Instrumentals
179 articles
Russ Conway: "I've Only Had One Big Hit" says Russ Conway
Profile and Interview by June Harris, Disc, 2 May 1959
"YOU'RE joking, of course," said Russ Conway when I told him that he was to be featured on our cover. "I don't deserve it. After ...
Winifred Atwell: More Albums from Winnie
Profile by June Harris, Disc, 28 November 1959
AND ONE OF THEM IS A 'CLASSICS ONLY' LP ...
Duane Eddy: Over a Desert to Make a Disc
Profile and Interview by June Harris, Disc, 12 November 1960
DUANE EDDY lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and has to drive more than 200 miles — across desert — to reach Los Angeles and the recording ...
The Ventures: Can The Ventures Hit the Jackpot for Third Time?
Profile by June Harris, Disc, 1 April 1961
IN HOLLYWOOD last week, Liberty Records announced that their overseas turnover amounted to 25% of the company's sales. The Ventures, who have had two best ...
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, The Shadows: Tony Meehan: Why I Left The Shadows
Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 13 October 1961
I AM A FIRM believer in following the policy which maintains that, since life is so short, it is most important that one should do ...
Sandy Nelson: Life-lines of Sandy Nelson
Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 26 January 1962
Real name: Sander L. Nelson. ...
Duane Eddy: Can Duane Get Out Of The Doldrums?
Report by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 12 May 1962
DUANE EDDY switched labels quite recently. His first single release under the new deal with RCA-Victor is 'Deep In The Heart Of Texas' — and ...
B. Bumble & The Stingers: Even B. Bumble has trouble with names
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 27 October 1962
YOU WOULD think that if you went to the trouble of calling yourself B. Bumble there would be little chance of people getting you mixed ...
Duane Eddy: From Arizona, DUANE EDDY tells DISC Now I Know I'm On The Right Twang
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 12 January 1963
GUITAR-MAN Duane Eddy says that he's back on the "right twang" — and will stay there — girl chorus and all — for his next ...
Johnny and The Hurricanes: Gaumont State Ballroom, Kilburn, London
Live Review by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 18 January 1963
HURRICANES IMPRESS ...
Cliff Richard, The Shadows: The Unseen, But Not Unheard Side Of The SHADOWS
Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 16 February 1963
THE SHADOWS: top instrumental group; world travellers; hit disc-makers; theatre packers-in; fan-forming personalities. But while they've strummed and struck their way to fame, they've been ...
Dick Dale: They've Spent A Fortune
Report by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 23 March 1963
On The Lad They Call "The New Presley" In The US ...
The Tornados: 'Telstar' Still Makes Tornados Nervous!
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 13 July 1963
FIVE TIE-less, tan-less Tornados trooped into the stately lounge at the Carlton Hotel, Great Yarmouth, and shocked the residents into silence as, none too quietly, ...
Sandy Bull, Stu Ramsay, Roger Sprung: Albums from Sandy Bull and more
Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 18 August 1963
A STRUMMER WITH MORE THAN THREE CHORDS ...
Lonnie Mack: The Instrumental Influence and Hit Star
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 24 August 1963
BEAT instrumentals are probably at a higher degree of popularity in the States than ever before. Discs like 'Wipeout', 'Tips Of My Fingers', 'Pipeline', 'Hot ...
Bert Weedon: I'm All For Contrast Says Bert Weedon
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 4 January 1964
IN ANY OUT-and-out pop disc show during the last year, about 10 out of a dozen records would be full of twang and beat, says ...
The Tornados: Hamburg — Where The Big Beat Reigns
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 1 February 1964
CLEM CATTINI TALKS TO PETER JONES ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Top Tunes: Junior Walker's 'Shotgun' Is His First Big Hit
Interview by Ronnie Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 27 February 1965
JUNIOR WALKER and the All Stars can thank a couple of teenagers from Benton Harbor, Mich., for the inspiration that's led to their first major ...
The Shadows: Keeping it dark about the Shadows
Interview by Maureen O'Grady, Rave, April 1965
The Shads have been a top international group for years, yet one of their secret fears is that they're not quite with-it. This got us ...
Booker T & The MGs: College Comes First For Jones
Report and Interview by Ann Moses, Rhythm 'n' News, 27 August 1965
FEW FULL-TIME college students could find enough time, energy or initiative to record and promote a record like the 1964 hit 'Green Onions'. But Booker ...
Horst Jankowski: Janie Marden Talks About Her Friend Horst Jankowski
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 September 1965
LOOK AT his picture and if you didn't know he was in the charts right now you might visualise Horst Jankowski as a bank clerk ...
Ramsey Lewis Trio: Basin Street West, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 October 1965
'In-Crowd' Leader Arrives ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker Makes Fans Sit Up
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 9 September 1966
IT DIDN'T mean a thing in Britain ...but a record called 'Shotgun' was the one that blasted Junior Walker and the All-Stars to hit parade ...
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 10 September 1966
AT LAST TAMLA'S wonder boy Junior Walker, alias Autrey DeWalt, has made our charts, after eighteen months of records which have been revered and worshipped ...
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 18 March 1967
ANY DR. ZHIVAGO "gear" seen in the Savllle last Sunday was not due to a 'fab fad' but to the nippy draughts which whistled through ...
Duane Eddy: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 18 March 1967
DUANE EDDY and a band of faithful followers generated 'Some Kinda Earthquake' at the Saville London on Sunday. Not quite the enormous earthquake that was ...
Lonnie Mack: Four Years After 'Memphis'
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, May 1968
LONNIE MCINTOSH was born in Harrison, Indiana on July 18, 1941 but the family soon moved to Aurora where he went to school and spent ...
John Fahey: The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death (Transatlantic TRA 173)
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968
WHAT IS A guitarist's guitarist? Listen to John Fahey on The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death to find out. Originally recorded back in the early ...
Love Sculpture: How to follow an old Russian tune: what now for Love Sculpture?
Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 11 January 1969
TRYING TO find a suitable follow-up for a 'pop' version of an old Russian tune is no mean feat. This, however, is the problem facing ...
Booker T & The MGs: Booker T. puts hits before tours
Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 January 1969
SOUL is a much maligned word which tends to bring a sneer to the lips of the musical cynics, probably because there has been so ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: 'We're Not Part Of The Tamla Sound' Says Junior Walker
Profile and Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 17 May 1969
OKAY, THE story has been told before. But here goes once again... so this guy Autry deWalt was a school-kid and he walked everywhere. Everyone ...
Arif Mardin, The Mar-Keys: Arif Mardin: Glass Onion (Atlantic); The Mar-Keys: Damifiknow (Stax)
Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 4 July 1969
GLASS ONION — Arif Mardin. You may not be acquainted with Arif Mardin. For a quick run down, he's from Turkey, got deep into jazz ...
Lonnie Mack: Mack the 'Memphis' Man Returns: 'I'm Glad I'm in the Band'
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 24 October 1969
THE SONG 'Memphis', made Johnny Rivers a big star. Remember? He recorded it live at the Whiskey A Go Go, making the club famous throughout ...
Dennis Coffey: Guitarist Dennis Coffey: "No Room for Temperament in Music"
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 7 November 1969
WHEN YOU talk to him he impresses you as a confident man. He knows what's going on but chooses to do things his way rather ...
The Bar-Kays: Soul Finger (Atco stereo 228 030; 37s 6d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 January 1970
THE INFLUENCE that Booker T. and the MG's have had on this five-piece outfit is obvious, but the Bar-Kays haven't quite got it together in ...
Steve Cropper: Cropper: The Living Legend from Memphis
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 21 February 1970
A MELODY MAKER EXCLUSIVE BY ROYSTON ELDRIDGE ...
Sandy Bull, Victoria: Matrix, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 26 February 1970
Talented Sandy Bull Back In His Old Musical Niche ...
Blue Mink, Booker T & The MGs: Booker T. & the MGs, Blue Mink: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 28 February 1970
BOOKER T. JONES and his group of Memphis musicians don't belong in any bag. You have to forget the categories where they are concerned and ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970
Guitar ace with Booker T, Stax producer and formerly with Otis Redding's show ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Back To School For Jr. Walker!
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
DROP INTO any discotheque you care to mention in any city or holiday resort in Europe and you can bet safely that at least three ...
The Beatles, Booker T & The MGs: Booker T-MGs Invade Beatle Land
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 June 1970
THINK YOU recognise the album cover on the right? Well, just look again! It's the sleeve to Booker T & the MG's new album McLemore ...
Booker T & The MGs: Booker T. & the M.G.s: McLemore Avenue (Stax Stereo SXATS 1031).
Review by Rob Partridge, Record Mirror, 4 July 1970
A COVER VERSION of the entire Beatles Abbey Road album — complete with Booker T. and the boys in Beatle-like post on the cover — ...
Deep Purple, Keef Hartley, Keith Moon: Various, Drum Bash: Bumpers Club, London
Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 March 1971
DEAFENING fun! That was the all-star drum conversation held at London's Bumpers Club last week. ...
Obituary by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971
KING CURTIS, whose wailing tenor sax was heard on many hit records over the past decade, was stabbed to death on New York's West Side ...
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972
ONE OF that tiny but slowly-expanding number of albums which points out a genuine new direction for the future is Zero Time, by Tonto's Expanding ...
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 ...
Dennis Coffey: The White Soul Guitar
Profile by Phil Symes, Disc, 11 November 1972
DENNIS COFFEY is a white man who plays soul music. Ask any soul fan. Regular pop fans might not be acquainted with his name but ...
Roy Buchanan: Roy Buchanan (Polydor 239-1042)
Review by Rob Bowman, Beetle, 30 November 1972
ROY BUCHANAN has been considered the world's greatest unknown guitarist for the last three years. He is being billed as the world's greatest ever but ...
Heinz, Joe Meek, The Tornados: Heinz: Just Like Eddie
Retrospective and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, December 1972
EVEN IF HE was born in Germany as the music papers said, we always suspected that Heinz's hair wasn't really that colour. It was his ...
Roy Buchanan: An Oldie but Goodie: Roy Buchanan
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, July 1973
FREAKS MAY BE trading in their Rory Gallagher albums for those by the new, laid-back, spaced out, country Clapton, but 'Echoes' readers know better – ...
Mike Oldfield, The Stooges: Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells; Iggy And The Stooges: Raw Power
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, August 1973
SOME RECORDS GET so much critical attention that I can’t listen to them blind, can’t ignore other opinions. So, according to John Peel Tubular Bells ...
Duane Eddy: The Guitar Man Twangs Back
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 6 October 1973
THE FIRST REAL guitar superstar of the rock and roll age sits in an office no larger than a bathroom on North Vine off the ...
Back Door Trio Forsakes the Pubs
Profile and Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 22 November 1973
LONDON — "THIRTY thousand people? That's as many as they get in a Blackburn football match!" ...
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 24 November 1973
I OWN TWO albums by Chet Atkins, both of which are old and scratched. One features country picking and the other is titled Chet Picks ...
Scott Joplin: The Great Pianoforte In The Sky
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974
IT WAS ALMOST as hard as getting to Dylan – but, eventually aided by an agent called Godwin, who knew everybody worth knowing, I was ...
Mickey Baker: l00 Club, London
Live Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 10 August 1974
THE EPITHET "Living blues legend" has been much overworked. but in Mickey Baker's case it doesn't even begin to be adequate. He's that, and so ...
Interview by Richard Harrington, Unicorn Times, September 1974
SOMEWHERE ALONG the line, guitarist Danny Gatton played in a group called Fat Chance. That name may have been appropriate for the gentle portliness of ...
Roy Buchanan: Community Theater, Berkeley CA
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 5 April 1975
Buchanan show, was it sabotage? ...
Live Review by Philip Norman, The Times, 7 June 1975
LINK WRAY was – I should say, is – an American guitarist who, somewhere around 1960, recorded an instrumental tune called 'Rumble'. ...
John Fahey: Hunter College, New York NY
Live Review by Paul Nelson, The Village Voice, 9 June 1975
John Fahey Is a Tough Guy ...
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
JIGS AND reels and the Albion Country Band at the LSE? What??? Danny Cohn-Bendit, I feel for you, man. ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 26 June 1976
Rock'n'Roll? Nah, that's kids' stuff ...
Jeff Beck: Wired (Epic PE 33849)
Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 29 July 1976
All Wired Up: Beck's Best Yet ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976
AFTER MY initial listening to this album I was going to take the easy way out, fob off with a few jokes about the Raga ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Jr. Walker: 'Everybody's Just Ready For Me To Blow.'
Interview by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, October 1976
JR. WALKER is the man who, it might be said, invented disco-jazz. Ten years ago or more, he was creating a kind of music Ramsey ...
Interview by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 26 November 1976
The guitar hero's guitar hero ...
James Booker: A winner never quits, a quitter never wins...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 30 November 1976
'THE BLACK LIBERATCHI' That's what it says on the card and you can tell that it's going to be one of those interviews when you ...
Stuff: Bottom Line, New York NY
Live Review by Stephen Demorest, New York Daily News, 1 January 1977
The Stuff stars are made of ...
Chet Atkins, Les Paul: Chet Atkins and Les Paul: Chester And Lester (RCA)
Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977
WELL NOW, this isn't exactly the kind of record that you hear every day of the week. ...
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 March 1977
STUFF CONSISTS of Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale (guitars), Stephen Gadd and Christopher Parker (drums), Gordon Edwards (bass), and Richard Tee (keyboards). ...
Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 16 August 1977
NO, THE three above-named acts did not appear together in any kind of mammoth concert but we lumped them together because our reviews on each ...
John Fahey: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 23 December 1977
Beyond Virtuosity With John Fahey ...
Ralph MacDonald: The Sound of a Syndrum
Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 9 February 1978
RALPH MACDONALD has done for percussionists what McDonald's did for hamburgers. In a short time his collection of congas, bongos, cowbells, shakers, triangles and countless ...
Joe Sample: Rainbow Seeker (ABC Import)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 April 1978
SEARCH AND DEPLOY ...
Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 July 1979
WATCHING the American guitarist, John Fahey, one is reminded of the occasion when Ravi Shankar performed at the famous concert for Bangladesh. Taking to the ...
Robert Fripp's Public Exposure
Report and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 26 July 1979
The return to 'an intelligent way of living' ...
The Durutti Column: Columnar Collusions
Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 16 August 1980
DURUTTI FRUTTI, THE DAVE McCULLOUGH FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH ...
The Raybeats: Sons and Daughters of No New York: The Raybeats
Profile and Interview by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, October 1980
THE TRADITION of white instrumental rock in America is not a particularly strong one. Indeed, most of the young 'uns I know consider the white ...
Richard Tee: Natural Ingredients (CBS 84194)
Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 7 October 1980
'What A Woman Really Means'; 'Now'; 'The Nut's Off The Screw'; 'Tell It Like It Is'; 'Us'; 'Back Door Man'; 'Spinning Song' ...
The Raybeats: Danceteria, New York NY
Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
Smooth surfers of the dance floor ...
The Raybeats: Taking Liberties from New York, Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 28 February 1981
THE RAYBEATS, uniformed and partly choreographed, the second on. Greeted by a small crowd huddled at the front of the seatless stalls, they are brave, ...
Amos Garrett: Go Cat Go (Flying Fish FF226)
Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, March 1981
LIKE RY Cooder, guitarist Amos Garrett has carved a solid niche for himself without resorting to the usual ploys associated with rock's guitar cult: Although ...
The Raybeats: Raybeats rock with a twist
Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 16 October 1981
INSTRUMENTAL ROCK 'n' roll? ...
Rock Instrumentals: Without A Voice
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, The History of Rock, 1982
Rock is essentially a vocal musical form: the singer is the pivot and he or she is supported by the group. ...
Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 21 January 1982
IT REMINDS you of a movie. Doris Day goes, by accident of course, probably after a fight with Rock Hudson, to a party. In the ...
NRBQ: The One And Only Combined NRBQ: Nothing Really Beats Quality
Interview by Dave DiMartino, Creem, March 1982
YEARS AGO, say 1968 or so, I was a snivelling adolescent who stole off outside the house to smoke Tareyton cigarettes. I often did shameful ...
Hank Marvin, The Shadows: Hank B. Marvin
Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, 'The Guitar Greats' (BBC Books), 1983
TO DEMONSTRATE to any potential unbelievers the importance of Hank B. Marvin, we must go back to 1977, when a TV commercial was screened showing ...
Robert Fripp, The Police, Andy Summers: Andy Summers Unmasked
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Downbeat, July 1983
HIS IMAGE is pure pop. Shaggy blond hair (dyed) in a modified Beatles cut. Mod clothes that might have come from England's trendy King's Road: ...
Les Paul: The inimitable Les Paul: retired since 1979, the Master Tinkerer is back in the groove
Interview by Gene Santoro, Pulse!, September 1984
LESTER POLFUS may not be a name to conjure with, but Les Pau! certainly is. Among his many accomplishments: the invention of the Les Paul ...
Chuck Berry, Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Willie Mitchell (1985) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1985
This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Willie. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Roy Buchanan: Dominion, London
Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 7 March 1985
TO THE majority of rock enthusiasts, Roy Buchanan may be remembered as little more than an American guitarist who achieved one minor British chart success ...
The Mosquitos, The Raybeats: The Raybeats, The Mosquitos: Irving Plaza, New York NY
Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 16 March 1985
THE RAYBEATS have been a New York club favorite for about five years now, but it was obvious from the ovation for the openers that ...
Sandy Nelson: The Beat Goes On
Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 11 April 1985
QUICK. HOW many rock & roll drummers had two Top-Ten hits? If you guessed none, you wouldn't he far wrong, because only one has ever ...
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 ...
Lonnie Mack: Guitarist Mack Brings Varied Life To L.A. Concert
Interview by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 10 August 1985
"FIRST TIME I met Jeff Beck was when they were doin' that benefit for Ronnie Lane down in Dallas. Ah came in the door and ...
Stanley Jordan: Have Fingers, Will Fly!
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 16 November 1985
When STANLEY JORDAN straps on his guitar, he can play rhythm, lead and the other fiddley bits all at once! PAOLO HEWITT, disbelief in his ...
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, January 1986
If you consider yourself a vibrato-bar player, you owe a huge debt to Lonnie Mack ...
Roy Buchanan on turning down the Stones and being flattered by Beck
Interview by Steve Newton, The Georgia Straight, 7 February 1986
NOT MANY guitarists can say they were invited to join the Rolling Stones. Not many can say they turned the offer down either. But Roy ...
Jeff Beck: Ambitious in his artistry
Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 22 March 1986
The reclusive Jeff Beck is back with a new single, released on Monday. Interview by David Sinclair ...
Special Feature by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, August 1986
LINK WRAY — whose 1958 hit 'Rumble' sounded an early tremor of what was to become rock and roll guitar — once divulged his jerry-rigged ...
Adrian Belew: Belew's Menagerie
Interview by Gene Santoro, Guitar World, March 1987
Inside the fertile mind of ADRIAN BELEW, master of sound mixology. ...
Joe Jackson: Success With The Help of Will Power
Interview by Mark Dery, Only Music, July 1987
He's done everything from beatinghimself crazy to jumping jive,but with his new albumthe composer has returned to the classics. ...
Sly & Robbie: Can the Riddim Twins Rock the Mainstream?
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, August 1987
AS SUPPORTING players, they've become as recognizable and popular as comic book superheroes. Is there anyone who isn't familiar with Sly Dunbar's brightly-colored tams and ...
Eugene Chadbourne: The Lovably Low-Tech Eugene Chadbourne
Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, February 1988
"There's no type of music I don't like; it's important to be able to make fun of all types." ...
Bill Frisell Quartet: Look Out For Hope (ECM)
Review by Gene Santoro, Spin, May 1988
BILL FRISELL IS the Clark Kent of the electric guitar. Soft-spoken and self-effacing in conversation, he apparently breathes in lungfuls of raw fire when he ...
Sandy Bull: Jukebox School of Music (ROM Records)
Review by Byron Coley, Spin, December 1988
IN THE decade and a half since his last release, the rumor circulated that Sandy Bull had died. After a string of generally brilliant albums ...
Joe Satriani, Mick Jagger: The Devil And Joe Satriani
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, April 1989
A Guitar Hero Strikes a Different Kind of Bargain ...
Danny Gatton: Picking Danny Gatton's Brain
Interview by Gene Santoro, Musician, February 1991
Some of the tricks that make the world's greatest unknown guitarist great ...
Patrice Rushen: The Lady Plays a Vamp
Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, March 1991
Keyboard wizard Patrice Rushen unravels jazz improvisation ...
Danny Gatton: Of Cars, Bars and Vintage Guitars
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Downbeat, April 1991
IMAGINE THAT you're an English roots-rock guitarist — say, Dave Edmunds or Billy Bremner — and you've spent your whole life trying to look and ...
James Brown, The J.B.'s, Fred Wesley: Fred Wesley: Right, Said Fred...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 14 May 1991
Fred Wesley talks of funk, jazz and the idiosyncratic Mr. Brown ...
Danny Gatton: The Fastest Guitar in the East
Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 11 August 1991
The fastest guitar in the East. Or the West, or the South — or anywhere on the planet, really. A lot of people think Danny ...
Roy Buchanan: Sweet Dreams – The Anthology
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Polydor Records, 1992
ROY BUCHANAN seemed to come out of nowhere in 1972 when a laudatory article in Rolling Stone was followed by his first album, but it ...
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 ...
Just a Thought…Whatever Happened To New Age Music?
Comment by Lloyd Bradley, Q, August 1992
Dreamy celestial soundscapes. Tinkly cosmic meditations Worryingly little public interest...Is the music of the future becoming a thing of the past? ...
Kenny G: A breathless encounter with Kenny G
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 11 May 1993
It's questions and answers time for the chart-topping saxman as David Nathan catches up with him prior to his UK concert dates supporting Michael Bolton. ...
Duane Eddy: Twangin' from Phoenix to L.A. (Bear Family)
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Bear Family Records, 1994
LET'S NOT TALK about guitarists who can play circles around other guitarists, or about which famous picker influenced which other famous picker. ...
Kenny G: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 2 February 1994
Safe and smooth as skimmed milk ...
John Fahey: The Persecutions And Resurrections Of Blind Joe Death
Profile and Interview by Byron Coley, Spin, November 1994
More than 30 years of mind-blowing guitar playing and composing have earned John Fahey a hip handful of devoted fans and a squalid room in ...
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 ...
Live Review by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 31 March 1995
Totem recall ...
Junior Walker & the All Stars: Junior Walker 1931-1995
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 25 January 1996
IN EARLY 1965, a new single lit up American radio. It began with a gunshot, echoed by the snare drum that followed. Then a tenor ...
Herb Alpert: It's long way to Tijuana
Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 10 July 1996
POP MUSIC. The mid-1960s. The era when Britannia apparently ruled the airwaves. Yet consider the American album chart of 30 years ago this week. The ...
The Beastie Boys, Money Mark: Money Mark: On the money
Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 13 February 1998
There he was, fixing a gate — when along came a Beastie Boy. Tom Cox on the keyboard capers of the man who was nearly ...
Review by Stevie Chick, Melody Maker, 7 March 1998
THE PROBLEM with prog rock was that it didn't actually progress anywhere; musical frontierism was merely a smokescreen for some of the most wanky follies ...
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Godspeed You Black Emperor!: The Garage, London
Live Review by Ben Thompson, The Independent, 27 November 1998
The sound of Hank Marvin, plunging into deep space ...
Retrospective by Edwin Pouncey, The Wire, July 1999
In the latest in our series uncovering the hidden wiring of 20th century music, Edwin Pouncey shows how rock 'n' roll's face was changed forever ...
David Pajo, Papa M: Papa M: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 29 April 2000
How to avoid an audience ...
Bill Frisell: Let your fingers do the talking
Interview by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 2001
Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has worked with everyone from Chet Baker to Marianne Faithful. So why start taking lessons now? Richard Williams met him ...
Interview by Steve Newton, Rock's Backpages audio, 2001
The guitar great on his relationship with Jan Hammer; on his current live band and guitarist Jennifer Batten; on his latest album You Had It Coming; his use of modern technology; on getting his guitar sound; his memories of meeting Roy Buchanan back in the '70s; his admiration for John McLaughlin; suffering tinnitus, and his love of building hot rod cars.
File format: mp3; file size: 14.1mb, interview length: 14' 39" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Money Mark: Change Is Coming (Emperor Norton)
Review by Dan Gennoe, Q, 2001
Beastie Boys' favourite session player proves his worth with third album. ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Sander L. Nelson, 1 December 1938, Santa Monica, California, USA ...
Ace Cannon: The Best of Ace Cannon: The Hi Records Years
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, The Right Stuff/Hi Records, 2001
SPARE, FUNKY, and disarmingly simple. Ace Cannon and Bill Black defined a sound. There was never a surplus note or inflection. These were records that ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
Gene Alden, b. Cisco, Texas, USA (replaced by Jim Seals b. 17 October 1941, Sidney, Texas); Dave Burgess, b. Lancaster, California; Van Norman; Dale Norris, ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
Bob Bogle, b. 6 January 1937, Portland, Oregon, USA; Don Wilson, b. 10 February 1937, Tacoma, Washington; Nokie Edwards, b. 9 May 1939, Lahoma, Oklahoma; ...
Esquivel, Arthur Lyman, Ken Nordine: Adventures in Stereo
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, January 2001
Whatever happened to the days of the Teldec stereophonic systems and orthophonic sound? Kieron Tyler winds up the victrola and trips hack into a world ...
Jeff Beck: No fret: Jeff Beck plays the game his way
Profile and Interview by Fred Shuster, The Tennessean, 1 March 2001
Creative spirit for guitarist restless, but still going strong ...
Review by Simon Warner, PopMatters, 26 March 2001
IN THE ANNALS of British rock guitarists it is hard to escape the spectre of Clapton, Page and Beck, a great triumvirate, linked not just ...
The Bill Black Combo: The Best of Bill Black's Combo – The Hi Records Years
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Hi/Fat Possum Records, April 2001
NO AMOUNT OF current technology could emulate the aching exactness of Bill Black's Combo. Guitar, bass, and drums somehow kept a loose yet militarily precise ...
Mike Oldfield: The Making of Tubular Bells
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, August 2001
One of the most influential pieces of music in rock history – much imitated, used in movies, TV commercials and documentaries, sampled by Janet Jackson, ...
Booker T & The MGs: The Backroom Boys: Booker T & the MGs
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 2001
IF EVER THERE WAS a piece of music that deserved the epithet "timeless", it’s Booker T. & the MGs’ ‘Green Onions’. The most basic of ...
Robin Guthrie: Out of the Shadows
Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 21 March 2003
Why has the limelight-shy former Cocteau twin Robin Guthrie gone solo? ...
Burt Bacharach: Little Big Things: Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now
Review by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 28 April 2003
IN THE LATE '80s, I sat with the great Japanese pop artist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto on a hotel rooftop in L.A. talking about Burt ...
Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, July 2003
Fourth full album from Scots noise miscreants. Self-produced in Glasgow after two in USA with Flaming Lips/Mercury Rev cohort Dave Fridmann. ...
Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People
Review by Toby Manning, The Word, July 2003
All hail the Glaswegian cochlea-botherers ...
Tortoise: Shell unsuited: Tortoise
Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 20 February 2004
The ever-uncommercial Tortoise ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, July 2004
PANNED ON ITS RELEASE, STEVIE WONDER'S JOURNEY THROUGH THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS MADE PREFAB SPROUT'S PADDY MCALOON A SONGWRITER. ...
Sleeve notes by Kieron Tyler, RPM Records, October 2004
Aim High is the soundtrack to a film that was never produced. ...
Retrospective and Interview by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 May 2005
"A lot of people don't know who the Meters are, but they sure know the songs." – Leo Nocentelli ...
Booker T & The MGs, Booker T. Jones: Booker T. Jones (2006) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Joel Selvin, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2006
This is a transcript of Joel's radio interview with the great M.G.s mainmain. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois, U2: Daniel Lanois: The Compromise You Make For Some
Interview by Scott McLennan, Rip It Up (Australia), March 2006
The "Fifth Beatle" moniker has been bandied about numerous times over the years in reference to everyone from George Martin to Pete Best, but if ...
John Fahey: Two Tributes to Guitarist John Fahey
Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Blues Revue, June 2006
WITH HOLLYWOOD having a thing about artists who walk the thin line between genius and insanity, the life of guitarist John Fahey seems ripe for ...
The Ventures' Don Wilson: Rock Don't Run
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, DISCoveries, 1 August 2006
ON A CONSTRUCTION site in Seattle, Washington, in 1959, two guitarists, Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, decided to perform together at local sock hops, initially ...
Tom Verlaine: Songs and Other Things/Around (Thrill Jockey)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, Spring 2006
Dual release of vocal and instrumental albums: the Television leader's long-overdue solo return. ...
Too Cool For Words! Gary Pig Gold's All-Time Favorite Rock 'N' Roll Instrumentals
Guide by Gary Pig Gold, earcandymag.com, March 2007
DRUMS AND wires often DO speak louder than words, and in that age-old teen spirit I hereby present a wholly chronological, but admittedly entirely objective ...
Hank Marvin: Hank B. Marvin (2007)
Interview by Joe Matera, Rock's Backpages audio, 27 August 2007
The chief Shadow talks about the changes in recording technology since he first went into a studio with Cliff in 1958; discusses his guitar techniques, and about getting his first Stratocaster and AC30 amplifier.
File format: mp3; file size: 18.5mb, interview length: 20' 14" sound quality: *****
Mike Oldfield: Lord Of The Rings
Retrospective and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 2009
He created one of the most monolithic albums of the '70s, but behind the ambitious swoop of Tubular Bells lies a story of darkness, bad ...
Comment by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 8 October 2009
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC is the neglected child of rock and pop — but it's the absence of a human presence that can make it so interesting. ...
Cluster, Tortoise: Tortoise / Cluster: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, November 2009
CURRENT DEFINITIONS of jazz are clearly somewhat flexible, judging by the avant-rock double bill that closed this year's London Jazz Festival on Sunday night. The ...
Rodrigo y Gabriela: Natural Acoustics: Rodrigo y Gabriela
Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2010
YOU'D THINK a pair of former thrash-metal heads from Mexico City would have the kind of backstage rider that was a hedonistic Eden. Not a ...
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 ...
Ramsey Lewis: Songs From the Heart – Ramsey Plays Ramsey
Review by Lloyd Bradley, bbc.co.uk, 15 March 2010
A credible jazz album for those who never knew they liked the genre ...
Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, The Shadows: Jet Harris, 1939-2011
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 21 March 2011
The first and greatest bass guitarist of the Shadows, he also topped the charts with drummer Tony Meehan. ...
Duane Eddy: "All Pilots Are Musicians"
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, The Word, July 2011
Downhome philosopher, barrier-busting King Of Twang noise-bringer — Duane Eddy strums the semi-acoustic soundbox of sagacity. ...
Garth Hudson: The World According to Garth Hudson
Report and Interview by Charles Bermant, Rock's Backpages, 16 November 2011
IN A PREVIOUS LIFE you went to several concerts a month, when those who are now rock and roll dinosaurs walked the earth. Today you ...
Sleeve notes by Gene Sculatti, Shout! Factory Records, 2012
IN 1975, at the age of 32, Mick Jagger famously uttered one of the more regrettable, bite-yourself-in-the-behind remarks in modern pop history. "I'd rather be ...
Chilly Gonzales: Piano Solos II
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, August 2012
THOUGH HE'S BEST known for his mischievous, multiple redefinitions of hip hop – including his last release which, he claimed, was the world's first orchestral ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 2 December 2012
Versatile American guitarist who had a million-selling hit with 'Love Is Strange' ...
Interview by Dave Thompson, Goldmine, June 2013
HE IS, OF COURSE, Mr. Tubular Bells and, regular as clockwork, the 40th anniversary of the release of his greatest hit delivers what a lot ...
2CELLOS: Shepherds Bush Empire, W12
Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 19 February 2015
TAKE A COUPLE OF tousled-haired, classically trained Croatians; mix in Michael Jackson, AC/DC and a dash of Il Divo's cheesy charm; simmer on YouTube. The ...
Marc Ribot Considered: Cosmopolitan guitarist without portfolio
Profile by Graham Reid, Elsewhere, 25 February 2015
IF THERE IS a distinguishing feature of American guitarist Marc Ribot's style, it is that you'd be unwise to attempt to attribute a distinguishing feature ...
Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, Jeff Lynne, Rockpile, The Stray Cats: Dave Edmunds: An Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 24 June 2015
IT TOOK Dave Edmunds about four months to deconstruct ten famous songs – 'God Only Knows', 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' and 'Your Song' among ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Vintage Rock, July 2015
THEY WERE acclaimed as pioneers of the surf sound alongside Dick Dale, Link Wray and the Ventures, but the Fireballs, who enjoyed a US chart ...
Mogwai: Central Belters (Rock Action)
Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015
DURING THEIR RISE to prominence, very few onlookers would have predicted that post-rock upstarts Mogwai would have the staying power to be receiving the 20th. ...
Live Review by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Financial Times, 23 January 2018
MARC RIBOT is best known for his work for other musicians. That's Ribot's off-centre, jagged guitar on Rain Dogs, Tom Waits's 1985 album, the start ...
Obituary by Tony Burke, Record Collector, May 2019
THE PIONEER OF "surf rock" guitar, Dick Dale died on March 16th aged 81. Born Richard Anthony Monsour on 4th May, 1937, in Boston, Dale developed a ...
Tal Wilkenfeld: Queen of the Bass: Why Tal Wilkenfeld is every rock star's secret weapon
Profile and Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 16 December 2019
Adored by Prince, Jeff Beck and the Who, thirtysomething jazz prodigy Tal Wilkenfeld is one of the most in-demand musicians in the world. And it's ...
Mogwai's As the Love Continues: A playback at Glasgow's Tramway
Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 February 2021
Glasgow's post-rock giants launch their 10th album with a thunderous filmed playback that cries out to be heard live. ...
Book Excerpt by Philip Watson, Faber, March 2022
An extract from Chapter 1 of Bill Frisell, Beautiful Dreamer: The Guitarist Who Changed the Sound of American Music (Faber) ...
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