Recalls The Highs And Lows Of The Most Successful Girl Group Of All Time. Interview By Lois "No Relation" Wilson ...
Elvis Presley: The Return of the King: Elvis and the Making Of The '68 Comeback Special
Retrospective by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, August 2008
When Elvis Presley donned a black leather suit and stepped in front of NBC's cameras for his 1968 TV special, he changed the historical perception ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Déjà Vu Live
Review by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, October 2008
Military madness! Live album, to accompany documentary film. ...
50 Cent: From The Firing Line To The Firing Range
Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 1 October 2008
Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson is in a strangely revealing mood as he discusses working with De Niro and Pacino, how getting shot harmed his record ...
Aswad, Jah Shaka: Franco Rosso's Babylon
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, The Guardian, 4 October 2008
Kieron Tyler celebrates that rare thing – a British movie about reggae ...
Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead, Merl Saunders: Merl Saunders, 1934-2008
Obituary by Ken Hunt, The Guardian, 27 October 2008
Keyboard wizard who often worked with Jerry Garcia, with or without the Grateful Dead ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Daily Telegraph, 28 November 2008
Since winning Pop Idol in 2002, Will Young has had huge commercial success, yet depression and self-doubt have dogged his achievements. Now with his critically ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Metro Times, 10 December 2008
Hollywood's version of the Chess Records story combines the best and worst of the classic rock 'n' roll biopic ...
The Harder They Come: Playhouse Theatre, London
Review by Mike Atherton, Echoes, Summer 2008
AS AN OTHERWISE unmemorable comedian used to remark, it's the way you tell 'em. It's not much of a story on the face of it: ...
Cyndi Lauper: Still Good Enough
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), Summer 2008
It might be hard for her to break away from the wackily tressed imagery that accompanied her 1983 global smash 'Girls Just Want to Have ...
Various Artists: THE T.A.M.I. Show (Shout Factory)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Sculatti, Ugly Things, 2009
FIRST OFF, any regular reader of this publication whose home doesn't house a copy of this DVD–man, where are you at? Filmed before a Santa ...
The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy: Notorious (dir. George Tillman Jr.)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, January 2009
Despite some excellent acting and drama, Notorious biopic whitewashes Biggie Small’s gangsta life and death ...
Led Zeppelin: Down the Tracks: The Music That Influenced Led Zeppelin (dir. Stephen Gammond)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 6 January 2009
EVEN THE MOST naïve and surface Led Zeppelin listener tell you at least that they were influenced "by the blues." But this insightful and surprisingly ...
Dr. Feelgood: The Dr. Feelgood factor
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 February 2009
They paved the way for punk, but have been forgotten by history. A new film revisits the strange world from which Dr. Feelgood came, writes ...
Do It Yourself: The Story of Rough Trade (dir. Chris Wilson)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Alex Ogg, The Quietus, 10 March 2009
Quietus scribe Alex Ogg, who's currently writing a book on the history of the independent label, makes a brew and settles down in front of ...
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), 26 March 2009
If you were to draw up a chart of all US musicians and Hollywood stars of the last generation, chances are Rilo Kiley vocalist Jenny ...
Bob Dylan: Looking Back At Dont Look Back: Dylan and D.A. Pennebaker
Retrospective and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinnati CityBeat, 26 March 2009
FOR D.A. PENNEBAKER, the time has come to look back. For the new digitally-remastered "deluxe edition" DVD of his classic documentary Don't Look Back, which ...
Fillmore: The Last Days (Rhino Entertainment)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Sculatti, SonicBoomers.com, 24 April 2009
IT WENT OUT with a whimper, not a bang. Bill Graham's July 1971 decision to close Fillmore West surely didn't pass unnoticed, but the shuttering ...
Sepian Thoughts: The Other Side of Copyright
Report and Interview by Fred Dellar, Rock's Backpages, 27 April 2009
RICHARD TAY'S OFFICE is an aural museum of the impressive kind. Many hundreds of old 78 rpm shellac discs plus vinyl long-players from the '50s ...
Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel (2009)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, June 2009
Trout farming, raising miniature horses, a theory about Stonehenge and his complicated relationship with David St. Hubbins: the Tap man tells all.
File format: mp3; File size: 21.6meg, interview length: 23' 35" sound quality: * (phoner)
Woodstock's 40th Anniversary: An Interview with Michael Wadleigh
Retrospective and Interview by Stephen Dalton, The National, July 2009
FORTY SUMMERS AGO, a small group of young, long-haired American hippie capitalists were finalising plans to stage an ambitious outdoor music and arts festival in ...
Vincent Gallo, Yes: How Vincent Gallo taught me to love Yes
Profile by Alan McGee, The Guardian, 14 July 2009
The pop-culture polymath has used his spectacular tastes to introduce people to much-maligned musical genres. But if only he could get around to releasing his ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, September 2009
Gerry & the Pacemakers, Dusty Springfield, Herman's Hermits and Small Faces get the first-class treatment. ...
JLS: 'We Became An Unshakable Force'
Report and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 October 2009
X Factor runners up don't usually win Mobos — but JLS were always meant for more than talent shows ...
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 31 October 2009
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, but I decided that I would not watch this particular series of The X Factor, because I thought, I'll get ...
Robyn Hitchcock in Nowhere-Land: I Often Dream of Trains in New York
Film/DVD/TV Review by Michael Azerrad, Rock's Backpages, 14 November 2009
IT WAS FITTING that a Robyn Hitchcock DVD arrived in the mail the same week as the Monty Python documentary debuted on the IFC channel ...
Badly Drawn Boy, Goldfrapp, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Rock Stars Storm the Movie Soundtrack World
Overview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 19 November 2009
From Goldfrapp to Badly Drawn Boy, from Karen O to Nick Cave, more and more big names are lining up to write music for films. ...
The Rolling Stones: The Gimme Shelter You Didn't See
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rock's Backpages, 24 November 2009
GIMME SHELTER is generally considered one of the best rock documentaries ever made, perhaps one of the best documentaries on any topic. ...
Ian Dury: New chips off the old Blockhead
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 November 2009
He could be warm and witty... or cruel and obnoxious. But there was never any doubt he was a true artist. We recall the life ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 3 December 2009
In the last 10 years, The X Factor and its ilk have bucked record-buying trends and breathed new life into a dying industry. We talk ...
Journey's trend: Why this band don't stop believin'
Comment by Simon Warner, Rock's Backpages, 16 December 2009
IN THE CLOSING moments of Glee, the newest US smash to creep on to our TV screens, an ensemble of high school singers and musicians ...
Wendy And Lisa: Wendy & Lisa's impressive post-Prince parade
Comment by Simon Warner, Rock's Backpages, 8 January 2010
TWO US TELEVISION shows with little in common beyond the fact that they have made their mark on the viewing public and garnered critical warmth, ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Oil Youyouyouou Be Seeing
Film/DVD/TV Review by Daryl Easlea, Record Collector, 10 January 2010
A New Film, Oil City Confidential, Tells The Dr Feelgood Story. Daryl Easlea Relives His Youth ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Dirty Three, Grinderman: Howl: An interview with Warren Ellis
Interview by Mark Mordue, The Sun-Herald, 10 January 2010
WHEN THE American author Mark Twain visited a Victorian gold mining town back in 1885, he was inspired to write: "It was as if the ...
Carl Barât, The Libertines: Carl Barât: from Libertine to theatre actor
Interview by John Lewis, The Times, 18 January 2010
Pete Doherty's old sparring partner is turning his hand to acting in Sam Shepard's Fool for Love. ...
The Edge, Jimmy Page, Jack White: Davis Guggenheim's It Might Get Loud
Film/DVD/TV Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, February 2010
Riveting doc about the magical powers of the electric guitar, starring Jack White, Jimmy Page and the Edge. ...
Joan Jett, The Runaways: Joan Jett
Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Interview, 20 February 2010
IN THE FOUR years that they were together, the quintet of teenage girls that made up The Runaways cut a swath of hard rock, harder ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages, March 2010
ON 28 OCTOBER, 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show was recorded at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. T.A.M.I. stood for Television Audience Measurement Index, though ...
The Runaways: Queens of noise: The Runaways
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 7 April 2010
Kristen Stewart's Joan Jett is one of many killer riffs that makes The Runaways. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, Record Collector, May 2010
Richie Unterberger celebrates a legendary who's who of rock and soul royalty caught live in their prime, and now finally available on DVD. ...
Ennio Morricone: Lightning Conductor: Ennio Morricone
Retrospective and Interview by John Doran, The Stool Pigeon, May 2010
ENNIO MORRICONE is not a slight man. He is a slim man. A man of average height. But he is not slight. ...
Damon Albarn, Gorillaz: Monkey see, monkey do, monkey tour: the Gorillaz are back
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 May 2010
"I SAY! They're fancy!" exclaims Jamie Hewlett when Damon Albarn strides into the pair's West London headquarters. The object of his fascination? Albarn, his sidekick ...
The Doors: When You're Strange: A film about the Doors…Finally!
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gary Pig Gold, Rock and Roll Report, 16 July 2010
THE SUMMER OF 1970 was certainly a strange one in, for, and around what we may now quaintly call the pop/rock scene: Paul had just ...
Joan Jett: I Love Rock And Roll
Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, August 2010
Joan Jett talks to Terry Staunton on the making of the Runaways movie, and life after the band split. ...
Kris Kristofferson looks back on his early years
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, September 2010
THERE WERE two crucial moments in Kris Kristofferson's early career. The first came on the night of 8 April 1970, in a converted old church ...
Harry Nilsson: For the love of Harry: Nilsson documentary finally hits the big screen
Report and Interview by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 10 September 2010
I'VE BEEN WAITING for this day for a long time. Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)? opens today at the ...
Journey: How 'Don't Stop Believin'' Became Such a Monster Hit
Report by Steven R Rosen, American Songwriter, November 2010
POP STARS OF disparate ages and musical styles, when forced to share a stage, can be as awkward together as "strangers waiting up and down ...
Janet Jackson: 'I Eat To Fill The Void'
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Daily Telegraph, 22 November 2010
With an Oscar-tipped role in Tyler Perry's new film and a handsome young billionaire in her life, Janet Jackson is, finally, 'in a good place'. ...
Kip Hanrahan: Love is Like a Cigarette
Review by John L. Walters, Perfect Sound Forever, December 2010
MY FIRST encounter with Kip Hanrahan was when someone at Pangaea, his record company, handed me a copy of Days and Nights of Blue Luck ...
Daft Punk's robots aren't the only ones rocking the multiplex
Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 December 2010
AT THE END of the trailer to forthcoming movie Somewhere, we are given just two pieces of information: 1) that the film was written and ...
Noel Harrison: One Hit Wonder: 'The Windmills of Your Mind'
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO '60s, 2011
Noel Harrison teased out the dark, wistful beauty of Michel Legrand's epic film song, then fell off the map. ...
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 ...
R.E.M.: REM: Live From Austin TX
Film/DVD/TV Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, January 2011
Greatness restored – a fine 2008 performance from a reinvigorated band ...
The Bee Gees: In the Bee Gees' Time – A New Documentary on THAT Band
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gary Pig Gold, Rock's Backpages, 7 January 2011
2010 MARKED the 50th (!!) anniversary of the Bee Gees' career as fully professional all-singing, all-playing musicians, songwriters, and performers. ...
The Archies, The Monkees: Don Kirshner
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 20 January 2011
IT IRKED Don Kirshner, who has died of heart failure aged 76, that he was never inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 31 January 2011
Composer most closely associated with the golden age of James Bond but whose scores ranged from Midnight Cowboy to Dances With Wolves ...
Pet Shop Boys on The Most Incredible Thing
Report and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Daily Telegraph, 17 February 2011
The Pet Shop Boys have joined forces with Sadler's Wells on The Most Incredible Thing, a ballet based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. ...
Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields: Strange Powers
Film/DVD/TV Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, March 2011
The quixotic songwriter, profiled in relentless close-up. ...
Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead: Jonny Greenwood: "What do I do? I just generally worry about things…"
Report and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2011
THE CAR PULLS into the courtyard of a small complex E of offices in the middle of a housing estate on the fringes of Didcot, ...
The Rebirth Brass Band: Rebirth of New Orleans
Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 20 April 2011
DURING THE FIRST episode of HBO's Treme, members of the Rebirth Brass Band and the show's trombone-playing character Antoine Batiste end a jazz parade in ...
David Bowie, Kraftwerk: Taxi zum Klo's Berlin is a sexual playground
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Guardian, 21 April 2011
Bowie, Christiane F and Taxi zum Klo: these are the things that made Berlin so alluring to the British pop culture of the late '70s ...
Interview by Alan Light, Relix, May 2011
ATHENS, GEORGIA IT'S 1995, maybe 1996. Brian Burton is a freshman at the University of Georgia, an aspiring moviemaker, taking an "Introduction to Film" course. Burton ...
Pop Has Eaten Itself for the Very Last Time: Simon Cowell
Comment by David Quantick, Daily Telegraph, 3 June 2011
People will look back on Simon Cowell and his hideous creations and wonder how we fell for it, writes David Quantick. ...
Jill Scott: "My new album was almost completely improvised in the studio"
Report and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 26 June 2011
Jill Scott talks to Metro about playing Precious Ramotswe in The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency and how she improvised her latest album, The Light of ...
Damon Albarn: Dr Dee live, Manchester International Festival
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Quietus, 5 July 2011
Stephen Dalton at the Manchester International Festival finds Damon "the Martin Amis of Britpop" Albarn's musical about the life of Dr John Dee to be ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 6 July 2011
Singer-songwriter famed for the 1970s chart hit 'Lonely Boy' ...
Charlotte Gainsbourg: Eternal Ingénue: Charlotte Gainsbourg on Her Latest Stylish Role
Interview by Bethan Cole, The Independent, 9 July 2011
The daughter of Anglo-French musical royalty, Charlotte Gainsbourg was destined to be a performer — and now she's in the hottest arthouse film of the ...
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. * ...
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. ...
The Rolling Stones: Michael Lindsay-Hogg: Fortunate Son
Profile and Interview by Mark Rozzo, Town & Country, September 2011
"I'M SADDLED with a very good memory. I remember things from 50 years ago like I'm talking to you today." The director Michael Lindsay-Hogg — ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Classic Rock, September 2011
1989, JULY 15: 200,000 fans and 100m satellite TV viewers worldwide watch Pink Floyd play a spectacular free show from a barge floating in the ...
George Harrison: Fabbest of the Four?
Retrospective by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 30 September 2011
Martin Scorsese's new documentary about George Harrison makes a case for him as the equal – or even the superior – of Lennon and McCartney, ...
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 ...
Paul Nelson: First You Dream, Then You Die
Essay by Joe Carducci, The New Vulgate, October 2011
Author's note: I'm not in the reviewing game at The New Vulgate,but David Lighthourne had introduced me to Paul and told me about Kevin Avery's ...
Björk Brings Her Biophilia Concert Extravaganza to Iceland
Live Review by Kieron Tyler, Billboard, 13 October 2011
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Two days after the release of Biophilia, her new multi-platform project, Iceland's foremost sonic auteur Björk took the stage in her hometown ...
Björk: A New Map to Björk's Music
Report and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 18 October 2011
IT'S A SAD IRONY: The digitization of music has impoverished the average listening experience. Not only do compressed files sound meagre compared to the sonic ...
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Daily Note, 6 December 2011
A group of outsiders left to their own devices, the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop took avant-garde electronics and strange new sounds into the nation's living rooms ...
Sleeve notes by Richie Unterberger, Real Gone Music, 2012
TO LISTENERS in the United States and most of the world, Rick Springfield's name was not familiar until he rocketed to pop music and television ...
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. ...
Don Cornelius: Love, Peace, and Hair Grease: Remembering Soul Train's Don Cornelius
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Complex, 2 February 2012
Artists from Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys to Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band reminisce about the life and legacy of the late Don Cornelius, whose show ...
Davy Jones, The Monkees: Davy Jones, 1945-2012
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 29 February 2012
Former child actor who became a star with the '60s pop group the Monkees. ...
The Monkees: This Boy Band Never Monkeyed Around
Retrospective by Bob Stanley, Daily Telegraph, 1 March 2012
Fact and fantasy were intertwined in the Monkees, but we'll never see their like again ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 17 March 2012
Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood tells Adam Sweeting about his new collaboration with his classical hero Krysztof Penderecki. ...
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 25 March 2012
WHO COULD HAVE predicted not one but two X Factor boybands would exceed their allotted 15 minutes? The onus is now on JLS to out-dazzle ...
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. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Marley (Original Soundtrack)
Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 16 April 2012
A collection strong enough to stand apart from its parent documentary. ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 20 April 2012
A RAINY NIGHT in Zurich. These streets may be paved with Nazi gold, but tonight they are also alive with the sound of music. On ...
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. ...
Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Will Oldham: An audience with… Will Oldham
Interview by John Lewis, Uncut, June 2012
We deliver your questions to a backyard in Kentucky: "Unless I'm performing as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, I get hot, bothered and embarrassed!" admits the shy ...
Backstreet Boys, One Direction: Just me and the boybands…
Retrospective by Mark Kemp, Creative Loafing, 21 June 2012
IT WAS BEGINNING to get very surreal. For months we'd been broadcasting live out of a brand-new studio overlooking Times Square, first as MTV Live, ...
Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, July 2012
THERE IS exactly one reggae singer in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whose name is not Bob Marley. The truth, though, is that ...
Bill Nelson & the Gentlemen Rockateers: Recorded live at Metropolis Studios, London
Film/DVD/TV Review by Archie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, 4 August 2012
I MAINLY REMEMBER Bill Nelson from the Be-Bop Deluxe days of Axe Victim, Futurama and Sunburst Finish back in the mid 1970s. During that period, ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Marley: A Legend in Sharp Focus
Film/DVD/TV Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 16 August 2012
New documentary may be the definitive portrait of international pop's most potent star. ...
Dave Porter: Uncompromising Composer, Master Mood Setter, Studio City Dweller
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Our Ventura Blvd, September 2012
AMC'S taut, psychological thriller, Breaking Bad, has short bursts of action, but it's explosive action. The story of a chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer ...
Memoir by Ann Moses, Rock's Backpages, 7 September 2012
DAVID CASSIDY WAS first introduced to Tiger Beat readers in the June 1970 issue. He had appeared on TV on Marcus Welby, MD, The F.B.I ...
Green Day: Mossman on music: Green Day's musical
Live Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 19 October 2012
The Green Day-inspired musical reviewed. ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young: Waging Heavy Peace/Journeys/Psychedelic Pill/live in Seattle
Review by Charles Bermant, Rock's Backpages, 12 November 2012
SIX YEARS AGO, Neil Young brought his CSN buddies through town imploring the country to impeach the president for lying. This week he began the ...
Retrospective by Bob Stanley, The Guardian, 13 November 2012
Sixty years ago on Wednesday, the first singles chart was published in Britain – turning pop music into a competitive sport. Bob Stanley on how ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones' Crossfire Hurricane doc a worthwhile addition to legacy
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 16 November 2012
THE ROLLING STONES are still rebels; still the bad boys of rock that Andrew Loog Oldham groomed them to be. ...
Beauty In Two Dimensions: It's A Spongebob Christmas!
Review by Gene Sculatti, Rock's Backpages, 21 November 2012
I'M A FOOL FOR Christmas records. Good ones, that is: Spector's list-topper, sure, and the Beach Boys' album that starts with 'Little St. Nick' and ...
Elvis Presley: Yes, I was in an Elvis Movie!
Memoir by Ann Moses, Rock's Backpages, 23 November 2012
THE FIRST QUESTION whenever I tell someone I was in an Elvis movie is "Which one?" And my answer is usually "Not one of his ...
Green Day's American Idiot: Hammersmith Apollo, London ***
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 December 2012
THE ROCK OPERA first grappled with by Pete Townshend and Ray Davies at the end of the 1960s, as rock's growing thematic seriousness and their ...
How To Destroy Angels, Trent Reznor: On The Wing: Trent Reznor On Creativity & How To Destroy Angels
Interview by Ned Raggett, The Quietus, 10 December 2012
With Nine Inch Nails currently on hiatus, Trent Reznor is currently hard at work on new project How To Destroy Angels, whose An Omen_ EP ...
Jennifer Lopez: Superstar of the Caspian
Report and Interview by John Lewis, Baku, Winter 2012
Jennifer Lopez brought her spectacular show to Baku recently and talked to Baku in her trailer afterwards about glitz, glamour and hype. ...
Donald Fagen, Steely Dan: Donald Fagen
Interview by Paul Zollo, American Songwriter, January 2013
On the occasion of Donald Fagen's latest non-Steely Dan effort, Sunken Condos, we sat down to talk about this new classic, and the previous ones. ...
Interview by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, January 2013
London soundscaper marries archive audio clips with stirring electronic rock scores. ...
The Beatles, George Martin: Produced by George Martin is a must see, especially on his 87th birthday
Review by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 3 January 2013
I WAS LUCKY to meet George Martin, who turns 87 today, on two occasions. The first was at the recording session for the original cast ...
Ginger Baker: "I came off heroin something like 29 times"
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 5 January 2013
Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker talks about his battle with heroin, how he was the original Rolling Stones drummer and being the subject of new ...
Liza Minnelli: "Each song is a movie to me"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 17 January 2013
Ahead of her show at the Royal Festival Hall, Liza Minnelli takes a break from rehearsals in New York to serenade Adam Sweeting. ...
Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers: Let The Music Play
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 23 February 2013
THERE'S NOTHING all that special about Let the Music Play: The Story of the Doobie Brothers, but it's a well-made, thorough documentary of one of ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 10 March 2013
THE SOUTH BY Southwest Conference got underway yesterday with SXSW Film, one leg of the tripod extravaganza that also features Interactive and Music components. Twenty-two ...
The Eagles: Where Eagles Dared: California's Signature Rock Band Comes to London
Report by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, 29 April 2013
Messrs. Schmit, Henley, Frey and Walsh (photo: Debbie Kruger) WELCOME TO the Hotel Connaught, the plush old Mayfair institution where Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh ...
Burt Bacharach: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 June 2013
BURT BACHARACH strolls onto the Festival Hall stage like he's stepping on board a yacht, the brass buttons on his blazer gleaming in the spotlight. ...
Massive Attack meet Adam Curtis: The Unlikely Double Act
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 June 2013
At July's Manchester festival, the boundary-breaking band and radical film-maker will tackle the perilous state of democracy in a show that redefines the notion of ...
Robin Thicke: Who is Robin Thicke?
Comment by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 25 July 2013
WHATEVER YOUR thoughts on its icky sexist video of gyrating, semi-naked models, it is impossible to deny that the lascivious R&B throb of Robin Thicke's ...
It's in the Mud: Muscle Shoals
Film/DVD/TV Review by Mitchell Cohen, Rock's Backpages, 2 August 2013
MUSCLE SHOALS, directed by Greg "Freddy" Camalier, is one of the latest in a loosely-linked series of music documentaries – Standing In The Shadows of Motown, The ...
Silibil n' Brains: Rap stars straight outta Dundee
Report and Interview by James Medd, The Times, 17 August 2013
THEY SHOULD HAVE been huge. Silibil n' Brains arrived in the UK in 2004, a pair of white Californian rappers: a double Eminem or two ...
The Clash, Joe Strummer: Don Letts on the legacy of the Clash and the girl Joe Strummer Stole Away
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 29 August 2013
FILM AND VIDEO director Don Letts has a lengthy and varied resumé, but is most associated with the Clash. The new all-compassing band box set, ...
Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 6 September 2013
After 15 years of glam-pop, the duo's new album sees them channelling the spirit of film noir. They tell Nick Hasted where the sequins went. ...
Vintage Vision: Enter Wild Style, 30 Years Later
Retrospective and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 27 September 2013
THIRTY YEARS have passed since the cinematic rap classic Wild Style opened in a grimy Times Square theatre in 1983, and much has changed in ...
Happy 100th Birthday, 'Danny Boy'
Comment by James Maycock, MOJO, November 2013
'Danny Boy', the song of loss and exile that became one of humanity's great anthems, is explored in a BBC Four television documentary, Danny Boy: ...
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 21 November 2013
THERE'S SOMETHING deliciously perverse in hearing Justin Timberlake sing — gorgeously, it must be said — old-timey roots music. ...
Another Day, Another Time: The Inside Llewyn Davis Concert Town Hall, New York City
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 2013
IT'S LIKE A bunch of Midnight Cowboys (and Cowgirls) just stumbled into venerable old Town Hall from Times Square. Hats and braces and denim are ...
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Rock's Backpages, December 2013
I LISTENED to some of it in my youth, but spent most of my post-teenage years trying to avoid this crap: pandering, patronizing, mono-dimensional, unimaginative ...
Cabaret Voltaire: Justified Fascination: Richard H Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire Interviewed
Interview by John Doran, The Quietus, 9 December 2013
Did Cabaret Voltaire lose their way when they lost Chris Watson? Far from it, they entered their imperial period... John Doran talks to Richard H ...
(British) Sea Power: British Sea Power: From The Sea To The Land Beyond
Film/DVD/TV Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 11 December 2013
BRITISH SEA POWER'S rather schizophrenic identity has arguably been their commercial undoing. On one hand there's the indie group capable of writing songs with rousing ...
Salaam Remi, Amy Winehouse: Industry Profile: Salaam Remi
Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access, 8 January 2014
This week In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Salaam Remi, composer, producer, musician and label executive. ...
Lester Bangs: Remembering Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lester Bangs and Almost Famous
Retrospective by Jaan Uhelszki, Spin, 3 February 2014
WHEN PHILIP Seymour Hoffman died Sunday of an apparent overdose in his Greenwich Village apartment, it was like losing Lester Bangs all over again. ...
The Doors: Out there in Golden Square, there were plenty of stars
Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, Rock's Backpages, March 2014
ALL COUPS have a context. Here is the story of The Doors are Open, and how this Granada Television hour-long show came to be made ...
Nine Inch Nails, Trent Reznor: Trent Reznor on the NIN Tour
Interview by John Doran, The Quietus, 5 March 2014
"I feel some responsibility to the audience, I want them to leave feeling that they've had some kind of experience that was satisfying. But at ...
The Band, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding: D.A. Pennebaker (2014)
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, April 2014
The film director revisits making Bob Dylan movie Dont Look Back; working with Albert and Sally Grossman; Dylan's wife Sara; the post-motorcycle accident Dylan in Woodstock; the 1966 tour film; shooting Otis Redding at Monterey... and playing Billie Holiday to Janis Joplin.
File format: mp3; file size: 69.9mb, interview length: 1h 12' 50" sound quality: ****
Ry Cooder: Cooder Been A Contender
Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, April 2014
He had the option of becoming a major star and grabbing his couple of years of glory. Instead he took the long, slow, dusty road. ...
Jack White's secret London gig: surgical masks, dry ice and disease
Live Review by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 3 July 2014
Late on Wednesday night, Jack White's fans were summoned to a dark 'medical research centre' off the Strand for a sinister immersive theatre show with ...
Peter Gabriel: Back To Front – Peter Gabriel Live In London
Film/DVD/TV Review by Stephen Dalton, loudersound.com, 16 July 2014
Leaden concert video. ...
Kate Tempest: Poet, performer, novelist: the rise of the uncategorisable Kate Tempest
Report and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 12 September 2014
Mercury nomination and place on prestigious list of poets are well-deserved accolades for bright young performer ...
Memoir by Michael A. Gonzales, Cuepoint, 19 September 2014
Diana Ross was the woman she wanted to be and I wanted to have ...
Prince: The Making of Purple Rain
Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeMain, Classic Rock, 8 October 2014
How the self-contained, reclusive genius learned to play nice with others, how to rock and in the process found his world-conquering groove. ...
Survivor: Jim Peterik Still Has That Eye of the Tiger
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 28 October 2014
AN ANSWERING-MACHINE message not only changed Jim Peterik's life forever, but led to the creation of one of the '80s biggest anthems that can still ...
Eric Clapton: Planes, Trains and Eric (Castle Rock)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Andy Gill, Uncut, November 2014
"IF I DON'T do it, I get cravings to come out and do it," says Clapton at the start of the ungainly titled, but revealing, ...
Guide by Kieron Tyler, Q Classic, 2015
Author's note, 2020: The Harder They Come, conspicuous by its absence from this list, was not included, since it was the subject of a feature ...
Whiplash has put drummers in their rightful place as music's irreplaceable root
Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 16 January 2015
Drummers are finally beginning to shake their tag as 'clueless thumpers' ...
Mica Levi: Loving the Alien: Mica Levi
Interview by Frances Morgan, The Wire, February 2015
As a member of Micachu And The Shapes, Mica Levi was an archetypal underground pop star — then she wrote the soundtrack to Under The ...
Mavis Staples: The music doc Mavis! lets the powerful performances do the talking
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 16 March 2015
LIKE THE MARYLAND Film Festival, the South by Southwest Film Festival follows each screening by a discussion with the movie's creative team. After SXSW presented ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 20 March 2015
Neil Young discusses remastering his dystopian sci-fi flick at SXSW ...
The Kinks: Sunny Afternoon: Harold Pinter Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, 16 May 2015
A FEW WEEKS AGO Ray Davies was in the building that houses Omnibus Press to attend the launch of a book entitled 100 Years Of British ...
Lee "Scratch" Perry: Who was that masked man?
Retrospective by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, June 2015
The Lone Ranger, Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef ride again as dancehall deejays. ...
Nina Simone: "Are you ready to burn buildings?"
Retrospective by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 22 June 2015
From singing the soundtrack to the civil rights movement to living in self-imposed exile in Liberia, Nina Simone never chose the easy path. As a ...
The Beach Boys, Amy Winehouse: Mawkish Tabloid Fare: How the Amy Winehouse Film Fails
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 2 July 2015
This film laments the way Winehouse's life was intruded upon while relying on the same methods to create drama. ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 26 July 2015
There's a ska light that never goes out: Cliff’s high-voltage charisma is undimmed at 67 ...
The Decline of Western Civilization: Parts I–III (dir. Penelophe Spheeris)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, 4 August 2015
Lauded LA trilogy finally gets its own boxset ...
Janis Joplin: Janis: The Way She Was (dir. Howard Alk)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, 3 September 2015
Howard Alk's intimate 1974 portrait of Janis Joplin reissued ...
Comment by John Lewis, Metro, 7 October 2015
How to write a great Bond theme, and why Sam Smith hasn’t managed it. ...
Ella Henderson: O2 Empire, London W12
Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 11 November 2015
THE CONVEYOR-BELT culture of modern pop makes slipping off the radar a risk. Hence it could have been foolish for Ella Henderson to take more ...
Amy Winehouse: Asif Kapadia: Amy (Island/Universal DVD)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015
WHILE GIFTED, tragic figures are the very bread and butter of the music documentarian, has there ever been a film in which the downward spiral ...
Mica Levi: The exceptional composer who obliterates boundaries with brilliance
Interview by Laura Barton, The Gentlewoman, Fall 2015
Mica Levi is a rebel with a cause: to smash up the divisions between musical genres, from three-note punk to the finest classical score. This ...
Peter Gabriel: All Apologies: Brian Pern
Interview by uncredited writer, The Line of Best Fit, 11 January 2016
As he returns to television and lines up a stage show in London next month, Brian Pern – Rhys Thomas' musical creation portrayed by Simon ...
Barry Adamson: "I've been called the outsider's outsider"
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 February 2016
The Bad Seeds and Magazine bassist on writing music for David Lynch, being ignored by Morrissey and moving to Moss Side to recuperate after the ...
Comment by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 15 February 2016
Set inside the New York music industry in 1973, Vinyl is a fascinating and frustrating chronicle of the era. ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 11 April 2016
On the ninth episode of HBO's series about the '70s music scene, ACR considers swiping the Boss from Columbia ...
Morris Day, The Time: Morris Day: Purple Rain rival who almost stole Prince's thunder
Profile by Simon Price, The Independent, 26 April 2016
On screen, the lead singer of The Time played a scene-stealing version of himself as the Purple One's nemesis. But off screen, their love-hate relationship ...
Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages audio, 16 May 2016
The erstwhile Kid Creole talks about his new off-Broadway musical Cherchez La Femme: the cost, joys and difficulties of staging a production, and the part played in it by RBP contributor Vivien Goldman. He also talks about his escape from New York City; his days at Hofstra University; Kid Creole & the Coconuts' overseas success; his relationship with Seymour Stein; Prince writing 'The Sex of It' for him; his time on ZE Records; on Jamaica and Haiti, and about his wife Eva Tudor-Jones.
File format: mp3; file size: 52.7mb, interview length: 54' 52" sound quality: ***
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: My Kid Creole musical was a hard nut to crack
Retrospective by Vivien Goldman, The Guardian, 20 May 2016
Three decades after I met Kid Creole and the Coconuts while profiling them for NME, their musical Cherchez la Femme has finally reached the New ...
Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, July 2016
We caught up with the hip-hop legend behind Baz Luhrmann's latest creation ...
Guide by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, August 2016
Channelling the magick of Aleister Crowley and the neo-paganism of witchcraft, occult rock is the sound of rock 'n' roll's secret society. Edwin Pouncey reads ...
The Get Down Proves Why The Bronx Will Always Matter
Memoir by Miles Marshall Lewis, The Fader, 11 August 2016
Why the 1970s depicted in Baz Luhrmann’s new Netflix series is an accurate portrait of that era. ...
Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, N.W.A: Jerry Heller, 1940-2016
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 7 September 2016
Music manager who launched NWA and set up Ruthless Records with Eazy-E ...
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Campion, The Guardian, 8 September 2016
David Bowie is rumoured to have written a score to the sci-fi classic that's locked up in some vault. But the truth is much stranger ...
Björk: In Björk Digital, you become the singer's ex-lover – and there's no looking away
Report by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 9 September 2016
Björk's new experiment takes music of claustrophobic unhappiness and shifts it into a relentless, dynamic world. ...
Nick Cave: One More Time With Feeling, Skeleton Tree and the power and language of grief
Interview by Mark Mordue, The Guardian, 19 September 2016
The subject matter is heavy – the death of a child – but the results are divine in an album that emerges from struggle to ...
Essay by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 19 October 2016
From the Residents' freakish Beatles sendups, to Spinal Tap's meta-metal escapades, to the gastronomic goofs of "Weird Al", a chronicle of those who have turned ...
Nina Simone: What happened, Miss Simone?
Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Williams, Uncut, November 2016
The often harrowing life and times of a musical and political force. ...
Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Gimme Danger: A Fun House Story of the Stooges
Film/DVD/TV Review by Betsy Sherman, The Arts Fuse, 4 November 2016
The documentary is a highly enjoyable musical and social history of the group and its times, showing how the Stooges went against the grain of ...
Chuck Berry in Hail! Hail! Mr Rock & Roll
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2017
CHUCK BERRY WAS "more complicated, more difficult, more diabolical" than any movie star, according to the man who directed him in Hail! Hail! Rock'n'Roll. Yet ...
Nick Cave: One More Time with Nick Cave
Report and Interview by Toby Creswell, Rock's Backpages, January 2017
"NICK IS NAVIGATING a completely new world," says Andrew Dominik of his friend Nick Cave. That world began eighteen months ago when Cave's teenage son ...
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: One More Time With Feeling (Bad Seed)
Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2017
IN THE BEST possible sense, there has always been an air of the caricature about Nick Cave: the public persona. His career has felt like ...
Becky Hill: The Real Reality: Becky Hill
Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 17 March 2017
Becky Hill doesn't want a TV talent show to define her. Pip Williams sits down with the chart-topping artist who's taken a backseat from fame ...
Retrospective by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 20 March 2017
Keith Richards worked like a dog to get Chuck Berry's 60th-birthday concert right and Berry treated him like one ...
Nick Cave: The Love and Terror of Nick Cave
Profile and Interview by Chris Heath, GQ, 27 April 2017
For four decades, Nick Cave has been at the edge of music, putting his spin on everything from punk rock to lovesick ballads – much ...
The Doors: The Soft Parade/Dance on Fire
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk, 4 June 2017
Jim Morrison and Co.'s confusing visual legacy suffers from lack of upgrades ...
Radio Birdman: Brutally honest doco cements legacy of volatile Sydney punk band
Review by Andrew Stafford, The Guardian, 9 June 2017
The '70s band battled poverty, depression and infighting. Descent into the Maelstrom shows how they also changed the face of Australian music. ...
P.J. Proby, Cliff Richard, Gene Vincent: Jack Good, 1931-2017
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 29 September 2017
Music pioneer who led a revolution in television coverage of pop ...
David Bowie: White Noise/White Sands: The Bowie Who Fell to Earth
Book Excerpt by Susan Compo, 'Earthbound' (Jawbone), October 2017
"AFTER SEEING THE extraordinary landscape of the White Sands," Nic Roeg noted, "it prompted me to think of this: strangers always see something that is ...
Charli XCX: LGBTQ+ production company launches with alternative music video for Charli XCX's 'Boys'
Report and Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 9 December 2017
YOU ALREADY know the song — the ubiquitous 'Boy' (pipped to the top spot in our tracks of the year by SZA's potent 'Drew Barrymore') ...
Asian Dub Foundation play La Haine: Anson Rooms, Bristol
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 31 January 2018
ADF erupted into fiery bursts of energy during the film's kinetic scenes of rowdy celebration, violent confrontation and police brutality. ...
Graham Coxon: The End Of The F***ing World
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 1 February 2018
GRAHAM COXON has always seemed the least comfortable of star guitarists, less concerned with image, bravado and pose than with matters of pure sound and ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers, New York Dolls: Bob Harris: Whistle Test is back…
Report and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 10 February 2018
… not with a bang but a WHISPER, as its softly-spoken host Bob Harris recalls being hit by Sid Vicious, paying John Lennon in chocolate ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, March 2018
IN A MUSIC world in which no one disappears, and even the most negligible figures can be persuaded to break their post-fame incommunicado isolation if ...
Book Excerpt by Rob Young, 'All Gates Open: The Story of Can' (Faber), May 2018
ONE OF THE many resonances of Can's name is the canister housing reels of celluloid film, a precious container protecting that most flammable and crumply ...
Journey's Jonathan Cain: Still Believin' in Music and Other Higher Powers
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 1 May 2018
YOU COULD practically hear the piercing screams of millions of HBO viewers across the land on the night of June 10, 2007 as they were ...
Retrospective by Stephen Dalton, BFI, 22 May 2018
In the Britpop era, few films came more wildly ambitious than Todd Haynes' kaleidoscopic glam-rock epic. Now Bowie is dead and Britain has turned a ...
Joe Penhall: Mood Music (Old Vic, London)
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, 3 June 2018
MOOD MUSIC is a play about the music industry, specifically the abuse of power that enables an established, controlling figure to benefit from the creativity of ...
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, Little Atoms, 12 July 2018
In 1993, as war raged in the Balkans, the Eurovision circus descended on the tiny Irish town of Millstreet. It was with the emergence of ...
Toyah Willcox: Toyah: Forever Free
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, September 2018
1977 and all that may have come and gone, but Toyah brought the punk aesthetic into '80s pop music with her radical sense of style ...
Queen: Brian May: The Show Must Go On
Interview by Henry Yates, Classic Rock, October 2018
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the original version of the interview submitted to Classic Rock. * ...
Beth Ditto: "I don't think I can act. I'm just really good at talking."
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 24 October 2018
The Gossip frontwoman has started acting, and her first role is a "redneck loud woman" in the new Gus Van Sant film. She talks about ...
Queen: The cartoon unreality of Bohemian Rhapsody reveals how Queen see themselves
Film/DVD/TV Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 25 October 2018
This is a group who wrote their songs not for personal reasons but with tens of thousands of people in mind. ...
David Bowie: 25 Years On: Revisiting David Bowie's Buddha Of Suburbia
Retrospective by Julian Marszalek, The Quietus, 29 October 2018
What actually was David Bowie's best album since Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)? The answer, says Julian Marszalek, is the soundtrack to The Buddha Of ...
Mick Jagger: Memo from Jagger: The Story of Performance
Book Excerpt by Jay Glennie, Rock's Backpages, December 2018
"DO YOU FANCY writing a book on Performance?" It was Sandy Lieberson on the phone, the producer of Performance, with the offer of a lifetime. ...
Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Spellbound
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, Summer 2018
FOR SOMEONE whose live performances involved climbing out of a coffin, it came as no surprise that Screamin' Jay Hawkins resurrected his career in the ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Lights, Camera, Action!
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2019
THE YEAR WAS 1957, when Jerry Lee Lewis' parents finally caught up with much of America and bought a TV set. According to Rick Bragg, ...
Beyoncé: I'm More Than What You Made of Me: Making Sense of Beyoncé's Curious Film Career
Essay by Jason King, Red Bull Academy Magazine, 18 February 2019
Jason King explores the best and worst of Beyoncé's movie roles – and how they help us better understand her path to global superstardom. ...
Comment by Jason King, Pitchfork, 21 February 2019
The classic rock band has always been savvy about its own branding and legacy, but their Oscar-nominated film takes things too far. ...
Joni Mitchell: Martyn Atkins (dir.): Joni 75 – A Birthday Celebration
Review by Simon Warner, Rock's Backpages, March 2019
IT WAS A little ironic that the only live breath that Joni Mitchell exuded at her own 75th birthday celebration extinguished a single candle on ...
Sharon Jones: Miss Sharon Jones! documentary captures soul singer's spirited cancer battle
Interview by Del Cowie, CBC.ca, 4 April 2019
MISS SHARON JONES! is the latest documentary from Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA). The stirring and inspiring film focuses on Sharon Jones, the ...
Bill Medley, Jennifer Warnes: How we made Dirty Dancing's '(I've Had) The Time of My Life'
Interview by Henry Yates, The Guardian, 9 April 2019
Franke Previte, co-songwriter: ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 29 April 2019
IT MIGHT SEEM odd to suggest that the most enthralling film you are likely to see this year is not a thriller, a love story ...
The Stone Roses looked like every lad I'd known and filled me with northern pride
Comment by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 1 May 2019
The Mancunian band released their debut album 30 years ago this week, giving north-west teenagers music to call their own. ...
Nick Lowe: "Whitney Houston made me a million…"
Profile and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Mail On Sunday, 19 May 2019
How the staggering success of The Bodyguard's soundtrack saved the career of songwriter Nick Lowe. ...
Elton John: Rocketman: Melody Maker Memories of Elton
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, June 2019
MONDAYS ON Melody Maker were always a bit stressful for me. It was the day when we had to come up with a front-page lead story ...
Bob Dylan: A Subterranean Bicentennial Road Movie: Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue
Film/DVD/TV Review by Mick Gold, Rock's Backpages, 13 June 2019
WHEN ROLLING THUNDER REVUE: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese was posted on IMDb, I clicked on Full Cast & Crew and scanned the ...
The Chills: Martin Phillipps' triumph and tragedy told with extraordinary candour
Film/DVD/TV Review by Andrew Stafford, The Guardian, 14 June 2019
THE INDEPENDENT scene that emerged from Dunedin, New Zealand, in the early 1980s had all the strange qualities musical trainspotters around the world associate with ...
The Beatles: Danny Boyle's Yesterday
Film/DVD/TV Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, July 2019
A WORLD WITHOUT the Beatles is not somewhere I would want to live, but this is the unlikely scenario on which this strange, occasionally enjoyable ...
Tessa Violet: On The Rise: Tessa Violet
Profile and Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 3 July 2019
The colourful, quirky Tessa Violet channels her love of music into a unique electro-pop sound and ambitious aesthetic. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 3 August 2019
FOR FANS of The Sopranos, Steven Van Zandt will forever be Sil, consigliere — chief adviser — to troubled mob boss Tony Soprano. In reality ...
The New Lost City Ramblers: John Cohen, 1932-2019
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 14 October 2019
Film-maker, photographer, folk music revivalist and founder member of the New Lost City Ramblers ...
Little Mix: SSE Hydro, Glasgow
Live Review by Peter Ross, The Times, 21 October 2019
WHAT DOES a feminist look like? The question flashed up in huge letters behind the stage before a performance of 'Joan of Arc', one of ...
Report and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 7 December 2019
A new series of Slow Burn re-examines the deaths of two of music's biggest stars. "We still haven't had closure," says its host. ...
Retrospective by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 24 April 2020
ONE OF MY favourite memories of a life spent loitering in the company of musicians is of the time the Beastie Boys danced for me. ...
Cher Lloyd is bigger than the bullshit
Interview by Pip Williams, The Line of Best Fit, 4 May 2020
Cher Lloyd cannot think of anything worse than taking up breadmaking in lockdown. ...
Sparks: Ron Mael discusses new Sparks album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip…
Profile and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Rock's Backpages, 15 May 2020
… and reveals details of two upcoming movies involving the duo – an unusual musical and a long-awaited documentary. ...
Brian Jones, The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gary Lucas, Please Kill Me!, 7 September 2020
The acclaimed guitarist Gary Lucas (Captain Beefheart, Jeff Buckley, Gods and Monsters, Lou Reed, et al.) has long held a special flame for Brian Jones, ...
Oneohtrix Point Never: the warped genius behind Uncut Gems's spine-chilling score
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 27 October 2020
His soundtrack shredded audiences' nerves. Now producer Daniel Lopatin is using radio to bring Trump's America together. ...
Roland Gift: "I went back to where being pretty didn't matter"
Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 3 December 2020
He was "the first black punk in Hull" and was named one of the world's 50 most beautiful people. But the singer turned his back ...
Keith Richards: Keith turns 77: Morgan Neville's Keith Richards – Under The Influence
Film/DVD/TV Review by Gary Pig Gold, Roctober, 18 December 2020
I LOVE KEITH. You love Keith. We ALL love Keith Richards. In fact, very personally speaking, if it wasn't for my first encountering the hallowed ...
Bob Dylan: "Is it rolling, Marty?": Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue
Essay by Mick Gold, Isis, January 2021
NOTE: An earlier version of this essay appeared in the Dylan fanzine Isis, #212-213 in January to coincide with DVD release of Scorsese's film. Here's an expanded, improved version. ...
Review by Luke Turner, The Quietus, 29 January 2021
A recorded live performance by Karl 'Regis' O'Connor makes for a unique and delightfully daft visual album, finds Luke Turner ...
Buddy Guy: My Time After Awhile: Buddy Guy's Long Apprenticeship
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Coda Collection, February 2021
BUDDY GUY turned 84 in 2020, and he's been a blues legend for a long time. It's a good thing he's lasted so long, because ...
Kamasi Washington: Swing Time: Kamasi Washington
Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Reflex, 2 March 2021
AS A high profile jazz musician, Kamasi Washington is accustomed to improvising, just not in the ways that he's been forced to over the past ...
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 15 March 2021
The documentary movie, Without Getting Killed or Caught, is as much about Susanna Clark as it is about her husband Guy. Which makes sense, because ...
Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Celebrity Access, 29 March 2021
This week In the Hot Seat with Larry LeBlanc: Desmond Child, songwriter and producer. ...
Tina Turner: Dan Lindsay and T. J. Martin (directors): Tina (Sky/HBO)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Simon Warner, unpublished, April 2021
IF THEY fictionalised the Tina Turner story, it would be so implausible that not even Hollywood's most starry-eyed director would take it on. No one, ...
Lydia Lunch's Infinite Rebellion
Profile and Interview by Jim Farber, The New York Times, 28 June 2021
FOR NEARLY two hours on a recent afternoon, Lydia Lunch sat in her bright Brooklyn apartment and spoke with bracing speed, and at an alarming ...
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, The Guardian, 15 July 2021
As the US boiled with violence, 1969's Harlem cultural festival nourished spirits with soul, jazz and gospel. Now, Questlove has turned lost footage of it ...
Jimmy Cliff: The return of Jimmy Cliff: 'Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people'
Retrospective and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, The Guardian, 6 August 2021
As he releases new music at the age of 77, one of reggae's foundational figures charts his astonishing life in music, via swinging London, Brazilian ...
Rick James: "There's a lot to unpack": the dark, difficult life of Rick James
Retrospective by Jim Farber, The Guardian, 2 September 2021
In a new documentary, the defining funk artist's ups and many downs are examined with a clear eye and a lack of sugar-coating. ...
Patti Smith: Lenny Kaye: "Boom! I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and everything changed"
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 14 November 2021
As guitarist in the Patti Smith Group and compiler of psychedelic touchstone Nuggets, his place in music history is secured. His new book charts the ...
Lady Gaga: Lady Gucci is just the latest guise of the ever transmutable Lady Gaga
Profile by Edward Helmore, The Guardian, 8 December 2021
Pop singer, activist, art installation, actor, Stefani Germanotta has taken on many faces ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 15 December 2021
Singer-songwriter whose four-octave vocal range made him one of the most sought after backing singers in American music ...
John Singleton: How John Singleton's Soundtracks Brought The Black Experience To The Big Screen
Guide by Ben Merlis, uDiscoverMusic, 6 January 2022
Director John Singleton left behind more than just a cinematic legacy; his soundtracks brought the black experience to life on the big screen. ...
Report and Interview by Jim Farber, The Guardian, 16 March 2022
The complicated and fractious history of the prog-rock titans is explored in revealing new documentary In the Court of the Crimson King. ...
Interview by Laura Barton, The Independent, 24 April 2022
With her sister Nancy, Ann Wilson fronted the revolutionary, female-led hard rock outfit Heart. Laura Barton speaks to her on the cusp of a new ...
Metallica: How Metallica's 'Master of Puppets' turned rock upside down
Report by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 8 July 2022
The feral, ferocious anthem turned Metallica from noisy upstarts into global stars. And now, thanks to Stranger Things, it's happening again. ...
From A Hard Day's Night to This Is Spinal Tap: The Big Tent of Rock and Roll on Film
Essay by Fred Goodman, Literary Hub, 28 July 2022
Fred Goodman on the Evolution of the Rock and Roll Movie ...
Interview by Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, August 2022
With a visionary new African based film, vocalist, poet and actor Saul Williams has found a place to explore the polyglot power of language and ...
Book Excerpt by Mark Cooper, 'Later... with Jools Holland' (Harper Collins), September 2022
LEONARD COHEN taught us what Later... could become. He would show us how the show could be much more than the accidental sum of its ...
Kate Bush: 'Under the Ivy' on The Tube, 1986
Book Excerpt by Tom Doyle, Nine Eight Books, October 2022
RAMSHACKLE AND FUNNY, chaotic and controversial, Channel 4's live-to-air music show The Tube flew in the face of the glossy pop cultural trends of the ...
Robert Fripp, King Crimson: Toby Amies (dir.): In the Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson at 50
Film/DVD/TV Review by Irina Shtreis, Louder Than War, 20 December 2022
In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50, a documentary by Toby Amies, unveils the "acute suffering" of one of the artiest ...
Phil Spector: Spector (Sky documentary)
Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, January 2023
THERE WAS no more pathetic sight than the prison shots of Phil Spector, wrinkled and bald, his dignity in ruins, his vanity undone, his arrogance ...
Bob Dylan: How Bob Dylan Gave His Blessing to Girl From the North Country
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinatti Magazine, 6 October 2023
Playwright Conor McPherson is still amazed at the creative freedom Dylan gave him with the musical, playing this month at the Aronoff Center. ...
Kate Ceberano: "I've been misrepresented by ignorance — I work really hard and I love what I do"
Interview by Toby Creswell, The Guardian, 11 December 2023
The Australian singer talks about quitting school at 14, growing up in Scientology and why she's finally coming into her own as an artist, aged ...
The Beatles: It was 60 years ago today: the Beatles invade North America
Retrospective by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, February 2024
I HAD SEEN and heard the Beatles mentioned in a Walter Cronkite CBS news television program in December 1963, one of the first times they ...
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