Songwriters and Singer-Songwriters
2,032 articles
Cliff Richard, The Shadows: Another Hit for Cliff but This ISN'T Expected
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 15 April 1961
CLIFF RICHARD, winner of eight of our Silver Discs, has another hit on his hands, and one he did not really expect. The number is ...
Bob Dylan: The First Interview
Press Release by Billy James, Columbia Records, October 1961
DYLAN: Well, let me say that I was born in Duluth, Minnesota – give that a little plug. That's where I was born and, uh, ...
Geoffrey Goddard: 'Buddy Holly Spoke To Me' says singer who wrote 'Tribute'
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 26 October 1961
THREE weeks before the release of 'Johnny Remember Me', songwriter Geoffrey Goddard claims he received a "message" from the late Buddy Holly saying "this song ...
Del Shannon: Mix-Ups and Mr. Shannon
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 10 March 1962
BY NOW, mix-ups seem to be an integral pact of DEL SHANNON'S recording career. ...
John D. Loudermilk and Fred Foster: Nashville Men Take a Look at London
Interview by June Harris, Disc, 9 June 1962
TRAVELLING companions on a brief visit to London last week were songwriter and RCA recording artist John D. Loudermilk, and Fred Foster, the 30-year-old boss ...
Del Shannon Digs 'Nutty' Sounds
Interview by Ian Dove, Record Mirror, 22 September 1962
THE 'RUNAWAY' SINGER WANTS TO SEE SOME FOOTBALL ...
Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Little Eva: Four Careers & Carole King
Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 22 September 1962
FOUR CAREERS? At twenty? How come you may well ask. In CAROLE KING'S case it comes naturally. ...
Report and Interview by Al Aronowitz, Saturday Evening Post, August 1963
2003 note: The following was trimmed down to fit in the pages of the Saturday Evening Post by Bill Ewald, one of the few editors ...
Mort Shuman: The Man Who Writes Hits For The U.S. Stars
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 4 January 1964
IF ANYONE bothers to look just under the titles of their records, they'll see a name or names in brackets. Those names are the songwriters. ...
Chuck Berry, Little Walter: Chuck Berry Tells Guy Stevens About 'How I Write My Songs'
Report and Interview by Guy Stevens, Record Mirror, 4 April 1964
MY FIRST MEETING with Chuck Berry proved to be as exciting and interesting as I had expected. I met him in the offices of Chess ...
Bob Dylan: If You Want To Do It — Then Do It
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 23 May 1964
It's the rules that cause the trouble ...
Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield: Burt Bacharach: 'Time Is My Enemy'
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 4 September 1964
"I JUST DON'T get enough time to cram everything in," top U.S. songwriter, arranger and producer Burt Bacharach told me, during a two-day visit last ...
Mort Shuman: Writing Songs Is So Easy
Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 11 October 1964
FOR SONG-WRITING we British make do with Lennon/McCartney. The Americans are more extravagant; they use Pomus and Shuman, Leiber and Stoller, Goffin and King, David ...
Jackie DeShannon: Jackie Jumps For Joy
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 7 November 1964
RIGHT NOW, let's stop messing around. Let's not keep the delectable Jackie de Shannon in suspense any longer... just one good heave-ho and her first-rate ...
Gene Pitney: Flashback for Gene Pitney to The Most Ridiculous Session Ever
Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 5 March 1965
WORD WENT around very quickly about the "most ridiculous recording session ever." Accountants blanched as they put the cost in their account books. Heads of ...
Burt Bacharach: 'Money Means Nothing To Me' says Bacharach
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 17 April 1965
ISN'T IT weird how people who make a living out of a particular talent often have personalities quite different from that you might expect? A ...
Cilla Black, Randy Newman: Cilla Black: "The Song My Mum Doesn't Like"
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 1 May 1965
WHAT I asked Cilla Black was what she thought of the controversy surrounding her latest single, 'I've Been Wrong Before'. And a Liverpool accent which ...
Burt Bacharach, Manfred Mann: Bacharach helps the Manfreds
Report and Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 8 May 1965
RICHARD GREEN TALKS TO THE MANFRED MEN ...
Bob Dylan: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 15 May 1965
Different Dylan ...
P. F. Sloan: A Portrait: P.F. Sloan — A Many-Colored Personality Revealed Here
Interview by Eden, KRLA Beat, 6 November 1965
AT SOME time during your childhood, you may have had the experience of peering through a kaleidoscope with its multitude of shapes and designs. Part ...
Fred Neil: Where's It All Going?
Interview by uncredited writer, Hit Parader, January 1966
LISTEN TO the music of Fred Neil, particularly 'Travelin' Shoes', 'Country Boy' and 'Gone Again' from his Bleecker & MacDougal Street album and you'll dig ...
Bob Dylan, The Rising Sons: Dylan Sells Out Seven West Coast Concerts
Report by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 1 January 1966
"HE'LL BE America's greatest troubadour, if he doesn't explode." ...
Roger Miller: Coppers on Bikes Got Roger Miller Swinging!
Interview by Ann Moses, New Musical Express, 7 January 1966
"England swings like a pendulum do. Bobbies on bicycles, two by two. Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Big Ben; The rosy-red cheeks of the little children." (Part ...
The Changing Times: A Chat With The Changing Times
Interview by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 15 January 1966
"I WAS BORN," he stated very positively as he sprawled across the end of the bed staring curiously at the ceiling like he'd never noticed ...
The Animals, Petula Clark, The Drifters, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Simon & Garfunkel: Citysongs
Essay by Paul Williams, Crawdaddy!, March 1966
ROCK 'N' ROLL songs, according to a joke now about ten years old, have three types of lyrics: a) I love my baby, b) my ...
The Beatles: Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters — A Portrait from 1966
Interview by Michael Lydon, unpublished, March 1966
Just after the release of Rubber Soul, I had the chance to meet John Lennon and Paul McCartney in London, and I conducted in-depth interviews ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: 'I Thought I Was a Has-Been at 19'
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 30 April 1966
PAUL SIMON is the composer of 21 songs, most of which have been put to work for him very profitably. ...
Barry Mann: Creating Number One Singles, Mann-Style
Profile and Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 11 June 1966
DID YOU EVER wonder how the Righteous Brothers came up with 'Soul And Inspiration', how Paul Revere and the Raiders came up with 'Kicks', or ...
Crispian St. Peters: Follow Me (Decca)
Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 25 June 1966
IF IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY, THEN JUDGING BY HIS FIRST LP CRISPIAN ST. PETERS MUST BE ELVIS' BIGGEST FAN... ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Too Many Releases 'Kill' Simon And Garfunkel 'Rock' Single
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 15 July 1966
IN AUGUST, 1965, an album titled The Paul Simon Song Book was released by CBS featuring the composition 'I Am A Rock'. In September a ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan: Is He Weird?
Comment by Eden, KRLA Beat, 27 August 1966
MILLIONS UPON millions of words have been written about this man, and usually — they are words of great eloquence, sentences highly stylized in their ...
Lamont Dozier, The Supremes: Holland & Dozier: Motown's Money
Profile and Interview by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 10 September 1966
THE SUPREMES strolled into the crowded club where the Temptations were playing and instantly everyone in the room knew they were there. ...
Smokey Robinson, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: The Other Smokey Robinson — Songwriter
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 14 October 1966
BACK IN 1957 Bill "Smokey" Robinson, then 17, bumped into Berry Gordy Jr. Smokey had a stack of about 100 songs he had written, and ...
Mark Spoelstra: Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre, London
Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 29 October 1966
THERE IS a soft centre at the heart of much of contemporary American songwriting in the folk or near-folk idiom which makes it difficult ever ...
Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush: Tom Rush Tells Why He's Now Electrified!
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 11 November 1966
ONCE UPON a time folk singers looked at electric guitars and top 40 radio in horror. Then several years back the big hero of the ...
Tom Paxton: Paxton: Singing First
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 12 November 1966
AS HANK Locklin's recording of 'The Last Thing On My Mind' climbs into the charts, the man who wrote it, folksinger-writer Tom Paxton, is back ...
Arlo Guthrie: One Of America's Most Interesting Young Folk Singers For Some Time
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 10 December 1966
PEOPLE WHO go along to hear Woody Guthrie's son, Arlo, during his three week tour of Britain expecting to hear a carbon copy of the ...
Simon & Garfunkel: Simon And Garfunkel Selling Intellectualism
Comment by Carol Deck, KRLA Beat, 17 December 1966
INTELLECTUALISM has always been an underground movement in America. It is something that the majority of people view as just a fad — like swallowing ...
Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, The Monkees: The Story Of Tommy Boyce And Bobby Hart
Report by Derek Taylor, World Countdown News, 1967
THE HOTEL CHESTERFIELD is not one of New York’s most majestic hotels, but it has a virtue prized by lyricists and tunesmiths for it is ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, January 1967
I LIKE TO write songs from true experiences. Things that have actually happened. You can't get away from the truth of everyday life. Sometimes I'll ...
Neil Diamond: Strictly In The Diamond Bag
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 14 January 1967
FOR ONE reason or another, most people tend to throw Neil Diamond into the "serious, loner, angry young man" bag. Which is something like terming ...
Don Covay: Quotes by Don Covay
Profile and Interview by Bill Harry, Record Mirror, 21 January 1967
DON COVAY burst on the music scene as a singer in the U.S. in 1964 with a self-penned smash hit called 'Mercy Mercy'. As a ...
The Beach Boys, Jackson Browne, Buffalo Springfield, Love: Los Angeles: The Vanishing Underground
Report by Richard Goldstein, Village Voice, The, 16 February 1967
LOS ANGELES — Sunset Strip is dead. ...
Cat Stevens: Tin Pan Alley Cat
Interview by Dawn James, Rave, March 1967
Songwriter, singer, sometimes loner, sometimes family man — Tin Pan Alley's latest discovery is all these things. RAVE's Dawn James finds out more for you ...
Roy Harper: Sophisticated Beggar (Strike JHL 105)
Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 18 March 1967
THE TROUBLE with real innovators is that they make life very difficult for anyone who tries to emulate them. Bert Jansch and John Renbourn have ...
Review by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 26 March 1967
Janis Ian: She's Hip at 15 ...
Donovan: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 29 April 1967
DONOVAN AT THE SAVILLE — A PSYCHEDELIC TROUDADOR ...
Rod McKuen: "Money Is Only Good To Buy Candy Bars"
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, 17 June 1967
NESTLED ON the side of a hill in Hollywood is the home of an extremely talented, highly successful, completely unassuming man named Rod McKuen. A ...
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 ...
Janis Ian: 'Society's Child', And Why the Ban Is Being Lifted
Report by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, 14 July 1967
"Walk me down to school, baby Everybody's acting deaf and blind Until they turn and say 'Why don't you stick to your own ...
Janis Ian: Musical Psychologist: Janis The Voice Of Mini-Hippies
Profile by Mike Gormley, Ottawa Journal, The, 21 July 1967
HERE WE go again. Another great song-writer is upon us. ...
Scott Walker: Scott Keeps One Step Ahead
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 24 July 1967
AND SO THE moving singer, having moved — moves on. Scott Walker is still one jump ahead of the fans in his pursuit of privacy. ...
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' ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Inside The Mind of Paul Simon (part 1)
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1967
A LOT OF readers have been asking for an interview with Simon and Garfunkel. After much difficulty in tracing them down (it was impossible to ...
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, August 1967
WHO WILL be the big soul singer, the one to last and last? We have James Brown, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett and the subject of ...
Jackson Browne, Penny Nichols: The Billy James Underground
Report by Richard Goldstein, Village Voice, The, 3 August 1967
HE CRUISES along the Freeway out of Los Angeles in an open Rolls, the kind that used to have upholstery and windows. His young son ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Inside The Mind of Paul Simon (part 2)
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, September 1967
Last month, Paul Simon commented on current singers, songs and his own songwriting. He gets into it again this time along with a dash of ...
Bob Dylan: An Attempt at Analysis: What's So Good About Dylan?
Essay by Michael Gray, Oz, October 1967
DYLAN'S LYRICS are not poems, they are parts of songs. This is not to assert that Dylan is not a poet but simply to remember that ...
Bobbie Gentry: Ode to Bobbie Gentry
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 21 October 1967
AND STILL Bobbie Gentry won't let on. Pestered persistently at a reception in her honour (it took up a fair whack of her 36-hour stay), ...
The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes: The Supremes: Psychedelic Tamla!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 November 1967
Brian Holland, one of Motown's famous composing team, speaks to Alan Smith, and tells about PSYCHEDELIC TAMLA! ...
Leonard Cohen: Beautiful Creep
Profile and Interview by Richard Goldstein, Village Voice, The, 28 December 1967
And the child on whose shoulders I stand whose longing I purged with public, kingly discipline today I bring him back ...
Tim Buckley: A New Poet Tim Buckley
Readers' Letters by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 30 December 1967
Dear Beat, I KNOW YOU get a good deal of mail pertaining to new groups that various people throughout the country feel are talented. Because of ...
Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia)
Review by June Harris, New Musical Express, 20 January 1968
DYLAN'S NEW LP IS GIGANTIC WINNER ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson: An Underground Artist Surfaces
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 27 January 1968
NILSSON IS a new singer-composer who is wholly unique. It is totally superfluous to compare him to anyone else on the pop scene today, for ...
David Porter, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave: The Stax Story (Part 6): Porter & Hayes, Producers
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, February 1968
ISAAC HAYES and Dave Porter have written about one hundred and fifty songs together for Stax artists and also produced most of them. So far their ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 10 February 1968
THERE ARE few people in pop who deserve as much respect as that truculent Geordie with the big baby face, who speaks through his nose ...
Leonard Cohen: Songwriter Who Got Into Folk By Accident
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 17 February 1968
WHEN THE new album by the uncrowned queen of the non-folk, Judy Collins, is issued this month a lot of people will start talking again ...
Leonard Cohen: Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia)
Review by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 24 February 1968
THIS IS THE first album for a very talented Canadian poet. Prior to this album, Cohen's reputation rested mainly on his film scoring for Nobody ...
Tim Rose: Meet Tim Rose, Man Who Helped To Put Jimi Hendrix On The Hit Trail
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 24 February 1968
TIM ROSE is an American in the odd position of having been responsible for two of pop's standard classics — without actually having a hit ...
Eddie Floyd, Steve Cropper: The Stax Story (part 7): Eddie Floyd
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, March 1968
EDDIE FLOYD, born June 25, 1935 in Montgomery, Alabama, grew up with the idea of entertaining as a profession. Eddie idolized Johnny Ace from the ...
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 9 March 1968
THE REVOLUTION in pop music has produced some extraordinary people. Attracting poets, jazz musicians and classical music enthusiasts, the field has now expanded into a ...
Rod McKuen: 'We're Being Bombarded With Love'
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968
ARE WE rushing headlong into another Romantic Era? The Doors, the Stones, Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol all belie that fact, but other trends seem ...
Janis Ian, Judy Collins, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin: The Folk Poets: Hardin, Buckley, Ian & Collins
Profile by Jacoba Atlas, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968
MUSIC HAS become a very personal thing. With the advance of the writer-singer, songs have become an expression of internal feelings mirrored for everyone. These ...
Profile by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 30 March 1968
LEE HAZLEWOOD is the 38-year-old one-man army and musical talent who turned Nancy Sinatra into one of the world's most popular recording artistes — and ...
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Smokey Robinson: The Miracle Of Motown
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, April 1968
BILL "SMOKEY" Robinson, the leader of the Miracles, couldn't decide between athletics and engineering. At Northern High School in Detroit (where all the Miracles were ...
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Smokey and His Associates Work Hit Parade Miracles
Profile by Mike Gormley, Ottawa Journal, The, 31 May 1968
MOTOWN'S MOST VERSATILE ACT ...
Joni Mitchell Sings Own Songs In Debut At Troubadour Nitery
Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Van Nuys Valley News, 7 June 1968
MANY OF THE current crop of popular folk singers today have used the songs of Joni Mitchell in their rise to the top. Now, young ...
Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris: Richard Harris Talks About Jim Webb
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 13 July 1968
On transatlantic phone to NME's Keith Altham ...
Jimmy Webb, Richard Harris: Richard Harris: A Tramp Shining (Dunhill)
Review by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 20 July 1968
RICHARD HARRIS-JIM WEBB LP MUST BE BEST SELLER ...
Tim Hardin Talking Of Life's Raw Deal...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 20 July 1968
THAT TIM HARDIN actually arrived in London last week to embark on his first concert tour is a history-making event in itself. ...
Herb Alpert: My 'Guy' Called For No Great Vocal Pipes!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 3 August 1968
Says Herb Alpert to Alan Smith ...
Merle Haggard: Home-fried Humor and Cowboy Soul
Profile and Interview by Al Aronowitz, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1968
COUNTRY MUSIC is blowing in like a fresh wind from the West. America can't be defined by its pay-toilets and its smog. Merle Haggard never ...
Mason Williams: The Mason Williams Phonograph Record
Review by Gene Sculatti, Rolling Stone, 14 September 1968
THE RECORDING DEBUT of Mason Williams is an intriguing affair. The Mason Williams Phonograph Record was released many months ago but only recently has it ...
Harry Nilsson: Computers to Composer
Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 28 September 1968
SOMETIMES – not very often – but sometimes. What? Sometimes exciting things happen in pop music. Talents emerge that are new, refreshing. A shot in ...
Joni Mitchell: Joni, The Seagull From Saskatoon
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 28 September 1968
TALKING TO Joni Mitchell about her songs is rather like talking to someone you just met about the most intimate secrets of her life. Like ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, October 1968
THE IMPRESSIONS have proved that it is possible to become tops in the record field without resorting to the loud, unintelligible sounds that can hardly ...
David Ackles: Travelling Man with a Difference
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 5 October 1968
FIRST THING Illinois-born singer-songwriter David Ackles did when he arrived in Britain last week was to arrange to hear Julie Driscoll's next single, 'Road To ...
David Ackles: Meet David Ackles, The Man Who Wrote Jools' Next Hit
Interview by Hugh Nolan, Disc and Music Echo, 5 October 1968
WHEN THE man came to see David Ackles with a view towards making him lots of money and propelling him into a world of beautiful ...
Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 12 October 1968
Cat's back. Dogs and Matthew and his offspring and guns and things and now his wife. Not that he has a wife – but here ...
Fred Neil: Bleeker And McDougal (Elektra EKS 7293)
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 16 November 1968
FRED NEIL is a name that won't be too familiar to British folk enthusiasts but his album Bleeker And McDougal (Elektra EKS 7293) should help. ...
Whatever Happened To All The Christmas Hits?
Report and Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, 30 November 1968
REMEMBER THAT golden oldie from the King Presley, 'Blue Christmas'? 'Twas something of a hit four years ago, and in 1968 just about sums up ...
Jimmy Webb Writes For The Lonely
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express Annual, December 1968
IT IS VERY difficult for me to be objective about Jim Webb because there are some composers or artists who hit a chord of sympathy ...
Randy Newman: Hit-Maker Randy Can't Stand His Voice!
Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 25 January 1969
THE BEATLES are steadfast admirers of the songwriting talents of Randy Newman. Other artistes have reason to be grateful for his songs — like Cilla ...
Randy Newman: The Man They All Dig Doesn't Dig Himself
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 25 January 1969
BEATLE PAUL McCartney phoned to say how much he likes his work; Frank Sinatra wants him to write an album but the man himself doesn't ...
Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young: Neil Young: On His Own In His Own Special Way
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 28 February 1969
NEIL YOUNG is into doing things his own way. ...
Mack Rice Hopes For a Comeback
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 14 March 1969
"'MUSTANG SALLY' has definitely been good to me, but you can't live off one big record. You need a string of 'Sally's' to be able ...
Marv Johnson: Part-time Hitmaker from the Grocery Shop
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 22 March 1969
THE STORY behind the success of Motown man Marv Johnson — one of the host of Tamla invaders in the chart — reads like a ...
Tony Joe White: Music Millionaires
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 29 March 1969
TONY JOE WHITE has a sleepy southern Louisiana accent, looks and sounds a lot like American heavy actor Claude Akins, and plays a fast guitar. ...
Joe South: Joe Tells of the Games People Play...
Interview by Derek Boltwood, Record Mirror, 5 April 1969
GET UP, GO over to the window and look out. Up and down that pavement outside every day walk People, some for pleasure, some going ...
Leonard Cohen: Songs From A Room (CBS 9767 import)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 11 April 1969
LEONARD COHEN is not the world's greatest singer, his voice has a raspy edge to it and one often gets the impression that he's singing ...
Willie Dixon: The Men Who Make the Blues: Willie Dixon
Profile by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 12 April 1969
...
The Doors, Tim Hardin: Tim Hardin: Hobnobbin' With The Superstars
Report by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 19 April 1969
LOS ANGELES – The Chateau Marmont is one of the nicest places and reasons to stay in Los Angles. It retains the charm of old ...
Bob Dylan: Nashville Skyline (CBS)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Guardian, The, 22 April 1969
Nashville Skyline man to tell the time by ...
Melanie, Mason Williams: Mason Williams, Melanie: Troubadour, Los Angeles
Live Review by Stephen M H Braitman, Van Nuys Valley News, 25 April 1969
AGAINST THE backdrop of the giant life-size poster of a greyhound bus, Mason Williams and Melanie provided an easygoing evening's entertainment at Doug Weston's Troubadour ...
Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb: "Jimmy Webb Is A Country Boy", Glen Campbell tells R.M.'s Lon Goddard
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 3 May 1969
"JIMMY WEBB," explained smooth voiced Glen Campbell, somewhere south of Wichita, but still on the line, "is a likeable easy going country boy. One of ...
Profile and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, Rolling Stone, 17 May 1969
FOLK MUSIC, which pushed rock and roll into the arena of the serious with protest lyrics and blendings of Dylan and the Byrds back in ...
Joe South: A Kaftan and Cups of English Tea
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 24 May 1969
Royston Eldridge catches up with Joe South over breakfast at the May Fair ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: Life With The Impressions
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, June 1969
As told to Jim Delehant ...
Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 6 June 1969
NEIL YOUNG has allowed his full creative ability loose and hasn't ignored any type of music he's acquainted with in putting this album together. ...
Gordon Lightfoot: 'Bob Dylan Gets Uptight If He's Bent Around' — Says Gordon Lightfoot
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 14 June 1969
CAN YOU imagine someone becoming a well known poet and singer, yet never cutting a record? ...
Roy Harper: Waiting for the Bullets to Fly
Profile and Interview by Mark Williams, Rolling Stone, 14 June 1969
"I'M NEVER going to be a music industry hype. If they ever tried to make me into that I'd go round to what are considered ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Guardian, The, 24 June 1969
JONI MITCHELL has written songs for Tom Rush, and the Fairport Convention have used her songs on both their albums. ...
Bobbie Gentry Explains The Trouser Suit Scene
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 5 July 1969
BOBBIE GENTRY has written so many songs she's lost count. Maybe around two hundred. Since she's constantly travelling to various countries (as well as moving ...
Essay by Greil Marcus, Good Times, August 1969
NEIL YOUNG used to be number one or number two man with the Buffalo Springfield, depending on your taste; after the group broke up for ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young with Crazy Horse: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Reprise)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, 15 August 1969
THE AFFECTION one feels for Neil Young is already immense because of his contribution to Buffalo Springfield, and the many beautiful things he wrote and ...
Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 23 August 1969
A Double Triumph For Elyse Weinberg ...
Bob Dylan: "My Friend Bob", as told by Marc Ellington
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 30 August 1969
"I REMEMBER him as a very nervous person," he said, looking into space and recalling the times he'd shared with the young Bob Dylan. ...
Joni Mitchell: Clouds (Reprise RSLP 6293)
Review by Wesley Laine, Record Mirror, 6 September 1969
Beautiful new Joni Mitchell LP – but it's an acquired taste ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson — The Complete Opposite of a Pop Star
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 25 October 1969
NICE GUY Nilsson remains — as ever — a nice guy... And in a pop world which occasionally tends to suffer a little too much ...
The Beatles, George Harrison: Beatle Single — By George!
Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 1 November 1969
1969 WILL END up being George Harrison's year. He's waited a long time for real recognition, has George, but his composition 'Something' is released as ...
Review by Wayne Robins, Berkeley Barb, The, 5 December 1969
FROM THIS week's flood of albums come a few disappointing second LP's by some promising performers, a pleasant surprise from a talented newcomer, an outstanding ...
David Ackles: The Bitter End, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, The, 16 December 1969
DAVID ACKLES is one of the more interesting young performers working in the Brecht/Weill area of dramatic song. The 32-year-old Californian, a former playwright, writes ...
Tony Joe White: Tony Joe, Elvis, and Polk Salad Annie
Report by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 1970
TONY JOE WHITE was one of the first of the new school of Southern singer/songwriters – along with Jerry Reed, Joe South, Leon Russell, Dough ...
David Ackles: Subway To The Country (Elektra stereo EKS 74060; 39s 11d)
Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 17 January 1970
DAVID ACKLES seems to have a preoccupation with gloom, doom and disaster when writing songs, but it usually turns out that numbers written in that ...
Joni Mitchell: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 24 January 1970
A triumph for Joni ...
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 8 February 1970
Yes, Holland-Dozier-Holland DID Split with the Giant; Yes, Eddie Holland DID form Invictus Records; Yes, Invictus IS Climbing the Charts ...
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Smokey Robinson, Proving That Miracles Still Happen
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 14 February 1970
WILLIAM 'Smokey' Robinson is the lead singer of the Miracles, vice president of Motown Records and the man Dylan has described as "America's greatest living ...
Steve Cropper: Cropper: The Living Legend from Memphis
Interview by Royston Eldridge, Melody Maker, 21 February 1970
A MELODY MAKER EXCLUSIVE BY ROYSTON ELDRIDGE ...
Comment by Gene Guerrero, Great Speckled Bird, The, 16 March 1970
IF MERLE Haggard wasn't one of the two or three most creative persons in country music, it would be easy to dismiss him as just ...
Crazy Horse, Neil Young: Neil Young: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1970
Neil Young Appears Singly ...
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 18 April 1970
PEOPLE ARE too serious in this business is the conclusion presented by Elton John. Elton and Bernie Taupin composed 'Border Song', which is receiving wide ...
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 25 April 1970
KEVIN AYERS says that he wants to involve people in his music, and to make every gig more of a party than an ordinary job. ...
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 25 April 1970
IT'S NICE TO see Cat Stevens and Elton John providing the British answer to Neil Young, and Van Morrison. And make no mistake, Elton is ...
Neil Young: Contra Costa Junior College, San Francisco
Live Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 30 April 1970
EVERYTHING about Neil Young’s approach to music has become so highly personalized that when he performs, he seems at first to be oblivious of his ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Rolling Stone, 28 May 1970
PAUL SIMON arrived wearing a blue loden coat with the hood pulled up. Beneath it he had on black trousers and a black shirt. He ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Fillmore East, New York NY
Live Review by Vicki Wickham, Melody Maker, 13 June 1970
Flowerpower returns to the Fillmore ...
John Phillips: John The Wolfking of L.A. (Stateside)
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 20 June 1970
INSIDE THE Mama's and the Papa's, something better was waiting to get out – and this is it. ...
Joni Mitchell: Let's Make Life More Romantic
Profile and Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 20 June 1970
JONI MITCHELL is a poet whose time has come. Because she uses the vehicle of music, her words and thoughts reach out to countless minds. ...
Report by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, July 1970
JONI MITCHELL is a beautiful lady, one who write and sings songs born from the depths of her experience, a word painter who shows us ...
Bread Aim to be One of the World's Top Five Groups
Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 August 1970
DAVID GATES FLIES IN AND CHATS TO RICHARD GREEN ...
David Ackles: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Anne Moore, Phonograph Record, September 1970
Ackles Intellectual ...
Jackie DeShannon: Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Anne Moore, Phonograph Record, September 1970
DeShannon Shines ...
Joni Mitchell: Isle of Wight Festival, Afton Down
Live Review by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 5 September 1970
Update, 2019. LIKE SO many who were there, my sense of life's possibilities was changed forever by the Isle of Wight five-day open-air festivals created ...
Joni Mitchell: Glimpses of Joni
Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 19 September 1970
SCENE IN A television studio: a girl in a long pink shift, which catches at her ankles when she walks, picks hesitantly at a few ...
Elton John: Elton Storms The States
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 26 September 1970
AL KOOPER, talking about Elton John's last album: "That album's really got me screwed up. It's just the perfect album, and I carry it around ...
Jimmy Webb: Did Jim Webb Really Need Richard Harris?
Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, October 1970
WORK ON the theory that ‘talent will out’ – and Jim Webb, fantastically consistent young American composer, would have made it anyway. In fact, though, ...
Gordon Lightfoot: Scotch & Pretzels: The Gordon Lightfoot Interview
Interview by Rick McGrath, Mike Quigley, Georgia Straight, The, October 1970
ANOTHER TWO-TIMER with Mike and I. We really did this one as a favour for the record company exec, who used to give us lots ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
JAMES TAYLOR was in town and you could tell it by the buzz in the air and the musicians who walked around muttering his name ...
James Taylor, Matthews' Southern Comfort: Palladium, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 31 October 1970
THE CLUMSY, gangling, instantly lovable James Taylor conquered the London Palladium and made his eventual return to England a triumphant one on Sunday. ...
Report and Interview by Robert Greenfield, Rolling Stone, 12 November 1970
LONDON – "If this is the revolution, why are the drinks so fucking expensive," someone has written on the wall in the toilet of London's ...
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 14 November 1970
THIS IS presumably Buckley's last album for Elektra, being recorded (so I'm told) at the same time as Happy/Sad and before his first Straight album, ...
Emitt Rhodes: Emitt Rhodes (Dunhill)
Review by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 15 November 1970
EMITT RHODES' new LP is a one-man job that sounds like Paul McCartney's first solo effort. That crossed my mind to the point of mentioning ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Staying Home: Brian Wilson
Report and Interview by Derek Grant, Melody Maker, 21 November 1970
"IT WAS A MISTAKE but I had to try it. After about half an hour I realised I couldn't go on. My ears hurt, I ...
Elton John, Bernie Taupin: Elton John: New Superstar
Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, December 1970
ELTON JOHN played the Troubadour in Los Angeles and overnight became an industry superstar. Public relations people, having no personal or professional claim to the ...
Elton John: Elton Sings 'Your Song' and Finds Himself New Star of the 70s
Interview by Mike Gormley, Detroit Free Press, 19 December 1970
ELTON JOHN is a pianist, singer, songwriter and newfound hero of musicians and music lovers alike. Bob Dylan came to see him one night and ...
Randy Newman: In Praise of the Ten Second Song
Comment by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 19 December 1970
THE MOST influential record of 1970 was the Edwin Hawkins' Singers' 'Oh Happy Day', which came out in 1969. It takes a while for people ...
Judee Sill: Judee Sill (Asylum)
Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 1971
JUDEE SILL IS one of those breed of American girls who’ve taken to singing who one supposes were previously engaged in quietly knitting at home ...
Profile by Richard Williams, Times, The, 5 January 1971
THE CURRENT STATE of pop music allows its performers to make the most naked personal statements. Only an artist with considerable character, though, can keep ...
Comment by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 9 January 1971
THERE must be about four generations of pop music fans reading this paper, and to each of them Carole King means something different. ...
Van Morrison: His Band And The Street Choir (Warner Bros.)
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971
Has Van Morrison eased up? ...
Laura Nyro: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, 8 February 1971
LAURA NYRO treads a path the width of a knife edge, between stark reality and empty histrionics. Placing herself at a distance from her audience, ...
Tim Hardin: Contemporary Songwriters: Tim Hardin
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 27 February 1971
MANY SONGWRITERS could be said to expose a little of their soul during the course of their writing, but there can't be anyone in the ...
Neil Diamond: A Boy Who Outgrew His Hits
Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, 20 March 1971
IT TOOK a long while but the U.K. public woke up one day and discovered Neil Diamond. And with 'Sweet Caroline' providing a quick follow-up ...
Anne Briggs: Feasting Off The Open Roads...
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 17 April 1971
ANNE BRIGGS' way of life can be compressed into a romantic conjunction of cast iron clichés; but the odds on her future survival would probably ...
Interview by Rick McGrath, Mike Quigley, Rock's Backpages Audio, 22 April 1971
Elton chats backstage about doing interviews; the Friends soundtrack and the 17-11-70 live album; on being hyped and the hype machine; doing TV with Andy Williams; on why he likes Canada; on Liberace; on his own style, and his hero worship of Leon Russell.
File format: mp3; file size: 11.7mb, interview length: 27' 56" sound quality: **½
Loudon Wainwright III: A Tale of Loudon Wainwright III
Interview by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 29 April 1971
NEW YORK – The word was out, carried by the wind and a few strategic newspaper clippings, and everybody, everybody was making it on down ...
Tim Buckley: Starsailor (Straight 1064)
Review by Nick Jones, Cream, May 1971
THE BELIEF that certain kinds of music have a quintessential equilibrium which, when penetrated by the listener transforms itself into regenerative power, may conceivably make ...
David Bowie: Contemporary Songwriters: David Bowie
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 May 1971
THE WORK of songwriters is conditioned by many things. Their environment, their childhood, their brushes with love, their hopes and dreams, their disillusionment. And they ...
James Taylor: Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon (Warner Reprise)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 May 1971
GOOD OLD predictable James has done it again. He offers not the slightest hint of surprise on his new album, and as expected he has ...
Report by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 15 May 1971
"LAURA WANTS the monitor turned up please." ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Guardian, The, 21 May 1971
THERE IS NO way to make great rock music from retirement. Paul McCartney may have been seduced — by reading that he's equalled Schubert — ...
Carly Simon: The Bitter End, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, The, 22 May 1971
CARLY SIMON SINGS AT THE BITTER END ...
Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 22 May 1971
Mutton dressed as Ram? ...
Phil Ochs: God Help The Troubadour
Profile and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1971
Who was that foolThrew the basket in the pool? ...
Carol Hall, Carole King, Carly Simon, Ronnie Spector: New Albums from Carole King, Carly Simon et al
Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, 29 May 1971
King and friends Carole King: Tapestry (A&M AMLS 2025); Carly Simon: Carly Simon (Elektra EKS-74082); Carol Hall: If I Be Your Lady (Elektra EKS-7407R); Ronnie Spector: ...
Boz Scaggs: Moments (CBS 64248)
Review by Nick Jones, Cream, June 1971
WHEN AN album takes so much in, puts so much out, and somehow remains itself, then before long the great cosmic public are going to ...
John Kongos: Point Blank Refusal To Cash-In On Hit
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 19 June 1971
YOU'RE NOT going to find John Kongos suddenly rushing around the country on a quickly arranged, nationwide tour just because his single 'He's Gonna Step ...
Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash: Joni Mitchell: Blue (Warner Bros.)
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Guardian, The, 29 June 1971
JONI MITCHELL'S new album, Blue, is about to be released here by Warner Brothers (K 44128). A large proportion of Joni's most notable songs, to date, ...
Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, July 1971
"WHEN I WAS very young, a fat-arsed bingo club manager said: 'You're going to the top, right to the top, and I am going to ...
John Denver: The Bitter End, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, The, 3 July 1971
John Denver Shows Sensitivity and Style In Bitter End Songs ...
Jo Mama, Carole King, James Taylor: James Taylor, Carole King, Jo Mama: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
FROM THE outset you just can't but help having a warm affinity for James Taylor. Seemingly all arms, legs and baggy trousers, Taylor shyly lopes ...
David Bowie: The Space Oddity Comes Down To Earth
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 14 August 1971
AT ONE TIME singer/songwriter David Bowie used to write songs because, "I truly believed we songwriters were going to change the face of the world." ...
Loudon Wainwright III is Some Kind of Genius
Profile and Interview by Mike Jahn, New York Times Special Features Syndication, 14 August 1971
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III's first appearance in New York was an official big deal. The record company held a press party and invited the chic. ...
Carole King, James Taylor: Carole King — Secret Star on the James Taylor Tour
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 15 August 1971
Author's note, 2018: A transcendent moment in Carole King's life was during the evening of 7 December 2015 in Washington. She is sitting next to ...
Randy Newman: Lonely at the Top
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971
PEOPLE STILL talk of the press reception for Randy Newman. ...
Jimmy Webb: And So: On (Reprise RS-6448)
Review by Ben Edmonds, Rolling Stone, 2 September 1971
ARRIVING IN nearly the same breath as the magnificent Words And Music, this second album by Jimmy Webb is another impressive step in the conspiracy ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young: Joni and the Laurel Canyon Mob
Comment by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971
SO YOU wanna be a rock and roll star, right? Well, our advice is to head out Laurel Canyon way. Take a tip from one ...
Lee Hazlewood, Nancy Sinatra: Lee Hazlewood: We Only Record For The Fun Of It
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 18 September 1971
THREE YEARS ago, Lee Hazlewood tired of writing and producing Nancy Sinatra – split to Stockholme to carry on his interest in film work – ...
The Carpenters: "I've Got a Problem Here"
Profile and Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 18 September 1971
THE CARPENTERS were into jazz for a while — Richard and Karen and a bassist. Then they went into rock — Richard and Karen and ...
The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: Michael Nesmith
Interview by Gene Guerrero, Great Speckled Bird, The, 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 ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Album II (Atlantic SO 8291)
Review by Mark Leviton, Coast, October 1971
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT'S first album last year was concerned with communication on a middle-Dylanish leveland it presented Loudon's character quite clearly: with sensitivity to his surroundings ...
Live Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 2 October 1971
LOOKING UNUSUALLY relaxed, perhaps with more confidence than he has previously had, Cat Stevens took the stage at the Coliseum on Sunday, with the house ...
Gilbert O'Sullivan: Working Class Hero: Gilbert O'Sullivan
Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 October 1971
WHOEVER WOULD have thought it? Gordon Mills, manager of Tom and Engel, those popular, polished professionals, taking a shine to an odd young Irishman whose ...
Gilbert O'Sullivan: What Rhymes With O'Sullivan?
Profile and Interview by Andrew Bailey, Rolling Stone, 14 October 1971
The strange case of the pop star with the pudding basin haircut ...
Carole King: How Carole King Became Queen...
Profile by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 23 October 1971
IN MANY ways, and for many reasons, it took Carole King a long time to record her first album, Writer, in 1970. As a writer ...
Interview by Anne Moore, Metropolitan Review , November 1971
EMITT RHODES is a one man band-singer-composer-producer. He does everything on his own terms, controlling his creativity as few artists in the business have ever ...
Ian Matthews, Randy Newman: Randy Newman, Ian Matthews: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, November 1971
RANDY NEWMAN looks like a kid you used to know in high school — the one who always read Scientific American and got A's in trig. Which ...
Essay by Felix Dennis, Ink, 2 November 1971
"I still think that kids are more influenced by us than by Jesus". ...
Emitt Rhodes: Mirror (Dunhill)
Review and Interview by Harold Bronson, UCLA Daily Bruin, 4 November 1971
FEBRUARY 9th was the day of the famous Los Angeles earthquake. After it was over, the damage totaled $300 million. For me the loss was ...
John Prine: The Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Lester Bangs, Phonograph Record, January 1972
EVERYBODY'D BEEN talking about this guy Prine, how he was Kris Kristofferson's boozin' buddy or something, and since I like Kristofferson's Kerouacian American romanticism I ...
Review by Geoffrey Cannon, Melody Maker, 29 January 1972
Harvest is surely come: Geoffrey Cannon previews NEIL YOUNG's new album Harvest, released next month ...
Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 3 February 1972
DON'T BE MISLED: however extraordinary Gilbert O'Sullivan may look in his imbecile haircut, knickers, and other things Thirties Irish schoolboy, he sounds sufficiently like your ...
The Archies, Carole King, The Monkees: Don Kirshner: I Discovered Carole King
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 12 February 1972
THEY MOST often call Don Kirshner the King of Bubble-gum. But he's not worrying. Sitting high in his suite at the Dorchester he has the ...
Ian Matthews: Tigers Will Survive
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 17 February 1972
ONCE UPON A time Ian Matthews was a member of Fairport Convention. Fairport Convention then decided they wanted to head in the direction of traditional ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson (RCA)
Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 17 February 1972
IS NILSSON just an old-school crooner in modern dress? Is he a writer of children's songs who wants to broaden his appeal? And why does ...
Tom Rapp: Beautiful Lies You Could Live In
Review by Richard Cromelin, Rolling Stone, 17 February 1972
IT'S PAINFULLY OBVIOUS that Tom Rapp has some serious obstacles littering his path to musical/ poetic fulfillment. ...
Elton John: Start of a New Era
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 February 1972
MIDNIGHT ON Monday evening and in his luxury ranch-style house in Surrey, where the carpet grows deep and the huge knife-edged plants threaten to eat ...
Bernie Taupin: Bernie Taupin (Elektra)
Review by Lester Bangs, Phonograph Record, March 1972
ON NEW YEAR'S EVE of 1972 I attended a great party thrown by someone I didn't know and inadvertently fell into a protracted conversation with ...
Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, 4 March 1972
CARLY SIMON has been compared to a lot of people. She admits: "I'm told I sound like Judy Collins and my style of writing is ...
Cat Stevens: Top Cat: Cat Stevens
Profile and Interview by Philip Norman, Sunday Times Magazine, The, 5 March 1972
TO DISCUSS brilliance in pop music is difficult; for there you are a genius by proclaiming yourself one, and the greatest of them all, Elton ...
Randy Newman: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 March 1972
WITH AN awkward shuffle and an embarrassed wave to the adulating audience, Randy Newman left the stage of the Festival Hall, London, on Monday night ...
Manassas, Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills: The Loner
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 March 1972
Step aside, open wide. It's the loner. ...
J.J. Cale, Bonnie Raitt: The Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1972
J. J. Cale on Stage at Ash Grove ...
Randy Newman: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 18 March 1972
NEWMAN GIVING HIS ALL ...
America, Judee Sill: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 25 March 1972
America — simply so successful ...
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 25 March 1972
SHE HAS JUST been discoursing on her past activities as lerpatologist when her attention was distracted. "That's the same man who was lying on the ...
Bobby Womack: The Stark Soul of Bobby Womack
Essay by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, April 1972
A NEW WOMACK record is at hand. So what? the more unenlightened among you might ask. So plenty, now that you mention it. Plenty and then ...
Judee Sill: A Sill-y Story: Judee Sill
Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 8 April 1972
JUDEE SILL is quite a remarkable woman. When you consider her past it becomes apparent just how remarkable. She lost both her parents and her ...
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 8 April 1972
ACCORDING to Judee Sill: "Out of the mud grows a lotus". In other words something beautiful comes from something unpleasant. The phrase applies well to ...
Judee Sill Leaves Out the Juicy Bits
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 8 April 1972
"WHERE WOULD you like me to start? Past, present or future?" exclaimed the cat-like figure that swooped in and instantly slid on to the sofa. ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson's New Album
Interview by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 8 April 1972
Producer Richard Perry talks to Lon Goddard ...
Linda Lewis, Jimmy Webb: Jimmy Webb, Linda Lewis: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
THERE MAY BE something extremely valid in a composer performing his own highly successful material in concert, and though Jimmy Webb accomplished this to a ...
Valerie Simpson: Exposed (Tamla Motown STML 11194)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
THIS FIRST solo album by songwriter Valerie Simpson could be subtitled Motown's answer to Carole King. Certainly there are many facts that tie in between ...
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 6 May 1972
THE MUSIC MAN sits there sipping tea and talking music. Although he has always been a bit of a loner, he is certainly not an ...
Jackson Browne: Vanishing Minstrel
Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 20 May 1972
JACKSON BROWNE is no new name to pop. He's been here all the time. He's one of those guys who used to just appear at ...
Joni Mitchell: An Interview (part 1)
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 3 June 1972
THE LADY WHO walks on eggs is sitting in her hotel suite overlooking St. James' Park with her legs tucked up, her chin resting on ...
Joni Mitchell: An Interview (part 2)
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 June 1972
LAST WEEK Joni Mitchell spoke for the first time in over two years about why she virtually "retired" from the music scene during a period ...
Lou Reed Talking About His First Solo Album
Interview by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, July 1972
Author's note, 2018. This was my scoop. New York, June 1972. Lou discusses all the tracks, one by one, in detail and with diversions, on ...
R. Dean Taylor: An Insider's View Of Motown
Interview by Larry LeBlanc, Hit Parader, July 1972
MOTOWN IN the Sixties. The image, if we can narrow it down to one, was slickly packaged blackness. It was Holland-Dozier-Holland producing bump-and-grind jukebox hits. ...
Harry Chapin Takes 'Taxi' Wherever He Can
Interview by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, 6 July 1972
"I NEVER REALLY drove a cab," said Harry Chapin, the filmmaker-turned folkstar, "But I do have a hack license in case of emergencies – like ...
Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972
SMOKEY ROBINSON is a hell of a lot more than just a giant of soul or Motown. For more than a decade, his original and ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
Will CSN&Y ever re-unite and find true happiness? ...
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
WITHIN a year of its composer Bill Withers taking it high up the American chart, 'Ain't No Sunshine' has become firmly established as a soul ...
Jackie DeShannon: Jackie (Atlantic).
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
ONE OF THE few white singers ever to get convincingly into soul-music and be accepted even by purist fans. ...
Randy Newman: Sail Away (Reprise)
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 12 August 1972
RANDY NEWMAN AND ACID OBSERVATIONS ...
Review by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 17 August 1972
ERIC ANDERSEN is not one who has been graced with the best of luck. ...
John Prine: An Interview with John Prine
Interview by Norman Jopling, unpublished, September 1972
JOHN PRINE IS THE GUY that sang the song about the hole in Daddy's arm where all the money goes, and a whole bunch of ...
Profile by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, September 1972
BARBARA LYNN is probably best known for her composition of 'You'll Lose A Good Thing', which she recorded herself in 1962 and gained a Gold ...
Sandy Denny, Marian Segal: Sandy Denny and Marian Segal
Profile and Interview by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, September 1972
AN ARTICLE on Sandy Denny and Marian Segal, huh? O.K. Now who's Marian Segal? ...
Bill Withers: Morale Music For The People In The Ghetto
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 2 September 1972
A TELEPHONE CABLE that runs off the edge of Britain, down under the Atlantic, and up again into the heart of North America to St. ...
Review by Loraine Alterman, New York Times, The, 10 September 1972
Stephen Stills: Manassas (Atlantic); The Impressions: Times Have Changed (Curtom); The Staple Singers: Be Altitude: Respect Yourself (Stax); Tom Rush: Merrimack County (Columbia) ...
Colin Blunstone, Good Habit: Civic Hall, Guildford, England
Live Review by Harold Bronson, Phonograph Record, October 1972
IT WAS MIDNIGHT, and as my nose was dripping, I was freezing on the last train to London. Colin Blunstone, ex-lead vocalist of the Zombies, ...
David Ackles: American Gothic (Elektra)
Review by Nick Tosches, Creem, October 1972
WHAT IS THIS sophomoric obsession with didactic irony and moralism anyway? I mean, is this guy serious or what? I've heard of living in the ...
David Ackles: Oh Lord, Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: The Overrating of David Ackles
Essay by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, October 1972
A FEW MONTHS ago a sometimes pleasant, sometimes depressing, sometimes intriguing, sometimes boring album by David Ackles, called American Gothic, was released by Elektra Records. ...
Domenic Troiano, Tim Buckley: Tim Buckley: Greetings from LA/ Domenic Troiano: Dom
Review by Simon Frith, Cream, November 1972
DOMENIC TROIANO has just been signed up as lead guitarist for the James Gang (transfer fees?) but I don't know where he came from nor ...
Bill Withers: Lots of Sunshine for Bill Withers
Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc, 11 November 1972
MOST SONGWRITERS dream of one day writing a standard. Singers dream of establishing one. Bill Withers does both – frequently. You only have to look ...
Bill Withers: Making Music Till He Drops
Report and Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 18 November 1972
THE QUEST for that intangible magic with which so few of us are blessed, can often entail a very long journey indeed. And whilst Bill ...
Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 23 November 1972
TIM HARDIN GOT so close to the top of the heap that it's hard to imagine how he could've blown it. ...
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 November 1972
DRIVING OUT of London in his sparkling red Citroen, bound for Manor Studios, Oxfordshire, John McCoy talked about his girl Claire Hamill in a manner ...
Bill Withers: The Raggety Genius
Interview by Robin Katz, Disc, 9 December 1972
"I DON'T want to get dependent on being called a genius to survive. I don't want to get so sucked in by flattery that I ...
Cat Stevens: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Mark Plummer, Melody Maker, 9 December 1972
Bad nerves dog Cat ...
Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 9 December 1972
MORE SONGS OF transient euphoria and stabbing loss, played out against an ambiguous background of relentless fatalism and constant hope, mingled in approximately equal proportions, ...
Joni Mitchell: The Troubadour, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 9 December 1972
Steve Rosen reports from the West Coast ...
Dory Previn: Surviving All Odds: Dory Previn
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
WHEN DORY Previn wrote: "I no longer plead with heaven or go rummaging in books for the answers to the questions life contains", she had ...
Interview by James Johnson, Rock's Backpages Audio, Spring 1972
The vibrato in his body, the band in his head and the drugs in his veins: the legendary singer-songwriter in revealing, if somewhat dazed conversation.
File format: mp3; file size: 29mb, interview length: 31' 37" sound quality: ****
Ray Davies: The Definitive Ray Davies Interview
Interview by Glenn O'Brien, Interview, January 1973
Glenn O'Brien, with the help of Warhol Superstars Candy Darling and Tinkerbelle, talks to Kink Ray Davies ...
Joni Mitchell: A Tender Dignity
Guide by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 6 January 1973
ONE DAY, many years ago, Al Kooper went home with a blonde Canadian chick who used to hang out with the Blues Project. In the ...
Interview by Keith Altham, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973
LYNSEY DE PAUL is a Gemini, which she thinks explains a lot. ...
Elton John: They Laughed When He Played The Piano
Retrospective by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 3 February 1973
FOR MANY MOONS it has been ever-so-chic to take pokes at Elton John. To admit to a considerable admiration for the man and his work ...
Stevie Wonder: The New Wonder Ingredient
Interview by Tony Norman, New Musical Express, 17 February 1973
BLACK AND PROUD, MUSIC FROM THE SOUL ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: The First Genius of Reggae?
Profile and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 24 February 1973
BOB MARLEY, slightly-built and quiet to the point of diffidence, is a leader. He's the master of Reggae, the man who's about to give it ...
Leonard Cohen: Cohen, Cohen, Gone: Leonard Cohen
Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 24 February 1973
"LET'S sing a song, boys. . . . This one has grown old and bitter"– fragment from Songs of Love and Hate ...
J.J. Cale: Contemporary Songwriter: J.J. Cale
Profile by Martin Hayman, Sounds, 10 March 1973
Just listen to the mystery man ...
Chuck Berry's Influence on the UK R & B Scene
Essay by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, April 1973
'DING-A-LING' gave Chuck Berry his only British No 1 seventeen years after his first record release, 'Maybellene'. He had five Top Ten hits in the ...
Don Covay: Are You Reggae For Don Covay?
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 21 April 1973
AMERICA JUST had to catch on to reggae. After all, the roots of Jamaican music lie in the '50s out-put of Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis ...
Dory Previn: Madness, Fear and the Demons Inside
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 5 May 1973
AT THE END of the Dory Previn concert at Carnegie Hall, a couple of New Yorkers are standing near the exit, one whispering to the ...
Carly Simon, Dory Previn, Mary Travers: Record World Forum: Three Artists on the New Consciousness
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Record World, 19 May 1973
Carly Simon, Dory Previn and Mary Travers are three major artists whose work and lives exemplify the independent role women are assuming in society. As ...
Tom Waits: Thursday Afternoon, Sober as a Judge
Profile and Interview by Jeff Walker, Music World, June 1973
IT IS SOMETIMES extremely difficult to separate an artist from the trend he's involved in; even if there's only a single element that makes him ...
Gordon Lightfoot's Mid-Day Madness
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 2 June 1973
IT'S MIDDAY in Toronto on Thursday of last week and Gordon Lightfoot is sitting back and reckoning that everything's getting just a touch silly. Which, ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
PERHAPS THE most refreshing thing about Loudon Wainwright's concert at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall last Monday was that there was a songwriter who was more ...
Suzi Quatro, Sweet: Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman: The Dynamic Duo Of Plastic Pop
Interview by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 2 June 1973
Nicky Chinn is an ex-public schoolboy, Mike Chapman a one-time waiter. Together they're... The Dynamic Duo Of Plastic Pop ...
Bill Withers: Live At Carnegie Hall (A&M)
Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 9 June 1973
FIRST TIME I saw Bill Withers live he was appearing at the huge Louisiana State Fair in Baton Rouge to a matter of about 20,000 ...
Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen's Bar Blues Are Over
Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 9 June 1973
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN is the new Bob Dylan. No, really? He's spent his life down, and comparatively out, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, cooking up some ...
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). ...
Carole King: Subtle, Intense: Carole King: Fantasy (Ode Import)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
AFTER THE DISAPPOINTMENT of Rhymes & Reasons, I found myself approaching this album with a certain degree of trepidation. For, having failed to ignite any ...
Albert Hammond: Free Electric Band
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, July 1973
ALBERT HAMMOND, despite his recent ascension to the pop limelight, is no overnight phenom. ...
Ellie Greenwich: Let It Be Written Let It Be Sung
Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 5 July 1973
A NEW ELLIE GREENWICH album won't provoke Pavlovian ecstasy among the masses, but the news will intrigue a certain hard corps of faithful girl-group fanatics. ...
Review by Loraine Alterman, New York Times, The, 15 July 1973
A Bland Carole King ...
Martin Mull: The Wonderful, Wacky World of Martin Mull
Interview by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, August 1973
And His Fabulous Furniture in Your Living Room!!! ...
Albert Hammond: Moroccan Strip Clubs To All American Boy
Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 4 August 1973
DESPITE THAT rich, drawling brogue and songs like 'It Never Rains In Southern California', Albert Hammond is no American. As it happens, he was born ...
Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 August 1973
Wailers fail to catch afire ...
Carly Simon, James Taylor: Carly and James: The Taylors in Paris
Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 18 August 1973
WITH CARLY MAKING OLE LONESOME JAMES SMILE (WELL ALMOST) — IN AN ATMOSPHERE OF TRUE LOVE GUARANTEED TO THREATEN THE DEFENCES OF THE MOST HARDENED ...
Joan Armatrading: Whatever's For Us (Cube)
Review by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 30 August 1973
FROM HER opening piano passage on 'My Family', the most endearing keyboard introduction since the first notes of 'Your Song' led off Elton John, one ...
Jaki Whitren: The I Don't Want To Be A Star Star
Interview by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 1 September 1973
NOT THE USUAL pub or press office for interviewing this newcomer. Oh no. For Jaki Whitren — CBS have put their money where their faith ...
Judy Collins: Judy In Disguise
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Melody Maker, 1 September 1973
Judy Collins film director? The singer – songwriter has taken a year out of her life to make a movie with a strong Womens' Lib ...
Leonard Cohen: Last of the Pop Poets
Interview by Mike Jahn, New York Daily News, 2 September 1973
ANY ROOM containing both furniture and Leonard Cohen would be overcrowded. ...
Essra Mohawk: Just Baiting for Laura Nyro
Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 8 September 1973
THIS IS a slightly strange situation to be in. Over there, in the corner of the room, Sherry Bo Berry, a member of the Cockettes-derived ...
Cat Stevens: A Happier Cat Stevens Explains Foreigner and Other Mysteries
Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 13 September 1973
LONDON — Cat Stevens is happy these days. "Happier now than I can recall being," he said. "Not laughing-happy. I don't go 'Haha! — oh, ...
Kevin Coyne: From a Crushed Dandelion to a Rampant Virgin — K. Coyne Esq.
Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, October 1973
RIGHT, NOW you've got a sensational headline, now bloody read the words. No, much more important, get off your arses and buy the record, because ...
Gilbert O'Sullivan: I'm A Writer, Not A Fighter
Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973
ANYONE WHO IS a regular reader of this paper will be aware that in the past I've criticised Gilbert O'Sullivan quite strongly, and yet I've ...
Ellie Greenwich: Leaders of the Pack
Interview by Roy Carr, Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
Ten years ago the American pop scene was dominated by two opposing song factories — KIRSHNER'S Krazy Kids and the Behemoths of the BRILL BUILDING. ...
Merry-Go-Round, Emitt Rhodes: Emitt Rhodes: On And Off The Merry-Go-Round
Retrospective by Mark Leviton, UCLA Daily Bruin, 7 November 1973
MY FIRST MEMORY of Emitt Rhodes is still very vivid — he was on the television program Where the Action Is as a part of the group ...
Lowell George, Van Dyke Parks: Van Dyke Parks
Interview by John Tobler, Hot Wacks, 9 November 1973
...with contributions from Lowell George and Pete Frame. ...
Jackson Browne, Phillip Goodhand-Tait: Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 17 November 1973
LOS ANGELES: It would be nice to be able to report in true nationalistic spirit that Phillip Goodhand-Tait swept the audience off their feet in ...
Jackson Browne: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 17 November 1973
JACKSON BROWNE possesses a unique facility known as credibility. Whether he's accompanying himself solely with an acoustic guitar or being backed with electric guitar and ...
Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road — Elton John Rockets Over The Rainbow
Interview by Stephen Demorest, Circus, December 1973
Running up against Evil Alice and The Rolling Stones, the good spell-caster fights to be head wizard in the Emerald City of rock. ...
Interview by Vernon Gibbs, Black Music, December 1973
DON COVAY is a permanent fixture in the music of this era. ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle (Columbia)
Review by Bruce Pollock, New York Times, The, 16 December 1973
Springsteen Celebrates Street Life ...
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1974
Interviewed by Kini Kedigh and Tom Graves just as he's starting to hit big, Manilow talks about his background in music, backing Bette Midler at the Continental Baths, and gives his opinions on just about everything under the sun.
File format: mp3; file size: 45.1mb, interview length: 49' 16" sound quality: *
Thom Bell, The Delfonics, The Spinners, The Stylistics: Philly Special: The Thom Bell Story
Interview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, January 1974
THOM BELL smiles a lot. And it isn't only his natural good humour which creases his handsome, bearded face into another explosion of laughter. Over ...
Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark (Asylum)
Review by Loraine Alterman, New York Times, The, 6 January 1974
Joni's Songs Are For Everyone ...
Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark (Asylum)
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 20 January 1974
OF ALL THE female writers and singers post-dating Joan Baez in pop music, Joni Mitchell seems to me to have arrived at the most complete ...
Tim Hardin: The Legend of Tim Hardin
Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 26 January 1974
A CHUNKY, muscular figure. Penetrating eyes. Wispy black hair ever so slightly receding. What the hell is a legend supposed to look like anyway? "The ...
John Prine: Sweet Revenge (Atlantic)
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 31 January 1974
SWEET REVENGE is another side of John Prine, a departure from the nearly unrelenting somberness of his earlier work, and an engaging picture of the ...
Carly Simon: "I Don't Enjoy Performing"
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Modern Hi-Fi and Music, February 1974
NOW THAT she and her husband James Taylor are parents, Carly Simon has no plans to perform except on vinyl. And with her fourth album ...
David Ackles: Just A Handful Of Songs
Interview by John Tobler, Melody Maker, 16 February 1974
DAVID ACKLES has got a great house in Pacific Palisades, a few miles west of Los Angeles, and thereby close to the ocean, although the ...
Toni Brown, Chi Coltrane, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon: Albums from Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell et al
Review by j. poet, Berkeley Barb, The, 22 February 1974
j poet advertizes fer joni: male groopie wanted ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Attempted Mustache (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT'S a mean son of a bitch. Maybe his bark is worse than his bite, but his bark is still pretty nasty. ...
Roy Harper: Valentine (Harvest)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974
THIS ALBUM is going to sell a lot of copies, and not just because Jimmy Page and Keith Moon are on it, either. It's going ...
Bob Dylan: Planet Waves (Asylum 7E-1003)
Review by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, 28 February 1974
LIKE THE reformed gunslinger-turned-family man, who's barely kept his pistol from rusting by occasionally battling some tin cans in his backyard — Dylan's been called ...
Carly Simon: Hotcakes (Elektra)
Review by Kim Fowley, Phonograph Record, March 1974
IT USED TO be said in the late '60s that if you wanted to give your kid sister an LP the choice would be the ...
Gallagher & Lyle: Gallagher and Lyle: Music For The People
Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, April 1974
BENNY GALLAGHER and Graham Lyle aren't singer-songwriters, they're songwriters who sing. They are not really interested in the idea of baring their souls before the ...
Seals and Crofts: Seals & Crofts: Hotbed Of Controversy — 'Unborn Child'
Interview by Stephen Demorest, Circus Raves, April 1974
They became soft rock's #1 duo on the strength of pretty music and sweet lyrics, but when a Strawberry blonde delivered her anti-abortion poem to ...
John Martyn: Talking with John Martyn
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, April 1974
BARD BON-VIVEUR BULLSHITTER DOPER ENTERTAINER EXPLORER GUITARIST HERO HOBO LEGEND LOVER MINSTREL MUSICIAN PATHFINDER PERFORMER PICKER PIONEER PISSARTIST PLAYER POET RACONTEUR RAMBLER RHYMER ROMANCER SINGER ...
Ashford & Simpson: Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing
Interview by Vicki Wickham, Black Music, May 1974
NICKOLAS ASHFORD and Valerie Simpson have, of course, been writing great songs for years. Songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', 'Reach Out And Touch ...
Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, May 1974
WITH THIS album, Gram Parsons ends what was probably one of rock's most uneven and exciting careers on a high note. Always a writer of ...
Joni Mitchell: Ellis Auditorium, Memphis, Tennessee
Live Review by Steven X Rea, Phonograph Record, May 1974
JONI MITCHELL has finally accepted stardom and all the craziness that goes with it. During her Memphis appearance she still revealed her female submissiveness on ...
Leiber and Stoller: Leiber And Stoller Part One: The Blues (1950-1953)
Retrospective by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, May 1974
JERRY LEIBER AND MIKE STOLLER. They rank alongside Berry as rock ‘n’ roll’s wittiest composers and their influence as record producers has been immeasurable. ...
Cat Stevens' Return: Pop Goes the Poet
Report and Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 9 May 1974
LONDON — Two children, one black and one white, played on the doorstep of Cat Stevens's terraced house. ...
Harry Chapin: Short Stories of Harry Chapin
Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 11 May 1974
SHORT STORIES is the most apt title for Harry Chapin's new album, for Chapin is not so much a singer as a storyteller, an artist ...
Nick Drake: In Search of Nick Drake
Profile by Connor McKnight, ZigZag, June 1974
SIX MONTHS ago I walked wearily into the office of ZigZag's production consultant. Weary because it was 1.30 in the morning, and because the then ...
Joni Mitchell: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Mick Gold, Let It Rock, June 1974
WHEN JONI MITCHELL sang in a cinema next to Victoria Station, her entire audience fell in love with her three nights running. For weeks afterwards ...
Leiber and Stoller: Leiber And Stoller Part Two: The rock 'n' roll years
Retrospective by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, June 1974
THE SWITCH from blues to rock ‘n’ roll was gradual and, as far as Leiber and Stoller were concerned, never total. ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: Not So Simple Simon
Essay by Dave Laing, Let It Rock, June 1974
Dave Laing surveys Paul Simon's ten years in music ...
Review by j. poet, Berkeley Barb, The, 7 June 1974
j poet moans: step on me i like it ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974
Take a holiday, Elton. Take two. ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 29 June 1974
NOW THIS lead's going to sound confusing, but please bear with me. There are people you like just for their music and there are musicians ...
Laura Nyro: The Five-Year, Five-Album Span Of High-Pressure Creativity
Overview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974
"Nights in New York street angels running down steps into the echoes of the train station to sing..." ...
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Family Weekly, 21 July 1974
"I guess there are some people who sit down and say, 'All right, I want to write a hit single. Let's see, what's a big item ...
10cc: The Worst Band In The World?
Retrospective and Interview by Alan Betrock, ZigZag, August 1974
WHILE MANY of the veterans on the 1960s musical scene are still around, few are creating much in the way of new musical excitement. There ...
Jackie DeShannon: Your Baby Is A Lady (Atlantic SD 7303)
Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, August 1974
JACKIE DeSHANNON is one of the greats. Writing memorable hits for Brenda Lee and the Fleetwoods ('Dum Dum', 'Heart in Hand', 'The Great Impostor'), then ...
Ashford & Simpson: Behind A Painted Smile
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 3 August 1974
'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', 'You're All I Need To Get By', 'Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing', and 'The Onion Song' were all hits ...
Profile and Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 10 August 1974
JOHNNY BRISTOL'S 'Hang On In There Baby' is currently moving up the American charts. It sounds very much like the Isaac Hayes-Barry White school of ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 31 August 1974
Rock verite — the Beatrix Potter way ...
Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: So Far
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974
Gormlessly groping ...
Dory Previn: Dory Previn (Warner Bros.)
Review by Loraine Alterman, New York Times, The, 8 September 1974
The Perceptive Songs Of Dory Previn ...
Leonard Cohen: New Skin For The Old Ceremony (CBS)
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 28 September 1974
LEONARD COHEN is an artist who worries a great many people. Dismissed on the one hand as pretentious, on the other as a plain old ...
Press Release by uncredited writer, A&M Records, October 1974
TOM JANS is a native Californian with a life-long love for music and language. He crammed his adolescence full of books, sports, and music, playing ...
Mick Greenwood: Midnight Dreamer
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974
THERE ARE a large number of musicians who make music that's always eminently listenable though hardly likely to send record companies' sales-graphs climbing like a ...
Review by Loraine Alterman, New York Times, The, 6 October 1974
The Songwriter Sings ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
IT MUST BE something of a bringdown for Pete Atkin that so much of the critical interest in his albums is focused on his collaborator, ...
Tim Buckley: Look At The Fool (Discreet Import)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974
SO WHAT'S all this fuss about Tim Buckley all of a sudden, already. ...
The Bay City Rollers: Phil Coulter: The Creator
Interview by Harry Doherty, Disc, 2 November 1974
Disc meets the man behind the Rollers and many others ...
Bob Dylan, Eric Weissberg: Blood on the Tracks: Dylan Looks Back
Report and Interview by Larry Sloman, Rolling Stone, 21 November 1974
NEW YORK — It looked like old times at Columbia's A&R Studio September 16th. John Hammond Sr. was there, Phil Ramone was working the board. ...
Neil Sedaka: The Tra-La Days Are Back
Profile by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, December 1974
I DON'T NEED to refer to any books or charts to tell you that Neil Sedaka's ‘Breaking Up is Hard to Do’ was one of ...
Interview by Danny Fields, SoHo Weekly News, 5 December 1974
Leonard Cohen sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Danny Fields on November 6, 1974, at the Chelsea Hotel, New York City. They discuss how ...
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974
UNEASY PREAMBLE: I don't really know what to make of this album. Bits of it seem to me very good, other bits leave me unconvinced, ...
Harry Chapin: Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY
Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 14 December 1974
NEW YORK: The trouble with Harry is that he's such a goddam regular guy. The way he handles himself onstage, for instance. Like a scoutmaster, ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
DOC POMUS (with Mort Shuman), Jerry Leiber (with Mike Stoller), Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and a handful of others were the seminal figures during the ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
THIS HUSBAND-AND-WIFE country songwriting team have been at it for more than twenty-five years, proving the old adage, the family that plays together, stays together. ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books) , 1975
ALONG WITH HIS first wife, composer Carole King, Gerry Goffin has been responsible for some of the most memorable and enduring music of the early ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
HARRY CHAPIN IS probably the most novelistic of our songwriters. Using techniques most often found in prose, he has created a series of story songs, ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
ALTHOUGH AT FIRST he may sound like an early incarnation of Bob Dylan, lyrically John Prine has a voice all his own. Fusing his country ...
John Sebastian, The Lovin' Spoonful: John Sebastian
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to describe the feeling, being away from the Village for the first time, living in San Francisco in the summer of 1965, ...
Lou Reed Does Not Want Anyone To Know How He Writes His Songs
Interview by Bruce Pollock, Modern Hi-Fi and Music, 1975
LOU REED THINKS he's gone as deep as he wants to go for his own mental health. If he got any deeper, he'd wind up ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Wainwright
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
ANOTHER OF THE new breed of songwriters – sharp, witty, terse, incisive – Loudon Wainwright III arrived on the Greenwich Village scene just as it ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
MELANIE EMERGED on the music scene, a tiny figure in the rain at Woodstock in 1969, alone onstage with her guitar and her songs. She ...
Linda Creed, Thom Bell: Philly’s Lyric Queen: Linda Creed
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
IN THE ‘70S THE most popular form of music is, once again, R&B, also known as Soul. Emanating primarily from Philadelphia, it is a laid-back ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, In Their Own Words (Collier Books), 1975
SLOWLY BUT SURELY, almost against his will, Randy Newman has become a legend in his own time – although not too many people know it, ...
Grateful Dead, Robert Hunter: Robert Hunter
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
ROBERT HUNTER is the resident lyricist for the Grateful Dead, rock eminences of the San Francisco scene. An underground poet with a solo album, Tales ...
Book Excerpt by Bruce Pollock, 'In Their Own Words' (Collier Books), 1975
FIRST TOM SANKEY brought The Golden Screw to off-off Broadway. Then, summarizing rapidly, Al Carmines applied his lyric touch to the outrageous Home Movies and ...
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, January 1975
Randy Newman’s album starts:‘Last night I saw Lester Maddox on a TV showwith some smartass New York Jewand the Jew laughed at Lester MaddoxAnd the ...
Joni Mitchell: Miles Of Aisles
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, January 1975
THE TWO MOST annoying things (to me) about Joni Mitchell in the early years of her career were her songs, which often seemed impersonal, shallow ...
Neil Sedaka: Packing Up Is Hard To Do
Profile and Interview by John Pidgeon, Let It Rock, January 1975
1. A Stairway To HeavenAs a Brooklyn-born Jewish boy of Spanish descent, Neil Sedaka may have been a typical New Yorker, but he wasn't a ...
Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975
Question: what well-known biped possesses an upper-register vocalic system, is pleasant to look upon, and is almost universally misunderstood and/or patronised? Answer: any Rock 'n ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975
ONE DAY WHEN it was raining, I swore a great and terrible oath. ...
Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks (CBS)
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 25 January 1975
DYLAN: Seeking gentler ground Special preview of Blood On The Tracks by MICHAEL WATTS ...
Lamont Dozier: Black Bach (ABC) ***; The New Lamont Dozier/Love And Beauty (US Invictus XS98) ****
Review by Tony Cummings, Black Music, February 1975
WHEN, AFTER all those years languishing in the background boy's shadows, things started to move for Lamont as an artist, they moved with lightning speed. ...
Leiber and Stoller: Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller: By Royal Appointment
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 15 February 1975
THE SCENE IS the Dorchester Hotel, one of the last vestiges of Britain's Imperial splendour and we've just been refused admission to the restaurant for ...
Leo Sayer: One Man Band No Longer
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975
WHEN LITTLE Leo Sayer does his Michael Crawford impersonation and becomes disaster prone Frank, protective instincts are aroused, and folk cluster around to prevent him ...
Tom Rush - Ladies Love Outlaws
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 22 February 1975
IN THE PAST Tom Rush has been hailed as a great interpreter, someone who can lift a number by nuance and feeling. His latest album ...
Loggins & Messina: There's Gold In The Middle Of The Road
Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 27 February 1975
THE RUSTIC HOUSE on Round Valley Drive in the hills of the San Fernando Valley is in one of those pockets of geography that provides ...
John Lennon Talks About Music, Money, Marriage, and Fame
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Viva, March 1975
ONE OF John Lennon's friends, Elton John, spends $5,000 for a pair of sunglasses and buys his manager a yacht for a birthday present. Another ...
Leonard Cohen: The Romantic in a Ragpicker's Trade
Interview by Paul Williams, Crawdaddy!, March 1975
"I THINK MARRIAGE is the hottest furnace of the spirit today," Leonard Cohen said on the phone from Mexico. "Much more difficult than solitude, much ...
Tim Buckley: Greeetings From L.A.
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975
WAY BACK in the dim and distant, old Tim had to sing for his supper, along with the likes of Steve Noonan and Jackson Browne, ...
Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks
Review by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, April 1975
I DON'T KNOW HOW, but some adjustment in our consciousness must now follow from the fact that it is Bob Dylan who has produced, in ...
Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Ratings: Injured, Brilliant
Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 April 1975
NOTE: The interview had to wait until we watched the latest episode of the PBS series, The Ascent of Man. I asked Harry about the ...
Pete Atkin and Clive James: Pete Atkin And Clive James: From Little Atkins Great Oak Trees Grow
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975
A fearsome encounter between two of the foremost minds of a Generation...uh...two of the most cerebral Rock Critics afloat...um, two of the most Accomplished Raconteurs...the ...
Interview by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1975
THE HOUSE WAS set back behind a stone wall, at the end of a cul-de-sac off Coldwater Canyon between Beverly Hills and the San Fernando ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1975
FLESHED OUT WITH such guest performers as Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Glenn Frey and Steve Goodman, Common Sense comes on like Prine's ultimate supersession production; ...
Gordon Lightfoot: Cold on the Shoulder (Reprise)
Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 8 May 1975
FOR A DECADE NOW, Gordon Lightfoot has been a neo-folk hero in Canada. His early records and performances were distinguished by a rugged romanticism that ...
Tim Buckley: Starwood, West Hollywood, CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 1975
Tim Buckley and His Band: Sinuous Folk-Rock ...
Bread: Gates' Philosophical Process
Profile and Interview by Dave Laing, Sounds, 10 May 1975
ONE IMPORTANT fact about the geography of American rock which often gets overlooked is the importance of Oklahoma in the scheme of things. Not the ...
Joan Armatrading: Reluctant Singer Returns
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 31 May 1975
"I'M THE most boring person in the whole world," Joan Armatrading announces, sticking her head out the window of A&M's Oxford Street offices, breathing in ...
Mud, Suzi Quatro, Sweet: Nicky Chinn: From Riches to Riches
Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Let It Rock, June 1975
LiR EXCLUSIVE: Journey to the centre of pop. Nicky Chinn interviewed ...
Elton John: I Want To Chug, Not Race
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 21 June 1975
IN AMSTERDAM LAST WEEK, while canals evaporated in the heat wave, eight musicians and three singers were stirring the sluggish air with an electric sound ...
Overview by Dave Laing, Melody Maker, 21 June 1975
In this exclusive extract from a major new rock book, The Electric Muse, Dave Laing investigates the post-Woodstock singer/songwriter syndrome, and charts the rise in ...
Neil Young: Tonight's the Night: Play It Loud and Stay in the Other Room!
Interview by Bud Scoppa, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975
NEIL YOUNG isn't out to win any popularity contest. Just as he reached the top of the heap three years ago with the huge-selling Harvest, ...
Steely Dan: Whole Is Greater Than Parts
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 1975
"It has been said many times and in many ways that what the world needs now is another rock 'n roll band. This could very ...
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, July 1975
IT'S STRANGE to think that without Barrett Strong, it is quite conceivable that the whole Motown empire would have never gotten off the floor because ...
Barry Mann: Rock & Roll Survivor
Profile and Interview by Greg Shaw, Phonograph Record, July 1975
Who put the bomp in the bomp-a-bomp-a-bomp?Who put the ram in the rama-lama-ding-dong?Who put the bop in the bop-shoobop-shoobop?Who put the dit in the dit-didit-didit?Who ...
Jerry Jeff Walker & the Lost Gonzo Band: Palomino, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 5 July 1975
Jerry Jeff Cooks At Palomino ...
Tim Buckley Dies: He Put His Soul Where His Mouth Was
Obituary by Idris Walters, Sounds, 12 July 1975
TIM BUCKLEY died at his home in Santa Monica, California, after appearing at a concert on Sunday, June 29. The exact cause of death of ...
Tim Buckley: The Candle Died, Now You Are Gone, For The Flame Was Too Bright
Obituary by Andy Childs, ZigZag, August 1975
LESS THAN a month after I started work at ZigZag, I had the privilege of meeting Tim Buckley. I interviewed him at some length and ...
Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger (Columbia)
Review by Nick Tosches, Creem, August 1975
I USED TO think Willie Nelson wrote sissy songs, that he was just another doily-brained sensitivo. Then, about two years ago, I came across an ...
Neil Young: Tonight's The Night
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1975
"I'm sorry. You don't know these people. This means nothing to you." — Neil Young, in the liner notes ...
Andy Pratt: Nobody Knows My Name
Profile by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975
HAVE your albums been deleted? Do they even refuse to take them at second-hand shops? Are you even now living off the dole, wondering where ...
Neil Young: Tonight's the Night (Reprise)
Review by Wayne Robins, Creem, September 1975
IF YOU THOUGHT Berlin was depressing, wait till you hear Tonight's the Night. Even the label is black. It is an album of resolute drugginess ...
Tim Buckley: A Fleeting House: The Music of Tim Buckley
Retrospective by Idris Walters, Let It Rock, October 1975
LIFE AND DEATH are becoming indistinguishable. New biologies are beginning to prove that Death is just a change of state in the cycle of life. ...
Interview by Marty Cerf, Phonograph Record, October 1975
"IT SEEMS that I've always been ahead of my time — or 'about to happen' ever since I started in the early '60s," says Jackie ...
Garland Jeffreys, Tom Waits: Tom Waits, Garland Jeffreys: The Cellar Door, Washington DC
Live Review by Howard Wuelfing, Unicorn Times, October 1975
THE NIGHTHAWK SOARS ...
Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger
Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1975
WILLIE NELSON has never written easy songs or recorded easy albums. He has penned his share of country standards over the past fifteen years, all ...
Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years (CBS 86001) 35 mins
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 18 October 1975
THE WAIT has been worth it. If you exclude Live Rhymin' (and most people do) this is Simon's first record for more than two years, ...
Bob Dylan: Plymouth Memorial Hall, Mass. USA
Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
BOB DYLAN'S ROLLING Thunder Revue hit the Plymouth Memorial Hall at 8.20 p.m. on Tuesday November 4.That's Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA, by the way, and it ...
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 15 November 1975
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN says he just writes down his impressions of stuff whereas here in Hollywood, Calif., there are people in from New York who believe ...
Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 November 1975
ON THE INSIDE sleeve of this album, Joni has a short, cryptic liner note stating that the record is "graphically, musically, lyrically and accidentally" a ...
The Carpenters, Neil Sedaka: Neil Sedaka: Second Stairway To Heaven
Report and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 4 December 1975
AWAY FROM the Vegas casino clatter, inside the Riviera Hotel's now empty Versailles Room, onstage, seated at a piano is a petite, energetic man who ...
Neil Young: Sooner or Later it All Gets Real...
Essay by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 December 1975
The greening of the lean American: NICK KENT attempts a critical reappraisal of the work of NEIL YOUNG ...
Simon & Garfunkel Reunite: It's Paul, But Is It Art?
Report and Interview by Wayne Robins, Rolling Stone, 18 December 1975
NEW YORK – Comedian Richard Belzer was warming up the studio audience for NBC's Saturday Night program, October 18th. This, he was saying, was an ...
The Band: Northern Lights — Southern Cross (Capitol St— 11440)
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 20 December 1975
The Band is back — almost ...
Joni Mitchell: Hostess Twinkies for Your Dreams
Live Review by Michael Gross, Swank, 1976
Joni Mitchell: Nassau Coliseum ...
Carole King: On This Side Of Goodbye
Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Phonograph Record, January 1976
HE COMES HOME from a night of petting heavily in the back row of the RKO Fordham. Aching from the pains of halted passion, he ...
Laura Nyro: Five Years of Silence
Essay by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, January 1976
BORN LAURA Nigro, she was fated to sing the blues. Though her solitary visions weren't attuned to the pop pulse of the movement-minded sixties, she ...
Steve Goodman: Jessie's Jig And Other Favourites
Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, February 1976
I HAVE an uncomfortable feeling that this is almost exactly the sort of record that the great majority of the critics on the weeklies have ...
Gil Scott-Heron: "You Will Not Be Able To Plug In, Turn On, Cop Out"
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, 7 February 1976
IT'S A mystifying truism that perhaps the most surprising thing about Gil Scott-Heron is that he is still standing very much in the shadows as ...
Van Dyke Parks: The Clang of Van Dyke Parks
Profile by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 7 February 1976
"He deals in streams of consciousness and clicks someone’s brain on to accepting an abstract concept... he can grab those feelings and wrench them out ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle (Warner Bros.)
Review by Susin Shapiro, Village Voice, The, 16 February 1976
Kate and Anna Carry Through ...
Neil Sedaka: Sedaka's Rocket to the States
Profile and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 21 February 1976
NEIL SEDAKA does not look like a wealthy entertainer, not even when he's surrounded by the splendour of his rented luxury apartment above Fifth Avenue ...
Phoebe Snow: Second Childhood (CBS) 39 mins****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 6 March 1976
BEST KNOWN to British audiences for her sing-along duet with Paul Simon on 'Gone At Last', Phoebe Snow is a very talented singer-songwriter who deserves ...
Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages Audio, 10 March 1976
After running down Ace's 'How Long' on guitar and offering a post mortem on his British stage debut, the great soul singer-songwriter recalls writing for wicked Wilson Pickett, confesses to hating his recent Safety Zone album, and reminisces about playing with white musicians at Muscle Shoals...
File format: mp3; file size: 58.9mb, interview length: 1h 01' 24" sound quality: ***
Tom Waits: Personality Without Pretension
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 14 March 1976
THERE'S NO PLACE like Tom Waits' home. There's no home, at any rate, quite like Tom Waits' place. The Silver Lake court cottage looks like ...
Dory Previn: Children Of Coincidence And Harpo Marx (Warner Bros.) ****
Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 3 April 1976
OF THE RANDY Newman/Harry Nilsson school of absurdist, black comedy, Dory Previn unleashes her cryptic wit and dry tongue once again. Hallelujah! Dory Previn albums ...
J.J. Cale: Endurance Of The Anti-Hero
Interview by Martin Hayman, Street Life, 1 May 1976
J.J. Cale reckons he's pretty good at doing nothing. He sleeps as long as he can ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, Street Life, 1 May 1976
PHIL OCHS, who committed suicide in Los Angeles on April 9, was among the most sardonic and militant of the Greenwich Village folksingers of the ...
Gloria Jones: From Classic Soul to Rock 'N' Roll
Interview by Tamara Jermott, Black Echoes, 8 May 1976
WHAT DO Gladys Knight, Marc Bolan, Edna Wright of Honeycone, Eddie Kendricks, Billy Preston, The Los Angeles cast of Hair, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye have ...
Gloria Jones, Marc Bolan: Gloria Jones: Keeping Up With The Joneses
Interview by Robin Katz, Record Mirror, 8 May 1976
GLORIA JONES is the sultry lady sprawled across the sheets who screams through T. Rex's 'Get It On'. Very Tina Turner, and judging from all ...
Dolly Parton: Parton's Creative Country
Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, 15 May 1976
Heard the one about the Heathrow cowboy with Dolly tattooed from neck to backside? ...
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 22 May 1976
Simon's magical living room ...
Warren Zevon: Warren Zevon (Asylum)
Review by Bud Scoppa, Phonograph Record, June 1976
THEY'RE ALL HERE – various Eagles, an Everly Brother, Buckingham/Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Carl Wilson, David Lindley, J.D. Souther, and Jackson Browne himself, acting as producer ...
Janis Ian: The Ugly Duckling That Laid A Golden Egg
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 5 June 1976
'I am a swan!' sez Janis Ian. 'Right!' sez Robin Katz. ...
Jesse Winchester: Exile on Main Street
Profile and Interview by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 5 June 1976
Giovanni Dadomo releases his frustrations to tell you all about Jesse Winchester ...
Janis Ian: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Robin Katz, Sounds, 12 June 1976
TO EVEN the artist's surprise, the concert was sold out. Standing room was also sold out. The New Victoria audience once more displayed knowledgable enthusiasm ...
Janis Ian: Society's Child Grows Up
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 12 June 1976
ONE JOURNALIST WHO knew Janis Ian in 1969 thought she was the snottiest kid he'd ever met, "the cocky, pretentious product of an 'old Lefty' ...
Tom Waits: Warm Beer, Cold Women
Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 12 June 1976
TOM WAITS rocks backwards and forwards in his chair, pulls at a cigarette, draws deep, then turns his face out of the smoke, back into ...
Leonard Cohen: The Return of Leonard Cohen
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 3 July 1976
THE POSTER outside the Colston Hall, Bristol announced the appearance that evening of "The Poet of Rock and Roll". ...
Joan Armatrading: Joan Armatrading (A&M)
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 7 August 1976
Joan puts on her sailin' shoes ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Open Air Theatre, Regents Park
Live Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976
IT'S A LITTLE disturbing to discover yourself in the minority, the camp who really didn't much like the star. But that was the way it ...
Andy Pratt: Avenging Andy Rides Again
Interview by Stephen Demorest, Circus, 24 August 1976
THREE YEARS AGO, Andy Pratt had bats in his belfry. Flutter, flutter -you could hear the unrequited passions playing hide-and-go-seek in his psyche. ...
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 28 August 1976
WHAT'S A MIDDLE-of-the-road singer like Neil Diamond doing with the Band's Robbie Robertson? Making a hit album, Beautiful Noise, that's what. The two first met ...
Interview by Robin Katz, Black Echoes, 25 September 1976
Suddenly England has a lady singer songwriter to vie with America's greatest. Robin Katz talks to Joan Armatrading ...
Joan Armatrading, Moon: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976
MOON GET better weekly. Disciplined, tight, colourful but most important eager to please. They got an encore. Between their leaving the stage and Joan Armatrading ...
Randy Edelman: 'Concrete' Man Gets Set
Interview by Robin Katz, Sounds, 16 October 1976
IF RANDY Edelman's 'Uptown Uptempo Woman' sounds so convincing that it 'must' be true, then trivia buffs will point out the obvious. It 'must' be ...
Jackson Browne: The Pretender (Asylum)
Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976
THE CHOICE of Jackson Browne's classic 'Late For The Sky', with all its mystique and aura, as soundtrack to the movie Taxi Driver, was no ...
Jonathan Richman: Town Hall, New York City
Live Review by Lester Bangs, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976
THE FUNDAMENTAL things apply, as time goes by. Like Sister Ray, for instance. It had only been out for a couple of years when Jonathan ...
Leo Sayer: Endless Flight (Chrysalis)
Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976
Leo Sayer (vocals, harmonica). Ed Greene, Steve Gadd, Rick Shlosser, Jeff Porcaro, Nigel Olsson (drums), Andy Muson, Bill Bodine, Willie Weeks, Bob Glaub, Lee Sklar, ...
Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 20 November 1976
NEW YORK: For better or worse, John Denver has changed people's lives. His concerts, in America if not elsewhere, are gatherings of almost religious intensity, ...
Tom Waits: Small Change (Asylum, Import)
Review by David Hepworth, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976
Waits refuses to face his critics (to his lasting credit...) ...
Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum K53053) *****
Review by Tim Lott, Sounds, 27 November 1976
The tip of the iceberg ...
Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976
Joan travels on; Joni travels back ...
Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum 7E-1087)
Review by Colman Andrews, Phonograph Record, December 1976
VERY FEW of Joni Mitchell's songs since the Ladies of the Canyon LP have been recorded by other artists, and I suppose that must be ...
Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 11 December 1976
The American singer/songwriter – currently touring Britain – who has made his name by writing constantly demanding, complex and mysterious songs, talks to COLIN IRWIN ...
Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon: Apollo, Glasgow
Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 11 December 1976
Jackson: after the deluge ...
Jesse Winchester: Studio Six Concert, Montreal, Quebec
Live Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 16 December 1976
THE ATMOSPHERE AT the small Montreal studio was so much like a living room's that it was hard to believe it was anything more than ...
Warren Zevon: Palace Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 18 December 1976
LOOKING like a university student with a major in English Lit, Warren Zevon walked onstage at the Manchester Palace Theatre, greeted warmly by an audience ...
Bob Dylan: Journey To The Centre Of The Psyche: Blonde On Blonde
Retrospective by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976
IT'S AN almost impossible opening sentence. ...
Warren Zevon: Looking For Links In L.A.
Profile and Interview by David Hancock, National RockStar, 25 December 1976
Warren Zevon explains patiently to David Hancock ...
The Eagles: Life in the Fast Lane
Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 8 January 1977
"A friend of mine in L.A. said 'talkin' about music is a lot like singing about football'." — Jackson Browne. ...
Bernie Taupin, Elton John: Elton John: Elton's Blue Moves
Interview by Wesley Strick, Circus, 17 January 1977
In One Era and Out Another ...
Review by Fred Schruers, Crawdaddy!, February 1977
JONI DRONES, MELANIE FINDS NEW KEY ...
Wendy Waldman: The Main Refrain (Warner Bros. BS 2974)
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Crawdaddy!, February 1977
HER SURF'S UP, SHE'S NO PET ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Victoria Palace, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 26 February 1977
Incomparigle McGarrigles ...
Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, May 1977
ELVIS COSTELLO is a cagey sort of fellow. You can talk to him for hours and still not discover quite what makes him tick. ...
Roy Harper: There'll Always Be An England
Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1977
As the pound plummets, the economy slumps and the government totters, there is yet hope for the fair isle of Albion… as we get a ...
Essra Mohawk: Essra (Private Stock).
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 14 May 1977
THE LAST album (on Asylum) was simply called Essra Mohawk. Now, by way of Essra, a title whose warmer, more personal implication is complemented by ...
Dory Previn: Fairfield Halls, Croydon
Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 May 1977
DORY PREVIN arouses my sympathy, but she doesn't excite my empathy. However much I may agree with what she is telling us about woman's condition ...
Jimmy Webb: Ten Years After 'Phoenix' He's Still Looking For Hit City
Profile and Interview by Todd Everett, Phonograph Record, June 1977
JIMMY WEBB is the still-under-30 composer who appeared from nowhere nine years ago with a spate of pop hits including 'By the Time I Get ...
Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages Audio, June 1977
The Louisiana Swamp God on having his best stuff rejected by Warner Bros.; selling songs to others, and his pleasure at some of their versions; Elvis doing 'Polk Salad Annie'; on songwriting; on being compared to Barry White; on going fishing with his mom, and eating catfish; his new album, Eyes, and looking back at how he got started.
File format: mp3; file size: 21.9mb, interview length: 22' 47" sound quality: *****
Gene Clark: Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 1977
A Forgotten Man in the Spotlight ...
Carole King: Simple Things (Capitol SMAS11667)
Review by Lita Eliscu, Phonograph Record, August 1977
THIS ISN'T simple, it's simplistic. An album full of observations on life and living — none of which comes off without an unbelievable amount of ...
Barry Manilow: Trying To Get the Feeling
Interview by Bob Spitz, Crawdaddy!, September 1977
IT'S ELEVEN-below-zero on the Avenue, pitch black and hailing glassy bullets the size of golf balls. Empty buses on the suicide run choke back jetstreams ...
Kevin Ayers, Soft Machine: Kevin Ayers
Interview by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, September 1977
BACK IN TP 16 Myron Bretholz wrote a lengthy run-down of the life and times of Kevin Ayers, English eccentric, banana artiste and wine connoisseur ...
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages Audio, 11 September 1977
The late singer-songwriter talks about unreleased tracks recorded with Michael Nesmith; his relationship with Elektra; how hits such as 'W•O•L•D' are representative of his work, and about his stage show and relationship with his audience.
File format: mp3; file size: 9.9mb, interview length: 10' 45" sound quality: ****
Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe: England's Elvis — The New Sensation on the Rock Scene
Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 October 1977
OUT OF nowhere comes a musician with no apparent past who looks like a good bet to become the biggest new sensation on the rock ...
Dwight Twilley: Twilley Don't Grind
Profile by Susin Shapiro, Village Voice, The, 17 October 1977
AWKWARDNESS IS the new vogue. No more smoothies and impeccables to make us feel 10-thumbed; clumsiness is the cornerstone of humanity, or so say the ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, November 1977
I KNOW IT'S BEEN a hectic year full of surprises but if anything 1977 will go down as the year Jonathan Richman (a) Got in ...
Tom Waits: Foreign Affairs (Asylum 7E-1117)
Review by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 17 November 1977
THE ADMIRING audience that Tom Waits built up with his early work now worries about him in a way that does his derelict's persona proud: ...
Lamont Dozier: The Hitmaker Supreme Who Can't Read Or Write Music
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, December 1977
....but he's got a good ear and keeps cookin' up the goodies! David Nathan investigates the art of culinary composing, according to Lamont Dozier. ...
Randy Newman: Inside The Criminal Mind
Report and Interview by Fred Schruers, Crawdaddy!, December 1977
EAST BATON Rouge Parish, LA. — "I wasn't unhappy. I didn't feel guilty about it. I just didn't do anything for three years." ...
Talking Heads: Talking Heads: 77 (Sire)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, December 1977
AFTER WRITING reviews for eight years, one learns to ignore the press releases that accompany promo copies or at least to read them with a ...
Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, December 1977
TOWNES VAN ZANDT is no longer such a well kept secret, known only to a handful of dedicated fans. Thanks to his new manager and ...
Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True (Columbia)
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Stage Life, February 1978
LIKE IT OR NOT, you’d better watch out 'cause talent will out, which is exactly why you’re hearing so much about Elvis Costello these days. ...
Joni Mitchell: Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (Asylum)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, February 1978
DON JUAN SAYS HE DOESN'T KNOW YOU ...
Richard Hell: To Hell and Back: Richard Hell
Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, February 1978
RICHARD HELL had just got up, and one of the first things he focused on was John Tobler, looming over him with a tape recorder. ...
Hirth Martinez: Big Bright Street
Review by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 4 February 1978
APART FROM its notoriety for encouraging idle hedonism, California also seems to breed an unusually high percentage of oddballs. ...
Be Bop Deluxe: Be-Bop Deluxe's Bill Nelson (1978)
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages Audio, 6 February 1978
From his school band the Cosmonauts through to latest Be Bop Deluxe album Drastic Plastic, Nelson tells the whole story: teen bands; conversion to Pentecostal Christianity; forming the band, signing to EMI and recording debut Axe Victim; changing the band's line-up, and record producers... not forgetting his perpetual self-doubt.
File format: mp3; file size: 48.9mb, interview length: 50' 53" sound quality: *****
Karla Bonoff, Kate Bush: Kate Bush: The Kick Inside; Karla Bonhoff: Karla Bonhoff
Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978
THOUGH ON the surface just another member of the incestuous West Coast singing/songwriting sisterhood, Karla Bonoff is different in one crucial respect — she isn't ...
Jerry Jeff Walker: Jerry Jeff Rides Again... Again
Profile and Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, March 1978
THEY SAY AROUND Austin that Jerry Jeff Walker can do no wrong, but whoo boy, does he ever give it his best shot. ...
Warren Zevon on the Loose in Los Angeles
Profile and Interview by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1978
IN THE OPENING LINES of the title song from Warren Zevon's new album, Excitable Boy, the title character smears Sunday pot roast all over his ...
Harry Chapin: Singing for the World's Supper
Report and Interview by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 6 April 1978
THE MORNING OF February 3rd, singer/ songwriter Harry Chapin flew to Washington D.C. from Ontario. He'd just done a concert and, having slept on the ...
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 Only Ones: The One and Only
Profile and Interview by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 15 April 1978
PUNK. NEW Wave. I groan inwardly at all these new clichés that seem more painfully predominant as the years go by. It seems that most ...
Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 22 April 1978
"AN EXORCISM of low-riding smack-shooting ghosts" was how Rolling Stone described Judee Sill's life, in issue 106/April '72 it was. Interestingly enough, that same issue ...
Randy Edelman, Fairfield Halls, Croydon
Live Review by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 22 April 1978
THIS GUY really is the archetypal singer-songwriter. I write that with no malice, because he gives a lot of people a lot of pleasure. But ...
Nico: Return Of The Pagan Exile
Interview by Maureen Paton, Melody Maker, 29 April 1978
Nico, in London for a one-off gig last Monday and to record an album, talks to Maureen Paton. ...
Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 May 1978
SPEND TOO much time in the sun and you will soon dry up. Let this be a warning to all who make the sound of ...
Bob Dylan: the Man Behind the Image
Interview by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 13 May 1978
BOB DYLAN will be pocketing over £500,000 for the six shows he'll perform before more than 90,000 people at Earls Court next month. ...
Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 3 June 1978
2002 Prologue: I remember this interview with massive warmth. I knew me and Kate were obviously getting onside ‘cos this was done at the family ...
Randy Newman: Randy Takes The Fifth Amendment
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 10 June 1978
RANDY NEWMAN talks to BRIAN CASE...but BRIAN CASE does the talking ...
Bob Dylan: Earls Court, London
Live Review by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 16 June 1978
Dylan finds the key to success in the 70s ...
Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott (1978)
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages Audio, 20 June 1978
The Lizzy front man talks about the current tour; the Live and Dangerous album; his solo plans, and ruminates on the meaning and effects of fame.
File format: mp3; file size: 13.8mb, interview length: 15' 01" sound quality: ****
Elvis Costello is Angry and Convincing: This Year's Model Fulfils Every New Wave Expectation
Profile by Fred Schruers, Circus, 22 June 1978
IT'S 1:30AM IN the Bootlegger Lounge in Syracuse, NY. Elvis Costello, the one with the owlish stare and the spitting mad vocals, the man whose ...
Tom Waits: The Bad Liver and Broken Heart Brigade
Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978
The gent pictured on the left has quit the organisation listed below, at least as far as vocally viewing life through the bottom of a ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Animus Americus Unpoliticus
Interview by Stephen Demorest, Creem, August 1978
[L — Fair-haired, guitar-playing carnivore indigenous to America; leaves characteristic trail of Coke bottles.] ...
Interview by Mark Rowland, unpublished, 23 September 1978
Marc Rowland interviews Dylan in Rochester prior to his concert at the Rochester Auditorium. The interview was broadcast on US radio. The transcript is from ...
Kate Bush: Bringing It Back Home
Interview by James Johnson, Evening Standard, The, 26 September 1978
THE feverish quality of the pop world barely intrudes into the calm atmosphere of the large comfortable family house on the edge of the Kent ...
Tom Waits: Blue Valentine (Asylum 6E-162)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 10 December 1978
TOM WAITS, BEAT-ERA RELIC ...
Terry Reid: Still Making Waves
Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 15 December 1978
SANTA MONICA — Suppose for a moment you're a member of some English supergroup in the midst of a 30-city tour of the United States ...
The Flatlanders, Butch Hancock: Butch Hancock
Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, Spring 1978
YOU HAVE four songs on Joe Ely's album; how did you get started into songwriting? ...
Joe Jackson: Nashville, London
Live Review by Garry Bushell, Sounds, 20 January 1979
Spiv rock — the big thing in '79? ...
Tom Waits: Blue Valentine (Asylum)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, February 1979
ONCE I WAS really drunk in this very fancy bar where they had this woman playing piano, looked like somebody's grandmother, and I kept asking ...
Kevin Coyne: Music Of A Different Coyne
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 3 February 1979
And my message to the people Is don't tie me to the steeple Don't put me with the stocks and in your market square. ...
Ian Dury is an Xmas Cake (Relax, it's a compliment)
Profile by David Hepworth, Smash Hits, 8 February 1979
1979 is still only a few weeks old, and already the No. 1 singles slot has been occupied first by a buncha camp New Yorkers ...
Billy Joel: Redefining a Rock Star
Profile by Robin Katz, Man About Town, March 1979
The comparisons — and the influences — are obvious. He writes with the directness of Lennon, shares the melodic skill of McCartney, and understands the ...
Peter Hammill: The Two Sides of Peter Hammill
Interview by Jon Young, Trouser Press, April 1979
FOR OVER 10 years Peter Hammill has been the object of a particularly intense cult following. As the leader of Van der Graaf Generator and ...
Elton John: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London
Live Review by David Hancock, Evening News, London, 3 April 1979
Elton is still way ahead of the rest ...
Steve Forbert: So You Thought You'd Seen The Last...
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 21 April 1979
...of introspective singer/songwriters in blue jeans with acoustic guitars and pained expressions... Well think again as globe-trotting talent scout Hugh Fielder proclaims: "I have seen ...
Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979
Doing the Palladium slouch ...
Elvis Costello: Accidents Won't Happen: The Premeditated Rise Of Elvis Costello
Essay by Peter Silverton, Trouser Press, June 1979
A COUPLE OF days before Christmas, trying to make it home on the London tube before I dropped the bottle of tequila and the Times ...
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 2 June 1979
PERSONS FAMILIAR with Nick Lowe in his recent incarnation as cynical-old-Basher, the man who'll steal any lick that isn't nailed down, disguise himself as anything ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Cocktails for Kerouac and an appointment with the Hype Machine
Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
ABOUT THE crassest tag anyone has tried to hang on Rickie Lee Jones is that she’s "the female Tom Waits". It is also the kind ...
Judie Tzuke: Welcome To The Cruise (Rocket)
Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 23 June 1979
'FOR YOU' WAS one of last year's better off-the-wall singles, a remarkable vignette of overdubbed and interlocking harmonies backed by a classical string quartet which ...
Chris Rea: Up from Cleveland... England
Profile and Interview by Mark Williams, Rolling Stone, 26 July 1979
Singer/songwriter with an edge ...
Randy Newman: Born Again (Warner Bros K56663)
Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 25 August 1979
HOW IS IT that Born Again should be Randy Newman's worst album to date, and yet his most marketable? For a start, it is topically ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 22 September 1979
THE LONG cool sleaze of Rickie Lee Jones wafted through the Dominion Theatre with a balmy breeze that fulfilled the expectations of those who'd come ...
Marianne Faithfull: Broken English (Island Ml) ***½
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 17 November 1979
NOT SO much a comeback as a c-c-c-comeback. Marianne Faithfull has restarted her career more times than Frank Sinatra's retired. ...
Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, December 1979
AFTER FIVE ALBUMS and almost ten years of intermittent brilliance, Randy Newman achieves a number one single with a nastily amusing ditty. ...
Randy Newman: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 8 December 1979
RANDY NEWMAN was wandering around backstage at the Dominion gazing disconsolately down. "Why doesn't anyone like my ELO song?" he kept asking no one in ...
Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 29 December 1979
Mike Chapman began with Mud and Sweet, disappeared when glitter-rock went cold, and came back to make the new wave palatable for America with the ...
Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, Spring 1979
I WAS BORN in this tiny West Texas town called Honihans in 1940. Honihans was named after some Irishman who found the well there - ...
Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980
FIRST THE vital question — has marriage cheered up our ever-ailing heroine and caused her to cease spilling teardrops on the Steinway? On the evidence ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: The Trials of Tom Petty: Petty gets it…
Report and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 8 March 1980
Washed clean by legal wranglings, Tom Petty is settling down to write good rock 'n' roll songs. "That's all I want to do," he tells ...
Interview by Ken Hunt, Dark Star, April 1980
IN NOVEMBER, 1979, someone dear to the hearts of Dark Star's staff and readers crossed the briny deep to play a couple of largely under-publicised ...
Leonard Cohen: Incurable Romantic
Profile and Interview by Anthony O'Grady, RAM, April 1980
WHEN LEONARD COHEN takes the stage there's a small, collective gasp, almost resembling the threshold of tumescence, or the sudden realisation of a dream come ...
Warren Zevon: How L.A.'s 'Excitable Boy' Won the Battle with the Bottle
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 10 April 1980
"L.A. rock's newest darling desperado, Warren Zevon, likes to start his day with a screwdriver, then clear his head with coffee and a side of ...
John Prine: A Non Philosophical Singer/Songwriter?
Profile and Interview by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, June 1980
WHEN I SPOKE to John Prine during a recent visit he made to Britain, he was searching, in this order, for his girlfriend (who plays ...
Grace Jones: New Wave for a Disco Diva
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 1980
Grace Jones' new LP tailors the music to fit her flamboyant visual concepts. ...
Interview by Ken Hunt, Dark Star, August 1980
Dark Star: David Grisman and Vassar Clements were beefing on once about the fact that they never got any money from Old And In The ...
John Hiatt: Two Bit Monsters (MCA 5123)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1980
LAST YEAR'S most exciting newcomer returns with his fourth album, hoping to become an overnight sensation after ten years. Forgetting an early pair of weak ...
Warren Zevon: Life In The Mental Combat Zone
Interview by Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1980
"THIS IS A .44 magnum revolver...do I have five or six bullets left...Are you feelin' lucky tonight, PUNK?" And then the hapless caller to Warren ...
Rodney Crowell: A Songwriter Surfaces
Profile and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 21 August 1980
'Ashes by Now': his first hit ...
Tom Waits: Heartattack & Vine (Asylum/WEA)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 October 1980
American stars and bars ...
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. ...
Joni Mitchell: Shadows and Light (Asylum BB704)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 2 November 1980
JONI'S NEW ALBUM STAYS IN SHADOWS ...
Smokey Robinson: Smokey — Once & Future
Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 23 November 1980
THE TEST OF time is one accepted yardstick for determining great songs and, by that standard, Smokey Robinson certainly ranks as one of the premier ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 November 1980
After the breakdown of his marriage, John Martyn spent seven months on a complete bender, but the result of that desperation was his finest album for years. Nick Kent ...
Interview by Ken Hunt, Dark Star, December 1980
HOW DID you come to get involved with Roadhog? As far as I can tell, they were an existing band. ...
Tom Waits on Heartattack and Vine
Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, Elektra-Asylum Records, Spring 1980
NOTE: With the appointment made to conduct a Tom Waits interview on the Zoetrope Studios lot in Hollywood on Sept. 4, 1980, I listened to my ...
Smokey Robinson: Warm Thoughts; Where There's Smoke (Motown)
Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 10 January 1981
Waiting for a Miracle: NICK KENT reappraises the latest works of the doyen of '60s soul, SMOKEY ROBINSON ...
Stephen Bishop's Escape From Hollywood
Profile and Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 16 January 1981
IN APRIL 1975, an obscure singer-songwriter named Stephen Bishop wrote an article for the small Los Angeles publication Folkscene which stated he'd been writing songs ...
Neil Young: Hawks and Doves (Warner Bros.)
Review by John Swenson, Creem, February 1981
I DON'T KNOW what Neil Young had in mind when he made this record, but its timing is so weirdly appropriate it's spooky. ...
John Martyn: Making Tracks to the Top
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 23 May 1981
John Martyn, in concert in London tonight, has been a cult figure for far too long. Now he plans to change all that, as Mick ...
The Specials: English Music Scene Like a 'Ghost Town'
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 15 August 1981
This town coming like a ghost town... Bands won't play no more — Too much fighting on the dance floor... Why must ...
Obituary by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 3 September 1981
HARRY CHAPIN often described himself as a "third-rate folk singer," and judging from most of the reviews he received in these pages and elsewhere, he ...
The Flesh Eaters: Flesh Eaters' Chris D.'s Carnal Knowledge
Essay by Byron Coley, New York Rocker, December 1981
IN MY OPINE, Chris Desjardins is the best goddamn singer/songwriter ('r "S/S" in classic Creemspeak) that's e'er poked his pate above the stiflin' smog that covers ...
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, History of Rock, The, 1982
MANN AND WEIL were the hipsters of the Brill building set. While Carole King and her friends were basically square, middle-class types who wrote things ...
Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry: Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich: Weavers Of Dreams
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, History of Rock, The, 1982
THE THIRD GREAT husband and wife team of the Brill Building era, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich hit the scene late. ...
Retrospective by Greg Shaw, History of Rock, The, 1982
BEFORE 1960, rock ‘n’ roll had inevitably been seen as a rough-edged, spontaneous invention of teenagers. By that year, however, the teenage performers — and ...
The Kinks' Resurgence Continues
Report and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 4 February 1982
NINETY MINUTES after the Kinks' show at the Seattle Center Coliseum, Ray Davies is strolling out of a restaurant called Bob Murray's Dog House, a ...
Nick Lowe: Life Among "Witless Clods"
Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 12 March 1982
IT'S 1:30 IN the afternoon when Nick Lowe pries open the sliding door of his West Hollywood hotel room and peers up at the sky ...
Van Dyke Parks: McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 1982
ESOTERICA FROM VAN DYKE PARKS ...
Richard and Linda Thompson: Dominion, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 7 May 1982
LOOSELY SPEAKING, Richard Thompson is the sole practising legatee of the British folk-rock tradition which he was instrumental in establishing 14 years ago as a ...
Bobby Womack: The Poet (Beverly Glen Music) ***½
Review by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 13 May 1982
ORIGINALLY A protégé of Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack is a gritty-voiced soul singer who has written a wealth of terrific songs, including 'It's All Over ...
Interview by Todd Everett, Trouser Press, July 1982
ONE FREQUENTLY repeated cliche of the rock press has it that John Hiatt is the "American Elvis Costello." ...
Essay by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 31 July 1982
IS EVERYTHING AS wonderful as it seems in the current reiteration of the Song? ...
Squeeze: The Fine Art Of Pop Songwriting
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, August 1982
ATTENTION! LINDA Ronstadt and Willie Nelson! Attention Bonnie Raitt and Judy Collins! Attention Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra! Attention all you interpretive pop singers who ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Songs From a Bohemian Past
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 10 August 1982
RICKIE LEE Jones appeared out of nowhere in 1979 with a stunning self-titled debut album. The mysterious bohemian blonde — who comes to the Merriweather ...
Marshall Crenshaw's True Pop Ways
Profile and Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, September 1982
"I don't try to hang anybody up or get anybody over-involved in my hang-ups. I don't try to bore people with my problems. The main ...
Review by Danny Baker, New Musical Express, 4 September 1982
I LIVE WITH THE constant nagging worry that my house will soon burn down. ...
Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 11 September 1982
UNDER THE premise that the Great British Public instinctively turns its nose up at anything that's a little unexpected, or which doesn't meet its carefully ...
Interview by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 11 September 1982
Mick Brown meets the singer with a new album out on Monday ...
Kate Bush: "My music sophisticated? I'd rather you said that than turdlike!"
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 23 October 1982
A modern, multi-media, adult-orientated entertainer or a wild and wuthering heroine who's been dreaming since a brilliant start to her career......Richard Cook plays Heathcliff to ...
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Imperial Bedroom (Columbia)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, November 1982
E.C.'s EMOTIONAL RESCUE ...
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, November 1982
IN A BUSINESS where women singers are a dime a dozen these days (and trite women singers the norm), Lydia Lunch can be proud of ...
Warren Zevon: The Envoy (Asylum)
Review by Craig Zeller, Creem, November 1982
THE ZEVE is one of our most critically overrated troubled troubadours. 'Member those in-print cartwheel raves his debut garnered? Ever listen to the damn thing? ...
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 13 November 1982
"SO SOUNDS think I'm an old hippie, do they?" muses John Martyn as we stand in the hotel lobby waiting for the limo (the manager's ...
Billy Bragg: Captain’s Cabin, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, Guardian, The, 1983
PLACING a heavy burden on a small but genuine talent, Billy Bragg has been hailed as the next big thing. ...
Donald Fagen Revisits an Era of Innocence
Interview by Fred Schruers, Musician, January 1983
"LACK OF IRONY," says Donald Fagen with a wry grin, "is not exactly my specialty." It's an odd apology – more like a boast – ...
Jonathan Richman: Wax Museum, Washington DC
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, January 1983
IT'S EASY TO laugh at Jonathan Richman's wavering, off-key singing as he drifts off into naive, spoken monologues. When he visited Washington's Wax Museum this ...
Randy Newman: Laughter in Paradise
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 29 January 1983
Punk, people, performing and parenthood – Randy Newman talked about his life, work and hates to Richard Cook ...
Donald Fagen: The Nightfly (Warner Bros.)
Review by Richard C. Walls, Creem, February 1983
DESPITE WHATEVER initial impressions you might get from hearing it on the radio, this is not the new Steely Dan album minus an apparently expendable ...
Warren Zevon: The Ritz, New York NYC
Live Review by Karen Schlosberg, Trouser Press, February 1983
WARREN ZEVON is arguably the most compelling and exciting member of the LA singer/songwriter set. His latest album, The Envoy, is his most movingly powerful ...
Grace Jones: Living My Life (Island)
Review by Laura Fissinger, Creem, March 1983
CLEARLY, WE are dealing here with a case of Persona, in this case as outsized as War And Peace. And static too — who, recently, ...
Ric Ocasek: Worms On A String Revisted
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Creem, March 1983
THE OFFICE IS dark and silent. Here, in one of the rooms where Elliot Roberts, creme de la creme of rock star managers, and his ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, Guardian, The, 19 March 1983
OVER THE past 20 years John Cale has gone from the Royal College of Music to Lamont Young's avant garde Theatre of Eternal Music to ...
Joan Armatrading: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 9 April 1983
THERE IS about Joan Armatrading a quality of self-containment, resolution and a complete absence of any suggestion of faddishness, artifice or compromise which is enormously ...
Live Review by Mary Harron, Guardian, The, 25 April 1983
WITH JONI Mitchell, the music and the life are inseparable. As a confessional songwriter the appeal is based on identification; with those of us who ...
Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil: Still Going Strong After 20 Years
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 20 May 1983
HOLLYWOOD— The walls of their workroom are covered floor to ceiling in awards certificates, gold records and photographs of the biggest hit-makers of today and ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: So Proud — The Moral Standard of Soul
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 9 July 1983
Regarded by many people as the first conscience of American Black music, CURTIS MAYFIELD's illustrious career now spans 20 years — from being a teenager ...
Joni Mitchell: Jones Beach Theater, New York
Live Review by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 26 July 1983
DURING THE COURSE of her unpredictable but resilient career, Joni Mitchell has been the dewy-eyed sophomore, the slit-eyed hipster, the clear-eyed visionary. Her songs of ...
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Punch The Clock (Columbia FC38897)
Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 7 August 1983
COSTELLO CLOCKS OUT ...
John Hiatt: Half Moon, Putney, London
Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
FOR THE SECOND time in a matter of weeks this body-choked backroom played host to a mislaid American master. In John Hiatt’s territory he has ...
Ian Dury: Too Much Noddy Business
Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 1 October 1983
WHERE HAS IAN DURY BEEN FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS, AND WHY HAS HIS LONG-AWAITED NEW LP, 40,000 WEEKS HOLIDAY BEEN DELAYED UNTIL JANUARY? GAVIN ...
Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, 1 October 1983
Piercing fragments from the gutter ...
Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones (Island ILPS 9762)
Review by Brian Case, Melody Maker, 8 October 1983
WITH 15 TRACKS, this is sketchbook Waits and indicates the range of his writing gifts. Maybe it's the influence of writing music for movies, but ...
Interview by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 15 October 1983
Kate Bush has moulded herself in an icon of pop erotica — so much that suburban couples claim her breasts stimulate their love making. Yet ...
Brian and Eddie Holland (1983)
Interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages Audio, 17 October 1983
The Motown legends tallk about their partnership with Lamont Dozier; songwriting and production; Berry Gordy; their work with the Four Tops; crossing over to the pop market, and leaving Motown.
File format: mp3; file size: 37.2mb, interview length: 40' 35" sound quality: ****
The The: Soul Mining (Some Bizzare)
Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 22 October 1983
DIGGING FOR VICTORY ...
Interview by Ellen Sander, Rock's Backpages Audio, 27 October 1983
The 'Runaway' man on the trials and tribulations of being a still-creative musician on the "oldies" circuit; songwriting; working with Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Dave Edmunds; and his insecurities and struggle with alcohol.
File format: mp3; file size: 50.5mb, interview length: 55' 11" sound quality: ***
Elvis Costello: "Now is the time, and the time is as good as any": The Elvis Costello Interview
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, RAM, 25 November 1983
IF THE GREAT GREY they put the numb into number and the boot into beauty, then who, pray, puts the El into the element within? ...
Carly Simon: Free, White, & Pushing 40
Interview by Nick Tosches, Creem, January 1984
"Maybe It Was My Big Mouth" ...
John Hiatt: Riding With The King (Geffen)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 14 January 1984
KING JOHN, ASSUREDLY ...
Orange Juice: Bridge on the River Clyde
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 11 February 1984
Sour grapes over The Smiths? Sound of Young Scotland four years late? Juicy new tunes squeezed? EDWYN COLLINS unzips his lip! Purple prose: MAT SNOW. ...
Prefab Sprout: Faith, Hope & Glory?
Profile and Interview by Max Bell, Face, The, March 1984
"IF ALL THIS HADN'T worked out, I was resigned to being a librarian. That's what I wanted to do." Thus speaks Paddy McAloon, brains in ...
The Pale Fountains: Fountains of Youth
Interview by Helen Fitzgerald, Melody Maker, 17 March 1984
Helen FitzGerald swoons in the company of THE PALE FOUNTAINS, back with a new album after a fruitless search for the ideal record producer. ...
Bobby Womack: The Poet II (Beverly Glen import)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 24 March 1984
AN OLD-FASHIONED man in the midst of a booming, disordered black music, Bobby Womack's journeyman career comes to a glorious peak with The Poet II. ...
Barry Manilow: Opium of the Missus
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Marxism Today, April 1984
IF BARRY Manilow’s career is on the wane, you’d never have guessed it from last summer’s grandiose Concert At Blenheim Palace, when 40,000-odd pilgrims, preponderantly ...
Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw: Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones: Identikit Pop
Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 7 April 1984
And the mediocre shall inherit the earth... Or at least the charts. RICHARD COOK fits out the faceless folk of pop. ...
Elvis Costello: 10 Bloody Marys And 10 How's Your Fathers
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, 21 April 1984
10 AND 10 is 20 postaged stamps of the left-out-of-mainstream Costello: mislaid or temporarily missing 'B'-side moves, free 45s that got lost on the Press, ...
Interview by J.D. Considine, Musician, May 1984
CECIL AND Linda Womack are sitting on a couch in their home near Philadelphia while Micah, their youngest, plays with a pull-toy on the floor. ...
Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 5 May 1984
IT WAS THE old, familiar scene of singer/songwriter bearing acoustic guitar and playing for an attentive college crowd. What wasn't so familiar was that the ...
Billy Joel: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, 7 June 1984
IT IS, OF course, too easy to say that once you've seen the video, the real thing can only be a disappointment. Indeed, there were ...
The Hoodoo Gurus: Hoodoo Gurus, Beating the Trodden Path
Interview by Clinton Walker, Age, The, 8 June 1984
THE HOODOO Gurus don't beat around the bush. Right from the very outset, with the first track on their debut album, Stoneage Romeos, they stake ...
Elvis Costello: Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.
Live Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, July 1984
"I'M GOING TO do something you've never seen me do before," Elvis Costello told the audience at Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Hall as he unstrapped his ...
Bob Dylan: "Jesus, Who's Got Time to Keep Up with the Times?"
Interview by Mick Brown, Sunday Times, The, 1 July 1984
This week Bob Dylan comes to Britain. The folksinger-cum-folk hero of the 1960s has not always had a good reception here. In 1965 purists attacked ...
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Goodbye Cruel World (Columbia)
Review by Fred Schruers, Musician, August 1984
BEFORE YOU sink into Elvis Costello's latest, brilliant slough of despond, make sure you keep your copy of the lyrics (printed on the album sleeve). ...
Davitt Sigerson: Falling In Love Again (Ze Records)
Review by Jane Solanas, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984
I'M HAPPY to announce this is The Worst Record I've Ever Listened To, not so ecstatic to say that it's on Ze Records, the reason ...
The Beatles, Paul McCartney: Paul McCartney: 'Once There Was Away To Get Back Homeward...'
Interview by Deborah Frost, Record, September 1984
LONDON. IN A city where nearly every kid on the street looks like he's rushing off to audition for Duran Duran, Paul McCartney, dressed for ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1 September 1984
PETER HAMMILL is one of our stranger voyagers. Alone at a piano last month, he put most of the music we cover to shame. He ...
Davitt Sigerson: AOR? Write On! An Interview with Davitt Sigerson
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 22 September 1984
DAVITT SIGERSON insists he isn’t smarting from the NME review which described Falling In Love Again as ‘The Worst Record I’ve Ever Heard." ...
Rickie Lee Jones: The Magazine (Warner Bros)
Review by Ian Penman, New Musical Express, October 1984
For song, as sung by you, is ... notWooing of something finally attained.Far other is the breath of real singing.An aimless breath. A stirring in ...
Greg Kihn: Reckihning & Rolling
Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Creem, November 1984
EVEN IF YOU'VE never heard Greg Kihn's music, you probably know who he is – he's the character who comes up with dumb puns on ...
Leonard Cohen: Various Positions (CBS)
Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985
VATICAN 69 ...
Leonard Cohen: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mick Brown, Guardian, The, 27 February 1985
FOR WHAT are undoubtedly all the wrong reasons, one has come to approach Leonard Cohen with suspicion. The air of long-suffering torture one associates with ...
Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard Thompson: A Rock Veteran's New Beginning
Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 17 March 1985
RICHARD AND Linda Thompson, whose 10-year marriage and musical partnership ended in 1982, were a decidedly low-profile couple by rock standards. In fact, they were ...
Ashford & Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, 22 May 1985
SINCE THE SONGS they wrote in the 1960s for Marvin Gave and Tammi Terrell put a patent on the genre, it was not surprising that ...
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician, June 1985
"SINCE I'M A songwriter," Joan Armatrading explains, "I'd like to think I can write lots of different things. I suppose that can confuse people." ...
Profile by Jon Savage, Spin, June 1985
They aren't teen idols, but have a number-one album thanks mainly to Morrissey, their asexual, charismatic singer-writer. ...
Ashford & Simpson: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 1 June 1985
REVELATION ONE. Ashford (Mr) gets down on his knees, and tells us the meaning: "Grrr nga nga nga huh witness!" Revelation Two. Ashford: "When I ...
Leonard Cohen: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 11 June 1985
JOHN LENNON'S celebrated quip about the upper crust rattling their jewellery might be adapted to Leonard Cohen with a small adjustment. To wit: rattling their ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, City Limits, 19 July 1985
Can a group that conjure up ugly buildings and vegetables conquer the world? Do they want to? MARK COOPER meets the makers of Steve McQueen. ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, August 1985
Over the course of almost two hours, Neil talks about world politics, the state of America today, his philosophical outlook, his current country-music tour and his love of that music; and about the transition from 'Heart of Gold' to Tonight's the Night, drugs and David Crosby, meeting Charles Manson... and the event that became Farm Aid.
File format: mp3; file size: 101.2mb, interview length: 1h 45' 24" sound quality: ***
Billy Bragg: Life's a Riot With Spy vs. Spy (CD Presents)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, September 1985
IT'S ABOUT time to write a deconstructionist regulation sheet to be posted in the halls of rockcritdom. I mean, surely it is so when a ...
Robert Plant: Shaken'n'Stirred (Es Paranza)
Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, September 1985
AS LUCK WOULD have it, just a couple nights ago I tuned in Radio 1990 and caught the ever-photogenic Mr. Plant, who was being grilled ...
Womack and Womack: It's A Family Affair
Interview by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 21 September 1985
The brotherhood lives on with Womack & Womack. Hugh Fielder finds it all very relative. ...
The Cure: Robert Smith: A Suitable Case for Treatment
Interview by Fiona Russell Powell, Face, The, October 1985
"We can't make it. We are ready to die when we are born. We are the patsies. And I hate the intellectual freak who realises ...
Live Review by Richard Williams, Times, The, 18 October 1985
Saloon bar ballads ...
Joni Mitchell: Dog Eat Dog (Geffen)
Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, November 1985
Joni looks at dogs from both sides now: coyotes to curs to sheepskin wolves ...
Big Star, Alex Chilton: Alex Chilton: Alex's Wild Years
Interview by Martin Aston, Melody Maker, 2 November 1985
If anybody can really claim to be a living legend, ALEX CHILTON is the guy. From the Box Tops to Big Star to the booze, ...
The Eagles, Don Henley: Don Henley in Conversation
Interview by Bud Scoppa, Record, 1986
YOU'RE DON HENLEY. You spent the '70s behind a drum kit as a part of the Eagles, the quintessential American band of the era. Millions ...
Interview by Mick Brown, promo for 'No Guru, No Method, No Teacher', 1986
Musical Roots ...
Review by Mark Dery, Record, January 1986
THIS IS HOW the other half lives, the dark underbelly for whom being born in the U.S.A. means Huey Long, Lenny Bruce on a bender, ...
Interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages Audio, 4 January 1986
The Texas troubadour talks about his rootless youth; getting his songs covered by stars; the dangers of the road; bluesmen in general and Lightnin' Hopkins in particular; songwriting, "sky" songs and 'Pancho and Lefty'; and sharing a house with Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell!
File format: mp3; file size: 36.7mb, interview length: 40' 06" sound quality: *****
Bob Dylan: Gates of Eden Revisited: A Conversation with Bob Dylan
Interview by Toby Creswell, Rolling Stone (Australia), 16 January 1986
IT DOESN'T REALLY matter now whether Bob Dylan is a fundamentalist Christian, anymore than it mattered whether he was going to the Synagogue when he ...
Kate Bush: Hounds Of Love (EMI America)
Review by Laura Fissinger, Creem, February 1986
IF THEY were going to run a contest for Most Irritating Rock Star, there'd be plenty of candidates. The Smiths, David Lee Roth, Sting, Stevie ...
Interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages Audio, 17 February 1986
The 'Louie Louie' man on pre-rock'n'roll R&B, the relationship between black music and white singers and fans, the double entendre in black music, indies v the majors, and that song.
File format: mp3; file size: 62.2mb, interview length: 1h 07' 55" sound quality: *****
Nico: The Girl With The Faraway Eyes
Interview by Clinton Walker, Age, The, 21 February 1986
THERE IS PERHAPS no world quite so cruel as rock and roll, where youth is everything, and with age comes not maturity but redundancy. Unless ...
Elvis Costello: The Costello Show Featuring the Attractions & Confederates: King Of America (F-Beat)
Review by Nick Kent, Melody Maker, 22 February 1986
CROWNING GLORY ...
Nick Lowe: Isn't That Nick Lowe?
Interview by Karen Schlosberg, Creem, March 1986
"I SEEM TO occupy a funny sort of position in the music business," Nick Lowe says with a trace of a grin and a sigh. ...
Elvis Costello: The Costello Show And Tell
Interview by Richard Cook, Sounds, 1 March 1986
The self-proclaimed 'King of America' talks to RICHARD COOK about his new LP, his uncomfortable relationship with the music press, and the mediocrity of today's ...
Jackson Browne: Lives In The Balance (Asylum)
Review by Jon Young, Musician, May 1986
JACKSON BROWNE is mad as hell. He's also a gentleman, which removes the sting from his expressions of outrage on Lives In The Balance. Although ...
Kate Bush: The Girl With The Stars In Her Eyes
Comment by Richard Cook, Sounds, 7 June 1986
KATE BUSH remains a mystical if not mythical creature, even after the latest surge in her ten year career. RICHARD COOK peers through the looking ...
Interview by Mat Snow, New Musical Express, 28 June 1986
"ALTHOUGH I AM honest, I will deal with an interview with the confidence of GEORGE MICHAEL, POP STAR. And the way I deal with people ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards Shares His Songwriting Secrets
Interview by Bruce Pollock, Guitar, July 1986
LIKE A POLITICIAN ON THE PODIUM, whistle-stopping across the boondocks on a flatbed, Keith Richards has his share of timeless bromides, comfortable answers his tongue ...
The Go-Go's' Charlotte Caffey (1986)
Interview by Gerrie Lim, Rock's Backpages Audio, 30 July 1986
The former Go-Go talks about the breakup of the band; about writing for and touring with the newly-solo Belinda Carlisle; about changes in her lifestyle in her 30s; and about how she was influenced by Debbie Harry and in turn influenced new women in pop. Plus she discovers that Belinda's solo album is in the Billboard charts with three bullets...
File format: mp3; file size: 30.4mb, interview length: 31' 39" sound quality: ***
Bob Dylan: Knocked Out Loaded (Columbia)
Review by Roy Trakin, Musician, September 1986
DESPITE A high-visibility tour with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, his best band since the Band, Bob Dylan's new studio album is being released with ...
Lou Reed: The Prince of Darkness Lightens Up
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, GQ, September 1986
I NEVER SAW the Velvet Underground during their five-year lurch through the New York music scene. From 1965 to 1970 I was on the left ...
Profile and Interview by Laura Fissinger, Creem, October 1986
THE GUY'S about 45, a classic born-and-bred New Yawk City street tough, and a publisher of music magazines more likely to feature Motley Crüe than ...
Tina Turner: Mega Woman Conquers the World
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, October 1986
QUEEN TINA DOES NOT WANT ANY MORE POP, FUNK, REGGAE OR SOUL. QUEEN TINA WANTS TO ROCK 'N' ROLL ...
Paul Simon: Graceland (Warner Bros.)
Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 23 October 1986
IN HIS TYPICALLY understated way, Paul Simon has been an ardent musical explorer since he went solo in 1972. His songs have incorporated almost every ...
Peter Case: Shaw Theatre, London
Live Review by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 25 October 1986
CASE OF NERVES ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1987
SUBTITLED "Un Operachi Romantico In Two Acts", Frank's Wild Years is effectively the final part of a trilogy that began in 1983 with the extraordinary ...
Jackson Browne: "A Dixie Cup of Nuclear Waste Could Kill the Planet"
Interview by Steve Turner, Q, January 1987
Jackson Browne used to hang his head and weep when he considered the folly of Man. These days he doesn't bother. These days he gets ...
Paul Simon: Still Mbaqanga After All These Years
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, January 1987
For 20 years, Paul Simon whined and kvetched about the same things. Then he went to Africa and finally had fun. But he broke the ...
Suzanne Vega: "I loved the idea of the solitary wanderer with the guitar recreating Woody Guthrie"
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Q, January 1987
The small, shy voice of Suzanne Vega has finally found its audience. Steve Turner follows her passage from the New York folk clubs that first ...
Robyn Hitchcock: One Night in November with Robyn Hitchcock
Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, March 1987
AT SCHOOLKIDS Records in Ann Arbor, Bill Holdship, Robyn Hitchcock and myself are looking through the records. It's the evening of the day the Bruce ...
Paul Simon: The Boy in the Boycott
Report by Terry Staunton, Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 4 April 1987
Is PAUL SIMON "a genius and a loathsome coward"? Does the lack of anti-apartheid statements on Graceland amount to condonation of Botha's regime? Or has ...
Leonard Cohen: The Songwriter: Lenny Plays It Cool
Interview by Bud Scoppa, Music Connection, 6 April 1987
The Various Positions of a Pop Guru ...
Interview by Deborah Frost, Guitar World, July 1987
LIKE LOU Reed, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, to whom he has been compared, Robyn Hitchcock's lyrics are so brilliant they tend to obscure everything ...
Warren Zevon: Rugged Individualism
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1987
The return of Warren Zevon (with a little help from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Don Henley, George Clinton, REM...) ...
Interview by Iman Lababedi, Creem, September 1987
Don't Pull That Trigger ...
Live Review by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 26 September 1987
ROCK HACKS aren't allowed near Bob. He's got no time for the press. In fact, someone who once met his grannie's dog-minder tells me Bob ...
John Hiatt : Have A Little Faith
Interview by Bill Holdship, Creem, October 1987
JOHN HIATT IS onstage at the Roxy in L.A.; just him and a piano. It's part of this international convention A&M Records is holding to ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Creem, October 1987
WARREN ZEVON has perfected the art of squirming without perceptible movement. Crumpled on a couch in a windowless record company boxroom, the man with the ...
Warren Zevon: Sentimental Hygiene
Review by Bud Scoppa, Creem, October 1987
AS A HARD-BOILED confessional work, Sentimental Hygiene (Zevon's seventh album and his first in five years) has less in common with current rock than it ...
Aztec Camera, Roddy Frame: Aztec Camera: Cameraman Has Got The Picture
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 16 October 1987
At 23, Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera has an old head on his shoulders, and as Adam Sweeting found out, his new LP benefits from ...
Tom Waits: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 9 November 1987
Tom Waits Shines His Lamp on Sleazy Underside of Life Quirky Sounds, Offbeat Lighting, Wiggy Jigs Make for a Highly Stylized, Intimate Concert ...
Tom Waits: I Just Tell Stories For Money: Tom Waits
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 14 November 1987
SOMETIMES YOU CAN get a pretty good idea about someone's music just by checking out their appearance. If clothes maketh the man, they also speak ...
Robbie Robertson: Songs of a native son
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 23 November 1987
STEPPING OFF a Greyhound bus from Toronto in 1961, a 17-year-old boy found himself in West Helena, Ark., by the banks of the Mississippi River, ...
Warren Zevon: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 23 November 1987
Zevon: Mean and Black ...
Elvis Costello: Rebirth of a Punk Hero
Profile by Mark Mordue, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 27 November 1987
Mark Mordue profiles Elvis Costello, now in his post-punk phase and about to tour Australia next week. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Good and Bad Vibrations
Interview by Jeremy Gluck, Guardian, The, 1988
Beach Boy Brian Wilson owes his survival to his doctor and a regime of psychotherapy, diet and exercise, he told Jeremy Gluck. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: What Was And What Might Have Been: A Lost Interview with Brian Wilson
Interview by Jeremy Gluck, unpublished, 1988
NOTE: It's 1988, Brian Wilson had just launched his solo career with the release of the eponymous Brian Wilson album, and Jeremy Gluck gets to ...
Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon (1988)
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, January 1988
King Sprout McAloon on the state of songwriting and production in 1988, Bruce Springsteen and Robert De Niro, Newcastle, fame, breaking America, and... Issac Hayes!
File format: mp3; file size: 18mb, interview length: 19' 40" sound quality: ***
Leonard Cohen: Crocodile Tears
Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 2 January 1988
LET'S TALK misconceptions. Like the one about Cleopatra being Egyptian (she was Greek), Christmas being a time for giving (take take take), Ben Elton and ...
Prefab Sprout: All The Way To Memphis
Report and Interview by David Stubbs, Melody Maker, 30 January 1988
THE BEARD HAS gone. Yes, squeamish sartorial onlookers will be relieved to note that Paddy's shrubbery has been shorn, that his shapely chin now positively ...
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages Audio, February 1988
Laughing Lennie talks to Mat Snow about songwriting; meditation and religion; the collapse of literary culture; the misperception of him as a Gloom Merchant; music as therapy; ambiguity, songwriting and 'My Way': Sinatra vs Vicious; his relationship with the press; Montreal; the idealism of '68, and the rise of the post-punk Cult of Cohen.
File format: mp3; file size: 81.7mb, interview length: 1h 25' 08" sound quality: ***
Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Guardian, The, February 1988
WE LIVE IN THE days of the flood, says Leonard Cohen. "Most of my psychic landmarks have evaporated. I'm reluctant to apply the psychic realm ...
Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 13 February 1988
Aztec Camera have just completed their first tour for four years and are gradually steering their way back into the nation's heart and soul. Paul ...
Leonard Cohen: A Mercy Mission With... The Man With A Golden Voice
Interview by Mat Snow, Sounds, 20 February 1988
Once the diarist of doom, LEONARD COHEN has suddenly released a disco-comedy LP, I'm Your Man. MAT SNOW meets the 53-year-old mentor of Ian McCulloch, Matt Johnson, ...
Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians: Hackney Empire, London
Live Review by Robin Gibson, Sounds, 27 February 1988
THE ODD MAN OUT ...
Lyle Lovett: Lovett and Leave It
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 4 March 1988
Lyle Lovett is top of the country charts but the laid back Texan has no intentions, he tells Adam Sweeting, of ending up on the treadmill ...
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (CBS LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Richard North, New Musical Express, 5 March 1988
OSTENSIBLY LENNY has that kind of graceless seriousness which makes the more frivolous amongst us uncomfortable. He's been dismissed by a multitude as an old ...
Prefab Sprout: A Satisfying Whiff of Glue
Interview by Mark Cooper, Guardian, The, 11 March 1988
Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout talks to Mark Cooperabout Tin Pan Alley, nostalgia and his search for enchantment ...
Shack: Construction Time Again: The House That Shack Built
Interview by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, 26 March 1988
Liverpool's SHACK discuss the concrete and clay behind their latest album. ROY WILKINSON unearths the EastEnders and Derek Hatton influences. ...
Terry Allen: Lubbock (On Everything) (Special Delivery SPT 1007/8)
Review by Ken Hunt, Folk Roots, April 1988
OVER THE LAST month or so, each time you turned on the TV, opened the paper or virtually any magazine that runs to book reviews, ...
Joni Mitchell: Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, May 1988
She's danced to the beat of her own drum all the way from Laurel Canyon to uptown Los Angeles. Joni Mitchell talks about her life, ...
Joni Mitchell: Idol Talk: Joni Mitchell
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 4 June 1988
"THE POET is the vainest of the vain, even before the ugliest of water buffalo doth he fan his tail." ...
Leonard Cohen's Nervous Breakthrough
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, July 1988
"I THINK IF I HAD ONE OF THOSE GOOD VOICES, I WOULD HAVE DONE IT COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY," Leonard Cohen ruminates. "I PROBABLY WOULD HAVE SUNG ...
Melissa Etheridge: Places in the Heart
Interview by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 2 July 1988
AMID THE PRESENT GLUT OF FEMALE SINGER-SONGWRITERS, MELISSA ETHERIDGE IS PROVING HERSELF ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE PACK. PAUL MATHUR COMES OVER ALL ACOUSTIC AND ...
Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 18 July 1988
Three Women, One Fine Show ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, 21 July 1988
The singer-songwriter discusses the soundtracks to the movie Heartburn (and current project Working Girl); plus Reagan, Dukakis and Jessie Jackson, and American politics in general; growing up in the illustrious Simon (& Schuster) family; the pros and cons of Live Aid; drugs and her generation; working with Clive Davis at Arista... and her reluctance to play live.
File format: mp3; file size: 40.3mb, interview length: 41' 59" sound quality: ***
Laura Nyro Returns for a Soulful Connection
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 11 August 1988
IN THE YEAR of the comeback, the touted returns of Brian Wilson and Patti Smith are no more startling than the re-emergence of Laura Nyro, ...
Hüsker Dü, Bob Mould: Bob Mould's Quiet Life After Husker Du
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 19 August 1988
FOR THE BETTER part of the 1980s, Husker Du was the leading light of the American rock 'n' roll underground. The Minneapolis-based trio came crashing ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 27 August 1988
DETROIT – "I'm still shaky from this," says Patti Smith, who's been driven by her husband, Fred Smith, through a hellish rainstorm and rush-hour traffic ...
Randy Newman: Still Grouchy After All These Years
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 22 September 1988
Randy Newman has overcome Epstein-Barr and has made another brilliant album. But that doesn't mean he's happy. ...
Randy Newman: A Nightmare on Main Street
Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 21 October 1988
RANDY NEWMAN was sitting in the Forum Arena in Inglewood a while ago, watching the Lakers put on yet another basketball clinic at the expense ...
Randy Newman: Pop's Mark Twain Continues to Mix the Oil With the Vinegar
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, November 1988
EVERY FIVE years or so, Randy Newman gets a little famous. Back in 1972, he recorded 'Sail Away', a song that grew so much in ...
Interview by Ken Hunt, Omaha Rainbow, Spring 1988
What's your date and place of birth? August 20th 1952, Indianapolis, Indiana. I'm a Hoosier. ...
Interview by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1989
The Cros talks about his biography, Long Time Gone (co-written with Carl Gottlieb), his years of addiction and rehab, friends Mama Cass and Graham Nash, and looks back at Woodstock.
File format: mp3; file size: 39.3mb, interview length: 42' 53" sound quality: ****
Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians: The Marquee, London
Live Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 4 February 1989
THE MESSY BEAT Angels were well and truly bushed after a week of post-Dali wassailing, but the sight of Edie Brickell's band was as startling ...
Ian Tyson: Cowboy troubadour: Ian Tyson is riding high again
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 February 1989
THE AUDITORIUM was a sea of cowboy hats in a variety of styles – High Sierra, Ridgetop and Cattleman. The ranchers, cowhands and wives were ...
Review by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 23 February 1989
NEW YORK is Lou Reed's rock & roll version of The Bonfire of the Vanities. But whereas Tom Wolfe maintains an ultimately cynical distance from ...
Guy Clark: Old Friends (Sugar Hill) ***½
Review by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1989
THIS IS THE first album in five years by Guy dark, one of the deans of Texas songwriting. Like his previous work, Old Friends evokes ...
Elvis Costello: Palladium, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 13 May 1989
GETTING HIGH ON E ...
Randy Newman: Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA
Live Review by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 18 May 1989
Old Four Eyes Is Back ...
Cindy Lee Berryhill: Beat Poetry
Profile and Interview by Mark Kemp, Spin, June 1989
Cindy Lee Berryhill, a bowl of musical trailmix, left California for New York. But she brought a lot of folklore with her. ...
Carole King: Stepping Out Of The Shadows
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Guardian, The, 14 July 1989
Carole King is coming out from behind her piano because she wants to rock. Mark Cooper reports. ...
Bernie Taupin, Elton John: Bernie Taupin: Elton's Write Hand Man
Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1989
IT IS THE summer of 1989, six months of phone calls and patience have finally paid off. Bernie Taupin, the man who has been placing ...
Interview by Paul Mathur, Spin, August 1989
Seventeen years ago Labi Siffre was a British R&B star who sang nothing but love songs. Today he's once again a star, singing about struggle ...
Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt: Life Lessons: Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, August 1989
Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt find hope in a hard world. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, Record Collector, August 1989
MANY OF THE ACTS at Woodstock were already well established names, but if anyone can claim to have been broken by the festival, it must ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, September 1989
"MOST MUSIC criticism," griped Leonard Cohen in a recent Musician interview, "is...so far behind, say, the criticism of painting. Nobody is identifying our popular singers ...
Review by Robert Sandall, Q, September 1989
Earthy but out of this world: at last on CD, Van Morrison's swinging '70s. ...
Paul McCartney: Paul Gets Back
Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 2 October 1989
ENGLAND WAS basking in an unseasonably warm and bright afternoon one day last week. Paul McCartney, however, was spending it enveloped by darkness and fog, ...
Phranc: I Enjoy Being a Girl (Island)
Review by Deborah Frost, Rolling Stone, 5 October 1989
'FOLKSINGER', THE opening cut on I Enjoy Being a Girl, instantly encapsulates everything that is right — as well as everything that is wrong — ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Keeping Her Cool
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Guardian, The, 25 October 1989
Shot to stardom 10 years ago, Rickie Lee Jones has fought her way back – no less cool but much more confident. Mark Cooper reports ...
Michelle Shocked: Culture Shocked
Interview by Lucy O'Brien, Guardian, The, 8 November 1989
Feminist fans may be outraged by her apparent change of image, but it's no sell-out, as Michelle Shocked tells Lucy O'Brien ...
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Mary Mary Quite Contrary
Interview by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 2 December 1989
Gawky Canuck MARY MARGARET O'HARA unfit for Irish TV shock! So should we be flinging her magical-pop-with-freaky-dancing at our kids? Most deffo, reckons MICHELE KIRSCH. ...
Felt: Too Much Monkey Business
Interview by Bob Stanley, Melody Maker, 9 December 1989
THE RECENT ME AND A MONKEY ON THE MOON LP WAS FELT'S LAST SHOT, THE COMPLETION OF A 10-YEAR PLAN, THE PRE-DESTINED END OF THE ...
Edwyn Collins: Hope Springs Eternal: Edwyn Collins
Interview by Len Brown, Cut, The, Fall 1989
Though his brand of jangly guitar pop is oft-imitated, commercial success has eluded EDWYN COLLINS. But the ex-Orange Juice frontman isn't bitter, as LEN BROWN ...
Review by Clinton Walker, HQ, 1990
"JOHNNY CASH DIES": It's a headline that some of us, with more than a tinge of sadness, have been dreading to see for some time ...
Paul Simon: Spirit Voices Vol. I
Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, 1990
"There is a girl in New York City Who calls herself the human trampoline And sometimes when I'm falling, flying or tumbling in turmoil I ...
Paul Simon: Spirit Voices Vol. II
Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, 1990
"Some stories are magical Meant to be sung Songs from the mouth of the river When the world was young And all of these spirit ...
Lucinda Williams: Annadale Hotel, Sydney
Live Review by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 6 January 1990
MICK FROM Weddings Parties Anything and Jon from Paul Kelly's Messengers are The Indigo Boys, the support act, and something I miss entirely except for ...
Warren Zevon: Transverse City (Virgin America LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Edwin Pouncey, New Musical Express, 27 January 1990
WARREN ZEVON is one hell of an American songwriter with a brilliant — albeit sometimes cynical — eye zoomed in on the way both his ...
Tanita Tikaram: Do Not Disturb: Tanita Tikaram
Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, February 1990
Bookish, Studious, unsurprisingly naïve, Tanita Tikaram sidestepped university at the age of 18 when her darkly sonorous vocals and "sixth-form poetry" suddenly found an international ...
Del Shannon: Pop Before the Beatles
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 10 February 1990
THE APPARENT suicide of Del Shannon at his home in California puts the final tragic twist to a story which began well with a string ...
Sinead O'Connor: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (Ensign LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 10 March 1990
THE FIRST ONE had O'Connor screaming in a storm of icy blue. This one has a sleeve that looks like a Phil Collins album, all ...
John Martyn: Starting again at the bottom
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Sunday Correspondent, 18 March 1990
TWO YEARS AGO, after Island Records rejected his last LP; John Martyn entered a "black period" that lasted six months. In an alcoholic haze, he ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 1990
The much-missed singer-songwriter talks about, well, everything: her love of collaboration and those she has worked with; her family; the UK Poll Tax riots and politics; the epiphany of 'Good Vibrations' and so much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 70.8mb, interview length: 1h 17' 16" sound quality: ****
Suzanne Vega: Godmother Of New Age
Interview by Len Brown, New Musical Express, 14 April 1990
Suzanne Vega was brought up as a Puerto Rican, attended the neo-legendary New York School Of Performing Arts and went on to become the sensitive ...
Interview by Larry Jaffee, Rock's Backpages Audio, May 1990
The Bard of Barking talks about being politicised, the Miners' Strike, experiences of racism in the Army, his The Internationale album, and really rather a lot about Margaret Thatcher!
File format: mp3; file size: 30.1mb, interview length: 32' 54" sound quality: ****
Interview by Fred Schruers, Musician, June 1990
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON occupies an unusual place among American songwriters. His songs have been covered by such legends as his inspiration Bob Dylan ('They Killed Him'), ...
Prefab Sprout's Jordan: An Interview with Paddy McAloon
Interview by Tom Doyle, International Musician And Recording World, October 1990
The new Prefab Sprout album, Jordan: The Comeback, is a veritable potpourri of styles. Tom Doyle talks to mainman Paddy McAloon about singing, songwriting and ...
Steve Earle Does It the Hard Way
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, October 1990
DRIVING WEST out of Nashville on a summer afternoon the hills look green and lazy, a deceptively pastoral view. "This is a poor county," Steve ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 17 October 1990
Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon fancies himself as a metaphysical Michael Jackson. Not only does he pride himself on his ability to mix musical genres, he ...
The La's: This Could Be The La's Time
Interview by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 20 October 1990
It took three years to make, it cost an unfeasibly huge sum, it's stuffed with great songs – but THE LA's still hate their new ...
Victoria Williams: Swing the Statue! (Rough Trade)
Review by Jon Young, Musician, November 1990
ECCENTRIC AND proud, Victoria Williams could be a cross between Tom Waits and Natalie Merchant. Or maybe Jonathan Richman and Kate Bush. Anyway, Swing the ...
Paul Simon: Across The Tracks: The Rhythm of the Saints
Interview by Gavin Martin, Vox, December 1990
'Obvious Child' "I THOUGHT IF anything was going to be a single it would be that. I thought that as soon as we recorded the drums, ...
Bob Dylan: The Song Talk Interview
Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, 1991
"I've made shoes for everyone, even you, while I still go barefoot"(‘I and I’) ...
Leonard Cohen: Porridge? Lozenge? Syringe?
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, 1991
He's been a poet and songwriter for more than 40 years, but Leonard Cohen still can't find a rhyme for 'orange'. "It drives you mad," ...
Report and Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 5 January 1991
Prefab Sprout's latest album, Jordan: The Comeback, was lavished with even more praise than their previous two classics, and their European dates are inspiring the ...
Mark Eitzel: Borderline, London
Live Review by Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, 26 January 1991
The last laugh ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Vox, February 1991
Joe Ely hocked all he owned to get his latest album released, making him the loan star of the Lone Star state. Gavin Martin meets ...
Joni Mitchell: Lookin' Good, Sister
Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 23 February 1991
THE HAIR still tumbles to the shoulders, sunshine blonde; the smile is as winsome as ever; the perfect bone-structure remains, well, perfect. ...
Tanita Tikaram: Everybody's Angel
Review by Max Bell, Vox, March 1991
WHETHER IT'S by design or by some happy accident, Tanita Tikaram's third album finds the oddball girl-in-woman's-clothing locating her real voice at last. ...
Joni Mitchell: Joni Rides Home
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Vox, April 1991
JONI MITCHELL MAY HAVE CUT HER MUSICAL TEETH DURING THE ERA OF LOVE AND PEACE BUT SHE TAKES NONE TOO KINDLY TO COMPARISONS WITH TODAY'S ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 4 April 1991
Bob on why he writes songs, how he writes songs, what he writes songs about, what he doesn't write songs about, the keys he writes songs in, where he likes to write songs, what songs are and aren't, and some memories of his own songs.
File format: mp3; file size: 75.5mb, interview length: 1h 22' 29" sound quality: **½
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 17 April 1991
Mr McManus on new album Mighty Like A Rose: the songs, the production and the musicians; his split from the Attractions; new music, and his admiration for The Band.
File format: mp3; file size: 83.2mb, interview length: 1h 30' 53" sound quality: ***
Cathy Dennis, D Mob: Cathy Dennis: Cathy Comes Home
Interview by Betty Page, Vox, July 1991
Currently the UK's biggest female success Stateside, "D Mob Diva" Cathy Dennis returns to her native Norwich only to be met with a resounding... who ...
Bob Dylan: Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 6 July 1991
MANSFIELD – What about Bob? Long before the hit movie came along this summer people have been asking that question about the Bob that is ...
The La's: Have Mersey: An Interview with The La’s’ Driving Force and Angriest Member Lee Mavers
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, September 1991
JUST WHEN YOU think you’ve seen or heard everything that could happen in the music business, something like the La’s imbroglio comes along. The ...
Tom Waits: The Early Years Volume I (Edsel)
Review by Max Bell, Vox, September 1991
LONG BEFORE he became the rather self-conscious Harry Dean Stanton type he is today, Tom Waits used to intone straight-to-the-heart-of-the matter barroom blues, most of ...
Lloyd Cole: Don't Get Weird On Me, Babe (Polydor/All formats)
Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991
WEIRD BARD ...
Robert Wyatt: Dondestan (Rough Trade/All formats)
Review by David Quantick, New Musical Express, 14 September 1991
IT'S BEEN six years since Robert Wyatt last made a record, the wayward and twisty Old Rotten Hat. Before that, Wyatt spent a decade making ...
Interview by Mark Dery, Guitar Player, October 1991
PIERCED LABIA. Khaki-clad lesbian soldiers, posing topless in the Saudi Arabian sun. Advertisements for adult toys that resemble Star Trek props — the sort of ...
Hole: Pretty on the Inside (Caroline)
Review by Robert Gordon, Spin, October 1991
THE WEATHERVANE continues turning, from R.E.M. to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and now, perhaps, to Sonic Youth. Coproduced by SY's Kim Gordon and Don ...
Matthew Sweet: A New Girlfriend for Matthew Sweet
Profile and Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 28 November 1991
Hard-edged album documents romantic turmoil ...
Neil Young: Frontman: Neil Young
Interview by Tony Scherman, Musician, December 1991
WHAT'S THE best way for you to write? I pick up things from people on the streets, in airports, at parties. The night before last ...
Suzanne Vega's Book of Dreams, Pt. 1
Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, Winter 1991
"ALL THE MYSTERIES of life come in A minor," Suzanne Vega said, curled up on a couch in Hollywood. ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: Deeply Dippy
Interview by Simon Witter, Sky, 1992
SINKING INTO the bar-room sofa of one of Kensington's more sterile, demi-swank hotels on the morning after America re-bombed Baghdad, Evan Dando smiles with a ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1992
Over lunch at Musso & Frank, the Hollywood songwriter and arranger talks about 'The Shadow of Your Smile'; about his collaborations with musicians and lyricists, including Peggy Lee and Shirley Horn; making the Unforgettable album with Natalie Cole and the ghost of her father; the brilliance of Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand; and writing 'Suicide is Painless' for Robert Altman's classic M*A*S*H.
File format: mp3; file size: 49.3mb, interview length: 51' 20" sound quality: ***
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1992
The Great Canadian talks at length and in detail about the process by which, through sheer hard work, he crafts his songs, from the recent The Future album back to such classics as 'Suzanne' and 'Bird on a Wire'.
File format: mp3 File size: 81.5mb Interview length: 1h 29' 00"; Sound quality: ***
Interview by Paul Zollo, from 'Songwriters On Songwriting', 1992
WE ARE SITTING Indian-style on the second floor of Leonard Cohen’s home in Los Angeles. On his bookshelf are many books that he’s written himself, ...
Pet Shop Boys: Oh Mister Songwriters!
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, January 1992
What is it like, that magical moment when the creative juices start to flow? Is it one glorious spurt? Or merely a dutiful grind? The ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 22 January 1992
Some songwriters wash their dirty linen in public. Tori Amos dries hers there as well. Nick Coleman dodges the rows of hanging knickers to meet ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages Audio, 23 January 1992
The King Kink on politics; songwriting (and titling!); cover versions of his songs; on Joe Meek and Noel Coward; on Chrissie Hynde, and on living with his songs for so many years.
File format: mp3; file size: 49.5mb, interview length: 54' 07" sound quality: ****
PJ Harvey: P. J. Harvey: Sex and Bile and Rock and Roll
Interview by Jim Arundel, Melody Maker, 8 February 1992
IT'S SUNDAY AFTERNOON, grey and bitter and it looks like rain. Your flatmate, Lisa, and her gangly boyfriend, Ben, are in her room. They're burning ...
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 8 February 1992
LAST NIGHT A PJ SAVED MY LIFE ...
Luka Bloom Doesn't Want To Be Just Another Boring Folkie
Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1992
A STRICT VEGETARIAN, Luka Bloom is right at home at a fanatic health-food restaurant in Manhattan's East Village, where he's outlining the fundamental problem with ...
Julian Lennon: Kensal Dock, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 2 April 1992
IT IS DIFFICULT to contain a sneaking compassion for Julian Lennon. Unwelcome comparisons, rarely in his favour, continue to dog his career. They surfaced even ...
Report and Interview by Paul Zollo, Musician, May 1992
"IT ALL COMES from the centre," she says, pointing to her navel. Tori Amos is explaining where her songs are conceived. "It's like a constant ...
Melissa Etheridge: Never Enough (Island)
Review by Cathi Unsworth, Melody Maker, 16 May 1992
OH OH. Bare flesh alert. In an unintentional but uncanny facsimile of PJ Harvey's NME cover shot, Melissa Etheridge stands on her album sleeve in ...
Tracy Chapman: Matters Of The Heart (Elektra)
Review by David Bennun, Melody Maker, 16 May 1992
I'M ALWAYS prepared to be surprised. I like surprises, me. If, for example, Tracy Chapman made an album — not a terrifically surprising event in ...
Desmond Child, Diane Warren: Tracks Of Their Tears
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 18 May 1992
Caroline Sullivan hunts down the US songwriters responsible for the junk ballad ...
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 16 June 1992
Jam & Lewis have been voted the best songwriters in the B&S poll of the second year in succession. However, in a chaotic year, the ...
Elton John, Bernie Taupin: Bernie Taupin: Him Indoors
Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, July 1992
The 25-year You-wash-I'll-dry relationship between Elton John and lyric-writing househusband Bernie Taupin has never been happier. ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages Audio, 10 July 1992
The ex-Blake Baby talks about breaking up that band; her first solo album Hey Babe; her relationship with the Lemonheads; her songwriting and confessional lyrics; her plans for her next album, and on the impact of Nirvana.
File format: mp3; file size: 34mb, interview length: 35' 24" sound quality: ****
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 18 July 1992
THE NIGHT is only three songs old when a lone, drunken heckler decides he's had enough. "Stop singing, Margaret," he admonishes. "You'd better stop that ...
Bob Dylan: Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, August 1992
THE UNITED States may be too vast a place for any one person to hold the title of greatest living songwriter. So let's be fair ...
Elvis Costello: Can I Be Frank…?
Essay by Mark Sinker, Wire, The, September 1992
2005 note: The original manuscript began and ended with some kind of lyrical gibberish swansong for the song as a music-form (in the age of ...
Warren Zevon: Tales from the Dark Side
Profile and Interview by Graham Reid, New Zealand Herald, The, September 1992
THE VARIOUS ENCYCLOPAEDIAS of rock don't do justice to Warren Zevon. He got a snippy microscopic reference in the 1991 New Illustrated Rock Handbook ("well-established ...
Tom Waits: Bone Machine (Island/PLG)
Review by Evelyn McDonnell, Spin, November 1992
ON THE five years following his last studio album, Tom Waits moved to the country and became a family man. The influences of wife, children, ...
Leonard Cohen: The Loneliness of the Long-Suffering Folkie: Leonard Cohen
Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 22 November 1992
ON HIS NEW ALBUM The Future (Columbia), Leonard Cohen views history's changing currents with more than a little bit of wariness. "Give me back the ...
Interview by Cliff Jones, Rock CD, December 1992
WRINKLED, GREY, HUMOROUS and urbane, wearing a crumpled suit and a huge pair of coke bottle specs that magnify his lacquered brown eyeballs to an ...
Interview by Simon Price, Melody Maker, 5 December 1992
Failed ice-cream man Luke Haines of the Auteurs wants to rescue you from mindless grunge, and sees his heart-stopping new single, 'Showgirl', as a mini-screenplay. ...
Squeeze: Up The Junction With Difford & Tilbrook
Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, Spring 1992
WHEN YOU TALK to Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, unlike other collaborators who finish each other's thoughts, they sit at opposite ends of ...
Bobby Bare: Detroit City and Other Hits/500 Miles Away from Home (RCA)
Sleeve and programme notes by Colin Escott, RCA Records, 1993
THE FIRST THE WORLD thought it had heard from Bobby Bare was in the summer of 1963 when 'Detroit City' hit the Top 20 in ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1993
In the context of his retrospective box set Paul Simon 1964/1993, the veteran singer-songwriter looks back over his relationship with Art Garfunkel; 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'; his artistic evolution in the shadow of the Beatles and Dylan; his black NYC influences; Graceland's success and controversy; accusations of cultural appropriation; his longevity and place in the world.
File format: mp3; file size: 59.7mb, interview length: 1h 02' 19" sound quality: ****
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1993
Concentrating on Hearts and Bones and Graceland, Paul Simon ruthlessly re-examines such songs as 'Allergies', 'Boy in the Bubble' and 'The Late Great Johnny Ace', covering such issues truth in songwriting, heroes as subjects and musical and lyrical influences. Oh, and he really dislikes 'Slip Sliding Away' as "too simple"!
File format: mp3; file size: 80.1mb, interview length: 1h 27' 27" sound quality: **½
Interview by Mark Petracca, Entertainment Weekly, 1993
THE LAST PERSON you'd expect pumping the stair master at your local "Y" would be Tori Amos, but lo and behold, there she was in ...
Warren Zevon Flinches at Life Without Humor
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 1993
LAST SUMMER, as he was in the early stages of playing concerts being taped for a live album, Warren Zevon decided the album would be ...
Donald Fagen: Fagen and Becker on Kamakiriad
Report and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Schwann Spectrum, January 1993
IN A WAY, the ID Donald Fagen did for New York's WNEW-FM, arguably the best album rock station in a city with little choice in ...
Leonard Cohen: The Future (Columbia)
Review by Max Bell, Vox, January 1993
A PRESIDENTIAL term of office in the making, Leonard Cohen's The Future is designed to see all those buggers out. It will captivate those who ...
Neil Young: Young's Winter Warmer
Interview by Max Bell, Vox, January 1993
Twenty years after Harvest, Neil Young has released Harvest Moon. But don't look for parallels — there aren't any, he says. ...
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1993
NOT LONG ago, Tom Waits and his family uprooted from Los Angeles, his home for many years, and moved up the coast to the quieter, ...
Curtis Mayfield: The Anthology 1961-1977
Review by Joe McEwen, Rolling Stone, 4 February 1993
CURTIS MAYFIELD and the Impressions: The Anthology, a two-CD, forty-song set, is a remarkable document. Lovingly assembled by Chicago-soul authority Robert Pruter, this collection connects ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, 4 March 1993
The old smoothie talks about "lost" album Horoscope; his new covers album Taxi and the joys of interpretation; the pleasures of working with Robin Trower and the perils of 48-track recording; his work ethic; being a family man; owning his own studio, and his lifelong interest in art.
File format: mp3; file size: 58.2mb, interview length: 1h 00' 38" sound quality: *****
Tasmin Archer: St George's Hall, Bradford
Live Review by Simon Warner, Guardian, The, 9 March 1993
A BLACK WOMAN based in Yorkshire, singer-songwriter Tasmin Archer might be seen as a figure on the margins in almost every sense. Add to that ...
Lindsey Buckingham: Paradise, Boston
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 29 March 1993
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM was always the least meek of the Mac, Fleetwood Mac, that is, and he was always the guy who put the spice in ...
Interview by Mac Randall, Musician, April 1993
"WE'VE HAD a joke going recently," Aimee Mann says, "that the new album has three themes: despair, defeat and revenge." ...
Leonard Cohen: Inside the Tower of Song
Profile and Interview by Paul Zollo, SongTalk, April 1993
I said to Hank Williams, "How lonely does it get?"Hank Williams hasn't answered yet.but I hear him coughing all night long,a hundred floors above me ...
Jefferson Airplane: The Jefferson Airplane Chronicles: Marty Balin
Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Relix, April 1993
READING THE following interview, one might get a sense that there are two Marty Balins. ...
Profile and Interview by Jon Wilde, Volume, April 1993
IT'S HARDLY A surprise to learn that Matt Johnson, that most untypical of pop star types, experienced a less than typical upbringing. ...
PJ Harvey: Rid Of Me (Island CID8002/514 696-2)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 23 April 1993
Somerset psyche ...
Mark Burgess: The Witchwood, Ashton-under-Lyne
Live Review by Dave Simpson, Melody Maker, 30 May 1993
SO HERE IS is, then, Mark Burgess, former singer with the Chameleons, the great lost '80s band who prompt more letters to the Maker's Info ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, June 1993
The L.A. deal-maker on first finding Joni Mitchell in NYC and becoming her manager; on moving to L.A. and into David Crosby's orbit; on getting Joni signed to Warners; on meeting Neil Young and the end of Buffalo Springfield; on the L.A. music scene; on David Geffen; on the Eagles; on cocaine; on Tom Waits and Warren Zevon... and the end of his partnership with Geffen.
File format: mp3; file size: 48.1mb, interview length: 50' 07" sound quality: ****
PJ Harvey: Less is More for PJ Harvey
Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 25 June 1993
MOST BAND leaders dream of taking it to the top, of packing arenas worldwide. Not Polly Jean Harvey. At least not yet. ...
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, July 1993
LEONARD COHEN does not mind taking extreme positions in his songs. In 1966, he kissed off the memory of a tryst with Janis Joplin in ...
Brenda Russell: Talkin' Proud and Sayin' Something...
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 20 July 1993
BRENDA RUSSELL, singer/songwriter extraordinaire, is sitting in the tasteful living room of her house, tucked away from the madness of LA at the end of ...
Billy Joel: Christie Put The Kid In Billy Joel
Interview by Mal Peachey, Mail On Sunday, 25 July 1993
POP SUPERSTAR Billy Joel, husband of supermodel Christie Brinkley, sits in his favourite restaurant in the fashionable Hamptons district, east of New York. ...
Interview by Steven P. Wheeler, Music Connection, August 1993
2010 note: Harry Nilsson succumbed to heart failure and died on January 15, 1994, less than six months after this interview took place. ...
Joni Mitchell at Troubadours of Folk Festival: Drake Stadium, UCLA
Live Review by Mark Rowland, Musician, August 1993
FOR HER FIRST public performance in several years, Joni Mitchell found a way to affirm her spiritual ties to the folk music community whence she ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages Audio, 7 August 1993
The Piano Man talks at length about his last album of original material, River of Dreams: about the composition of the songs, the production process, and working with Danny Kortchmar. He also discusses his identity as an artist and his new sense of confidence and legitimacy.
File format: mp3; file size: 54.3mb, interview length: 56' 36" sound quality: ***
Jane Siberry: Songs in a Brave New Key
Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 9 August 1993
MOST PERFORMERS would call getting booed during a concert their worst nightmare. Not Jane Siberry. Although she suffered that fate last year, at the height ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Newsday, 10 August 1993
JOHN SEBASTIAN of the Lovin' Spoonful was all of 22 when he sang, "I think I've come to see myself at last." ...
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Independent Catalogue, The, September 1993
IT'S FOUR IN the afternoon, and Liz Phair is itching to go jogging. But there's plenty of time; this is her first bout of UK ...
Pete Townshend: The Kid's Still Alright: Pete Townshend
Interview by Gerrie Lim, BigO, September 1993
"WHAT A PLEASURE to meet you," Pete Townshend says, hiding nothing behind blue eyes once I'd mentioned the magic mantra (BigO). He quickly extends his ...
Live Review by Andrew Smith, Guardian, The, 29 September 1993
A FEW years back, with acid house at its peak and video games beginning to bite into record sales, there emerged a theory that rock ...
Kate Bush: The Red Shoes (Columbia)
Review by Jon Young, Musician, November 1993
IF YOU'VE pegged Kate Bush as a dreamy cosmic spirit, don't miss the climax of The Red Shoes, where the stunning 'You're the One' renews ...
Kirsty MacColl: Singer Kirsty MacColl: Wry with a Twist of Laughter
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 12 November 1993
DEPRESSION AND despair have their place in pop music, especially in English pop. In recent years, it's come through most tellingly in the shimmering sadness ...
Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, December 1993
HAS TIME STOOD STILL? Fifteen years on and Jackson Browne's running on empty again. He's out of love yet surviving, holding himself together but now ...
Kate Bush: Little Miss Can't Be Wrong
Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1993
She might be a self-confessed power head, prone to control freakery and studio-hermitdom and a total stranger to the nightclub dancefloor... "bit I'm never grumpy, ...
Harry Nilsson: Singer, Songwriter, Fab-Across-The-Water 1941-1994
Obituary by Derek Taylor, MOJO, 1994
John and Paul were asked to name their favourite artist. "Nilsson." And band? "Nilsson." ...
Elvis Costello: Crimes and Misdemeanours: Elvis Costello
Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Q, January 1994
Elvis Costello stands accused: of committing three grievously over-egged albums; of conspiring with classical quartets; of proceeding in a soundtrackular direction; of masterminding The Wendy ...
James Carr, Dan Penn: Cheatin' Meeting of Minds: 'The Dark End of the Street'
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Independent on Sunday, 9 January 1994
"THIS IS probably one of the greatest songs that's ever come out of black American music," announces Ricky Ross over the piano intro to Deacon ...
Tori Amos: The Keys to Success
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 16 January 1994
Tori Amos, the piano's Nigel Kennedy with a prettier face, has swapped America and her classical training for Britain and its pop. ROBERT SANDALL meets ...
Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Space Cowboy
Profile and Interview by Pat Blashill, Details, February 1994
From Texas to the ashram and back again: the earthbound adventures of country rocker Jimmie Dale Gilmore ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Paytress, Record Collector, March 1994
KIRSTY MACCOLL first came to prominence as a solo artist during the early 80s, scoring Top 20 hits with 'There's a Guy Works Down The ...
Beck: Mellow Gold (Geffen/All formats)
Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
INGOT'S DREAMING ...
Beck: Kip Winger With A Protein Shake: The Punknology According to Beck
Interview by Gerrie Lim, BigO, April 1994
THOSE OPENING NOTES attempt to warn you: a slinky salvo of slide guitar and then some hip-hop percussion, and then some dude starts rapping, wending ...
Interview by David Sinclair, MOJO, April 1994
THEY SAY THERE'S ONE IN EVERY CROWD. BUT HE'S ALWAYS hard to spot because he looks so normal. Quiet, polite, a little shy even. You ...
Jeff Buckley: A Son's Star Trip: Jeff Buckley: Borderline, London
Live Review by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 2 April 1994
"I NEED A Guinness," murmurs Jeff Buckley, after completing one of his many audacious sorties on the collective heartstring this evening. "And I really mean ...
Richard Thompson: The Many Moods of Richard Thompson
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 15 April 1994
RICHARD THOMPSON, godfather of grunge? "Well, I think so," the droll singer-guitarist says, on the phone from Columbus, Ohio, during a tour stop. "I was ...
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages Audio, 18 April 1994
Ms. Mann talks about her first band Til Tuesday; record company indifference; songwriting collaborations past and future (but not Ray Davies!); and working with Jon Brion on Whatever.
File format: mp3; file size: 18mb, interview length: 19' 41" sound quality: ****
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Q, June 1994
"POPULAR MUSIC, in all its rich varieties, has milestones." So began the Sunday Times review of David Ackles's 1972 album, American Gothic, which compared the ...
Profile and Interview by Lisa Verrico, Vox, June 1994
How can Beck be a Loser? He's ridiculed MTV, yet it still gives heavy rotation to this Kansas runt and his band of OAPs. ...
Ray Davies: Three Minutes: Ray Davies
Interview by Stuart Maconie, MOJO, June 1994
It's an exacting, exhilarating discipline: everything you want to say condensed into 180 seconds. "It's the ultimate song structure and I hope it'll never die." ...
Liz Phair: Sexual Perversity in Chicago
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Details, July 1994
Where and when did you write the famous line "I want to be your blowjob queen"? ...
Randy Newman: Thunderclap Newman: Randy, Poet Laureate of New Orleans
Interview by Chris Bourke, Real Groove, July 1994
I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED what Southerners think of Randy Newman's Good Old Boys, his 1974 concept album about the American Deep South. With its sardonic but ...
Lyle Lovett: The World's Greatest Lover
Interview by Mal Peachey, Country Music International, September 1994
Dour of face, frizzy of hair, sharp of wit. He came from Texas, wrote the song, played the guitar and got the girl. Now he's ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, Contemporary Musicians, September 1994
AFTER SPENDING years in classical piano training, then experimenting with the Los Angeles rock scene, Tori Amos attracted a popular music audience with her pure ...
American Music Club: 'I'm An Ant'
Interview by Caitlin Moran, Melody Maker, 3 September 1994
Yup, Sultan of Sorrow and Mr Low Self-Opinion Mark Eitzel of American Music Club — arguably the most exquisitely miserable band on the planet — ...
Jeff Buckley: The Garage, London
Live Review by Andrew Smith, Guardian, The, 5 September 1994
AS JEFF Buckley ambled lugubriously on to the stage, the faces of pretty much everyone in the capacity crowd betrayed the same thought — "How ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 14 September 1994
The First Lady of the Canyon looks at her past and present, from her Canadian youth through the Canyon days, the nightmare of the '80s and to her place in 1994. Songs, places, lovers, friends, gender and politics. Oh, and Bob Dylan's bad breath.
File format: mp3; file size: 116.9mb, total interview length: 2h 1' 46" sound quality: ***
David Gray: Flesh (Hut 8 39770 24 10 tracks/45 mins/FP)
Review by Andrew Mueller, Melody Maker, 17 September 1994
FLESH. HONEST title. Bare, bloody, real and sweaty. Neat choice from a man apparently on an endearingly Quixotic solo crusade to rescue the idea of ...
Jeff Buckley: Grace (Columbia)
Review by Byron Coley, Spin, October 1994
ONE OF MY favourite sorts of music has no real generic handle by which it can be carried into the marketplace. Informed by jazz, rock, ...
John Martyn: The Boy Can't Help It
Interview by Nick Coleman, MOJO, October 1994
Rambunctious loons, Soave-swilling romantics, tireless anarchists, people who fill baths with dead fish, all detect in him some sort of kindred spirit. John Martyn by ...
Joni Mitchell: Lady of the Canyon
Report and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 31 October 1994
FOR JONI MITCHELL, fame has been a fickle lover. In the 1970s, it lavished her with sold-out tours and numerous magazine covers. She was the ...
Prefab Sprout: Phone Home: Paddy McAloon
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1994
"I'M ACTUALLY going for the record of being the longest hold-out character on the face of the earth. I'm trying to evaporate into a realm ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 15 December 1994
"IT DOESN'T FEEL good to be stuck," Lisa Germano says, as she surveys the opening of a dark tunnel that cuts a 30-foot passageway through ...
Nick Drake: Joe Boyd on Nick Drake (1994)
Interview by Gerrie Lim, Rock's Backpages Audio, Fall 1994
The legendary producer looks back at the brilliant, doomed singer-songwriter: Drake's enduring qualities; first hearing him; has strong hands and guitar playing; the onset of his troubles, and the clues in his songs.
File format: mp3; file size: 29.3mb, interview length: 32' 02" sound quality: *** (phoner)
Lloyd Cole: Causing a Commotion: Lloyd Cole
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, Alternative Press, 1995
AT THE BEGINNING, he seemed tailor-made for rock stardom. Young, good-looking and menacingly literate, Lloyd Cole exploded out of nowhere (well, Scotland actually) in ...
Robyn Hitchcock, The Soft Boys: Robyn Hitchcock Rocks Groovily On
Retrospective and Interview by Dave Thompson, B-Side, 1995
ROBYN HITCHCOCK is confused. At least, he's as confused as anyone who's been told they'll be called by a writer in America, with all the ...
Interview by Andrew Smith, Face, The, January 1995
You probably know him as "that slacker guy" who recorded 1994's lo-fi radio anthem 'Loser'. That's fine by Beck, but just don't call him the ...
Bettie Serveert, Jeff Buckley: Jeff Buckley, Bettie Serveert: Astoria 2, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 21 January 1995
WHEN JEFF Buckley's debut album, Grace, was released last year, it received ferocious acclaim and spawned a resurgence of interest in Jeff's folk singing father, ...
Laura Nyro: Union Chapel, Islington, London
Live Review by Rob Steen, MOJO, February 1995
WHEN LAURA PLAYED MONTEREY, nerves and rushed rehearsals saw her flounder as the hairies waited for Hendrix. Tonight there are enough baldies in the pews ...
Alanis Morissette: Adventures of Alanis in Wonderland
Profile by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 1 February 1995
SHE IS THE newest cover girl for "alternative" rock, a populist answer to Courtney Love. Fans and critics throughout North America have embraced Ottawa native ...
Dan Penn: Once More With Feeling
Interview by Robert Gordon, MOJO, March 1995
Otis. Janis. Aretha. Gram. Each cut classic songs by the hallowed Dan Penn. Coaxed out of retirement, he recorded last year’s universally acclaimed Do Right ...
Interview by Colin Harper, Folk Roots, March 1995
"THE REASON," says David Gray, at the end of our interview, "that journalism doesn't work most of the time is 'cos the artist isn't there ...
Elvis Presley, Leiber and Stoller: Jerry Leiber And Mike Stoller: By Royal Appointment
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, MOJO, March 1995
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the greatest rock 'n' roll songwriting team of all time, have their songs celebrated in the musical Smokey Joe's Cafe ...
PJ Harvey, Tricky: Town & Country Club, Leeds
Live Review by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 18 March 1995
THE REBIRTH OF GHOUL ...
Leiber and Stoller: A Yakety Yak
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Goldmine, 28 April 1995
IF THEY'D only written, say, 'Hound Dog', 'Kansas City' and 'Stand By Me', they would already deserve their place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame ...
Vic Chesnutt: Is Vic All There?
Profile and Interview by Ian Fortnam, New Musical Express, 29 April 1995
"I DRANK as much as anybody, but I'm not drinking now... except tonight." ...
Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers: Scott Walker: “That Francis Bacon, In-The-Face Whoops Factor...”
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, May 1995
TWENTY-TWO YEAR OLD Noel Scott Engel was on the run from Uncle Sam. He was fleeing from a country that would never connect with his ...
Elvis Costello: They Think It's All Covers... Er, It Is Now!
Interview by Terry Staunton, New Musical Express, 20 May 1995
After 18 years of being either a sneering young turk or cumudgeonly old bugger, ELVIS COSTELLO has decided it's time for a change – he's ...
Stephin Merritt: Stephen Merritt: Bubble Gum With a Punk Attitude
Essay by Eric Weisbard, New York Times, The, 21 May 1995
TO STEPHIN MERRITT, one of alternative rock's newest cult figures, Top 40 jingles are purer music than any punk. Yet it's punk fans who have ...
PJ Harvey: Harvey's New Hooks, Persona
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 26 May 1995
POLLY JEAN HARVEY has become, of late, a very public face. Last month's cover of Spin, a recent Tower Pulse, the current issue of Request. ...
PJ Harvey: Queen of the Night: P.J. Harvey
Profile by Lucy O'Brien, Guardian, The, 12 June 1995
SHE’S TAKING America by storm. She’s very fashionable at the moment. She’s hipper than hip. That’s what Paul McGuinness says; he’s the manager of U2 ...
Sarah McLachlan: Front and Centre Stage
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 28 July 1995
SARAH MCLACHLAN was lounging in her air-conditioned trailer, exhausted but exhilarated after a day spent fielding media questions and a night spent singing, strumming and ...
Warren Zevon: Left Jabs and Roundhouse Rights
Interview by Steve Roeser, Goldmine, 18 August 1995
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE a romantic. These might be the words of wisdom for those who have ever counted themselves fans of singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, especially the ...
Jane Siberry: The Woman Who Scared Herself
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 1995
Your new LP, Maria, sounds very different to your other albums. I gather it was recorded fairly spontaneously. ...
Willie Nelson: Get set for good old Country Music: Willie Nelson's End of Summer Picnic
Profile and Interview by Lon Goddard, Daily Astorian, 7 September 1995
"MAMA, DON'T let your cowboys grow up to be babies," joked quintessential crossover music legend Willie Nelson from the stage of Portland's 3,200 capacity Rose ...
Sheryl Crow: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 8 September 1995
There's Nothing Much to Crow About at the Greek ...
k.d. lang: No more ingenue: The Constant Craving of k.d. lang
Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 8 October 1995
NEW YORK – Curled up on a couch in a hotel suite, dressed in baggy black athletic garb, k.d. lang ponders the nature of the ...
Burt Bacharach: Bacharach to the Future
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 21 October 1995
As grey-haired, 67-year-old composers go, Burt Bacharach is pretty f***ing cool. Paul Lester interviews the melodic inspiration behind Oasis, Stereolab and Pulp. ...
Billy Joe Shaver: The Live Wire: Billy Joe Shaver at McCabe's
Live Review by Bill Wasserzieher, L.A. View, 27 October 1995
BILLY JOE SHAVER seemed the archetypal Texas good ol' boy at McCabe's Friday night, dressed in a washed-out denim shirt and a western hat that ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Professional Confessions: Loudon Wainwright
Review and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, November 1995
INTELLECTUAL SINGER-songwriters, doncha jus' luv 'em? LW3 has been at it for 20 years, spilling his guts, sharing his fears and generally earning a living ...
Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks: Brian Wilson And Van Dyke Parks: Orange Crate Art
Interview by Bill Holdship, MOJO, December 1995
BH: Was it hard getting Brian involved in the making of Orange Crate Art? ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 20 December 1995
SOMETIMES IT'S hard to know where the marketing stops and the music begins. When Tori Amos's record company launched her first album, Little Earthquakes in ...
Interview by Elaine Cusack, Rock's Backpages Audio, Spring 1995
Chesnutt talks about Athens, Georgia; alcohol; his Is The Actor Happy album; the poetry of Stevie Smith and the writing of Flannery O'Connor, and his upcoming film debut in Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade.
File format: mp3; file size: 55.5mb, interview length: 1h 00' 36" sound quality: ****
John Denver: Reflections (Songs Of Love & Life)
Sleeve and programme notes by Colin Escott, RCA Records, 1996
NO ONE WAS ever less ashamed of wearing their heart on their sleeve than John Denver. No one was ever less afraid to share moments ...
Paul Kelly (singer-songwriter): Paul Kelly: Poet of the Common Man
Report and Interview by Mark Mordue, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 12 January 1996
PAUL KELLY'S back in town. I meet him at a King's Cross hotel where his daughter, Madeleine, is turning her slice of cheese into a ...
Joan Osborne: Borderline, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 23 January 1996
Meat and potato with little relish ...
Jeff Buckley: Grace under Fire
Interview by Toby Creswell, Juice, February 1996
"THE RECORD IS FANTASTIC, you and I know that. The band is really great and, let's face it, all the women want to get into ...
Interview by Frank Broughton, i-D, February 1996
He's been a junkie, a beatnik, a Rock & Roll Animal. But these days, Lou Reed is taking a walk on the mild side. ...
Burt Bacharach: "Do you know the Way to Monterey? Santa Fe? Whitley Bay?"
Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, March 1996
Thankfully, Messrs Bacharach and David got there in the end, polishing yet another pop gem and putting an unremarkable California city on the map forever. ...
Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground: A Dark Prince at Twilight: Lou Reed
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 1996
THE DAY DOES not begin auspiciously. The first flakes of a snowstorm descend as I open the curtains in my hotel room, adding yet another ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield: Mighty Mighty
Profile and Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Vibe, April 1996
From the Impressions to Superfly, he's left an indelible mark on American music. Now, six years after a paralyzing accident, Curtis Mayfield is down but not out. ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 1996
Fourteen months into sobriety, the country rebel discusses his multiple marriages; his anger at the press and ex-colleagues; his admiration for Bruce Springsteen; country radio and the Nashville establishment... and talks at length about addiction and recovery.
File format: mp3; file size: 76.3mb, interview length: 1h 19' 25" sound quality: ****
Steve Earle: Back in the Saddle
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 18 April 1996
C&W outlaw STEVE EARLE returns from his lost years ...
Pet Shop Boys: An Attitude Thing
Interview by Ben Thompson, Independent, The, 20 April 1996
THERE IS NO MORE embarrassing chapter in the big book of Pop Interview Ritual than the one in which you're forced to listen to music ...
Interview by Susan Corrigan, i-D, June 1996
Sleeper's leading lady has more to offer than big boots and a big mouth. Susan Corrigan examines the true colours of a lass with sass ...
Chris De Burgh: Chris de Burgh: Hampton Court Palace, Surrey
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 18 June 1996
Chris de Burgh's banter saves the day at Hampton Court Palace, says Caroline Sullivan ...
Book Review by Tom Graves, Washington Post, The, 23 June 1996
ESSENTIALLY A NOVELTY book for novice songwriters, Songs In the Rough is both shy on substance and skimpy on songs. The idea behind the book ...
Burt Bacharach: See You Later, Elevator!
Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1996
Imprisoned in music's metaphorical lift for years, Burt Bacharach has emerged on to a mezzanine packed with thousands of dewy-eyed disciples. "It's sensational news," he ...
Interview by Eric Weisbard, Spin, August 1996
Is there life after 'Loser'? Eric Weisbard explores the artistic ups and commercial downs of the boy wonder known as Beck. ...
Jimmy Buffett: Q&A: Jimmy Buffett
Interview by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 22 August 1996
IT'S BEEN nearly 20 years since Jimmy Buffett bided his time wasting away in Margaritaville. Today, rock's romantic poet-pirate has become a virtual one-man theme ...
Interview by Paul Moody, New Musical Express, 24 August 1996
CONTEMPORARY FEMALE singer-songwriters, then: fiercely independent, forever marketed as several colours short of a full palette and ever-prone to massive crossover success care of the ...
Interview by Cliff Jones, Face, The, September 1996
FIONA APPLE is a Manhattan teenager ablaze with songs of love, loss, anger and pain. "Given my way, I'd tie all shrinks together and burn the fuckers!" ...
Sheryl Crow, Kevin Gilbert: Kevin Gilbert: More Than "The Piano Player"
Report by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 September 1996
Dumped by Sheryl Crow after propelling her to success, brilliant musician Kevin Gilbert died before finding his own ...
The Beatles: "We're a damn good little band"
Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, October 1996
On the eve of the release of Anthology 3, Paul McCartney casts his mind back to The Beatles' glorious sunset. * ...
Harlan Howard: How I Wrote All Those Songs by Harlan Howard
Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, November 1996
"I HIT NASHVILLE with the greatest bunch of guys — Roger Miller, Bill Anderson, Willie Nelson. We were hanging together every night at Tootsies, playing ...
Amy Rigby: Diary of a Mod Housewife (Koch)
Review by Jon Young, Musician, December 1996
IN THE LINER notes to her inspired study of relationship hell, Amy Rigby describes a mod housewife as "a woman being dragged kicking and screaming ...
Amy Rigby, Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw/Amy Rigby: Park West, Albany, NY
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, December 1996
ON THE first date of an East Coast mini-tour, Marshall Crenshaw and Amy Rigby are playing things semi-safe: Park West is a club sandwiched between ...
Joni Mitchell: Hits and Misses
Review by Susan Whitall, Houston Press, 26 December 1996
IN A POP WORLD where female musicians are designed, micromanaged and as carefully positioned in the marketplace as a new brand of air freshener, how ...
Interview by Jim Irvin, unpublished, 1997
What first made you want to write a song? ...
Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: In God's Prefab are Many Mansions
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, Times, The, 25 April 1997
Paddy Mcaloon once trained to be a priest. Now he's a Prefab Sprout, but he still has his faith. ...
Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: Sprout on his own
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent, The, 9 May 1997
Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon talks to Nick Coleman about his new album, epic songs of the heart and why he flies in the face of ...
Interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages Audio, 23 May 1997
The great New Orleans songwriter talks about writing for Fats Domino; about his time in Woodstock with Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Albert Grossman and others; and about such classics as 'See You Later Alligator', 'But I Do' and 'Jealous Kind'.
File format: mp3; file size: 14.2mb, interview length: 15' 28" sound quality: *****
ABBA: Welcome to the Palindrome
Review by Nick Hornby, MOJO, June 1997
Reissues: Their entire oeuvre freshly silvered, remastered and mid-priced. RING RING/ WATERLOO/ ABBA/ ARRIVAL/ THE ALBUM/ VOULEZ VOUS/ SUPER TROOPER/ THE VISITORS/ ABBA LIVE Agnetha, ...
Burt Bacharach: What's It All About, Bacharach?
Special Feature by Bill DeMain, Switch, June 1997
"WHERE IS that whistling coming from?" ...
Report and Interview by Steven Daly, Details, July 1997
She's the wonder from the tundra, a guitar-strumming siren who spent the past two years on the road, driving herself to the top. Steven Daly ...
Neil Young: The Year Of The Horse
Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1997
2-CD, 13-track live document of last year's Broken Arrow tour, recorded mainly in America but featuring tracks from Berlin, Toronto…and downtown Saskatchewan. ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, July 1997
Absolutely Prefabulous: Far from the sonic mainstream with Paddy McAloon ...
Ron Sexsmith: Other Songs (Universal IND90123)
Review by David Hepworth, Q, July 1997
Ron Sexsmith: a case of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. ...
Dar Williams: End of the Summer (Razor & Tie, $15.98) ****
Review by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 July 1997
Dar Williams Plays With Pop Impulses ...
Tracy Chapman, Sarah McLachlan, Kinnie Starr, Suzanne Vega: Songs of the Sirens: Lilith Fair
Report by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 28 July 1997
THEY READ tarot cards on the grass in the afternoon sun and danced under the moon to the sounds of Tracy Chapman. And before they ...
Jeff Buckley: "It's Never Over"
Obituary by Jim Irvin, MOJO, August 1997
JUST BEFORE 9PM ON THE EVENING of Thursday, May 29, Jeff Buckley and his friend Keith Foti realised they were lost. ...
Elvis Presley, Leiber and Stoller: Elvis, homoeroticism and 'Jailhouse Rock'
Essay by Peter Silverton, Observer, The, 10 August 1997
'Oh yes,' said Stanley, a builder - though not a man known ever to have displayed his bum cleavage beyond the privacy of his own ...
Fountains of Wayne: Fountains Of Wayne: A Tossed Off Masterpiece
Interview by Bill DeMain, In Natural, September 1997
JAMES THURBER once said that what he strived for most in his humor pieces was a "tossed off quality." ...
Live Review by Evelyn McDonnell, Spin, September 1997
"JUST A SECOND, just a second now," said Canadian performer Kinnie Starr as she abruptly swung her electric guitar down and stepped off the tiny ...
Phil Ochs: Van Dyke Parks on Phil Ochs (1997)
Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages Audio, September 1997
VDP on his relationship with Phil Ochs, Ochs' relationship with Bob Dylan, producing Greatest Hits, and his dislike of the Byrds
File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 38.2mb, total interview length: 41' 41" sound quality: * (phoner)
Ron Sexsmith: Westbeth Theater, New York City
Live Review by Jeff Apter, No Depression, 25 September 1997
WHILE THE REAL world is tough on outsiders, they'll always be welcomed in the land of thinking-person's music. Toronto troubadour Ron Sexsmith has perfected the ...
Jewel: Daddy cruel — Jewel: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 21 October 1997
For a while on stage, Jewel exudes vulnerability. Then she tells you she wants to bash her father's teeth in. CAROLINE SULLIVAN reports ...
Leonard Cohen: More Best Of (Columbia)
Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 1997
A CATCH-UP collection of the best of the past couple of decades for those who fell in love with, or to, early Len and may ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1997
RICHARD DAVIES is cooped up in the Turtle Creek barn, a hallowed old recording studio haunted by ghosts of Woodstock past and present. (A picture ...
Jarvis Cocker, Pulp: Pulp: Sorted for Pipe and Slippers
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, Telegraph Magazine, 8 November 1997
At the age of seven, Jarvis Cocker realised he was not immortal. Now the Pied Piper of his generation has decided the end is nigh. ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Guardian, The, 28 November 1997
Singer Beth Orton shrugged off the tragedies of her youth and was inspired by acid house to mix folk with breakbeats. Sheryl Garratt hears how ...
Burt Bacharach: Anyone Who Had A Heart: The Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David
Retrospective and Interview by Robin Platts, DISCoveries, December 1997
AS THE 1960s sped from Beach Blanket Bingo through Beatlemania to Psychedelia, Vietnam and beyond, the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David played on ...
The Kinks, Ray Davies: Kinks: The Singles Collection/Waterloo Sunset — The Songs Of Ray Davies
Review by Tom Cox, Uncut, December 1997
It's a shame about Ray: Classic chartbreakers and their creator's solo furrow ...
Steve Earle: El Corazon (E-Squared/Warner Bros.)
Review and Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, December 1997
Slice of Life ...
Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages Audio, 11 December 1997
America's foremost Utopian on the songwriter's job: on originality and plagiarism; the process of writing and realisation; on revisiting his old songs on With a Twist; on the emerging Internet and how it will change the way artists and songwriters work... and the tyranny of the long-form CD.
File format: mp3; file size: 34.2mb, interview length: 35' 39" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Essay by Mick Gold, unpublished, 1998
IT MUST HAVE been 1969 or 1970. There was a rave review of Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere in Rolling Stone and I bought it ...
Bernie Taupin, Elton John: Bernie Taupin
Interview by Paul Zollo, Musician, January 1998
AS ELTON John's lyricist for three decades, Bernie Taupin is one of the most famous British songwriters of all time. ...
Mark Hollis, Talk Talk: Return from Eden: Mark Hollis
Profile and Interview by Rob Young, Wire, The, January 1998
As the prime mover behind Talk Talk, Mark Hollis threw off the shackles of a pop existence to create the bleakest, yet most lyrical orchestral ...
Richard Thompson: Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, Independent, The, 21 January 1998
BELFAST'S WATERFRONT Hall embodies all the characteristics of a provincial Barbican – a kind of clinical, beige Gormenghast of a place where corridors lead to ...
Mark Hollis: Composing Himself
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Sunday Times, The, 25 January 1998
ANDREW SMITH meets the former Talk Talk singer whose haunting new album marks the next stage in an intriguing musical odyssey. ...
Review by David Bennun, Guardian, The, February 1998
FROM 1980S synth-pop with Talk Talk, Mark Hollis is now a solo artist of rare contemplation… It's all gone quiet over here. Mark Hollis has ...
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 1998
Supposedly one of his "parenthetical" releases in the vein of Stereoscopic Soul Manure and One Foot In The Grave. The "official" follow-up to Odelay is ...
Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998
BRIAN KENNEDY is caught between a pillow and a soft place. On the one hand, he's an emerging solo artist whose debut album in 1990 ...
Review by Paul Lester, Uncut, March 1998
Core, fruits you, Sir! Heyward's sixth post-Haircut 100 LP, and his debut for Alan McGee ...
Paul Brady: The Ever-Changing World of Paul Brady
Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, March 1998
A MENTOR ONCE told me there were two rules to writing about other people's lives: First, always remember that as the journalist, you're not the ...
The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian (1998)
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 16 March 1998
The Spoonful front-man on his music-packed upbringing in Greenwich Village; starting out playing guitar; becoming a songwriter, and talks about some of his bigger hits.
File format: mp3; file size: 42.7mb, interview length: 46' 39" sound quality: *****
Review by Kit Aiken, Uncut, April 1998
SEMI-AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL movies (La Passione) and life threatening illnesses (collapsed colon and peritonitis) out of the way, Chris Rea is back making music like nothing has ...
Donnie Fritts: Leanin' Man from Alabam'
Interview by Chris Bourke, Real Groove, April 1998
DONNIE FRITTS MAY be one of the unsung heroes of American music, but a peek inside his address book shows how his talents are appreciated. ...
Michael Head: The Magical World of the Strands
Review by Johnny Black, Q, April 1998
IT ALWAYS SEEMS as though Michael Head's 15 minutes of fame are imminent. Over the last two decades, this unfairly neglected Liverpudlian has written much ...
Frank Sinatra: Sinatra's 'My Way'
Essay by Peter Silverton, Observer, The, 17 May 1998
As songs go, 'My Way' doesn't so much wear its heart on its sleeve as rip it from its chest, throw it down and shout: ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, Observer, The, 24 May 1998
"The more comfortable I get with my sexuality, the less it leaks all over the place" ...
Willie Nelson: Interview: Willie Nelson
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Observer, The, 31 May 1998
The songs come out of suffering. Like being beaten senseless with his wife's broom... ...
Elliott Smith: Interview Transcript
Interview by Neil Mason, unpublished, June 1998
I'D BEEN TO SEE Elliott Smith's first UK show a week earlier, can't recall where, but it was clearly enough to get me back a ...
Profile and Interview by Dan Gennoe, Making Music, June 1998
7PM AND THE West London pub where Making Music is currently propping up the bar is starting to fill up in anticipation of the Italy ...
Jeff Buckley: Sketches (For My Sweetheart The Drunk) (Columbia)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 1998
FANS OF Grace might find this album tough going. For one thing, it's hard to divorce the circumstances of its existence from the music – ...
Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages Audio, June 1998
We start with Smith's second attempt at interviewing Martyn: the Scottish bard on his covers album The Church of the One Bell; on starting out as a musician; on his influences such as Davey Graham and the impressionist composers; on writing 'Solid Air' for (and about) Nick Drake. Following that, we present Smith's first attempt at the interview, in which a soused Martyn slurs about impressionism, drink and religion, and tells incomprehensible jokes.
File format: mp3; file size: 38.2mb, interview length: 39' 49" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Rufus Wainwright: Roxy, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 1998
Wainwright an Engaging, Versatile Singer ...
Lucinda Williams: Lost in America
Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, July 1998
HOW DID A 45-YEAR-OLD "NEUROTIC DIVA" WITH ONE FOOT IN FAULKNER'S SOUTH AND ONE FOOT IN GARTH'S MANAGE TO MAKE THE YEAR'S BEST ALBUM? SIMPLE, SAYS ...
Neal Casal: Out-duding the early James Taylor
Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, Uncut, July 1998
NEAL CASAL grins craftily — he's been careful to bring his electric guitar to Uncut's photo session and not his acoustic. "No Nick Drake shots ...
Crowded House, Neil Finn: Neil Finn: Former Crowded House Frontman
Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, August 1998
THERE'S A lush, green exotic-ness to Neil Finn's songs, as if they were created in some kind of hothouse rain forest where only the most ...
Randy Newman: Here Comes The Rain
Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 1998
Ian MacDonald salutes Randy Newman's first solo album as a flawless masterpiece. ...
Rufus Wainwright: Raise the Rufus
Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, Guardian, The, 7 August 1998
The son of Loudon Wainwright III, this melodramatic young folk singer might be the next Jeff Buckley. Tom Cox meets him ...
Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages Audio, 8 September 1998
The outlaw-country icon talks about what makes Texas such fertile ground for songwriters and musicians; about his discovery of the Austin scene; his early years as a writer in Nashville, and pitching 'Crazy' to Patsy Cline; the struggle to break through as an artist, and at some length about songwriting.
File format: mp3; file size: 23.9mb, interview length: 24' 51" sound quality: ****
Profile and Interview by Mark Mordue, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 18 September 1998
JARVIS COCKER wanders through London's Tower Books and Records like a spy in a foreign country. Close by, music fans are harvesting the racks of ...
Jonathan Richman: There's Something about Jonathan
Retrospective and Interview by Max Bell, Independent, The, 25 September 1998
Jonathan Richman introduced us to the abominable snowman in the supermarket. Now, like wow, he's a film star. ...
Mark Lanegan: Scraps at Midnight (Sub Pop)
Review by Mac Randall, Musician, October 1998
THINK BROWN. Brown clouds of dust hanging on the horizon. Big brown rocks catching the last rays at sunset. Warm brown whiskey in a hip ...
Lisa Germano: Happy to be Centre Stage, at Long Last
Interview by Ben Thompson, Independent, The, 15 October 1998
Big stars? Glum rockers? Don't let the buggers grind you down. Lisa Germano didn't. ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Portrait of an Artist in the Making
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, Independent, The, 22 October 1998
Badly Drawn Boy is challenging pop's establishment. He's that hard, is Damon. ...
Don McLean: Waterfront Hall, Belfast
Live Review by Colin Harper, Irish Times, The, 30 October 1998
"PEOPLE ASK ME what 'American Pie' means" says Don, midway through his enviably well-attended show. "It means I don't have to work any more if ...
Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello: Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach: Painted From Memory
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, November 1998
ONLY FIVE years ago in the UK, it needed to be reaffirmed that Burt Bacharach is one of the greatest popular musicians of the second ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 2 November 1998
Ms Williams talks about the often-torturous gestation of her magnificent Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album, and about her roots and influences, musical and literary.
File format: mp3; file size: 29.8mb, interview length: 32' 29" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, 17 November 1998
FORMER ARMY airborne soldier Shawn Mullins is a sensitive tough guy. Inside the sleeve of Soul's Core – the Atlanta troubadour's seventh album but his ...
Vic Chesnutt: Gravity's Rainbow: Vic Chesnutt
Profile by Will Hermes, Village Voice, The, 24 November 1998
LIKE PLENTY of other folks in wheelchairs, Vic Chesnutt doesn't want your sympathy. In fact, he can challenge the compassion of even those closest to ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, December 1998
Downbeat apocalypse: US master of ironic eclecticism unearths a diamond in the trash. ...
Thomas Anderson: Flying Saucer Rock & Roll
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Village Voice, The, 29 December 1998
WITH THREE FINE albums and a recent seven-song EP, available respectively from Dutch East India, Bomp, and now Germany's Red River, Thomas Anderson is clearly ...
Elliott Smith: An Interview in NYC, 30th April, 1998
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, Spring 1998
BH: From Kill Rock Stars to DreamWorks – it sounds like some kind of fairy tale. Does it feel like one? ...
XTC: Andy Partridge: Lemons And Lemonade
Interview by Bill DeMain, unpublished, 1999
"I'M A LUDICROUS optimist," says Andy Partridge. "I'm in front of the firing squad and I've got the clown's makeup on and I'm telling gags ...
Elvis Costello: Elvis Goes Mellow?
Interview by Tim Footman, Flipside, 1999
IT'S A TOUGH JOB, but someone's gotta do it. Declan Patrick 'Aloysius' McManus, aka Napoleon Dynamite, aka The Imposter, aka Tiny Hands Of Concrete; a ...
Alanis Morissette, Joan Osborne, Sheryl Crow: Silent Partners: Writers, Producers, Players
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, 1999
Phil Sutcliffe looks at the men who helped midwife albums by Sheryl Crow, Joan Osborne and Alanis Morissette ...
The Dream Syndicate, Gutterball, Steve Wynn: Steve Wynn (1999)
Interview by Francesco Calazzo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1999
The ex-Dream Syndicate frontman looks back fondly at the Paisley Underground; being on tour for many years; his new album My Midnight; his side project Gutterball; on singers and singing, and guitars and guitar playing; songwriting; his move to New York, and being revered by a new generation of artists.
File format: mp3; file size: 88.1mb, interview length: 1h 36' 11" sound quality: ***
Elliott Smith: He's Mr Dyingly Sad, And You're Mystifyingly Glad
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, January 1999
ELLIOTT SMITH recovers nicely. Just one hour ago he was sitting in a tiny backstage room, enjoying a postshow libation and breathing in a blue ...
Roy Harper: Vicar Street, Dublin
Live Review by Colin Harper, MOJO, January 1999
ROY ASSURES ME that it only happens in Liverpool, Belfast and Dublin. "It" being the verge-of-chaos spectator sport and crowd participation version of what would ...
Vic Chesnutt: The Salesman and Bernadette (Capricorn)
Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, January 1999
THIS IS THE best record of the year at making time stop. Vic Chesnutt tells a story. Maybe the tale pulls into it specific figures, ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 28 January 1999
On his new album, Mule Variations; on changing labels; on his formative influences... and on edible slugs! On Beatniks, recording, songwriting, Frank Zappa and L.A.... and his first tattoos!
File format: mp3 File size: 71.4mb, interview length: 1h 14' 23", sound quality: **
Profile and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, March 1999
THERE'S NOTHING BILL Callahan likes better than watching a Polaroid develop, "struck in this transition state, always surprising me". Some might say he needs to ...
Review by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, The, 10 March 1999
LEONARD COHEN stepped into an avalanche; it covered up his soul. Now, when he is not this hunchback that you see, he sleeps beneath the ...
Janis Ian, Stan Ridgway: Songwriting: Sex and Memory
Interview by Paul Zollo, Musician, April 1999
Janis Ian and Stan Ridgway discuss the changing role of gender in modern lyrics. ...
Tom Waits: Mule Variations (Epitaph)
Review by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 15 April 1999
The Big Noise ...
Interview by Simon Price, Uncut, May 1999
Smog's Bill Callahan is to Nineties USA what Morrissey was to Eighties Britain: the undisputed bard of smalltown melancholia. Simon Price meets the pea-souperman. ...
Elliott Smith: Pretty Barfly: Elliott Smith
Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 May 1999
ELLIOTT SMITH is a philosopher, a jocular barroom buddy, but he's also a loner, the Bukowski-esque malcontent with a great American sadness etched into his ...
Tom Waits: Guthrie's Heir?: Tom Waits' Mule Variations
Review by Gene Santoro, Nation, The, 6 May 1999
TOM WAITS IS an imaginary hobo. He cruises the oddball corners of American pop culture, collecting the deft and moving and loopy short takes he ...
Elliott Smith: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Ian Watson, Melody Maker, 15 May 1999
AT FIRST, THE hushed, respectful, masses can't believe their eyes. They've come to sit and worship at the feet of the man who redefined sensitive, ...
Burt Bacharach: Hal David (1999)
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, 25 May 1999
In London to receive an Ivor Novello Award, the great lyricist recalls his days in Manhattan song factory the Brill Building with writing partner Burt Bacharach; hanging out with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; writing for Frank Sinatra; Dionne Warwick's transformation from demo singer to star; 'Make It Easy On Yourself' and 'Anyone Who Had a Heart'; his favourite songwriters; riding the rock wave; and the revival of interest in his work.
File format: mp3; total file size: 57.5mb, total interview length: 59' 54" sound quality: ****
Burt Bacharach: We're In Love With This Guy: Hal David
Interview by Terry Staunton, music365.com, 27 May 1999
Lyrical legend HAL DAVID has just become the first non-Briton to be honoured with a prestigious Ivor Novello Award by the British Academy Of Composers ...
Sebadoh: Psychobabble: Sebadoh's Lou Barlow
Interview by Robin Bresnark, Melody Maker, 29 May 1999
He'd consider making a necklace from his toes, when he's dead he wants his body to be cut up and distributed to people... And he's ...
Interview by Tom Doyle, Face, The, June 1999
HEROIN. ARSON. DEATH. DESTROYED STUDIOS. BLOWN OPPORTUNITIES. THE BALLAD OF SHACK IS HARDLY EASY LISTENING. BUT NOW, WITH A GLORIOUS NEW ALBUM, BRITAIN'S GREAT LOST ...
Lee Hazlewood: The Return of Nancy's Boy
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer, The, 13 June 1999
NEW YORK CROWDS don't get much hipper than this. The women look either like a young Patti Smith or Marianne Faithfull circa Girl On A ...
Live Review by Colin Harper, Independent, The, 5 August 1999
God plays a mean guitar ...
Review by Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix, The, 23 August 1999
BRITISH SINGER-SONGWRITER Kevin Coyne is a strange one. As influenced by the rough-and-tumble sounds of Mississippi blues as by his job as a counselor to ...
Dido, Kendall Payne: the Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 27 August 1999
Dido's Electronic-Folk Goes in Search of Depth ...
Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages Audio, 4 September 1999
Ms. Gauthier talks about her road from a tricky childhood, via addiction and alcoholism, to her place as a songwriter: ambition vs. self-destruction; her community of outsiders; the meaning of truth; her move to Boston and running restaurants; doing her first open-mic nights, and all about songwriting.
File format: mp3; file size: 30.9mb, interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***
David Bowie: David Buckley: Strange Fascination – The Definitive David Bowie Story
Book Review by Keith Cameron, Guardian, The, 23 September 1999
WHILE MOST BOWIE biographies (notably Alias David Bowie, Peter & Leni Gillman's 1986 exposé of family mental illness and the Bowie "myth") are as welcome ...
Beth Orton: Academy, Manchester ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 19 October 1999
Real angry woman ...
Shelby Lynne: Embassy Rooms, London ****
Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, Guardian, The, 27 October 1999
ONE OF THE new breed of US country crossover stars, Shelby Lynne doesn't have the smooth, invincible sheen of a Shania Twain or a Mindy ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Mordue, Madison, November 1999
IT COULD BE the definition of what an artist does when he sets out to make something. ...
Brian McKnight: The Professional
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, November 1999
Writer. Singer. Producer. Arranger. Player. Brian McKnight is a musician's musician. So Amy Linden has to wonder, why does this highly trained master at his ...
Tom Rush: Nightstick: 'No Regrets'
Report by Kirk Silsbee, New Times Los Angeles, 18 November 1999
CAN'T REMEMBER exactly when the seminal folkie Tom Rush was last heard around here, but Saturday's show at McCabe's is definitely a case of long ...
Sting: "I think I am the edge": Sting faces 50 and the millennium
Interview by Bob Spitz, Delta Sky, December 1999
FROM THE MOMENT the Police made their debut in 1978, it was clear that Sting wasn't about to go away. It wasn't so much that ...
Richard Buckner: Bloomed (Slow River/Rykodisc)
Retrospective by Matt Hanks, No Depression, Summer 1999
RICHARD BUCKNER'S 1994 debut album, Bloomed, heralded the arrival of a uniquely expressive and honest songwriter and reaped Buckner tomes of critical praise, a deal ...
Interview by Joe Matera, International Songwriter, 2000
Joe Matera: Tell me a bit about your background. You started writing songs at 13?Andrew Gold: Yeah, I started around then (13). My first song ...
Mary Gauthier: The Darker Side of Dixie
Interview by Chris Smith, Rockrgrl, January 2000
MIDNIGHT HAS LONG since passed, and we're sitting in the dim alley behind the legendary Club Passim in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fire ...
Mickey Newbury: On the Porch With Mickey Newbury
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, AllMusic.com, January 2000
MICKEY NEWBURY is 60, and he's slowed down a bit, spending much less time on the road than at his home in Oregon, where he's ...
Fred Neil: I Don't Hear a Word They're Saying...
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, February 2000
He gave Dylan his start, wrote a song you know by heart, and was rated by many performers as the very best there ever was. ...
Warren Zevon: Pictures From Life's Other Side
Interview by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, 4 February 2000
'Death doesn't scare me. I have the impression that life is the lobby and death is the apartment – maybe it's OK' ...
Steely Dan: Hey 19: It's About Time
Profile and Interview by Wayne Robins, Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2000
"WHAT RECORD COMPANY are we on, by the way?" Donald Fagen wants to know. "I'm not kidding." ...
Obituary by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, March 2000
With his high, pure tenor and songs of peace, love and empowerment, Curtis Mayfield was a soul revolutionary whose influence spanned four decades. Ben Edmonds ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 2000
Ms. Armatrading gives the low-down on her life as a songwriter: where songs come from; what she writes about; how she started writing and playing; the songs she'll talk about and those she won't, plus individual songs like the great 'Love and Affection'.
File format: mp3; file size: 38.4mb, interview length: 41' 56" sound quality: ***
Review by Tom Cox, Guardian, The, 24 March 2000
IT BEGINS WITH a grumble: not Lou himself, but a bass guitar attempting to clone the sound of an OAP getting on a downtown bus, ...
Review by Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix, The, 28 March 2000
ONE OF THE beautiful things about art is that it restores one's faith in humanity – in the gifts of vision, creativity, and awareness that ...
Dwight Twilley: Magical Mystery Man
Retrospective and Interview by Tom Cox, Guardian, The, 21 April 2000
The name Dwight Twilley probably doesn't ring a bell, but to the cognoscenti he's a rock'n'roll legend blessed with pop sensibility and irresistible animal magnetism. ...
Bow Wow Wow, Joan Jett, Darlene Love, Tony Orlando: Kenny Laguna: Laguna Tunes
Review by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, The, 29 April 2000
IT'S TEMPTING TO imagine that Kenny Laguna invented the lifework he chronicles in the songs and liner notes of Laguna Tunes, that this parade of ...
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 ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2000
Ninth dry—lipped album from the Buster Keaton of sadcore ...
The Magnetic Fields, Stephin Merritt: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields
Interview by Tim Page, Washington Post, The, 7 May 2000
NEW YORK — There is a distinct whiff of Disney to the Lower East Side these days. Tidied and fattened by the Manhattan real estate ...
Cat Stevens, Yusuf: Cat Stevens: Time to Make a Change
Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, June 2000
It's one of music's most overdue reconciliations. Yusuf Islam has made peace with Cat Stevens. ...
Lee Hazlewood: 13/The Cowboy And The Lady (Smells Like)
Review by Ian Penman, Wire, The, June 2000
LEE HAZLEWOOD is not one of those cult objects who, on closer inspection, looks like a frail talent protected by decades of vinyl scarcity and ...
Neil Young: Silver & Gold (Reprise)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, June 2000
"I DON'T KNOW what I'm doing/My software's not compatible with you," Neil Young moans on 'Without Rings', the last song on his 36th (!) record. ...
Badly Drawn Boy: The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 2000
Could Damon Gough's long-awaited debut be the indie Pet Sounds? ...
John Martyn: Glasgow Walker/Classics
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, July 2000
30th-odd album plus old song collection from Glaswegian songwriter. ...
Paul Anka: Vegas Style – The Best of the Late RCA and Buddah Recordings
Sleeve and programme notes by Colin Escott, Taragon Records, July 2000
WE CATCH PAUL Anka in one of life's in-betweens. He had been one of the biggest stars of the '50s and would spectacularly resurrect his ...
Bright Eyes: On Band: Bright Eyes
Report and Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 1 July 2000
AT THE RIPE age of 20, Conor Oberst is a little long in the tooth to be properly termed a prodigy, but his talents are ...
Laura Nyro: Oh My Love-Trumpet Soul: Laura Nyro's New York Tendaberry
Retrospective by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2000
AND A GREAT tenderness came forth from the unforgiving streets of the East Side. It's easy to dislike Laura Nyro. Your first requirement is to ...
Scott Walker: Scott/Scott 2/Scott 3/Scott 4/Boychild: 1967-1970
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2000
The Arctic explorer's '60s solo oeuvre remastered with new pix and full lyrix. ...
Steely Dan: Two Against Nature
Review by Rick McGrath, Culture Court, August 2000
ALTHO' I'M A long-time Dan Man, Steely Bopper and convicted Fagenite, it was with a mixture of lip-licking anticipation and eye-narrowing dread that I crept ...
Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, August 2000
Fiercely-independent young singer-songwriter looks to past for inspiration. ...
John Denver: Various Artists: Take Me Home – A Tribute to John Denver
Review by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, The, 2 August 2000
A FEW YEARS back, King Kong's Ethan Buckler taught me the essentials of a good poem or lyric: "It must have three things: the visual, ...
Mark Eitzel: Dingwalls, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, 14 August 2000
It's not all doom and gloom ...
Vic Chesnutt and Mr & Mrs Keneipp: Merriment
Review by Fred Mills, No Depression, September 2000
EVERYONE'S FAVOURITE Georgia-based Paralympian once deadpanned to a Spin interviewer that "Vic Chesnutt is an autodidactically pretentious writer of pseudo-symbolic, text-centred dirge-ballads…singing in a distinctive ...
Victoria Williams: Water to Drink (Atlantic)
Review by RJ Smith, Spin, September 2000
I SING THE SONG of the okra: There's a lot more there than you think. If it's the pluperfect artifact of the country kitchen, the ...
PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Review by Lisa Verrico, Times, The, 20 October 2000
HEARING P J Harvey's new album, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (Universal) is like coming home to find your studious little sister ...
Shea Seger: Borderline, London
Live Review by Lisa Verrico, Times, The, 20 October 2000
THANKS TO THE likes of Liz Phair, Tori Amos and Alanis Morissette, the '90s saw strong but emotionally fragile, female singer-songwriters become big business. ...
Bob Dylan: The Point Depot, Dublin
Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, November 2000
YOU CAN trust in Bob, the magnificent minstrel and incredible icon, the prime preserver and arch plunderer of 20th century Americana, to pull a surprise ...
Merle Haggard: Workin' Man Blues
Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, November 2000
MERLE HAGGARD'S DONE MORE TIME THAN OL' DIRTY BASTARD AND HAS BEEN MAKING HARDCORE COUNTRY RECORDS SINCE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. AT 63, HE'S GOT ...
PJ Harvey: Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Review by Ian Penman, Uncut, December 2000
Self-produced sixth album is curate's egg ...
Elliott Smith: Coming Up Roses: Elliott Smith
Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, Revolver, Spring 2000
ELLIOTT SMITH indulges in a poor man's speedball – coffee and a camel light – while an engineer loads a tape containing rough mixes from ...
Profile and Interview by Caitlin Moran, Times, The, Spring 2000
One of our finest singers is also one of our finest writers, and has been for all of 21 years. Caitlin Moran meets the never ...
Jimmy Reed, Emancipator of the South: An Oral History
Retrospective and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Blues Access, Summer 2000
IT BEGINS WITH the discovery of a black-and-white photograph dated 1961. The setting is Walker's Auditorium, a chitlin' circuit showcase for touring black musicians in ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. St Louis, Missouri, USA ...
Bobby Bare: The Singles 1959-1969
Sleeve and programme notes by Colin Escott, BMG International, 2001
AN OUTLAW before his time, a folk singer who never played a coffee house, a rock 'n' roller who gave away his biggest hit. Bobby ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 23 November 1954, Williamsburg, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. James Wesley Voight, 1940, New York, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Christopher Davison, 15 October 1948, Argentina ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 4 March 1951, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, England ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. Cynthia Anne Stephanie Lauper, 22 June 1953, Brooklyn, New York, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 13 August 1951, Peoria, Illinois, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 1943, Wenatchee, Washington, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 20 February 1937, Rock Island, Illinois, USA, d. 2 March 1999, Tujanga, California ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Doris Payne, 1937, New York, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
Boudleaux, b. 13 February 1920, Shellman, Georgia, USA, d. 30 June 1987; Felice Scaduto, b. 7 August 1925, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ...
Gerry Rafferty, Stealers Wheel: Gerry Rafferty
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 16 April 1947, Paisley, Scotland ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 17 November 1938, Orillia, Ontario, Canada ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. Henry William Thompson, 3 September 1925, Waco, Texas, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 25 March 1932, Comanche, Oklahoma, USA, d. 26 October 1999, Oklahoma ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Wilfred Edwards, 1938, Kingston, Jamaica, d. 15 August 1992 ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Jerry Hubbard, 20 March 1937, Atlanta, Georgia, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 10 January 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 20 September 1973, Natchitoches, Louisiana ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 25 December 1946, Mobile, Alabama, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
A CRITICS' FAVOURITE, Ely's brash high-energy blend of Texas honky-tonk styles and rock was an important influence on country performers at a time when the ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 5 September 1939, San Diego, California, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 16 May 1951, Boston, Massachusetts, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. Hank Wilson, 2 April 1941, Lawton, Oklahoma, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 13 September 1914, London, England, d. 22 September 1994, New York, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. 24 January 1941, Brooklyn, New York, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001
b. 13 March 1939, Brooklyn, New York, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 20 November 1942, Malden, Massachusetts, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 19 September 1940, Omaha, Nebraska, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 1947, Bury, Lancashire, England ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Rodney Marvin McKuen, 29 April 1933, Oakland, California, USA ...
Profile and Interview by Dan Gennoe, Making Music, 2001
"I WAS SHOCKED," is the only response Shea Seger can muster as she pushes her spoon round a bowl of decidedly unappetising green soup and ...
Peter Skellern: Stardust and Coaldust: The melancholy magnificence of Peter Skellern
Retrospective by Tim Footman, Tangents, 2001
FOR VARIOUS REASONS I've been thinking about brass bands lately. Maybe it's a spin-off from my (by now doubtless wearying) fanboy crush on Hiroo Nakazaki's ...
Rufus Wainwright: The Rueful Master Wainwright
Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 2001
"A LOT OF SONGWRITING is revenge," Rufus Wainwright quipped, from his New York City hotel room. ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
On his own and with the group Pearls Before Swine, Rapp produced some of the most engaging and idiosyncratic music of the late sixties and ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. 17 February 1922, Richmond, Virginia, USA, d. 22 October 1969, Richmond ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. William Yarborough, 16 July 1939, Memphis, Tennessee, USA ...
Jesse Winchester: Taking Another Shot
Profile and Interview by j. poet, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 January 2001
Eclectic singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester cuts his first new album in 11 years ...
Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 29 January 2001
LAST NOVEMBER, 29-year-old Dido Armstrong and her boyfriend Bob were discussing their day at work. Bob had gone to the office and relaxed with a ...
Del Shannon: Buried Treasure: Del Shannon's Home And Away
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, February 2001
US pop singer hits London, meets Andrew Oldham, makes psych classic. ...
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: The Backpages Interview: Chrissie Hynde
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, 23 February 2001
Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders have just finished a fall 2000 U.S. tour opening for Neil Young. Hynde and her group included versions of Young's ...
Jeb Loy Nichols: Just What Time It Is
Review by uncredited writer, No Depression, 28 February 2001
JEB LOY NICHOLS'S first release since his acclaimed 1997 disc Lovers Knot is so laid-back, it should come packaged in a hammock. And while there's ...
Bob Dylan: An Exclusive Interview with Bob Johnston
Interview by Richard Younger, On the Tracks, March 2001
THE LEGEND OF Bob Johnston looms large in the career of Bob Dylan. More than any other producer, Johnston is responsible for producing what many ...
Serge Gainsbourg: Intoxicated Man: The Life and Times of Serge Gainsbourg
Retrospective by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, March 2001
AN ARTISTIC DEMAGOGUE flaunting a reputation that was an unholy cross between Warhol, Dylan and the Marquis De Sade, Serge Gainsbourg performed a decadent waltz ...
Stephen Malkmus: Stephen Malkmus
Review by Ben Thompson, MOJO, March 2001
Solo debut from ex-Pavement mainman and urbane resident of Portland, Oregon. Think Pavement, but with longer hair. ...
Robbie Fulks: Country Music is Not Pretty: A User’s Guide to Robbie Fulks
Review and Interview by Martin Colyer, Rock's Backpages, 24 March 2001
Prologue Anyway, before long the room has filled with people, and I grab my beloved Martin 00028 and take the stage. The show is one of ...
Gordon Downie: Gord goes it alone: The Tragically Hip's Gord Downie
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 26 March 2001
GORDON DOWNIE inhabits an enviable place in Canadian culture. At concerts, thousands of fans chant his lyrics as if they were mantras. They hang on ...
Bob Dylan: Howard Sounes: Down the Highway – The Life of Bob Dylan
Book Review by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, April 2001
BOB DYLAN HAS been the subject of innumerable books. In this (the fifth) full-scale biography, British reporter Howard Sounes tracked down people previously unknown and ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, April 2001
KEVIN COYNE has been balancing on the border of sanity for more than 30 years now. Adolescent jobs as a psychiatric nurse, arts therapist and ...
Review by Bob Stanley, MOJO, April 2001
En route to the Carpenters, "boy" actor gets gorgeously baroque. ...
Bob Dylan: The Art of the Ageless Bob Dylan
Retrospective by Michael Gray, Daily Telegraph, April 2001
Bob Dylan is approaching his 60th birthday on a tide of adulation. Michael Gray, a long-time Dylan chronicler, considers his lasting appeal. ...
Laura Nyro: Songs in the Key of Life: Laura Nyro's Angel in the Dark
Review by Richard Williams, Guardian, The, 6 April 2001
THIS ALBUM IS incomplete, but so was Laura Nyro's life. It is the project on which she was working when she died of ovarian cancer ...
Brian Wilson, Card-carrying Genius
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, 10 April 2001
After a life custom-made for cable catharsis, the force behind the Beach Boys is now being honored even for things he didn't do. Does that ...
Hawksley Workman: Hawksley's Moxie
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 21 April 2001
IS HAWKSLEY WORKMAN too good to be true? At 26, the Canadian singer-songwriter has already drawn comparisons to figures like David Bowie and Tom Waits ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Irving Plaza, NYC
Book Excerpt by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 1 May 2001
YOU COULD CALL Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, the British indie equivalent of the Little Engine That Could. ...
Nick Cave: Sweet Misery: The Mellowing of Nick Cave
Review by Nick Hornby, New Yorker, The, 28 May 2001
IT'S THE SHEER UBIQUITY of pop music that presents such an obstacle to older fans. When I was fifteen, it was satisfyingly hard to hear ...
Alanis Morissette: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by David Bennun, Mail On Sunday, June 2001
SAY WHAT YOU like about Alanis Morissette – and I intend to – there's no denying the girl can belt it out. Alone among the ...
Ron Sexsmith, Rufus Wainwright: The New Romantics: Ron Sexsmith and Rufus Wainwright
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, June 2001
THEY ARE THE sensitive boys of Canadian pop. Both are acclaimed singer-songwriters, and both are unabashedly emotional. One is gay, with an impeccable musical pedigree, ...
Bob Dylan: Wild Mercury: A Tale Of Two Dylans
Essay by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, June 2001
"Lotta people seeing double tonight.From the disease of conceit"– 'Disease Of Conceit' (Oh Mercy, 1989) ...
Rufus Wainwright: "My Parents the Folk Heroes"
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Guardian, The, 15 June 2001
THE WITTIEST REQUEST from the crowd at Rufus Wainwright's New York show last week was for ‘Rufus is a Tit Man’, a song written aeons ...
Rufus Wainwright: Parlour Of Vices: Rufus Wainwright's Poses
Review by RJ Smith, Village Voice, The, 19 June 2001
BACK IN THE days of Stephen Foster, the piano was the centerpiece of the parlour. That was the room that women ran, the room where ...
Leiber and Stoller: The Backpages Interview: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Interview by Cleothus Hardcastle, Rock's Backpages, 30 June 2001
The names Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are inseparable from the stories of rhythm’n’blues and rock’n’roll. They were two Jewish teenagers who felt black and ...
Obituary by Colin Irwin, Guardian, The, 11 July 2001
HE WROTE ONE of the most famous songs of the late 20th century, but Fred Neil, who has died aged 64 of cancer, remains one ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2001
Wednesday Morning, 3am*/The Sounds Of Silence****/Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme***/Bookends*****/Bridge Over Troubled Water*** (All Columbia) Sixties folk-rock digitally done up and decorated with extra tracks ...
Roy Harper: The Spirit Lives: Roy Harper
Retrospective and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 2001
"I DON'T THINK I'm very good at interviews, because I have too many thoughts going off at the same time to be able to explain ...
Profile and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, September 2001
Laid-back troupe shoot from zero to Square One in just over a decade! More power to them, says Jim Irvin. ...
Obituary by Richie Unterberger, No Depression, September 2001
FRED NEIL, one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the early folk-rock era, died in his sleep on July 7 at the age of 65. ...
Aimee Mann: Key Largo: A Catchup Chat with Aimee Mann
Interview by Alvaro Costa, Rock's Backpages, September 2001
AC: So you haven't become a "Lady of The Canyon" after all... ...
Luke Haines: The Oliver Twist Manifesto
Review by Paul Morley, Uncut, September 2001
Solo debut from sometime Auteur, Black Box Recorder and Baader Meinhof pop terrorist. ...
Prefab Sprout: The King Of Rock'n'Roll
Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2001
FOR SOMEONE who's only ever strived to bring a little wistful beauty into our pop lives, with an honest and artisan approach to the craft ...
Fred Neil: The Other Side Of This Life: Fred Neil, 1936-2001
Obituary by Joel Selvin, MOJO, September 2001
"FREDDIE TAUGHT me a lot," says David Crosby, speaking exclusively to me on the death of Fred Neil. "He was an amazing folk singer, probably ...
PJ Harvey: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York
Live Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 3 September 2001
APPARENTLY I'D HEARD correctly — and the critic was the gangling boy behind me, piping up shortly after lead singer Polly Jean Harvey joined her ...
Leonard Cohen: Zen Len pens ten
Profile and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, October 2001
Leonard Cohen proves that you can take the songwriter out of the Zen monastery, but you can't take the Zen monastery out of the songwriter. ...
Profile and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 4 October 2001
IT HAS BEEN less than a week since the terrorist attacks, and Ray Davies just doesn't have his mind on music. ...
Neil Innes: Innes's Humor Doesn't Compromise His Rock
Live Review by Jim Sullivan, Boston Globe, The, 9 October 2001
CAMBRIDGE – Neil Innes, a bald man sporting a gray, Beatles-like wig, took the stage at the House of Blues Sunday night. The members of ...
Review by Marc Weingarten, Slate, 25 October 2001
TO READ THE reviews of Bob Dylan's new album, Love and Theft, you would think the rock legend had returned to the salad days of ...
Pulp: Jarvis Cocker: An Interview
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, November 2001
Jim Irvin grills the willowy Pulp frontman about Scott Walker, Ginster's pasties and encounters with his younger self. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2001
He stole hearts and sought refuge in Hydra, bagged a celebrity fiancée, then disappeared to a monastery. Sylvie Simmons talks through the many lives of ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Blender, November 2001
Song title: 'Today'Artist: Smashing PumpkinsLabel: Virgin ...
Bonnie Prince Billy: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, 6 November 2001
THE MAN ON stage with the bulging barfly beard and ruffled scraps of remaining hair may not look much like royalty. But Bonnie "Prince" Billy, ...
Review by Ian Penman, Uncut, December 2001
WHO DARES, whispers and doesn't boast. Listen to Leonard Cohen's The Future (1992) now and hear how certain awful futures are inscribed with Psalmic grace ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, December 2001
SMOG'S BILL CALLAHAN remains an enigma not, it seems, because he won't say anything, but because he can't. ...
Interview by Jason Cohen, Stereophile, Winter 2001
THE NEWS was right up there with Brian Wilson playing Pet Sounds live, Steely Dan making a new record and Mario Lemieux lacing up the ...
Cream: Pete Brown on Cream (2001)
Interview by Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages Audio, Spring 2001
The redoubtable Battered Ornament talks about his long writing partnership with Cream's Jack Bruce, getting into blues and poetry, and the Brit Blues boom.
File format: mp3; file size: 27mb, interview length: 29' 28" sound quality: * (phoner)
Review by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, Fall 2001
"Some day everything's gonna be different /When I paint my masterpiece" – Bob Dylan, 1971 ...
Elvis Costello: Elvis Gets His Groove Back
Interview by Roy Trakin, Hits, 2002
THE ONCE-ANGRY young man of punk-rock is now practically a pop music singer-songwriting icon. It's been more than 25 years since a bespectacled nerd with ...
Phil Collins: His Turn to Testify: An Exclusive HITS dialogue with Phil Collins
Interview by Roy Trakin, Hits, 2002
JUST WHEN IT SEEMED like Phil Collins was ready to kick back and relax with his new wife Orianne and his 14-month-old son Nicholas in ...
James Taylor: One Part Genius...The Trail to October Road
Essay by Craig W. Thomas, unpublished, 2002
WHEN I WAS 14 years old the person I most wanted to be was James Taylor. It's a long time ago now. 1971. I remember ...
The Beautiful South: A Drink With… Paul Heaton
Interview by Dan Gennoe, Esquire, January 2002
BEAUTIFUL SOUTH singer Paul Heaton, is an unlikely popstar. He never wanted fame, riches or to sing, and formed his first band, the Housemartins with ...
Kelly Joe Phelps: Blackheath Halls, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, January 2002
THIS PLUSH municipal concert hall in the well-heeled south London neighbourhood of Blackheath may seem a strange destination for the blues. But it's not as ...
Ryan Adams: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, January 2002
I SAW rock'n'roll's future and its name is… all right, calm down everybody. ...
Chuck E. Weiss: When the Gig Ended, His New Career Began
Report and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 27 January 2002
Story line: Los Angeles club legend records first album in his late 40s, and now follows it with a stellar effort that includes a 32-year-old ...
Mary Chapin Carpenter/Anne Lamott: Royce Hall, UCLA
Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 28 January 2002
THE PAIRING OF author and singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter at UCLA's Royce Hall on Saturday could have gone any number of ways. ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, February 2002
It's a long way from New York's 42nd Street to the 44th annual Grammy Awards. But after seven years of juggling Harlem street life, fractious ...
Review by Toby Manning, Q, February 2002
DYLAN'S 41st ALBUM announced his creative rebirth after nearly a decade in the doldrums. ...
Interview by Bill Brewster, Rock's Backpages Audio, 18 February 2002
The erstwhile Declan McManus, in the context of new album When I Was Cruel, looks back at the Attractions, punk, Thatcher, and talks about the craft of songwriting.
File format: mp3; file size: 44.6mb, interview length: 48' 43" sound quality: ****
Husker Du, Bob Mould: The Real Godfather of Grunge: Bob Mould's Modulate
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 20 March 2002
KURT COBAIN WAS a wonderful musician, but the combination of a best-selling record, a tabloid marriage and a lurid suicide inflated his reputation all out ...
Smokey Robinson: 10 Questions for Smokey Robinson
Interview by Bill DeMain, MOJO, April 2002
Bill DeMain speaks to Motown's legendary songwriter and singer about Billy Eckstine, Marvin Gaye, school plays and positive rap. ...
Review by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, April 2002
NOW WAY BACK in 1966, Bob Dylan at the suggestion of his producer decided to record in Nashville. The result of course was Blonde On ...
Review by Chris Roberts, Uncut, April 2002
Second phase of Bonus-packed reissue programme for Costello catalogue ...
Interview by Angus Batey, Times, The, April 2002
IT'S JUST another rainy night in April, and the Green Mill, a bar on Chicago's north side, is hosting its regular Monday resident. Opening with ...
Bob Mould, Paul Westerberg: The Living End: Can Bob Mould and Paul Westerberg handle middle age?
Review by Jason Cohen, Slate, 30 April 2002
OLD ROCKERS keep on getting younger. "Hope I die before I get old" remains the relevant credo, but it's no longer restricted to those who ...
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Uncut, May 2002
ON HIS SECOND LP, Home, Nashville-based Nebraskan Josh Rouse seemed to favour the brass-brushed country-soul sound of friend and fellow citizen Kurt Wagner. But new ...
Elvis Presley, Otis Blackwell: Otis Blackwell 1932 - 2002
Obituary by Tony Russell, Guardian, The, May 2002
Prolific writer behind some of Elvis’s greatest hits ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Blender, May 2002
RELEASED: 19 April 1965 (US) HIGHEST CHART POSITION: 1 ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, May 2002
Song title: 'Train In Vain' Artist: The Clash Label: CBS Performers: Mick Jones – guitar/vocals Joe Strummer – guitar Paul Simenon – bass Topper ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, May 2002
On Charley Patton and James Brown, encounters with William Burroughs and Keith Richards, and being a 'rectal thermometer' for Frank Zappa...
File format: mp3; file size: 61.8mb, interview length: 1h 07' 29" sound quality: ****
Warren Zevon: A Literary Answer to Lyricist's Block
Report and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2002
Musician/bookworm Warren Zevon recruits famous authors for lyrics on a new album. ...
Ed Harcourt: Bowery Ballroom, NYC
Live Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 29 May 2002
AFTER TAKING A healthy swig from what appeared to be a bottle of cheap red wine, Ed Harcourt became possessed. It was the culmination of ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Amoeba Records, Hollywood
Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2002
WITH HIS WOOL skull cap, scraggly beard and black T-shirt bedecked with glitter graffiti, English singer-songwriter Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, could have been ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Morley, Uncut, July 2002
HIS FIRST GROUP, ORANGE JUICE, MIXED TOGETHER VELVETS GUITARS AND CHIC RHYTHMS. THEN, 15 YEARS AFTER THEIR HEYDAY, EDWYN COLLINS HAD A MONSTROUS WORLDWIDE SOLO ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, July 2002
Performers: Eddie Vedder: vocals Jeff Ament: bass Mike McCready: guitar Stone Gossard: guitar Dave Krusen: drums Rick Parashar: keyboards Producer: Rick Parashar Released: September 1992 Highest chart position: 79 ...
Willie Nelson’s Straight Story
Report and Interview by Peter Murphy, Hot Press, 23 July 2002
IN DAVID LYNCH’S The Straight Story, the septuagenarian Alvin Straight showed his steel when the twin freak mechanics the Olsens tried fleecing him for repairs ...
Dave Matthews Band: Busted Stuff (RCA)
Review by Will Hermes, Spin, August 2002
DAVE MATTHEWS' dark side has been spotted frequently but only fleetingly, lurking in the shadowy corners of otherwise upbeat tunes but bolting the minute those ...
Bob Dylan: Scene of the Crime: Bob Dylan at Newport
Essay by Gene Santoro, Nation, The, 15 August 2002
EVERYONE KNOWS what happened thirty-seven years ago when Bob Dylan fronted an electric band at the Newport Folk Festival, which is why August 3 saw ...
Interview by Graeme Thomson, Herald, The, 23 August 2002
YOU DON'T REALLY interview Elvis Costello. It's more a matter of tossing a few loaded questions at him then taking cover as each enquiry explodes ...
Bruce Springsteen: Hey, He's Bruce
Essay by Gene Santoro, Nation, The, 29 August 2002
WHEN BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and the E Street Band, reunited to tour behind The Rising, came to Madison Square Garden on August 12, they juxtaposed '41 ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2002
Third album from Norfolk singer-songwriter, featuring numerous collaborators. ...
Beck, Sue Garner: Low Down and Low Key: Taking the Road Less Travelled
Essay by Michael Goldberg, Neumu, September 2002
BECK SOUNDS like he's channelling the long-dead British folk-rock poet Nick Drake on his latest album, Sea Change (Geffen). For ‘Round the Bend’ the pace ...
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, September 2002
PITTSBURGH, 1989: WEREWOLF IN THE MALL "I'd read things I didn't know I'd done/It sounded like a lot of fun..." (Warren Zevon, 'Trouble Waiting to Happen') ...
Interview by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, 20 September 2002
Beck's new album, written after a nasty split with his fiancee, is so forlorn that the music press is afraid for his health. But, he ...
Cathy Dennis, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Songwriters: Musical Chairs
Special Feature by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, 21 September 2002
Today's pop stars, say their critics, aren't half as talented as their predecessors because they have little or nothing to do with writing their songs. ...
Bright Eyes: Lifted, Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (Wichita)
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, October 2002
Nebraskan boy wonder bunkers down for apocalypse. ...
David Bowie: Fifty Ways To Love Your Bowie: Half a Ton of Fave Daves
Guide by William Higham, Rock's Backpages, October 2002
WITH THE Bard of Beckenham on a critical high right now (and yes, new album Heathen IS his best in years), it seems an opportune ...
Steve Earle: John Walker Sings His Own Blues
Essay by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, 5 October 2002
STEVE EARLE'S decision to write from the perspective of the 'American Taliban' in the controversial song 'John Walker's Blues' appears to have stemmed from the ...
Leonard Cohen: The Essential Leonard Cohen
Review by Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 22 October 2002
THE DARK, POETIC music of Leonard Cohen should be listed on the table of periodic elements — when you discover it, it suddenly seems as ...
Jeff Buckley: Keeper of the Flame: Jeff Buckley's Mum
Report and Interview by Mark Paytress, Guardian, The, 30 October 2002
IT IS FIVE YEARS since Jeff Buckley took his final, mid-evening stroll into the Wolf River, a sleepy tourist spot on the outskirts of Memphis, ...
Badly Drawn Boy: The rough guide to genius: Badly Drawn Boy: Have You Fed The Fish? (XL) *****
Review and Interview by Jon Wilde, Uncut, November 2002
Follow-up proper to the 2000 Mercury Prize-winning album is a masterpiece of disjointed eclecticism ...
Interview by Will Hermes, Spin, November 2002
BE CAREFUL what you wish for. When we asked Tori Amos to compile a list of the records that have inspired her music, she brought ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Have You Fed the Fish?
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 1 November 2002
BOTH OF Badly Drawn Boy's full-length albums begin the same way. There's the rush of esotericism right away, the musical equivalent to gibberish, which lasts ...
Rod Stewart: It Had To Be You ... The Great American Songbook
Review by Lisa Verrico, Times, The, 15 November 2002
IN BRITAIN, Rod Stewarthasn't a hope of ever being hip again. Like Elton John, he can still sell out shows, but only if he stuffs ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Making of 'Free Bird'
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, December 2002
VITAL STATISTICS SONG: 'Free Bird' ARTIST: Lynyrd Skynyrd LABEL: MCA/Sounds Of the South PERFORMERS: Ronnie Van Zant: vocals Allen Collins: guitar Gary Rossington: guitar Ed ...
Steve Earle: Country Maverick Steve Earle vs. The Nashville Machine
Report and Interview by Michael Simmons, LA Weekly, 20 December 2002
"LATELY I FEEL like the loneliest man in America," writes Steve Earle in the liner notes of his most recent album, Jerusalem (Artemis). ...
Warren Zevon: Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon
Sleeve and programme notes by Will Self, Rhino Records, Fall 2002
WHAT I DO is this; I leave the city and go about 50 miles away to a town in the county of Wiltshire called Swindon. ...
Interview by David Dalton, AnOther Magazine, Fall 2002
LATE AFTERNOON, hotel room in L.A. I’ve just downloaded four tracks from Beck’s new album. A song is playing. ‘The Golden Age’. "Desert wind cool ...
Joni Mitchell: Back Catalog: Joni Mitchell
Guide by Barney Hoskyns, Blender, Fall 2002
IF ANY WOMAN has kept up with the big boys (Dylan, Young and co.) in the obstacle race that is folk-based singer-songwriter rock, that woman ...
Dashboard Confessional: MTV Unplugged 2.0
Review by Dan Gennoe, Q, 2003
Softly spoken EMO hero gets crushed by overzealous fans. ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Yoko Ono: A 1992 Interview
Book Excerpt by Paul Zollo, 'Songwriters on Songwriting' (rev. edn, Da Capo), 2003
IT WAS A SAD and a little spooky to walk into the Dakota on this dark and rainy winter night, an evening not unlike the ...
Iron & Wine: The Creek Drank The Cradle
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, January 2003
Debut album from 28-year-old Miami cinematographer and part-time roots savant Sam Beam. Could be time to quit the day job. ...
Elvis Costello & The Imposters: Cruel Smile
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 10 January 2003
ELVIS COSTELLO is one of those artists that people love. Not just listen to and like, not just appreciate and admire, but actually wholly love, ...
XTC: Andy Partridge: Fuzzy Warbles 1/Fuzzy Warbles 2
Review and Interview by Kit Aiken, Uncut, February 2003
Frontman of much-loved — and much-bootlegged — eccentric English pop band clears out his compositional closet on the first two CDs of a 10-disc series. ...
XTC: Andy Partridge: English Settlement
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, February 2003
BEARING IN MIND his back catalogue, it may not be too surprising to learn that Andy Partridge is an assiduous recycler. ...
Evan Dando, The Go-Betweens: Evan Dando: Baby I'm Bored/The Go-Betweens: Bright Yellow Bright Orange
Review by Lisa Verrico, Times, The, 28 February 2003
A DECADE AGO, Evan Dando was pretty much the perfect pop star. He was a tousle-haired, scatterbrained blond who posed for teen magazines with his ...
Freddy Cannon: Chuck Barris: Confessions of a Populist Mind
Interview by Steven R Rosen, Rock's Backpages, March 2003
Steven Rosen talks to self-confessed CIA assassin Chuck Barris – inspiration to George Clooney – about the pop classic he penned back in 1962. ...
Chuck Barris: Confessions of a Populist Mind
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Rock's Backpages, March 2003
Steven Rosen talks to self-confessed CIA assassin Chuck Barris – inspiration to George Clooney – about the pop classic he penned back in 1962. ...
Ed Harcourt: From Every Sphere
Review by Pete Paphides, Word, The, March 2003
IF THEY DON'T write songs like they used to, no one told Ed Harcourt. Before the 26-year-old former chef put out his first album — ...
Lou Reed: LOU REED's new album…
Interview by Gavin Martin, Uncut, March 2003
… is a sprawling epic inspired by the work of drugged-up 19th-century horror writer Edgar Allen Poe. Is it a marriage made in heaven, or ...
Review by Byron Coley, MOJO, March 2003
BY ALMOST any measure, 1973 was a craven, rotten fuck of a year. Although many pick 1968 as the nadir of 20th century underground culture, ...
John Doe: Dim Stars, Bright Sky
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 3 March 2003
JOHN DOE IS on a mission, albeit an undefined one. He tells us as much in 'Magic', a song that comes two thirds of the ...
Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages Audio, 3 March 2003
The Mac frontwoman talks about writing songs for their latest album, Say You Will; how 'Illume (9-11)' was the result of the twin towers attack; on her songwriting process and how she uses her journals; the volatility of the band and her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham; her friendships with Sheryl Crow and the Dixie Chicks, and she ends by going back to her first musical experiences.
File format: mp3; file size: 70.1mb, interview length: 1h 12' 58" sound quality: ***
Mira Calix, Vivian Green, Norah Jones, Terri Walker: After Norah
Review by Lisa Verrico, Times, The, 10 March 2003
Norah Jones's Grammy-grabbing success has opened the floodgates for young, female singer-songwriters like Terri Walker, Vivian Green and Mira Calix ...
Live Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 26 March 2003
ED HARCOURT has always been a solo artist, but tonight, he seems even more alone, maybe even lonely. ...
Felice and Boudleaux Bryant: Felice Bryant 1925-2003
Obituary by Phast Phreddie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, April 2003
SONGWRITER FELICE BRYANT (77) died of cancer at her home in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on April 22. She and her husband Boudleaux Bryant were very ...
Profile and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, April 2003
Jon Brion, America's most in-demand singer-songwriter and producer, has his own L.A. residency. Don Waller went to check it out. ...
Townes Van Zandt: Wanderin' Star
Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2003
What do you do when you're really down? Listen to Townes Van Zandt Sylvie Simmons charts the artistic triumphs and personal disasters of sadness's most ...
Daniel Johnston: Use Your Delusion: Daniel Johnston: Fear Yourself (Sketchbook) ****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2003
Twenty-first album from America's startlingly original lord of lo-fi ...
Vic Chesnutt: Dark Side of The Tune
Interview by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, 4 April 2003
IN 1983, VIC CHESNUTT, an obscure country misfit, was 18, drunk again, and crashing his car in America's southern state of Georgia. When he woke ...
Interview by Bob Stanley, Times, The, 15 April 2003
Cult singer Vashti Bunyan vanished 30 years ago — now she's back ...
Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, May 2003
His new album's won critical raves on every front, so why is Ed Harcourt so spooked? ...
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Stephen Malkmus: Just for Jicks
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, May 2003
Generational icon, quirky wordsmith, and esoteric record hound, Stephen Malkmus, the former lead singer of Pavement, indie rock's most important band, has unleashed a second ...
Earl King, Edwin Starr, Homer Banks, Little Eva, Nina Simone: The Grim Reporter May 2003
Obituary by Phast Phreddie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, May 2003
Phast Phreddie Patterson on those gone but not forgotten ...
Neil Young: "Will I be deported?"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 22 May 2003
IT IS DIFFICULT to find supportive things to say about George Bush unless your construction company is rebuilding Iraq, but it would be a droll ...
Report and Interview by Chris Campion, Dazed & Confused, June 2003
Let me introduce the band to you. On the cymbal… left foot. Over here on the bass drum, we've got right foot. Shut up! My left hand does ...
Richie Havens: Stonehenge/Alarm Clock (Evangeline)
Review by Joel McIver, Record Collector, June 2003
BY THE END of the '60s, relentless touring though America's college campuses had established a fanbase for the 29-year-old Richie Havens. ...
Steely Dan: Everything Must Go
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, June 2003
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, maestros of pristine '70s jazz-rock, follow-up 2000's multi-Grammy-winning comeback Two Against Nature. ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, 2 June 2003
EELS MAINSTAY E is a misunderstood man. Even his name is misunderstood – E apparently being Mark Oliver Everett's childhood nickname (all his friends were ...
Liz Phair: Ex-indie rock queen is back on the scene
Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Miami Herald, 22 June 2003
IT HAS BEEN 10 years since Liz Phair first shocked the prudish world of independent rock with the frank sexual confessions of her debut album, ...
Daniel Johnston: A Brilliant Mind: The Strange Art and Stranger Personality of Daniel Johnston
Profile and Interview by Paul Williams, Word, The, July 2003
A SINGLE INSPIRATION might carry an artist through a whole album, maybe two if he's lucky. But it takes a character as singular as cult ...
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Blender, July 2003
Alt-queen Liz Phair wants stardom. And your "hot, white cum", too. Goodness! ...
Lou Reed: NYC Man -The Ultimate Lou Reed Collection
Review by Richard Riegel, Harp, July 2003
FOR "QUINTESSENTIAL New Yorker" Lou Reed, the irony he's directed toward his fans has often been less subtle patronization than his hectoring middle finger thrust ...
Bright Eyes, Cursive, The Faint, The Good Life: Omaha: Next Stop Nowhere
Report and Interview by Will Hermes, Spin, July 2003
America's new indie-rock capital was born when a 13-year-old songsmith named Conor Oberst started putting out recordings on his brother's bedroom cassette label. Ten years ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, July 2003
THE SINCERE generational belief in the socially transformative powers of love and peace which marked the peak of the high '60s had, by 1974, dissipated ...
Daniel Johnston: An Outsider's Songs of Pain and Longing: Daniel Johnston
Report and Interview by Chris Campion, Daily Telegraph, 3 July 2003
LOCKED ON his own in an Xfm recording booth, Daniel Johnston casually flips through the weathered ring binder that holds his songbook and begins to ...
Gillian Welch: The Girl With No Name
Profile and Interview by Toby Manning, Word, The, August 2003
The fastest-rising folk singer of her generation is an urban college girl writing spare, soulful country tunes set in a bygone America. Her natural mother ...
Elbow: Given The Elbow: The Confessions Of Guy Garvey
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, August 2003
Two years ago, Elbow released Asleep In The Back, an intense suite of prog-inflected songs that stands as one of the finest albums ever to ...
Neil Young: On The Beach/American Stars 'N Bars/Hawks & Doves/Re•ac•tor
Review by David Hepworth, Word, The, August 2003
I SPOKE TO Neil Young in 1992, when one of his riffs was the shortcomings of digital sound. "You ever sit down with a CD ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, August 2003
At last, the Holy Grail to Neil Young collectors — the last part of the Doom Trilogy makes it on to CD. ...
Rufus Wainwright: Chelsea Mourning: Wanting Rufus Wainwright
Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, Rock's Backpages, September 2003
YOU’RE WALKING, you’re virtually running, exhilarated, exultant, across West 23rd Street, away from Chelsea where you’ve tripped the Apocalypse of Rufus Wainwright and at once ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, September 2003
EVERYBODY LOVES a happy ending. And in 2000 the Dido story provided one guaranteed to appeal to the British sense of fair play and love ...
Randy Newman: Is Randy Newman the Old Eminem?
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, September 2003
The funniest and least sentimental songwriter in America has revisited his back pages on The Randy Newman Songbook, Volume 1. BARNEY HOSKYNS asks him about ...
Shack: Here's Tom With The Weather
Review and Interview by David Stubbs, Uncut, September 2003
THEY'RE A LUCKLESS lot, Shack. They made Waterpistol, an album that might have been one of the defining recordings of 1991, had the studio not ...
Pernice Brothers: The Pernice Brothers: Yours, Mine And Ours
Review and Interview by Max Bell, Uncut, September 2003
EVER SINCE THE Scud Mountain Boys shot their way into our consciousness like the eponymous missile via their Sub Pop discs (still available as Massachusetts ...
Beth Orton: Pass In Time (BMG)
Review and Interview by Joel McIver, Record Collector, October 2003
IT'S UNNERVING that Beth Orton, the gawky, slightly unorthodox-sounding folk singer from the sticks who unexpectedly became a coffee-table icon in the 1990s, is now ...
Elvis Costello: Get Happy!!/Trust/Punch The Clock [New Editions] (Edsel)
Review by Jon Wilde, Uncut, October 2003
"OH, I JUST DON'T know where to begin," Elvis Costello swooned in the opening line to his lusciously hummable 1979 hit 'Accidents Will Happen'. ...
Randy Newman: The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1
Review by Chris Ingham, MOJO, October 2003
Excellent 18-song retrospective solo recital from one of the great individual singer-songwriters. ...
Thea Gilmore: "It's sad the lengths girls go to, pouting on the cover of their CD"
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 23 October 2003
Thea Gilmore has released five albums, received rave reviews and turned down endless offers from major labels. And she's still only 23. She talks to ...
Liz Phair's slick new sound has shocked her fans
Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 26 October 2003
IMAGINE PJ HARVEY recording with Pete Waterman, or Bjork co-writing songs with one of Simon Fuller's stable of top pop tunesmiths. Weird, and not in ...
The Byrds, David Crosby: David Crosby: A Long Strange Trip
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2003
Over the past 40 years David Crosby has done it all, from crafting transcendental, psychedelic harmonies for the Byrds and CSNY to living a life ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, November 2003
RANDY NEWMAN, pop music's blackest humourist tells us why he's similar to Eminem, why make-up girls don't "get" him, and why he's just re-recorded a batch ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Evening Of My Best Day
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2003
Former L.A. hipster, now a mother and keen gardener, starts a new songwriting life after a six-year drought. ...
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2003
Thirteenth and final studio album. Guest appearances by an impressive list of pals. ...
Morrissey: Mark Simpson: Saint Morrissey
Book Review by Simon Price, Independent on Sunday, 16 November 2003
Former World's Biggest Smiths Fan Simon Price checks his credentials against a passionately provocative analysis of Morrissey's art. ...
Book Review by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 16 November 2003
AROUND THE TIME he won his scholarship to Newcastle grammar school, Sting – or Gordon Sumner as he was then known – witnessed his mother ...
Ryan Adams: "I've Been Jumping Off Bridges"
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, Guardian, The, 21 November 2003
THE ONE GOOD thing about projectile vomiting is that at least your T-shirt stays clean. Ryan Adams's frat-house top is a spotless scarlet, its brightness ...
Bob Dylan, Ian Hunter, Mott The Hoople, Mick Ronson: An Interview with Ian Hunter
Interview by Larry Jaffee, On the Tracks, December 2003
LJ: IN YOUR BOOK Reflections of a Rock Star, it mentions your life-long ambition was to meet Dylan was set back again. You said you'd ...
Hawksley Workman: Lover/Fighter
Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, December 2003
Cult Canadian dandy grapples with his dual personality on third LP. ...
Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, December 2003
He's just made an album of sublime early-'70s radio pop that could make him a big star. Now all Josh Rouse has to do is ...
Bread, David Gates: Legends of Songwriting: David Gates of Bread
Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, December 2003
REMEMBER "soft rock?" You don't hear the term much anymore, but in the early 1970s, this musical genre floated onto the AM airwaves in the ...
Interview by James Medd, Word, The, December 2003
After years on the dark side of the street, Nick Cave lightens up. ...
The Flatlanders: Wheels Of Fortune
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 December 2003
MUCH AS I LIKED Now Again, the reunited Flatlanders' 2002 album, it was also a somewhat frustrating set that in the long run seems a ...
Gordon Lightfoot on Songwriting
Retrospective and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Words & Music, Winter 2003
ON AN UNSEASONABLY warm Thanksgiving, Gordon Lightfoot is in an uncharacteristically reflective mood, sipping coffee and looking back on a career that has produced every ...
Scott Walker: It Don't Come Easy: Scott Walker’s Five Easy Pieces (Universal)
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, 2004
Idiosyncratic. Inspired. Perplexing. Well, how else would you want your multi-disc "Godlike Genius" retrospective served? ...
The Beautiful South: Paul Heaton
Interview by Dan Gennoe, Red, 2004
"I'M A BIG FAN of black comedy," says Paul Heaton of the Beautiful South's latest album Golddiggas, Headnodders & Pholk Songs, a collection of cover ...
Harlan Howard: Legends of Songwriting: Harlan Howard
Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, January 2004
THE TYPICAL songwriter who rolls into Nashville is an unknown hopeful with an acoustic guitar and a notebook full of half-finished songs and titles. When ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, January 2004
THERE CAN BE few people with ears who wouldn't recognise the jazzy slurs of Sia Furler's voice. ...
Candi Staton: Candi Staton (Capitol)
Review by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 10 January 2004
ONCE UPON a time, before Beyoncé Knowles was conceived and Whitney Houston ordered up her first re-mix, R&B divas were valued for their grit rather ...
Emitt Rhodes: Happy Happy, Joy Joy: Emitt Rhodes
Retrospective and Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA CityBeat, 22 January 2004
EMITT RHODES still doesn’t know what hit him. Thirty years ago, he was the new Paul McCartney, an ambitious kid who craved the perfect pop ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, February 2004
VITAL STATISTICS SONG: 'Night Moves ' ARTIST: Bob Seger LABEL: Capitol ...
Lambchop: Aw Cmon /No You Cmon
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, February 2004
Not a double album, we're told, though you can't buy one without the other. Nashville country-soul collective's seventh (and eighth) full-length release(s). ...
Comment by Devon Powers, PopMatters, February 2004
POSTMODERNISM HAS jacked it all up. In its wake, the cultural zeitgeist of irony has become so prevalent and requisite that plain old earnestness ceases ...
Elliott Smith: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Retrospective and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, 18 February 2004
WHEN ELLIOTT SMITH played Los Angeles in the fall of 2002, after more than a year of semi-seclusion, he didn't look so good. His hands ...
The Velvet Underground: Heart Of Darkness: The Velvet Underground
Retrospective by Victor Bockris, MOJO, March 2004
The Velvets biographer on Lou Reed, love songs and the band's harrowing third album. ...
Melissa Etheridge: Hitched, Happy, and On Tour
Interview by Bonnie J. Morris, Gay & Lesbian Review, The , March 2004
MELISSA ETHERIDGE has been a lesbian rock icon since 1988, when audiences who had not heard her at clubs and women's music festivals grabbed her ...
Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks: A Critic's Obsession
Essay by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 3 March 2004
TODAY, IN MINNEAPOLIS, a group of musicians will assemble at the Pantages Theater to perform Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks in its entirety. ...
Sondre Lerche: Two Way Monologue
Review by Devon Powers, PopMatters, 26 March 2004
I'M LISTENING to Sondre Lerche and drinking tea on an unseasonably cold spring evening. It's been a rather shit season so far. A few pretty ...
Interview by Bill DeMain, Rock's Backpages Audio, 29 March 2004
The great soul singer/songwriter talks about his classic band, the Watts 103rd Street rhythm section; about his childhood and the music around him; his late start, and his scepticism of the record industry; the magical, mystifying process of songwriting; and of growing old and the lure of daytime TV!
File format: mp3; file size: 33.3mb, interview length: 34' 42" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Bernie Leadon: Still Flying, Without Eagles
Report and Interview by Wayne Robins, Bergen Record, The, April 2004
BERNIE LEADON has played in quite a few bands during the last 35 years. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2004
BY THE TIME he got to Woodstock in 1971, Robert Charles Guidry was a wanted man. ...
Norah Jones: Don't Fence Me In
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, April 2004
Success Nearly Cost Norah Jones Her Sanity. Now She's Back – Stronger, Wiser And Ready To Do Things Her Way. ...
Steve Earle: Proud to be an American
Interview by Graham Reid, New Zealand Herald, The, 16 April 2004
STEVE EARLE'S career has been one of the most extraordinary in American music. He crashed into country music with his 1986 classic rockin' country album ...
Liz Phair: An Extraordinary Interview with Liz Phair
Interview by Dave DiMartino, Yahoo! Music, 25 April 2004
WHEN FIERCELY independent and outspoken singer-songwriter Liz Phair first emerged in 1993 with her watershed debut album, Exile In Guyville – a lo-fi, track-by-track response ...
David Byrne: Grown Backwards (Nonesuch)
Review by Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 29 April 2004
Ex-Talking Head – and the most cosmopolitan man in New York – continues his global luau. ...
Chris Smither: Honeysuckle Dog
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2004
RECORDED WITH producer Michael Cuscuna in two sessions – Woodstock, December 1972, and New York City, Spring 1973 – this was to be Smither's third ...
Profile and Interview by Ian Watson, Rolling Stone (Australia), May 2004
THE DAY PJ HARVEY turned thirty something clicked in her head. She spent her twenties fighting against herself, trying to quash the parts of her ...
Interview by James Medd, Esquire, June 2004
From his unlikely hideout on the West Coast of America, pop's Greatest Living Englishman has emerged triumphant with his first album in seven years. "Pop ...
Nick Drake: Made To Love Magic
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, June 2004
The most anticipated Drake release since his death includes a gorgeous five-minute version of 'Three Hours', and the hitherto undiscovered 'Tow The Line'. ...
Review by Everett True, Plan B, June 2004
POLLY HARVEY. This is her seventh album. It's better than her sixth, 2001 's set of NYC travel diaries, Stories From The City, Stories From ...
Sufjan Stevens: The 50 States of Rock: Sufjan Stevens
Interview by Ben Thompson, Daily Telegraph, 8 June 2004
THERE HAVE BEEN MANY extra-curricular activities traditionally associated with the life of the travelling rock'n'roller. Teaching knitting to the blind is not one of them. ...
Peter Hammill, Van Der Graaf Generator: Peter Hammill: Heart Attack Music
Profile and Interview by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, 27 June 2004
WHEN PETER HAMMILL collapsed in the street with a sudden heart attack last year, it didn't make the papers. The one-time singer of the group ...
Bobbie Gentry: Chickasaw County Child – The Artistry of Bobbie Gentry
Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, July 2004
A 23-track set that further mystifies the story of the songwriter behind 'Ode To Billie Joe'. ...
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. ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, Guardian, The, 13 July 2004
Stevie Wonder's partner in music and (briefly) marriage ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2004
Third set from Sussex singer-songwriter and follow-up to last year’s acclaimed From Every Sphere. ...
Elvis Costello: Almost Blue/Goodbye Cruel World/Kojak Variety
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, September 2004
AS THE AMBITIOUS Costello reissue programme heads towards completion, the contents of the bonus discs take on a greater significance, bolstering releases that may struggle ...
Joanna Newsom: Daydream Believer
Profile and Interview by Frances Morgan, Plan B, September 2004
Joanna Newsom is a new kind of folk heroine, plucking out spells and lullabies on 46 thrumming strings. ...
The Jam, Paul Weller: Paul Weller: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, September 2004
KEITH ALTHAM PR’d The Jam in the late '70s. In his book of post-retirement open letters to former clients, No More Mr Nice Guy, he ...
The Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat
Review and Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, September 2004
The US sister-brother act who really are brother and sister decided it would be a good idea to make a prog-pop concept album. Crazy — ...
Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler: The Rock’s Backpages Interview: Mark Knopfler
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, September 2004
RBP: You recorded your new album Shangri-La at the studio of the same name in Malibu. When was the studio refurbished? ...
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. ...
The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: Smile
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, October 2004
It was expected to surpass Sgt. Pepper as the greatest album of all time. But was the reconstruction of the fable worth the 37-year wait? ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Old Saint Nick: Nick Cave
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Dazed & Confused, October 2004
ON ABATTOIR BLUES, the cheerily-titled first half of the new double album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, there is a song called ‘There ...
Jim Croce: The Way We Used To Be (Sanctuary)
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, November 2004
KILLED IN A PLANE crash in 1973, just weeks after his first US Number One single, Jim Croce was a master of tender beauty and ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2004
A year on, the world is still reeling from the death of Johnny Cash, the speed-crazed rock'n'roller who became America's defining voice. From tragedy to ...
Interview by Bob Mehr, Harp, November 2004
Paul Westerberg on his infamous past, fatherhood and his most personal solo offering to date, Folker. ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, November 2004
RBP: 15 years into your recording career, how do you look back on it? Are you content with what you’ve achieved? ...
Elliott Smith: Shooting Star: Elliott Smith
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, November 2004
A YEAR AGO I was sitting in the Los Angeles living room of Mr. Roger Steffens, curator of a huge Bob Marley archive that was ...
Tom Waits: Real Gone (Anti/Epitaph)
Review and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, November 2004
SINCE IT’S HARD and possibly verboten to say a bad word about Tom Waits, unholy shaman of whacked-out Americana, I’ll content myself with expressing a ...
Warren Zevon: Various Artists: Enjoy Every Sandwich - The Songs Of Warren Zevon
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, November 2004
LONG BEFORE his death last year from inoperable lung cancer, Warren Zevon knew his time was almost up. Undeterred, he carried on making records bulging ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2004
ALREADY FAMILIAR to fans of Lucinda Williams after a lengthy stint as an opening act, Australian-born McCue has effortlessly mastered the bluesy drawl of her ...
Camper Van Beethoven: New Roman Times
Review by Richard Gehr, Tracks, December 2004
FOR THEIR FIRST album since 1989's elegiac Key Lime Pie, David Lowery and his original posse of SoCal stoners reunite for a fascinating life-during-wartime alt-rock ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2004
IT HAS BECOME an irritatingly common marketing ploy for any new release by a music veteran to be declared a "return to form". If we ...
M. Ward: M Ward: Newtown, Sydney
Live Review by Mark Mordue, Drum Media, December 2004
SO YOU ASK what magic is? And the roof above you has lights like long red teardrops hanging from it, splashing down stars into the ...
Ray LaMontagne: Ray of Light: Ray LaMontagne
Profile and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Tracks, December 2004
A remarkably mature debut album turned rural Maine resident RAY LAMONTAGNE into a hot property practically overnight. ...
Warren Zevon: Various Artists: Enjoy Every Sandwich – The Songs of Warren Zevon
Review by Bud Scoppa, Tracks, December 2004
LIKE THE hard-boiled American novelists he so admired, Warren Zevon was a wiseass with an oversized heart and a gift for locating big truths in ...
Robyn Hitchcock: Why Is Robyn Hitchcock Better Off Without Hit Records?
Interview by Pete Paphides, Word, The, December 2004
ON FIRST impression, only the birds printed all over his shirt detract from Robyn Hitchcock's professorial air. It was his idea to rendezvous in Swiss ...
Report and Interview by j. poet, Paste, 1 December 2004
AT THE BEGINNING of every autumn, the local music community in Martha's Vineyard comes alive. That's when the vacationers leave and the working-class folks who ...
Bob Dylan, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robbie Williams: The Holy and Sacred thoughts of His Bobness
Book Review by Caitlin Moran, Times, The, 11 December 2004
THE GREATEST music book this year, of course, is Bob Dylan's Chronicles, Vol. 1 (Simon & Schuster, £16.99; offer £13.39) — a cultural event so notable ...
Michael Hurley: Down In Dublin
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 December 2004
WITH HIS SIMPLE three-chord songs, unadorned voice and delivery, and straightforward lyrics, Michael Hurley makes it sound so effortless; his music feels like it has ...
Report and Interview by Dan Gennoe, Voyager, Winter 2004
"IT WAS MY absolute first experience of the healing power of music," says pocket-sized Icelandic-Italian singer Emiliana Torrini of her achingly beautiful second album, Fisherman's ...
PJ Harvey: Love in All the Wrong Places: PJ Harvey
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Tracks, Summer 2004
POLLY HARVEY reclines in regal splendour at the end of the very long and pompous Promenade Room of London’s legendary Dorchester Hotel. Buffed Eurotrash couples ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, Summer 2004
RBP: Not to suggest that Uh Huh Her must be entirely autobiographical – or "confessional" – but you don’t sound terribly happy in these songs. ...
David Byrne Looks Forward...and Back
Interview by Carol Cooper, The L Magazine, Fall 2004
Q: AS A SOLO ARTIST you have worked with horn sections and now with string sections to color and embellish your songs. Aside ...
Elvis Costello: A Man with a Mission (In Two or Three Editions)
Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, Fall 2004
ELVIS COSTELLO is about to take over the world. No, he's not going to reveal himself as a nefarious arch-villain in league with Doctor Octopus ...
Carole King in the Canyon: The Weaving of Tapestry
Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'Hotel California' (Fourth Estate), 2005
UNLIKE MOST of her Brill Building contemporaries, Carole King was keen to keep pace with the changing times. Having scored as an artist in her ...
Review by Nicholas Jennings, Inside Entertainment, 2005
CHICAGO IS THE cradle of modern blues, the place where Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf urbanized and electrified the music of the Mississippi Delta. But, ...
Bright Eyes: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning/Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, January 2005
SOMETIMES YOU can be too darn talented for your own good. Regularly described as a "boy genius", 24 year old Conor Oberst – doe-eyed self-obsessive, ...
Del Shannon: Home And Away – The Complete Recordings 1960-1970
Review by Bob Stanley, MOJO, January 2005
Eight CDs tell the story of one of the '60s' most original rockers, a doomed romantic whose arrested adolescence made him a star but never ...
Retrospective and Interview by Richie Unterberger, MOJO, January 2005
MID JULY 2004. In the dark-wooded, rich red subterranea of San Francisco's Cafe du Nord a song is building off little more than a two-chord ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus
Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2005
"THE WORK," Cave told MOJO, "of a genius." Though his tongue was presumably not too many miles from his cheek, he was spot on. This ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 2005
It's been a 25-year trip from hard drugs and punch-ups in the Birthday Party to life as a 9-to-5 songwriter/genius. So, in a world of ...
Bob Dylan: Shelter from the Storm: The Inside Story of Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks
Retrospective by Nick Hasted, Uncut, January 2005
FEBRUARY 13, 1977. Bob and Sara Dylan are screaming themselves hoarse. Sara has just walked down to breakfast in their Malibu mansion to find Bob ...
Tim Booth: The iJAMMING! Interview: Tim Booth
Interview by Tony Fletcher, iJamming.net, January 2005
I HAVE AN instinctive aversion to conducting phone interviews. The medium is fine for quick research, or immediate answers to pressing questions, but when it ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 14 January 2005
PLUSH'S LIAM HAYES isn't a man who does things easily. He released his first single in 1994, his first woozy LP in 1998, and didn't ...
Review by j. poet, Paste, 18 January 2005
CERTAIN TRACKS on Beat Cafe sound like they could be outtakes from Donovan's 1967 album Mellow Yellow, but I'll let you decide if that's a ...
Bright Eyes: Burning Like Fire
Report and Interview by James Medd, Esquire, February 2005
Bright Eyes, the sharpest act in the US today, turns his gaze from his navel to the world. ...
M. Ward: M Ward: Transistor Radio
Review by Frances Morgan, Plan B, February 2005
THE TRANSISTOR RADIO — best friend of the Shaggs ("My companion is with me wherever I go/My companion is of course my radio"), occult portal ...
Live Review by Frances Morgan, Plan B, February 2005
HE'S SINGING guide vocals, marking the chords on a chiming Gibson. Wordless lilts warm him up and take us down; sweet meetings of finger and ...
Interview by Mac Randall, Harp, March 2005
PREDICTING BECK Hansen's next artistic move is a game for fools and rock pundits only. Any sane person gave up trying long ago. Plot this ...
Bill Fay: Tomorrow Never Knows
Retrospective and Interview by Rob Young, Wire, The, March 2005
AFTER MAKING TWO OF THE FINEST BUT OVERLOOKED APOCALYPTIC SINGER-SONGWRITER ALBUMS OF THE EARLY 70S — WITH JAZZ ARRANGER MIKE GIBBS AND FREE GUITARIST RAY ...
Interview by Joel Selvin, Selvin On The City, KSAN 107.7, March 2005
The American icon, together with sidekick Kenney Dale Johnson, spins some favourites and sings a couple of tunes too!
File format: mp3 File size: 32.2mb Interview length: 35' 13"; Sound quality: *****
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, Word, The, March 2005
NINE WAS A memorable age for Roberta Joan Anderson. Three things occurred that year, more than 50 years ago, which affect her to this day: ...
Rufus Wainwright: The Backpages Interview: Rufus Wainwright
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, March 2005
RBP: Is Want Two in any way the flipside to, or a contrast to, Want One? Or is it just a companion collection? ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 23 March 2005
The Great American Songwriter looks back at his strict Baptist upbringing; the catastrophe of his mother's death; his love of complex chords, and how that has gone missing today; his love of Burt Bacharach and the Beatles; his early LA experiences and becoming a music copyist; the importance of Pet Sounds; his nostalgia for grace, and on his fabulous luck as a songwriter.
File format: mp3; file size: 87.5mb, interview length: 1h 31' 10" sound quality: ****
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Scotland on Sunday, 26 March 2005
ON THE SURFACE, nothing is wrong with Beck Hansen. No wires protrude from his dirty-blond moptop. No glazed expressions, no shifty answers, no sense of ...
Martha Wainwright: Going Her Own Way: Martha Wainwright Makes Her Musical Mark
Report and Interview by Erik Himmelsbach, LA CityBeat, 31 March 2005
MARTHA WAINWRIGHT almost didn't bother to pursue music. Because of her parents, singer-songwriters Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III, who occupy certain esteemed places in ...
Jimmy Webb: The Moon's A Harsh Mistress
Review and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, April 2005
The gifted composer of 'Wichita Lineman' and 'MacArthur Park' made five bold, mature solo LPs. Nobody noticed. ...
Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, April 2005
UNTIL RECENTLY, Judee Sill and her two Asylum albums were all but forgotten. Her story is so tragic as to be nearly unbelievable, the antithesis ...
M. Ward: M Ward: Have Love Will Travel
Interview by Everett True, Plan B, April 2005
A visit to soulful songwriter M Ward's Portland home: Schumann, Sonic Youth and "musical silence". ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, April 2005
LATE LAST YEAR Rufus Wainwright was a guest on Tom Robinson's BBC6 radio show, answering questions about music, life and celebrity while pointedly avoiding allusion ...
Tara Angell: "I'm not just a chick singer-songwriter"
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 15 April 2005
A debut dripping in smoky-voiced pain... and "the darkest record since Black Sabbath". ...
Crosby and Nash: Harmony and Discord
Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, May 2005
In the UK for the first time since 1978, David Crosby and Graham Nash discuss their musical and personal bond. ...
Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, May 2005
Listen up limeys! From the Velvets to The Raven, Lou Reed has remained pure, "professional" and the scourge of "asshole journalists". And he's still here. ...
Jimmy Webb: The Backpages Interview: Jimmy Webb
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, May 2005
RBP: Bones Howe remembered you as being very shy when he first met you circa 1967. Is that how you remember it? ...
Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Harp, May 2005
"I'M A FRUSTRATED writer," Tom Russell confessed to me a couple of years ago. ...
James Blunt: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 5 May 2005
IN THE FRENZY to find a new Damien Rice or David Gray, it suddenly seems as if there's a sensitive singer-songwriter on every street corner. ...
Kathryn Williams: Over Fly Over
Review by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 7 May 2005
KATHRYN WILLIAMS is one of those artists for whom a Mercury nomination – for her 2000 debut Little Black Numbers – brought a level of ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, June 2005
FILM DIRECTOR Paul Thomas Anderson used Aimee Mann's music as the starting point and inspiration for his Oscar-nominated Magnolia, about the intertwining, desperate lives of ...
Jimmy Webb: Almost Blue: Jimmy Webb
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, June 2005
JIMMY WEBB is sad. He looks around him at the world we inhabit and sees culture nose-diving everywhere. Subtlety is squeezed, ambiguity flattened. People don’t ...
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 ...
Tanita Tikaram: "I Was An Odd Kid"
Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 2 June 2005
SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO, during her first flush of success as a precocious young songwriter, Tanita Tikaram was lampooned by 'Smash Hits'. Under a photo of ...
Jim Ford, Bobby Womack: Bobby Womack on Jim Ford (2005)
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 6 June 2005
The Last Soul Man talks about his friend and collaborator Jim Ford: being introduced by Ford to Sly Stone, such great songs as 'Harry Hippie' and 'Point Of No Return', and writing songs with the man.
File format: mp3; file size: 19.8mb, interview length: 21' 35" sound quality: * (phoner)
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 10 June 2005
How did ex-soldier James Blunt go from serving in Kosovo to playing gigs? Tim Cooper finds out. ...
Report by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 29 June 2005
HUMAN TOUCH: After mastering the rockin' Bruce album, Bruce Springsteen is now honing the acoustic Bruce album. ...
Shannon McNally: No Bones About It
Profile and Interview by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 June 2005
THIS IS A STORY about new beginnings, or at least about keepin' on keepin' on. Or maybe it's about, as some really pissed-off wit once ...
Teenage Fanclub: Love In A Cold Climate
Retrospective and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, July 2005
Ladies and gentlemen! Gasp, as Scots prestidigitators the Teenage Fanclub turn base indie guitar slag into romantic pop gold! Gape, as their death-defying story is ...
Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas: Rob Thomas: Anonymity in the UK
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 6 July 2005
Rob Thomas can claim 75 million album sales. So who is he? ...
James Blunt: Strange Life Of An Army Dreamer
Interview by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Financial Times, 8 July 2005
James Blunt came to pop stardom the hard way, via Harrow, Sandhurst and the Household Cavalry. ...
Chip Taylor: Lock 17, London ****
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 30 July 2005
EVEN BEFORE he met Carrie Rodriguez, Chip Taylor's life had the authentic ring of fiction about it. ...
Nick Cave: The Songwriter Speaks
Interview by Debbie Kruger, Weekend Australian, 30 July 2005
Writer Debbie Kruger spoke to the biggest names in Australian music for her new book Songwriters Speak. In this exclusive extract, Nick Cave explains why ...
Marissa Nadler: Death Becomes Her
Profile and Interview by Edwin Pouncey, Wire, The, August 2005
IN THE BACK of a small pub in South London, surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers, Marissa Nadler tunes up her acoustic 12-string guitar ...
Interview by Bud Scoppa, Rock's Backpages Audio, 21 August 2005
Mr. Young on the Prairie Wind album; his aneurysm and surgery; the great Spooner Oldham; his archive project; and the Heart of Gold movie.
File format: mp3; file size: 46.6mb, interview length: 50' 55" sound quality: ****
Jimmy Webb: Interview: Jimmy Webb
Interview by Graham Reid, New Zealand Herald, The, 27 August 2005
BEFORE HE WAS 21 Jimmy Webb had already written some of pop's most enduring songs, including 'By The Time I Get To Phoenix' (which Frank ...
David Gray: Life In Slow Motion
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, September 2005
FIRST THE GOOD news: two albums on from White Ladder, David Gray has lost none of his fragile humanity or bleary-eyed longing. ...
Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo! Music, September 2005
IMAGINE BRITPOP never happened. No Pulp, no Longpigs, no exuberant resurgence in literate guitar pop. ...
Sergio Mendes: Legends of Songwriting: Sergio Mendes
Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, October 2005
ON TIMELESS, the latest album by Sergio Mendes, there's a line in the title track that goes, "Kindness is timeless/Love is so easy." ...
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2005
Epic sounds from the Big Country, with a pocketful of soul and sanctified song. The Kentucky quintet's fourth album is a religious experience, says Keith ...
Burt Bacharach: The Backpages Interview: Burt Bacharach
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, October 2005
RBP: What exactly did Sony BMG's Rob Stringer say that prompted you to try something so different with At This Time? ...
Laura Veirs: The DIY Queen of Quirk
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 6 October 2005
Laura Veirs is bringing her irresistibly oddball folk-rock to Europe. And, Robert Sandall finds, she's doing it the hard way. ...
Sinead O'Connor, Liz Phair: Playing Against Type: Liz Phair and Sinead O'Connor
Report and Interview by Will Hermes, New York Times, The, 17 October 2005
WHEN JOHNNY CASH returned to the spotlight in 1994 with American Recordings, the first in a series of records that presented him as a folkie ...
Neil Young: Rebel without a pause
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 30 October 2005
Neil Young famously wrote that it was "better to burn out than to fade away". Now, approaching his 60th birthday and confronted by his own ...
Burt Bacharach: At This Time: Burt Bacharach
Report and Interview by Gene Sculatti, ICE, November 2005
AFTER 40-PLUS YEARS, one of America's greatest songwriters finally has something to say. Which is not to suggest that songs like 'Close to You' or ...
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Blender, November 2005
TELL US ABOUT YOUR SELF-PORTRAIT. WHO IS PRINCESS SCRIBBLY? ...
Liz Phair: Is All Phair In Rock 'N' Roll?
Interview by Bob Mehr, Harp, November 2005
THE PENINSULA HOTEL is an elegant, bordering on ostentatious, spot in the heart of Chicago's Magnificent Mile. As the concierge and desk staff scurry about ...
John Martyn: I've Had a Wonderful Time
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Herald, The, November 2005
IT IS FAR from unusual to discover whole fathoms of deep blue sea between the artist and their art. Nothing, however, quite prepares you for ...
Liz Phair: Who Does Liz Phair Think She Is?
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Blender, November 2005
TELL US ABOUT YOUR SELF-PORTRAIT. WHO IS PRINCESS SCRIBBLY? ...
Review by Pete Paphides, Times, The, 11 November 2005
HOW TONY PARSONS delighted in playing the contrarian on last Friday's Newsnight Review. Having lived with Babyshambles' long-awaited debut album for a week, the Mirror columnist took ...
Obituary by Colin Irwin, Independent, The, 29 November 2005
HE WAS ALTERNATIVELY described as a rock'n'roll troubadour, a "nu blues" artist, an alt country pioneer, a slide guitar master and a trailblazing singer-songwriter who ...
Nick Heyward: Great Albums That Have Fallen Of The Critical Radar: Nick Heyward's North Of A Miracle
Retrospective and Interview by Daryl Easlea, Uncut, December 2005
IN LATE 1983, an elegant and understated LP slipped quietly onto the racks. Produced by Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, it began with a lush arrangement of ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2005
THE MOST POIGNANT moment on a masterly record full of insight and articulacy comes in the chorus of its opening song, 'The Painter'. It's just ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 12 December 2005
The great songwriter, sat at the piano, tells the stories behind the songs: writing in character; geography, the "untrustworthy narrator". Interviewer Zollo plays the tracks in question.
File format: mp3; file size: 108.7mb, interview length: 1h 58' 43" sound quality: *****
Elvis Presley: Elvis and the Songsmiths
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut Legends, Spring 2005
CLYDE OTIS and Ivory Joe Hunter had just returned from a day's duck-hunting when the phone rang. It was the song publishers Hill and Range ...
The Fiery Furnaces: An Interview with Matthew Friedberger
Interview by Scotty Almany, ARC magazine, Spring 2005
AFTER GOING THEIR separate ways as young adults after supposedly, a less than congenial childhood, siblings Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger reunited in their hometown of ...
Mike Scott, The Waterboys: Mike Scott
Profile and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Word, The, 2006
OF ALL THE PLACES to establish a spiritual community, one mile from a RAF base seems a trifle ill-conceived: transcendence must require every ounce of ...
P. F. Sloan: P.F. Sloan Reveals the Jewish Origins of 'Eve of Destruction'
Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 2006
'EVE OF DESTRUCTION', the famous folk-rock-protest hit record from 1965, isn't usually regarded as a specifically Jewish song. Or even a religious one, for that ...
Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, January 2006
SOME PUBLIC figures make reality TV shows about their turbulent tabloid lives. Here, Pete Doherty and his band have made Being Pete Doherty — The ...
Dave Matthews Band: Dave Matthews: Gospel according to Matthews
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 20 January 2006
He's the biggest music star in the USA, but probably couldn't get arrested here. Tim Cooper meets a man for whom success means having the ...
Jenny Lewis: Poor little rich girl
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 20 January 2006
Jenny Lewis has gone from child star to singing with Rilo Kiley to solo act. It's been a bittersweet experience, hears Tim Cooper. ...
Jerry Lynn Williams: The Lone Ranger: Jerry Lynn Williams
Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 27 January 2006
You say you want it and you want it bad And that you'd sacrifice all you ever had And that you'd be happy instead of ...
Al Stewart: A Reticent Recording Artist
Profile and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector, February 2006
AL STEWART’S four-decade career recently was capsulated by a 5-CD boxed set Just Yesterday from EMI. His first four UK albums on CBS never were ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, February 2006
THE UK CHARTS' obsession with all things American may suggest otherwise, but there are some US musical offerings which we Brits just can't seem to ...
Ray Davies, The Kinks: Ray Davies (2006)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, February 2006
The King Kink on getting shot in New Orleans, his relationship with brother Dave, his childhood and upbringing, and on songwriting and lyrics, plus so much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 56mb, total interview length: 58' 21" sound quality: ****
Live Review by Larry Jaffee, Record Collector, February 2006
RAY DAVIES, the leader of the Kinks, is back in circulation after an extended layoff, due to getting shot in New Orleans while trying to ...
Review by Toby Manning, Word, The, February 2006
A celebration of the life and music of Richard Thompson: folk rock legend so culty they boxed him twice: this time for fans only. ...
Nick Drake: Trevor Dann: Darker Than The Deepest Sea – The Search for Nick Drake (Portrait)
Book Review by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 5 February 2006
THIS BOOK IS surprisingly topical, and not just because of the deepening spell cast by Nick Drake, the English singer-songwriter, 31 years after his death. ...
Lewis Taylor: Soul Enigma: Lewis Taylor Comes to America
Report and Interview by Mark Anthony Neal, PopMatters, 8 February 2006
FOR MUCH OF THE LAST DECADE, arguably the most brilliant R&B artist of this generation has toiled in relative obscurity in Britain. ...
James Talley: Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got A Lot Of Love
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 28 February 2006
FIRST RELEASED in 1975, at a time when the Outlaw movement was opening Nashville up to all manner of previously unimaginable sounds, James Talley's debut ...
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not...
Review by Johnny Sharp, MOJO, March 2006
AS BANDS WITH Number 1 singles go, there's something marvellously raw and untutored about Arctic Monkeys. ...
Kelley Stoltz: Below The Branches
Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, March 2006
Third LP and second consecutive corker from Bay Area-based cosmic troubadour. ...
Donald Fagen: The Cat Will See You Now
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 2 March 2006
First there was The Nightfly. Then Kamakiriad. And now, a mere 24 years on, the trilogy is complete. Robert Sandall meets Steely Dan's Donald Fagen ...
Merle Haggard: Swing Me Back Home
Review by Eric Weisbard, Village Voice, The, 2 March 2006
<i>Strangers/Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Down I'm a Lonesome Fugitive/Branded Man Sing Me Back Home/The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde Mama Tried/Pride in ...
Review by Geoffrey Himes, Washington Post, The, 3 March 2006
HOW DO YOU write a song about homeland security without sounding preachy or trite? On the other hand, how do you make honest music in ...
Review by Steven Ward, Las Vegas Weekly, 23 March 2006
YOU KNOW WHAT Van Morrison, David Gilmour, Ray Davies and Donald Fagen have in common, besides their royal rank in rock geezerdom? They have new ...
Morrissey: Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, April 2006
Funny things happen on the way to the Forum: Morrissey's eighth album is a love-letter to Rome and getting it on. ...
Daniel Johnston: "I know the darkness"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 21 April 2006
"I love that girl so much I can't get enough of her crazy love" ('Crazy Love', Daniel Johnston) ...
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: When Beauty Met the Beast
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 21 April 2006
What happened when Isobel Campbell teamed up with the wild man of rock, Mark Lanegan? The result, says Laura Barton, could make her Queen of ...
Josh Ritter: Songs of innocence and experience
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 28 April 2006
Mark Twain, Bob Dylan, Einstein and Thomas Jefferson – singer-songwriter Josh Ritter tells Laura Barton what makes him tick. ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Wainwright III
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2006
WHEN HIS FIRST two virtually interchangeable albums were released in 1970 and '71, Loudon Wainwright III was touted as one of the many Next Dylans ...
Pete Townshend: The Deluxe Edition Solo Albums (Universal Music)
Review by Jeffrey Morgan, Creem, May 2006
THIS IS IN DEFENSE of Pete Townshend, who'd probably be the first to argue that he doesn't need anyone defending him in public—least of all ...
David Ackles: The Golden Horse Is In Hell: David Ackles' Theatre of Melancholy
Retrospective by Michael Baker, Perfect Sound Forever, May 2006
To be born is to be wrecked on an island. J.M.Barrie, in a review of Coral Island ...
Martha Wainwright: Fire in her belly
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 22 May 2006
She grew up in one of folk's first families and tried to resist following them into a musical career. But then Martha Wainwright fell in ...
Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: Who's That Girl
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, June 2006
She's the British R&B sensation who wants to keep it "underground". But can Corinne Bailey Rae convince America's taste-makers without selling her soul? ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Uncut, June 2006
MARCH 2006, and in Liverpool feral rat-faced folk with the lean and hungry look seem to be everywhere. Junkies – on the street or selling ...
Jackie DeShannon: Jackie de Shannon: Majestic DeShannon
Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, June 2006
Jackie Deshannon — Folk Rock Pioneer, Chart Artist and Songwriter of Renown ...
Martha Wainwright: Bloomsbury Theatre, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 1 June 2006
THIS WAS AN evening that lent fresh meaning to the term "intimate" – and, for that matter, "spontaneous". It made you feel like you'd been ...
Bic Runga: Today New Zealand, tomorrow the world
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 7 June 2006
Is Bic Runga the next great chanteuse? Caroline Sullivan finds out. ...
Sandi Thom: Smile… It Confuses People
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, 12 June 2006
EVEN WITH everyone now claiming to have been "discovered" on the internet, the story of latest overnight-online-success, twenty-four year-old Sandi Thom, is still pretty fantastic. ...
James Blunt: "'You're Beautiful' Got Me Laid"
Interview by William Shaw, Q, July 2006
The Americans think he's "Prince William with a guitar". There is one important difference. James Blunt knows 53 ways to kill a man. ...
The Raspberries' 'Go All The Way '
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blender, July 2006
VITAL STATISTICS LABEL: Capitol PERFORMERS: Eric Carmen – vocals/piano/guitar Wally Bryson – lead guitar David Smalley – bass Jim Bonfanti – drums PRODUCER: Jimmy Ienner CHART DEBUT: 19 August 1972 HIGHEST CHART POSITION: 5 ...
Judee Sill: The Stars That Fame Forgot: Judee Sill
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, July 2006
LA's doomed lady of the canyon who lost her genius to drugs ...
Retrospective by Fred Mills, Harp, July 2006
IT'S SOMETIME in late '77 or early '78 and yours truly is toiling away at the distribution center for North Carolina record store chain the ...
Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Harp, September 2006
PF SLOAN was a 19-year-old bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders when he wrote the protest classic 'Eve of Destruction' back in ...
Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Surprise Surprise: Paul Simon
Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, September 2006
"THE TRUTH is flexible and complex," says Paul Simon. On the eleven songs that make up his latest album Surprise, the legendary songwriter sizes up ...
Blaze Foley: The Fall and Rise of Blaze Foley
Retrospective by Joe Nick Patoski, No Depression, September 2006
THE BLACK GRANITE headstone is lost among the other markers in the Live Oak Cemetery in deep South Austin. Several small objects including a small ...
The Who: Generation Terrorists
Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, Observer, The, September 2006
It seemed like it was all over for the Who. But solo projects and trout fishing will only get you so far. ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Highway Companion
Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, September 2006
On his third outing without the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty mixes nostalgia, protest and resignation to pay bittersweet tribute to his rock'n'roll radio roots. ...
John Martyn: There's mystery in the air as John Martyn revives a classic
Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 7 September 2006
FOR AN ALBUM that had no noticeable commercial impact here when it first appeared in February 1973, John Martyn's Solid Air has enjoyed a remarkable ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 28 September 2006
Since leaving the safety of Belle & Sebastian, Isobel Campbell has found her creative voice and produced her finest work. ...
The Lemonheads: The Lemonheads
Review by Keith Cameron, MOJO, October 2006
Forget smoking rocks, just bring back the rock. After a 10-year hiatus, Evan Dando returns to his first love. ...
Lloyd Cole: Singing for Grown-Ups in 3D
Report and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 7 October 2006
WHEN LLOYD COLE says that a lot of the things he enjoys "don't sit very well with youth culture", you can see his point. Today's ...
Joanna Newsom: The New Kate Bush?
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, Word, The, November 2006
Angelic voice, radiant songs about "flickering wastelands" and childhood trips to Folk Summer Camp. Meet Joanna Newsom. ...
John Phillips: John Phillips (John, The Wolfking of L.A.)
Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2006
HIPPY DREAMS DEFILED, HOLLYWOOD AFFAIRS, HERCULEAN DRUG USE: THE LONG-LOST SOLO ALBUM FROM MAMAS & PAPAS LYNCHPIN. ...
Oasis: "The plan was always to become the biggest band in the world"
Interview by James Brown, Uncut, November 2006
Next month, Oasis unleash their first greatest hits compilation. In this exclusive interview, Noel and Liam tell the true stories of the songs that shaped ...
Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel: Going for a song: Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush's 'Don't Give Up'
Retrospective by Tom Cox, Sunday Times, The, 19 November 2006
I'D HAD WAITING jobs before, and could deal with the £2.56 hourly wage, the slave-driving supervisor who wouldn't stop talking about his masturbation habits, and ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, 20 November 2006
WHILE THE AWARDS, accolades and warm sense of achievement are all nice, the best thing about having a pop career that's survived a quarter of ...
Review by Steven Ward, Las Vegas Weekly, 30 November 2006
WHEN I FIRST heard the sweet-sounding chorus, "I go where true love goes/I go where true love goes" from 'Heaven/Where True Love Goes' on the ...
King Creosote: It's the Wee Folk Hobbit!
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, Word, The, December 2006
After 20 years, King Creosote — humble cottage-industry troubadour — has reached the Rivendell of a major label and a signing to Elton John's management. ...
Interview by Mark Kemp, Harp, December 2006
Whackv.tr.1. To strike (someone or something) with a sharp blow; slap.2. Slang: To kill deliberately; murder.n.1. A sharp, swift blow.2. The sound made by a ...
Powell St. John, 13th Floor Elevators: The Kingdom of Heaven: It's time you knew Powell St. John
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, 22 December 2006
THE BAND'S been playing at least an hour, but it feels like five minutes. Besides 'You Really Got Me', 'Roll Over Beethoven' and Bob Dylan's ...
Judee Sill: A Brief Life, an Enduring Musical Impression
Retrospective by Tim Page, Washington Post, The, 30 December 2006
ON THE DAY after Thanksgiving 1979, Judee Sill, a 35-year-old, deeply depressed and physically broken singer-songwriter, took an overdose of opiates and cocaine in her ...
Neko Case: The Singer and the Song
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Words & Music, Summer 2006
FOR YEARS, Neko Case has been hailed as a siren, a honky-tonk angel with a stunning contralto described variously as "eerie," "luscious," "transcendent" and "the ...
Lou Reed: Another Brick in the Wall: An interview with Lou Reed about Berlin
Interview by Mark Mordue, unpublished, Fall 2006
This story appeared in various edited versions in Rolling Stone Australia, December-January 2006-07, New York magazine, USA December 11, 2006, and The Word, UK February ...
Mental as Anything: Murray Waldren: The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa
Book Review by Clinton Walker, unpublished, 2007
NOTE: THIS PIECE NEVER GOT PUBLISHED. IT WAS COMMISSIONED BY AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW MAGAZINE BUT NOT RUN, FOR REASONS NEVER GIVEN, AND CERTAINLY WASN'T PAID FOR. I ...
Bobbie Gentry: Mystery Girl: The Forgotten Artistry of Bobbie Gentry
Retrospective by Holly George-Warren, 'Listen Again' (Duke University Press), 2007
SHE'S BEEN called the J.D. Salinger of rock & roll. Mississippi-born singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Bobbie Gentry is every bit as mysterious as the steamy, Delta-flavored story-song she ...
Neil Sedaka: The Definitive Collection (Razor & Tie)
Sleeve and programme notes by Gene Sculatti, Razor & Tie, 2007
IT'S ALMOST LIKE A scene from a movie, one of those Fifties cinematic cash-ins about crazy music and hopped-up teens. At a high-school talent show, ...
The Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley (2007)
Interview by Mark Petracca, Rock's Backpages Audio, 2007
The Buzzcocks' frontman looks back at the formation of the band with Howard Devoto, and at Devoto's subsequent exit; talks about himself as a songwriter and looks at his subsequent solo career.
File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 44' 52" sound quality: *****
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2007
Delicate Mini-Album From Idaho Minstrel ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, January 2007
BARTON LEE Hazlewood remains the cult artist's cult artist, an American maverick who's operated by his own supremely offbeat rules ever since producing Sanford Clark's ...
Steve Forbert: Roots artist Forbert saw commercial flashes early on
Profile and Interview by Bob Mehr, Commercial Appeal, The, 19 January 2007
EVEN AT THE lowest point of his travails within the music industry, when he was stuck in legal limbo with labels and his star was ...
Bobby Bare: A Bird Named Yesterday/Talk Me Some Sense/Down & Dirty... Plus
Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, February 2007
BARE'S A COUNTRY giant, up there alongside Cash, Haggard, Waylon'n'Willie. A one-time pop kid who toured with the likes of Bobby Darin, he notched a ...
Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, February 2007
The Only One wants to cut one more LP "before death comes". ...
Lucinda Williams: Westside Story: Lucinda Williams' Confessions of Love, Lust and Violence
Profile and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Relix, February 2007
LUCINDA WILLIAMS is a little distracted. She keeps popping up from her seat, perched between the four overstuffed pillows that are arranged artfully on her ...
Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry: Knockin' on Dylan's Door: Bryan Ferry
Interview by Ken Scrudato, Flaunt, March 2007
HIPPIES. PERHAPS no other collective of modern countercultural revolutionaries has left a more ambiguous imprint. Dada, Situationism, Punk—all boast fairly intact legacies, the original philosophical ...
Jimmy Webb: Legends of Songwriting: Jimmy Webb
Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, March 2007
"SOMEONE LEFT the cake out in the rain." No single lyric is more infamous in pop music than the one Jimmy Webb wrote forty years ...
Review by Paul Elliott, Q, March 2007
THE BUZZ about Mika is already at fever pitch. Beirut-born, London-based, 23 and boyishly pretty, he's tipped to be the face of 2007. ...
Richard Swift: Dressed Up For The Letdown
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2007
CONNOISSEURS OF grand American pop will love Richard Swift. Like the young Van Dyke Parks or Harry Nilsson, his baleful, piano-led cabaret sounds like an ...
Richard Swift: Dressed Up For The Letdown
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, March 2007
CONNOISSEURS OF grand American pop will love Richard Swift. Like the young Van Dyke Parks or Harry Nilsson, his baleful, piano-led cabaret sounds like an ...
Bright Eyes: That Vision Thing
Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, April 2007
As Bright Eyes he's spent half his 27 years as the boozy Dylan of disaffected youth. On the eve of a new album, Stevie Chick ...
Retrospective by Mick Houghton, MOJO, April 2007
The sound of the wildly original country cat who penned Elvis' 'Burning Love'. ...
Neil Young: Live at Massey Hall
Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, April 2007
From Archives: A Spellbinding 1971 Solo Homecoming Show ...
Elvis Costello, Robert Wyatt: The lasting legacy of 'Shipbuilding'
Retrospective by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 5 April 2007
During the Falklands war, Elvis Costello wrote a passionate elegy for a lost way of life that still resonates today, says Robert Sandall. ...
Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 30 April 2007
YOU HAVE TO start at the end – where they paid respects to Townes Van Zandt, the songwriter/compadre who captured the essence of life after ...
Review by Dan Gennoe, dotmusic.co.uk, May 2007
IT'S A TESTAMENT to the immense songwriting genius of Elliott Smith that even his decade old cast-offs are worth hearing. It's also a massive relief. ...
Joni Mitchell: How Joni Mitchell Got Her Groove Back
Interview by Robin Eggar, Rolling Stone (Germany), May 2007
JONI MITCHELL is lost in her own music, eyes closed, head still, an American Spirit burning between her fingers. A scarcely sipped glass of red ...
Prefab Sprout: Steve McQueen (Kitchenware/Sony)
Review and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, May 2007
Remastered '85 masterpiece with extra acoustic disc. ...
Steve Forbert: Strange Names & New Sensations
Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 31 May 2007
WHEN 'ROMEO'S TUNE' bubbled out of late '70s car radios, it was a wide-eyed kid from the small-town south trying to get the girl with ...
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, June 2007
Astonishing Two-Disc Trove Of Unreleased Mid-'90s Vintage. ...
Ne-Yo: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
Interview by Amy Linden, Vibe, June 2007
Ne-Yo couldn't step to the left if he wanted to. He's actually stepping forward on to superstardom — and there are rumors and X-rated photo ...
Paul Kelly (singer-songwriter): Paul Kelly's Stolen Apples
Report and Interview by Jeff Apter, Rave (Australia), June 2007
PAUL KELLY obviously likes the look of the road less travelled. Who else would consider fusing the poetry of lower-case American e.e. cummings with an ...
Doll By Doll: The Stars that Fame Forgot: Doll by Doll
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, June 2007
Too dangerous for punk! The mad, bad story of Jackie Leven's Celtic Soul rebels. ...
Review by Andy Gill, Uncut, June 2007
Tweedy and Co.'s Surprising Soft-Rock Therapy. ...
Elvis Perkins: All About My Mother: Elvis Perkins
Profile and Interview by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 5 June 2007
Elvis Perkins tells Caroline Sullivan how the tragic deaths of his famous parents have shaped his melancholy pop. ...
Warren Zevon: Keep Him In Your Heart: Swan Songs of the Late Great Warren Zevon
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, eMusic.com, July 2007
LIFE'LL KILL YA, Warren Zevon sang in one of his most grimly humorous songs - and it did. The grotesque multiplication of cells we know ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, July 2007
Boy Wonder Eases Up: Only His 9th LP In Seven Years ...
Squeeze: The Making of 'Up The Junction'
Retrospective and Interview by Gavin Martin, Uncut, July 2007
"We almost had a shining toward each other..." Master songwriters Difford and Tilbrook recall their '79 hit, where art would come to imitate real life. ...
The Libertines: Up The Bracket
Review by Paul Moody, Uncut, July 2007
Before the supermodels, the drug busts and the tabloid fallouts, Doherty and Barat cooked up a little cracker. ...
Judee Sill: Live in London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973
Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Boston Phoenix, The, 7 August 2007
IF JUDEE SILL'S story isn't fodder for a Lifetime TV movie, then nothing is: the early deaths of her father and brother; an alcoholic mother ...
Lori McKenna: Dreams of an Everyday Housewife
Profile and Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 31 August 2007
LORI MCKENNA has always loved the same boy. She first laid eyes on him in third grade. They started dating in their junior year, married ...
Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, September 2007
The 'Elusive Butterfly' collector, immortalised by Jarvis Cocker. ...
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2007
THE PRETENDERS and the one-trick-ponies are always found out in the end. The procession of new Dylans has been relentless – and mostly underwhelming – ...
Fionn Regan: History Lesson: Fionn Regan
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2007
THE PRETENDERS and the one-trick-ponies are always found out in the end. The procession of new Dylans has been relentless – and mostly underwhelming – ...
Legends of Songwriting: Diane Warren
Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, September 2007
ASKED WHETHER she could ever love a person as much as she loves songwriting, Diane Warren doesn't miss a beat in answering an emphatic "No." ...
Richard Hawley: From Sheffield….to Eternity!
Profile and Interview by Paul Moody, Uncut, September 2007
It's taken 25 years for Richard Hawley to be celebrated as the "Sheffield Sinatra". But how did Pulp, death and a diet of "Grolsch and ...
Stevie Nicks: A Survivor's Story
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Telegraph Magazine, 8 September 2007
Thirty years after she sold her soul to the devil and, with Fleetwood Mac, set new records for rock'n'roll overindulgence, Stevie Nicks has somehow lived ...
KT Tunstall: Wilton's Music Hall, London ***
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 12 September 2007
KATE TUNSTALL uses her initials for the same reason Joanne Rowling became JK — she thought a female name would generate preconceptions. Her music also ...
KT Tunstall: Wilton's Music Hall, London
Live Review by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 23 September 2007
ON THE DAY that her second album, Drastic Fantastic, went on sale, KT Tunstall played a semi-secret pre-tour warm-up gig at Wilton's, in east London. ...
PJ Harvey Steps into the Light
Interview by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 23 September 2007
ON THE FACE OF IT, precious little has changed in the world of PJ Harvey in the 14 years since we first met. On that ...
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Q, October 2007
Devendra Banheart was born in Texas, raised in Caracas, then fetched up in Paris and San Francisco and currently lives in a world of his ...
Chuck Berry: Hail, Hail, Chuck Berry!
Essay by Jonh Ingham, Jonh Ingham's Blog, October 2007
"If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry."– John Lennon ...
Ben Taylor: Sons and lovers: Ben Taylor
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, October 2007
David Burke talks to Ben Taylor about his dislike of folk music and his plans to shake it up a bit. And then there's the ...
Retrospective by Mark Kemp, Paste, October 2007
ONE OF THE MORE telling songs in John Lennon's solo catalog is the tender 'Look at Me.' Not the well-scrubbed version on his first album, ...
Review by Amy Linden, Village Voice, The, 3 October 2007
THE E STREET BAND last convened around Bruce Springsteen on 2001's The Rising; since then, the Boss (who looks finer as he gets older) has ...
The Go-Go's, Jane Wiedlin: Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 22 October 2007
THE GO-GO'S emerged from the late '70s Los Angeles punk/New Wave scene to become pop sensations and MTV darlings. They write their own songs, which ...
Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2007
AIMEE MANN reckons she could take Bob Dylan in a boxing bout. It would be a close run thing but age and height advantage would, ...
Damien Dempsey: Dublin Boy: Damien Dempsey
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2007
Damien Dempsey has a few things he wants to get off his chest and finds a willing listener in David Burke. ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, eMusic.com, November 2007
BACK IN THE protopunk wars of the early '70s, we were all supposed to revile James Taylor and his kind. "James Taylor Marked For Death," ...
Review by Barney Hoskyns, eMusic.com, November 2007
JONI MITCHELL declared in 2002 that she was done with the music biz and would never, ever, make another album. I can't have been the ...
Retrospective and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, November 2007
THE LEGENDARY songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller will be honored in person at the 2007 Gala Benefit Concert of the Lauri Strauss ...
Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, November 2007
Poetic, Eclectic, Atmospheric: A Grammy-Winning Snapshot Of The South. ...
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2007
THE SONG 'Bound' on Suzanne Vega's quite brilliant new album, Beauty & Crime, finds her wondering "if you might still want me". ...
Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 5 November 2007
ON REVIVAL (Fantasy Records), John Fogerty comes to terms with and maybe even makes peace with his past. In doing so he's created one of ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 12 November 2007
His parents are neuroscientists who read him Huxley at bedtime. No wonder Josh Ritter has a way with words, says Tim Cooper. ...
Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2007
As BILLY BRAGG blows out 50 candles on his birthday cake, TERRY STAUNTON sharpens his pencil for a musical history lesson ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, December 2007
Affecting all-star valediction from an American original. ...
James Blunt: The Universal Soldier
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 14 December 2007
OFFICER JAMES BLUNT, pocket-sized former Captain in the Life Guards regiment and 12 million-selling global superstar, clambers out of the car carrying his guitar case. ...
James Taylor: "I used to check my bumpers for blood"
Report and Interview by Paul Sexton, Guardian, The, 20 December 2007
He sang sweet simple tunes with deeply felt narratives, but James Taylor's demons almost tore him apart. The thrice-married ex-drug addict tells Paul Sexton how ...
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Words & Music, Summer 2007
TORONTO'S MUSIC Gallery is housed in St. George the Martyr Church, on the edge of a park and a stone's throw from Queen Street West. ...
Donald Fagen: The Nightfly Trilogy (The Nightfly/Kamakiriad/MorphThe Cat)
Review and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, January 2008
Steely Dan man's smooth tales of paranoia, boxed. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 2 January 2008
SOMETHING PECULIAR happened at the dawn of the 21st century: eccentric folk music of the late 1960s became covetable again. ...
Joe Jackson: "Actually, I quite like landmines"
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 5 January 2008
Joe Jackson, songwriter and contrarian, talks to Robert Sandall about smoking, Berlin, and his new album. ...
Profile and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 18 January 2008
AFTER THREE ALBUMS as Mull Historical Society, Colin MacIntyre has decided to head out on his own and his new album, The Water, will be ...
Laura Marling: Folk-rock's Laura Marling, a star in U.K. at 17, hits New York Friday
Report and Interview by Gene Santoro, New York Daily News, 18 January 2008
IN 2006, LAURA Marling, a 16-year-old Brit from Hampshire, started heading to London every week, looking for clubs to play and flats to crash at ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, February 2008
Harrowing '87 confessional enhanced by Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner. ...
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, February 2008
E's are good: revisiting a brilliant back catalogue ...
Laura Marling: 'My songs are not pretty'
Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 4 February 2008
IN A RECENT POSTING on a music website, one of Laura Marling's growing army of fans described her output as "pretty folk songs about boys". ...
John Stewart: Daydream Believer: John Stewart, 1939-2008
Obituary by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 21 February 2008
JOHN STEWART – singer, songwriter, guitarist, artist, husband, father, grandfather, Californian, American – was scheduled to perform at McCabe's in Santa Monica on Saturday, February ...
Bon Iver: Hail, Hail, Rock'n'Roll: Bon Iver
Report and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 29 February 2008
IF WE HAVE spoken in the past couple of weeks, I apologise. If you have poured out your heart and found me blank-faced, if you ...
Bob Dylan: Stories and Questions
Comment by Kirk Silsbee, Life After 50, March 2008
Well I'll be damned; here comes your ghost again... (Joan Baez, 'Diamonds and Rust') ...
Interview by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, March 2008
ON THE EVE of Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to Britain, another French export is already launching her latest cross-channel charm offensive in London. ...
Profile and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, March 2008
When American Music Club play live, frontman Mark Eitzel has to be kept away from the cash; if he thinks it's been a bad show, ...
Joe Jackson: Still Looking Sharp
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2008
David Burke catches a rare sighting of pop music's invisible man. ...
Magazine: The Making of 'Shot By Both Sides'
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, March 2008
Powered by a razor-riff, nihilist lyrics, some classic-rock chops and an infamous showing on Top Of The Pops, this ferocious anthem was the closest thing ...
Review by David Quantick, Word, The, March 2008
There's a lot of Morrissey's newer, louder, less subtle music on his latest greatest hits. David Quantick finds his patience is at an end. ...
American Music Club: The Golden Age of American Music Club
Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2008
MARK EITZEL sounds very chipper – not at all the lugubrious character that comes across in his songs. With the release of American Music Club's ...
Thin Lizzy: The Making of 'The Boys Are Back In Town'
Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, April 2008
The shit-kicking '76 hit that saved Phil Lynott's bad-boy brawlers in the nick of time. ...
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 ...
Willie Nelson: One Hell Of A Ride
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2008
SOMEDAY, SOMEBODY with great taste, and no desire to be all things to all markets, is going to put together a Best Of Willie Nelson ...
Bruce Springsteen: E Street shuffle: Bruce Springsteen
Retrospective by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2008
The Boss is coming to town! David Burke looks at the career and impact of the man whose been described as "the Steinbeck of rock'n'roll". ...
The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age Of The Understatement
Review by Paul Moody, Uncut, May 2008
NOW IT ALL makes sense. Anyone who, on hearing Arctic Monkeys Favourite Worst Nightmare, wondered where Alex Turner had mislaid his melodies now has their ...
Siouxsie & The Banshees: The Making of 'Hong Kong Garden'
Retrospective and Interview by Carol Clerk, Uncut, May 2008
The oddly light debut smash that shoved punk's dark primitives out of the shadows ...
Minnie Driver: Minnie adventure: Miss Driver turns her attention to country music and motherhood
Report and Interview by Tim Cooper, Independent, The, 8 May 2008
She's conquered Hollywood, stars in a hit TV series, and is one of Britain's most successful acting exports. ...
Carole King's Monumental 1971 Tapestry Returns In 2 CD Deluxe Edition
Special Feature by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, 12 May 2008
Harvey Kubernik tells the story of the making of this epochal album, and interviews producer Lou Adler ...
Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
Review by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 23 May 2008
HEARTBREAK OFTEN buckles sad records, turning sentimental confessions into whiny navel-gazing exercises. So thank heaven for Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, who avoids this problem beautifully. ...
Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, June 2008
THINGS HAVE CHANGED monumentally for the Flaming Lips over the course of their 23-year career. "We were just dorks who liked music," says sonic ringmaster ...
Half Man Half Biscuit: CSI: Ambleside
Review by John McCready, Word, The, June 2008
Forget the TV-obsessed japery of their John Peel years. Half Man Half Biscuit are now the most perceptive satirists in British music. ...
Report and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2008
"THEN YOU find you're back in Vegas with a handle in your hand" goes a memorable line from Steely Dan's debut hit, 'Do It Again'. ...
Profile and Interview by Paul Moody, Uncut, July 2008
They started the band as "a positive jam", but now The Hold Steady have become one of the best in America. With an astonishing fourth ...
Billy Joel's N.Y. State of Mind
Guide by Hank Bordowitz, New York Daily News, 13 July 2008
IT SEEMS FITTING that Billy Joel should play the last concert at Shea Stadium before it meets the wrecking ball. Shea has hosted the most ...
Randy Newman: Harps For Harps' Sake
Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, August 2008
The new record is in the shops, but RANDY NEWMAN admits he has no excuses for his "ridiculous" output of three albums in 20 years. ...
John Martyn: Ain't No Saint: 40 Years Of John Martyn
Sleeve and programme notes by Daryl Easlea, Island Records, September 2008
"Love finds a way, just let it stay From day to day, just let it flow, just let it grow It will get you together ...
Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah, We Love Him So: Leonard Cohen's Comeback
Report by Johnny Black, Audience, September 2008
How the world's pre-eminent septuagenarian Jewish Buddhist singer-poet staged 2008's most remarkable comeback. ...
John Martyn: Still Wide-Eyed and Increasingly Legless
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2008
INTERVIEWS ARE like minefields. Amidst the chummy showbiz chat, there's almost invariably at least one potential hair-trigger moment when someone like me has to ask ...
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2008
Singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier was something of a late starter – but once she picked up that pen she certainly had plenty to write about. Having ...
Teddy Thompson: A Piece Of What You Need
Review and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, September 2008
The son also rises. A great, Orbison-inspired piece of work. ...
Review and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, October 2008
Outtakes and unreleased live recordings shine new light on the angels and demons at war in a 40-year career. ...
Kevin Ayers: Exile On Mean Street
Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, Word, The, October 2008
Rumpled romantic, booze-fuelled philanderer, gifted golden boy of art-rock, Kevin Ayers fled abroad 40 years ago and now lives a strange, impecunious life wrestling with ...
Lindsey Buckingham: Gift Of Screws
Review by David Quantick, Uncut, October 2008
Mac man's punchy pop-rock manifesto ...
Hoyt Axton: My Griffin Is Gone
Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 23 October 2008
HOYT AXTON'S 1969 LP My Griffin Is Gone, originally released to little notice on Columbia, belongs to that group of orchestrated baroque pop albums that ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Echo & the Bunnymen: The Making of 'The Killing Moon'
Retrospective and Interview by Terry Staunton, Uncut, November 2008
1984's shimmering indie-pop epic is part Elvis, part Leonard Cohen, and part Bing Crosby, according to Ian McCulloch and co. Oh, and it's also "the ...
Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, November 2008
Jarvis Cocker could tell you all about glaciers but instead this month he's choosing to celebrate one of Britain's finest independent record labels. John Lewis ...
Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, November 2008
50 this year and touring his best album in decades, the Modfather talks to John Lewis about Algerian passions, drunken binges and a wariness of ...
John Hiatt: Tune-up: John Hiatt
Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2008
JOHN HIATT WAS a complete fuck-up. The year was 1984 and his addiction to booze and cocaine induced what he referred to as "a semi-blackout ...
La Roux: New Band of the Day: La Roux
Profile by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, 19 November 2008
Make no mistake, today's new artist is a solo female synth star in waiting. ...
Dave Stewart: The Songfacts Interview
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 20 November 2008
THE HALF OF Eurythmics that is not Annie Lennox, Dave Stewart has written hits with Tom Petty, No Doubt, Jon Bon Jovi, Bono, Mick Jagger ...
Paul Weller: Paul Weller At The BBC
Review by David Quantick, Uncut, December 2008
4-CD set proves he's more changing man than Plodfather. ...
Mary Margaret O'Hara: Christmas wishes from Canada's psychic singer-songwriter
Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 5 December 2008
DOWN THE WIRES from Canada comes Mary Margaret O'Hara, her voice as devastatingly delicate as shattering glass. ...
Elliott Murphy at the Hotel Café, L.A.
Review by Roy Trakin, Rock's Backpages, January 2009
BACK IN 1973, this celebrated Long Island singer/songwriter and the New York Dolls were the twin toasts of the town's still-nascent rock-crit community. ...
The Kinks: The Making Of 'Waterloo Sunset'
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, January 2009
The timeless 1967 hit, regarded by many as the most beautiful pop song every written, was something so personal that Ray Davies didn't even want ...
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, January 2009
His first classic, midwifed by L.A.'s rock royalty, plus a disc of extras. ...
Graham Nash: Classic Rock Corner: Graham Nash Interviewed
Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 4 January 2009
THERE ISN'T MUCH mystery to Graham Nash. Not that that's a bad thing at all. In fact, if you want to know how the British ...
Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, 16 January 2009
"I knew that I would have to spend years with these guys" – Graham Nash ...
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 5 February 2009
AGE CAN undermine lesser rockers. But time's cruel toll just validates Morrissey's morbid drama-queen spiels — to paraphrase a lyric from his old band the ...
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Lightning Rod
Review by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 19 February 2009
Ex-Trucker takes on heartland rock and brooding weepers. ...
Interview by Graeme Thomson, Word, The, March 2009
IT HAS NEVER occurred to me before Graham Nash points it out, but 'Marrakesh Express' isn't just a breezily literal account of the illicit delights ...
Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, March 2009
Lo-fi tinkerer completes his transfiguration into major artist. ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Grinderman: Nick Cave: King of Pain
Profile and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, March 2009
"TEA? PIECE OF CAKE?" says Nick Cave civilly. After an earlier on-tour interview at the Malmaison Hotel, Manchester, he's invited MOJO to his office, a ...
Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, March 2009
John Lewis asks the Mercury-winning Elbow main-man and BBC 6Music broadcaster about winklepickers, Nat King Cole and cheese on toast. ...
Mary Black: There's something about Mary Black
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2009
MARY BLACK wouldn't class herself as a dreamer, even though she's realised a few dreams others of us have maybe harboured. Playing London's Royal Albert ...
The Mamas and The Papas, John Phillips: King of the Wild Frontier: Papa John Phillips
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, 15 March 2009
IN AUGUST 1977, John Phillips was supposed to be recording the album with Keith Richards that would mark his comeback. ...
Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic Revisited
Retrospective by Rob Steen, Rock's Backpages, 27 March 2009
THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago this month, Pretzel Logic, the album that alerted the world beyond L.A. and NYC to the thrillingly unpigeonholeable sound of Steely Dan, ...
Pete Doherty: Peter Doherty: Grace/Wastelands
Review by David Quantick, Uncut, April 2009
The Libertine has landed, with a proper solo debut, says David Quantick. ...
Procol Harum's Keith Reid (2009)
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2 April 2009
Procol Harum lyricist Reid looks back at the writing of such classics as 'Whiter Shade of Pale', and brings us up to date with his current projects.
File format: mp3; file size: 19.7mb; Interview length: 42' 59"; sound quality: ***
Leiber and Stoller: Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography
Press Release by Harvey Kubernik, promotional interview, May 2009
LEGENDARY SONGWRITERS Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were in the delivery room for the birth of rock and roll, yet as Stoller said the day ...
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, May 2009
AS ONE CONTRIBUTOR to the episodic documentary that features across the DVDs of these four reissues observes, Nick Cave was well on his way to ...
Jackie DeShannon: Return Of The Starry-Eyed Girl
Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 1 May 2009
IT'S LUNCHTIME at Claridge's, and a glamorous blonde in sparkling stilettos shimmers out of the lift. No one bats an eyelid, but then she starts ...
Grizzly Bear: Brooklyn Foursome Talk Veckatimest
Profile and Interview by Mike Diver, Clash, 27 May 2009
GRIZZLY BEAR are about to take a step into the unknown. Again. "This is probably the biggest thing we've been asked to do here in ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 28 May 2009
The former mailman talks about how he started as a songwriter; on being a performer; on songs such as 'Angel from Montgomery'; the detailed ins-and-outs of songwriting; and looks back at his friend and collaborator Steve Goodman.
File format: mp3; file size: 93.0mb, interview length: 1h 42' 34" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt: Steve Earle: Townes (New West)
Review by Roy Trakin, SonicBoomers.com, 29 May 2009
IF YOU'RE LOOKING for a dark-horse Grammy Album of the Year contender, you couldn't find a better one than this effort, which boasts the requisite ...
Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, June 2009
IT'S OBVIOUS to anyone with even a smattering of pop music suss that without Neil Sedaka there would be no 'Breaking Up Is Hard To ...
Live Review by Roy Trakin, Hits, July 2009
MAYBE THIS IS the future of the record business. On a balmy summer evening in L.A., we're gathered in a suburban backyard, twinkling lights strung ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, Guardian, The, August 2009
NOT LONG AFTER Ellie Greenwich, who has died at the age of 68, met her future husband and songwriting partner Jeff Barry at a Thanksgiving ...
Liz Phair: Exile In Guyville (15th Anniversary Edition)
Review by Laura Barton, Word, The, August 2009
All's Phair In Love And War: Raw, rude and "very 1993", Liz Phair led Girl Power's first offensive. ...
David Byrne: Speaking in Tongues
Profile and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 1 August 2009
THE SUN HAS just melted into the distant purple mountains on a sweltering Italian night when David Byrne starts speaking in tongues, throwing his arms ...
Ellie Greenwich: Remembering Songwriting Legend Ellie Greenwich
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 27 August 2009
SHE CHANGED the shape of 60s pop by writing some extraordinary songs, including 'Be My Baby' and 'Da Doo Ron Ron' ...
Prefab Sprout: Erase And Rewind: Paddy McAloon
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Word, The, September 2009
Paddy McAloon’s lost folly has just been released after 17 years. Many and complex were the obstacles in its path, as he tells GRAEME THOMSON. ...
Review by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 6 September 2009
GEMMA RAY sounds like a character from an imaginary 1950s sci-fi flick – possibly titled Lights out Zoltar! – and the songs on her second ...
Obituary by Howie Klein, Huffington Post, 6 September 2009
ON MY FIRST DAY of college freshman orientation I met the president of the student body, Sandy Pearlman. He had long hair and I figured ...
Leonard Cohen: This story about Leonard Cohen has sex in it
Memoir by Mike Jahn, Rock's Backpages, 22 September 2009
I REMEMBER Leonard Cohen well from the Chelsea Hotel. This story has sex in it. ...
Judee Sill: The Disappearing Crayon Angel
Retrospective by Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz, 18 October 2009
THERE SEEMS to be an alarming number of women musicians written out of popular culture: Doris Troy, Minnie Ripperton, Laura Nyro, Judy Henske, Mireille Mathieu, ...
Vic Chesnutt's back with three new albums in as many months…
Report and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 18 October 2009
He calls himself "the biggest fuck up in the music business" but, according to Wyndham Wallace, Vic Chesnutt is turning into one of its greatest ...
Sufjan Stevens's symphony for New York
Report and Interview by Andrew Purcell, Guardian, The, 27 October 2009
THE BROOKLYN-QUEENS EXPRESSWAY is a miserable stretch of road. The BQE, as New Yorkers call it, has narrow lanes, no hard shoulder, countless potholes, and ...
David Gray: "I was ready to throw off the past"
Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2009
YOU'D THINK having three number one UK albums and two that charted in the US top 20, not to mention the biggest selling Irish album ...
Devendra Banhart: What Will We Be
Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, November 2009
The freak-folk messiah confronts pop conventions on his first album for a major label. ...
Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2009
DESPITE ALL HER best efforts to stick a spike in the wheel of success, Laura Marling is fast-becoming the most talked-about young singer-songwriter of recent ...
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 ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Album by Album: Rickie Lee Jones
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, December 2009
THOUGH SHE will always carry the pop albatross that was her Top 5 hit 'Chuck E's in Love' (1979), Rickie Lee Jones remains one of ...
Buzz Linhart: BUZZY's buzzy (BuzzArt Enterprises Inc.)
Review by Steve Roeser, hollywoodconcerts.com, December 2009
THIS WAS Buzzy Linhart's first album, released in the late '60s, and Buzzy (with a big assist from his partner, Art Berggren) re-issued it himself ...
Bob Dylan: Good As He's Been To You: Bob Dylan's Best Albums
Guide by Mick Gold, Rock's Backpages, December 2009
Mick Gold makes a personal selection of Dylan's Finest Works. A slightly modified version of an article for the Bobzine Isis. ...
Neil Young: Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House
Review by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, December 2009
NEIL YOUNG HAS BEEN such a music staple in our collective consciousness for so long that it’s nearly impossible to remember that he was once ...
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 12 December 2009
"I KNOW THESE cups look dirty," says Ellie Goulding, frowning at the two floral mugs she carries across the room, "but really they're not. It's just ...
Interview by Archie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, 23 December 2009
The man who bore the weight of being the "New Dylan" in the mid-'70s looks back at his early days, his move to Europe, and brings us up to date with where he's at in the 21st century
File format: mp3; file size: 20.9mb; Interview length: 22' 52"; sound quality: ***
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me (Drag City)
Review by Jim Irvin, Word, The, 2010
IT'S NOT going out on any limbs to declare that Joanna Newsom's voice divides opinion. ...
Nick Drake and Five Leaves Left: An Interview with Omnibus' Chris Charlesworth
Interview by Eddie Blower, unpublished, 2010
In 2010, Chris Charlesworth was interviewed by Eddie Blower about Nick Drake and Five Years Left for an unpublished article. ...
Tom Waits: Albums of the Decade: Tom Waits' Real Gone
Review by James Medd, Word, The, January 2010
ISTHERE A musician whose stock is higher? It's certainly hard to think of another whose songs are covered by both the singer of Led Zeppelin ...
Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2010
Peachy "comeback" from Portland nature-lover. ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate McGarrigle: Acclaimed musician left her mark
Obituary by Nicholas Jennings, Globe and Mail, The, 20 January 2010
FOLK SINGER KATE McGarrigle left a deep musical legacy both in recordings with her older sister Anna McGarrigle and in her two children, singer-songwriters Rufus ...
The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde (2010)
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 22 January 2010
The Pretenders frontwoman on songwriting and songs; being a band member, and an extended exposition on her vegetarianism and the brutality of the meat business.
File format: mp3; file size: 70.8mb, interview length: 1h 17' 22" sound quality: *** (phoner)
Review by Rob Young, Uncut, February 2010
The Dame's debut: an enduringly curious dispatch from "Gnome-man's land", expanded and remastered. ...
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, February 2010
EELS' MARK EVERETT, usually known as E, has not deployed an unconsidered word in seven previous albums, but the title of his eighth is exquisite ...
Fionn Regan: My Way or the Highway
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 22 February 2010
His debut album was nominated for the Mercury prize – then his label locked away the follow-up. For his third album, Fionn Regan is going ...
Buddy Holly: Not Fade Away – The Complete Studio Recordings And More
Review by David Quantick, Uncut, March 2010
IN A 50-YEAR recording career, Buddy Holly, who died last Christmas at the age of 74, influenced everyone from the Beatles to Bob Dylan, and ...
Interview by Johnny Black, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2010
"I DON'T OWN MANY THINGS," Laura Veirs tells me. "I'm not a things person." ...
Carly Simon: A Not So Vain Superstar
Interview by Paul Sexton, Sunday Express, 14 March 2010
TALKING TO Carly Simon is like getting an invitation to the most impossibly sophisticated party you'll ever go to but instead of making you feel ...
Profile and Interview by Rob Young, Uncut, April 2010
The return of a remarkable English visionary. ...
Carly Simon: The Making of 'You're So Vain'
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, April 2010
Just who was this massive '73 hit about? Jagger? Beatty? Taylor? Or some guy named 'David'? "You're missing the point," Carly tells us... ...
Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me (Drag City)
Review by Dorian Lynskey, Q, April 2010
Avant-garde American folkstress's triple album. Not understated. ...
Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2010
Nashville-based veteran rips through the gears. ...
Rufus Wainwright: Cash For Questions
Interview by Paul Moody, Q, April 2010
FOR THE RECORD, THEN, OUR INTREPID DIVA: DOES HAVE HIS LEDERHOSEN CUSTOM-MADE, WAS TEMPORARILY SENT BLIND BY INJESTING TOO MANY DRUGS AND, OH YES, SINCE ...
Retrospective and Interview by Larry Jaffee, Audiophile Review, April 2010
Sept. 2011 note: I spent 18 months working on this piece. Richard was the easiest to get hold of. When I shared this tidbit with ...
She & Him: A Musical Marriage Made in Heaven
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 15 April 2010
"HOW'S THE SOY cappuccino?" asks Zooey Deschanel, sliding back into her seat and peering over at the white cup and saucer set before M Ward. ...
John Grant: Queen of Denmark (Bella Union)
Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 22 April 2010
JOHN GRANT used to front the Czars, whose failure to translate acclaim into sales no doubt further fuelled his supersized self-loathing. ...
Review by Everett True, BUST, 26 April 2010
HEY. GLAD YOU could make it. Thought we might want to establish a few rules before I get down to the actual reviewing. ...
Bill Callahan, Smog: Bill Callahan: Album by Album
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, May 2010
"I'M SOMEWHERE between a gumshoe and a journalist," Callahan says. "A writer, not a symbol. I don't want to be a performer who gets applause ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2010
Thwarted! He could have been L.A.'s McCartney. Instead, he ended up "ashamed of being human". ...
Fionn Regan: Shadows and light
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2010
Fionn Regan has just released his much-anticipated second album. It was something of a long haul, as he explains to David Burke. ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, May 2010
"WE DON'T shy away from the fire, us McGarrigle-Wainwrights," Rufus Wainwright laughs. "We're made of stern stuff." ...
Stevie Wonder: Mark Ribowsky: Signed, Sealed, and Delivered – The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder
Book Review by Robert Sandall, Sunday Times, The, 2 May 2010
His charisma is beyond doubt but, as this valiant life reveals, Stevie Wonder is on a different wavelength from everybody else. ...
Kris Kristofferson: A Nashville Rebel Reminisces
Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Guardian, The, 6 May 2010
THERE'S SOME wonderful YouTube footage of Kris Kristofferson receiving a gong at the 1970 Country Music Association awards. He lopes on stage with his hair ...
Joanna Newsom: "Is It Time For A Glass Of Wine?"
Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 9 May 2010
She models for Armani, enjoys a game of baseball and likes to stay out drinking cocktails. Jude Rogers meets Joanna Newsom, the outspoken singer making ...
Everything But The Girl: Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt: Everything But The Grief
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, 26 May 2010
They wrote sad songs, survived serious illness and fell out of love with pop. Now Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt are back. ...
Grizzly Bear: Freed From Captivity
Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 27 May 2010
Grizzly Bear are the cult indie group that suddenly got rather big. Jude Rogers talks to their frontmen. ...
Profile and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, June 2010
IN THE COURSE of twenty years in the music business, Brian Kennedy has been there and done that. He's won awards, published two best-selling novels, ...
Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick: Déjà Vu: The Unstoppable Dionne Warwick
Retrospective and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Arroyo Monthly, June 2010
You could be a good singer from now 'til hell and back and if you haven't got material, you're just standing there with your mouth ...
John Hiatt, Little Village: Hello Goodbye: John Hiatt and Little Village
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2010
WE CONVENED at Ry [Cooder]'s house in Santa Monica. Set up some amps in a ground-floor room which opened out on to his garden. ...
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: Before Today
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, July 2010
Eleventh album by West Coast former home-recording recluse — now with band — might just be his breakthrough. ...
Jackson Browne, David Lindley: Jackson Browne & David Lindley: Love Is Strange
Review and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, July 2010
Reunited with his '70s musical Mr Fixit, Browne delivers a great career-spanning live set — his best album in years. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, July 2010
"I CAN LOOK back now," reflects Phil Collins, "and see how annoying I must have been to people in the '80s and '90s." ...
The Stranglers: The Making of 'No More Heroes'
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Hasted, Uncut, July 2010
The "punk" outcasts' abrasive '77 classic: "Totally on the button for now, and it always has been," says former frontman Hugh Cornwell. ...
Phil Spector: The Agony Of Phil Spector
Comment by Mitchell Cohen, Rock's Backpages, 8 July 2010
I CAN LISTEN to six hours of Phil Spector recording sessions, some of which amount to take after take of Spector instructing the lead singer ...
Beyoncé Does Not Write Her Own Songs. Really?
Comment by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages, 15 July 2010
MY GAST WAS unutterably flabbered earlier this week when record producer Bangladesh "revealed" that Beyoncé does not write her own songs. ...
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, August 2010
GUARANTEED WORLDWIDE coverage because of his day job as Radiohead's drummer and signed to Bella Union, a UK indie label currently at the top of ...
Interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages Audio, 22 August 2010
Arlo talks about songwriting and the folk tradition; his memories of his father, Woody Guthrie; on guitar playing; music and politics, and his family's history of Huntington's chorea.
File format: mp3; file size: 55.7mb, interview length: 1h 00' 47" sound quality: ****
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Hawk
Review by Keith Cameron, Q, September 2010
Third album of rootsy glower from Scots/US beauty/beast duo. ...
Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon: Mark Kozelek: Album By Album
Guide by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, September 2010
NEARLY 20 YEARS into a career spanning Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon and several solo records, singer; songwriter, producer and label boss Mark Kozelek ...
Mary Chapin Carpenter: Modern Miracles: Mary Chapin Carpenter
Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2010
Having successfully overcome a major health scare, and now with a UK tour imminent – her latest album finding favour with fans and critics alike, ...
Arcade Fire: The Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
Review by Dorian Lynskey, Q, September 2010
IN MAY, WHEN news broke that Arcade Fire's third album would be called The Suburbs, one online fan posted a joke tracklisting featuring such numbers ...
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 ...
Bruce Springsteen: "People thought we were gone. Finished."
Retrospective and Interview by Keith Cameron, Guardian, The, 23 September 2010
Hobbled by legal wrangles, a frustrated Bruce Springsteen turned Born to Run's optimism on its head – and Darkness on the Edge of Town was ...
Grateful Dead, Robert Hunter: Unsung Heroes: Robert Hunter
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, October 2010
The man who put the words into Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia's mouths... ...
Blue Öyster Cult: The Making of '(Don't Fear) The Reaper'
Retrospective and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, November 2010
Riff approaching! Buck Dharma and co's "trans-awesome" tune, and the spookiest FM staple ever. "Nothing like the Byrds," apparently... ...
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 ...
Mickey Newbury: Unsung Heroes: Mickey Newbury
Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2010
Glory Glory Hallelujah! It's the original Nashville rebel... ...
Ray Davies: A Dedicated Chronicler of Fashions
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, Observer, The, 28 November 2010
IN LATE 1965, Ray Davies threw a party. One of his guests was a clothes designer, and as Davies recalled: "I got pissed off with ...
John Grant's Queen of Denmark: MOJO Album of 2010
Review and Interview by Martin Aston, MOJO, December 2010
AUTHOR'S NOTE: John Grant's debut solo album Queen Of Denmark deservedly won MOJO Magazine's album of 2010. I interviewed him about the MOJO victory and ...
Johnny Flynn's Special Relationship
Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, Guardian, The, 2 December 2010
Johnny Flynn followed his childhood sweetheart to New York, then came back and fired up the English antifolk scene. He tells Andrew Purcell about a ...
Guide by Bob Stanley, Guardian, The, 16 December 2010
From Elvis to Shakey, from Cliff Richard to Mark E. Smith, every pop star worth their salt has sung a song of Santa at some ...
Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Words & Music, Spring 2010
HE'S ONE OF Canada's most successful songwriters, an artist whose songs have topped the country and pop music charts around the world. As a composer, ...
Profile and Interview by David Quantick, Uncut, January 2011
John Grant overcame religious bigotry, homophobia, drug addiction and depression to make one of the greatest albums of 2010. But why does one of his ...
Terry Reid: What Is And What Should Never Be
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, January 2011
He could have been the frontman of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and the Spencer Davis Group. Instead, Terry Reid embarked on a remarkable musical adventure ...
John Grant: Success At Last For A Rock'n'roll Survivor
Interview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 7 January 2011
Dangerous sex, addiction and self-loathing – John Grant's turbulent life inspired one of the best albums of last year. Andy Gill meets him ...
The Archies, The Monkees: Don Kirshner
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, 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. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011
A GOLDEN RICH GUITAR PHRASE pulses out warmth and beauty and Neil Young keens "I want to live/I want to give/I've been a miner for ...
Cat Power: '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'
Retrospective by James Medd, Word, The, February 2011
SHORN OF A RIFF and chorus that are both as familiar as any in rock and roll, just verses and rhythm and a single guitar, ...
Cristina, Peggy Lee, Leiber and Stoller: Cristina's 'Is That All There Is?'
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, Word, The, February 2011
HERE ARE TWO gutsy blondes, a million miles apart musically, turning people's heads with the same Leiber and Stoller song. ...
Iron & Wine: "It ruins something for me when I know all the answers"
Profile and Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Uncut, February 2011
PERHAPS SURPRISINGLY, there is little privacy in Sam Beam's house, an octagonal behemoth one hour's drive from Austin, Texas. ...
Johnnie Allan, Chuck Berry: Johnnie Allan's 'Promised Land'
Retrospective by Andy Gill, Word, The, February 2011
ON 5th MARCH 1960, the same day that his rival Elvis Presley was being discharged from the army and welcomed back as an all-American icon, ...
Ron Sexsmith: Long Player: In Praise of Ron Sexsmith
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2011
"We have had a gutful of fast art and fast food. What we need more of is slow art: art that holds time as a ...
Review by James Medd, Word, The, February 2011
Three records rich in charm and melancholy. Give it up for Mélanie Pain, Joan As Police Woman and Anna Calvi. ...
Randy Newman, Nina Simone: Nina Simone's 'Baltimore'
Retrospective by Jim Irvin, Word, The, February 2011
WHEN RANDY NEWMAN'S Little Criminals was released late in 1977, ending a three-year drought for the irony tsar of Tin Pan Alley, critics queued up ...
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, February 2011
A GREAT SONGWRITER'S imagination knows no bounds. Take Paul Simon. His 70th birthday is coming up in October and his musical and verbal cornucopia of ...
Review by John Doran, Quietus, The, 11 February 2011
THE SPANISH PAINTER Francisco Goya was in an ideal position to comment on The Peninsula War of 1804-1808. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, March 2011
THE RECENT, TRAGIC, DEATH of Gerry Rafferty reminded thousands of fans just how vital his contribution to the '70s was, first as a member of ...
Review by James Medd, Word, The, March 2011
PJ Harvey is "a human being affected by politics" in an absorbing new record suffused with imagery from wars past and present. And they said ...
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. ...
Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones: Behind The Song: 'Not Fade Away'
Essay by Steven R Rosen, American Songwriter, 16 March 2011
AT THIS YEAR'S Grammys, 67-year-old Mick Jagger was out from the get-go to tell the audience how it was gonna be. He wasn't ceding anything ...
Smokey Robinson: My Date With Smokey
Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 27 March 2011
On his seventieth birthday William "Smokey" Robinson grants exclusive access to Jon Wilde to talk cocaine, the roots of Motown and why The Stones still ...
Smog: Bill Callahan: Searching For Smog
Profile and Interview by James Medd, Word, The, April 2011
How, after 11 albums, has the mysterious Bill Callahan stayed so supremely unknowable? ...
Paul Simon: So Beautiful Or So What
Review by David Hepworth, Word, The, April 2011
After a 70-year emotional odyssey, Paul Simon offloads his hard-won black humour and shrugging folk wisdom. ...
Bob Dylan: In Concert: Brandeis University 1963
Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 8 April 2011
WHILE LIBRARIES are filled with books about what's been gained from Dylan going electric, it's worth taking a couple minutes – maybe while listening to ...
Leon Russell: Ever the Journeyman: Leon Russell Interviewed
Retrospective and Interview by Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz, 13 April 2011
WHEN LEON RUSSELL left his home in Tulsa for Los Angeles after having played in teenage rock bands, a career in music wasn't what he ...
PJ Harvey: Polly Harvey reflects on a career marked by exploration and taking chances
Report and Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 15 April 2011
SAT IN THE ornate lounge room of a salubrious London hotel, Polly Jean Harvey apologises that she's finishing off a mouthful of nuts. With her ...
PJ Harvey: "I feel things deeply. I get angry, I shout at the TV, I feel sick."
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Observer, The, 24 April 2011
Polly Harvey opens up to Dorian Lynskey about 20 years in music and the emotions behind her latest dark masterpiece. ...
The Waterboys: There's Something In The Water: The Waterboys' This Is The Sea at 25
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 27 April 2011
Wyndham Wallace talks to Mike Scott of The Waterboys about his classic album This Is The Sea, 25 years on from its release… ...
Steve Earle: Alive and Kicking: Steve Earle
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2011
STEVE EARLE IS, as his fellow Americans are wont to say, in a good place. "I'm pretty happy. I've got a new little boy, a ...
Obituary by James Maycock, Independent, The, May 2011
GIL SCOTT-HERON lived a life of two distinct, very different halves – as dissimilar as night and day. Up to his mid-30s, Scott-Heron was a ...
Mickey Newbury: American Trilogy (Saint Cecilia Knows/Mountain Retreat)
Review by Rob Young, Word, The, May 2011
Mickey Newbury's songs were made famous by other people. In his own hands they reveal a strange and magical thumbprint. ...
Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 13 May 2011
I SHOULDN'T be writing this. It's not right. ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon Wainwright: 40 Odd Years and Counting
Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 20 May 2011
THE SINGER-SONGWRITERS who came of age in the 1960s and early 1970s are the Boomers' major contribution to the Great American Songbook, and Loudon Wainwright ...
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 26 May 2011
JUSTIN VERNON'S life could be the most implausible reality-TV show ever. Five years ago, he split from his beardy prog-folk band, DeYarmond Edison, and moved ...
Book Review by Rob Young, Word, The, June 2011
AROUND 15 MAY 1970, Neil Young glanced at Time magazine's coverage of the killing of four students at Kent State, grabbed a guitar and within ...
PJ Harvey: Polly Harvey: An Interview
Interview by James Medd, Word, The, June 2011
SHE'S SO ON-BRAND, it's like 20 years never passed: a black sleeveless vest top over a physique suggesting food is not an interest, the black ...
Arctic Monkeys: Alex Turner: "Tupac's 'California Love' is my karaoke tune of choice"
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 6 June 2011
Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner talks to Metro about how living in the US made the band's new album Suck It and See sound more ...
Bon Iver: "I'm really confused right now"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 9 June 2011
Bon Iver's first album brought Justin Vernon success beyond his comprehension. With his hugely anticipated second album out soon, Laura Barton asks – can he ...
East River Pipe: "A Songwriter Who Works at Home Depot": F.M. Cornog of East River Pipe interviewed
Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 15 June 2011
Cult singer songwriter Fred Cornog of East River Pipe talks to Wyndham Wallace about "scratching out a living, and trying to survive with a little ...
Review by Rob Young, Word, The, July 2011
After the world's greatest break-up album, Bon Iver has pulled himself out of the quagmire of regret — with invigorating results. ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Bohemian Rhapsody
Interview by Bob Mehr, MOJO, July 2011
Fuelled by a bitter split with lover Tom Waits, scarred by spiraling addictions and underwritten by her traumatic childhood, Rickie Lee Jones' Pirates album took ...
Retrospective by Steven R Rosen, Paste, 22 August 2011
WHEN DON MCLEAN'S "American Pie" was released in late 1971, everyone tried to analyze what he meant by "the day the music died." McLean was ...
Ashford & Simpson: Nick Ashford, 1941-2011
Obituary by Dave Laing, Guardian, The, 23 August 2011
Singer and songwriter who had a string of hits with his wife, Valerie Simpson, during Motown's heyday. ...
Glen Campbell, J. D. Souther: J.D. Souther: Natural History/Glen Campbell: Ghost On The Canvas
Review by Laura Barton, Word, The, September 2011
Half-centuries of rugged individualism are celebrated in two finely-chiselled new records. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, September 2011
"Unwanted Alien" — the stamp on Roy Harper's passport in 1962. It's been the story of his life: troubled outsider tries to break in. ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 11 September 2011
SINGER/SONGWRITER Ed Sheeran is a 20-year-old Prince Harry lookalike from Suffolk who somehow straddles the worlds of folksy MOR and hip hop. ...
Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 12 September 2011
HAVING SEEN his debut single, the haunting picture of a teenage drug-addict prostitute that was 'The A Team', hit number three earlier this year, Sheeran ...
Report by Bob Stanley, Guardian, The, 15 September 2011
The extension in copyright law is hailed as a victory for musicians. But while it will surely benefit Cliff, the Beatles et al, it will ...
Lindsey Buckingham: Town Hall, NYC
Live Review by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 29 September 2011
SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 (New York, NY) – Most of the over-55 rocker set are phoning it in these days, playing it all too safe amidst ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 30 September 2011
Feist's direct, simple and appealingly childlike melodies shine throughout latest album. ...
Review by Pete Paphides, Word, The, October 2011
The ravishing, quasi-pagan soundscapes of Feist's third album connect most powerfully just before dawn. Prepare to be spooked. ...
The Coasters, The Drifters, Ben E. King, Big Mama Thornton: Jerry Leiber, 1933-2011
Obituary by David Hepworth, Word, The, October 2011
The man who made "15-minute radio plays" into hits. ...
Review by Laura Barton, Word, The, October 2011
Come raise a glass in the small, vivid, brilliantly disordered universe of Nick Lowe — its life, just not quite as we know it. ...
Profile and Interview by David Hepworth, Word, The, October 2011
The moment their kids left home, Neil and Sharon Finn formed a new band. Pajama Club is their "empty-nest album". ...
Thomas Dolby: Appliance Of Science
Interview by James Medd, Word, The, October 2011
Name a musician that hasn't felt the magic plug-in of hyperactive studio dweeb Thomas Dolby. ...
Sandy Denny, Thea Gilmore: Thea Gilmore breathes new life into the words of a tragic lost star
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 14 October 2011
Folk-rock pioneer Sandy Denny left a wealth of lyrics that have inspired the artist's new album. ...
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Review by Tom Doyle, Q, November 2011
AS THE WAR of the Gallaghers thunders on, there's little doubt that this has been a messier separation than might even have been predicted. ...
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, November 2011
POP MUSICIANS have many aspirations, but one that is often hardest to fulfil is to be taken seriously. ...
Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, November 2011
LESLIE FEIST'S career path has been a zigzag. The Nova Scotia-born, Toronto-based artist played guitar with rapper Peaches (who nicknamed her Bitch Lap Lap) and ...
Loudon Wainwright III: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2011
"LOOK WHAT can happen!" grins Loudon Wainwright III, examining then-and-now portraits on the lid of his career-spanning box set, 40 Odd Years. In 1970 he's ...
Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, November 2011
IT'S EVERYWHERE. It's become part of the air we breathe. 'Summertime' certainly feels like it's been with us forever. One day this June, while making ...
George Gershwin: Searching for 'Summertime': Gershwin's masterpiece
Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, 19 November 2011
In some versions it's a tender lullaby, in others a siren song. Filmmaker James Maycock explores the bittersweet mysteries and colourful past of Gershwin's most ...
Bon Iver: Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)
Review by Bud Scoppa, Rock's Backpages, December 2011
ADOPTING THE nom de plume Bon Iver, Justin Vernon made the leap from unknown to major artist in the few seconds between the strummed acoustic ...
Retrospective and Interview by Bruce Pollock, brucepollockthewriter.com, December 2011
ONE OF THE MOST enigmatic and evocative and emotionally intense songwriters ever to hit the Top 40, Laura Nyro's career survived numerous dips and bends. ...
Lana Del Rey Takes Her Place On The Internet's Sacrificial Altar With Born To Die
Review by Maura Johnston, Village Voice, The, 2 December 2011
IN ANOTHER era, Lana Del Rey would just be another pretty pop singer with a second-rate voice and big, unrealized ambitions, a major-label footnote maybe ...
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, Gentlewoman, The, Spring 2011
2011 saw a perfect start for Adele Adkins, a British singer with incredible international appeal. When her second album was released in January, it went ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, Intelligent Life, Summer 2011
ROCK MUSIC in 2011 is not quite what it was in the mid-1960s. For one thing, it is full of challenging coincidences, such as the ...
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, Fall 2011
WITH THE CRITICAL mass now in her favour, a commercial breakthrough seems inevitable for St. Vincent, known otherwise as Annie Clark, poster girl for indie ...
Bat For Lashes: Bat for Lashes: The Haunted Man
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, 2012
Ivor Novello Award winner takes things a little too seriously. ...
Interview by Robin Platts, Rock's Backpages Audio, 2012
The master interpreter talks about his long, fruitful relationship with songwriter Jimmy Webb, from first recording such classics as 'Galveston' and 'By The Time I Get Phoenix', to their recent collaboration on the Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb: In Session album.
File format: mp3; file size: 11.8mb, interview length: 12' 55" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Sleeve and programme 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 ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, January 2012
Siren of art-house blues-rock, raised on Beefheart and modelled on Edith Piaf. Ashamed of her attraction to Glee. ...
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, January 2012
Classy Americana from Canadian chanteuse produced by Bon Iver. ...
Lisa Hannigan: Companion Piece
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2012
David Burke spends a little time with Lisa Hannigan and hears how her latest solo album, Passenger, is an altogether more relaxed affair. ...
Nanci Griffith: Blue Moons and True Believers
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2012
About to make a welcome return to our concert halls and with a new album imminent, Nanci Griffith is in conversation with R2's David Burke. ...
Interview by Rob Hughes, Word, The, January 2012
Anyone else apart from Roy Wood ever been sued by a prime minister? ...
Todd Rundgren: The MOJO Interview: Todd Rundgren
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 2012
TWO DAYS AFTER a throat-shredding three-night stand at London's Jazz Café, Todd Harry Rundgren seems relieved merely to be talking. Still sporting multi-coloured – black ...
Evan Dando, The Lemonheads: Evan Dando: Different Drum
Profile by James Medd, Word, The, February 2012
Evan Dando's dismissal as the work-shy poster boy of bubble-grunge masks a monumental talent. Reconsider this man! argues James Medd. ...
Paul McCartney: Macca's Ration Book Romance: 'We Three'
Comment by Fred Dellar, Rock's Backpages, February 2012
PAUL MCCARTNEY'S latest album, Kisses On The Bottom, is, to a great extent, based around a number of songs his father once loved: age-old standards ...
Dory Previn: Remembering Dory Previn
Memoir by Loraine Alterman, Rock's Backpages, February 2012
MY DEAR FRIEND of nearly 40 years, Dory Previn, died last week. She was a great songwriter who exposed her deep feelings about love ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2012
AS CONCEPT ALBUMS go it was one of the more eccentric creations of the late 1960s. The mouthful of a title alone (Suite for Susan ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin and the Shock of Grace
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2012
NOTE: This is the "director's cut" version – at almost twice the length – of a piece written for MOJO and subsequently used as the ...
Ed Sheeran: Mercury Lounge, NYC
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, Rock NYC, 2 February 2012
WHAT'S WITH Ed Sheeran and homelessness? The subject provides two short stories and three songs during his second set ever in the US at Mercury ...
Emeli Sandé: Her Version Of Events: Emeli Sandé Interviewed
Interview by John Doran, Quietus, The, 8 February 2012
Emeli Sandé discusses human brains, Virginia Woolf and Cher Lloyd with John Doran ...
Loudon Wainwright III: Loudon & I
Comment by Mark Leviton, Rock's Backpages, 14 February 2012
I'VE WRITTEN BEFORE about the parallels I continue to find between my own life and Loudon Wainwright III's, as he expresses events and feelings in ...
Perfume Genius: "I've learned not to trust myself"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 16 February 2012
Porn footage and his mum were two of the inspirations for songs on Mike Hadreas's second album, which, yes, features the same themes of lurid ...
Pet Shop Boys: Format 1995-2009
Review by Jude Rogers, Word, The, March 2012
Pet Shop Boys' later B-sides — now compiled into a titillating album — offer an alternative narrative to the last two decades. ...
Simone Felice: Beyond Thunderdome
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2012
Acclaimed singer-songwriter and sometime novelist Simone Felice talks life, love and near-death with fellow author – and R2 philosopher – David Burke. ...
Overview by Graeme Thomson, Word, The, March 2012
Because sometimes the only way musicians can actually talk to each other is by writing songs ...
Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Skip Spence: We need to talk about... Skip Spence: Oar in dark water
Retrospective by Graham Reid, elsewhere.co.nz, 5 March 2012
SYD BARRETT of Pink Floyd and Roky Erickson of Thirteenth Floor Elevators don't own the category of "mad '60s acid casualty" exclusively. ...
Review by Laura Barton, Word, The, April 2012
Paul Weller's unchanging image limits our view of him. His third "experimental" record fizzes with aural innovation. ...
Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, Word, The, April 2012
The Sandy Denny tribute show is expanding, a long-running fight to "give her songs a future". ...
Report and Interview by Charles Bermant, No Depression, 6 April 2012
RICHARD THOMPSON is messing with the standard performer/audience equation in two ways this year. There was his participation in the Cayamo Songwriters' cruise in February, ...
Carole King: A Natural Woman: A Memoir
Book Review by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 25 April 2012
MY FAVORITE SCENE in Carole King's long-awaited A Natural Woman comes near the beginning — appropriately, since the teen hitmaker was the epitome of an ...
The Divine Comedy: Neil Hannon On Lyric-Writing
Interview by James Medd, Word, The, May 2012
It takes weeks to make it sound this easy, says Divine Comedy songsmith. ...
Richard Hawley: Standing At The Sky's Edge
Review by Stuart Maconie, Word, The, May 2012
It's trippy up north. Richard Hawley has made a full-blown, widescreen psychedelic rock album — and it's a masterpiece. ...
Richard Hawley: Standing at the Sky's Edge
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, May 2012
"… AND THIS ONE'S for all the men in the house." Yes, after a decade of seducing career couples with the Roy Orbison stylings of ...
Elvis Costello: SECC Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 15 May 2012
LOOKING AND SOUNDING like Eric Morecambe's impish rock-star nephew, Elvis Costello revealed his hitherto untapped talents as a music-hall comedian at the debut British date ...
Ray Wylie Hubbard plays Joe's Pub tonight, talks new album (with a Beatle)
Report and Interview by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 17 May 2012
RAY WYLIE HUBBARD will bring his raw, honest Texas rock'n'roll to Joe's Pub tonight. When I caught up with him the other day he was ...
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Catalog for Doug Aitken's Song 1 exhibition, June 2012
I WAS FOURTEEN YEARS OLD – a glam-rock brat awakening to the golden innocence of pre-Beatles American pop – when I shelled out for the ...
Rufus Wainwright: The MOJO Interview
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, June 2012
WHAT WAS ON Rufus Wainwright's mind while making his new album, the sparkly, pop-ish, Mark Ronson-produced Out Of The Game? Only this. ...
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, June 2012
"TEA ANYONE?" says Rumer from the doorway of her beach hut. "Plenty of sandwiches left." Dazed by the mad March sun, her audience of biz ...
Review by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, 4 June 2012
AFTER HER National Book Award-winning memoir Just Kids greatly expanded her audience, Patti Smith could have done the usual aging-rock-legend safety move: record an album ...
Nic Jones: What the folk! Nic Jones is back
Retrospective and Interview by Colin Irwin, Guardian, The, 28 June 2012
Thirty years after the car crash that almost killed him, folk hero Nic Jones is returning to the stage. He talks about his rebuilt body ...
Live Review by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, 4 July 2012
MATTHEW WARD is set to bid farewell to his cult status. After a decade spent forging a solo career in the cosy backwater of the ...
Jonathan Richman: The Echo, Los Angeles
Live Review by Roy Trakin, Hits, 13 July 2012
IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME since I've seen the legendary founder of the Modern Lovers, the man-child my fellow companion at a show once showered ...
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages Audio, 14 July 2012
The fabulously successful songwriter talks about her inspirations (Brill Building, Motown); not wanting to be a performer; breaking into the business, and the artists — from Laura Branigan to Aerosmith — who've covered her songs.
File format: mp3; file size: 33.4mb, interview length: 36' 31" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Rodney Crowell's Melodic Literacy
Interview by Charles Bermant, Rock's Backpages, 6 August 2012
RODNEY CROWELL, who turns 62 on August 7, has been on our radar since the 1970s, when he was the freshest horse in Emmylou Harris' ...
Bill Fay: Album: Bill Fay: Life Is People
Review by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 11 August 2012
SUCCESS IN songwriting is as much a lottery as a measure of true quality. Some writers instantly catch the zeitgeist, and become household names; others, ...
World Party: Karl Wallinger: The song that saved my bacon
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2012
IN 1997, WORLD PARTY released a song called 'She's the One'. A simple, affecting piano ballad written by Karl Wallinger "in 10 minutes and recorded ...
World Party: Karl Wallinger: The Song that Saved My Bacon
Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2012
IN 1997 WORLD PARTY released a song called 'She's the One'. A simple, affecting piano ballad written by Karl Wallinger "in ten minutes and recorded ...
Jackson Browne: Cain Park, Cleveland
Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 20 August 2012
FOR JACKSON BROWNE, like James Taylor, a summer stop in Cleveland, Ohio is like the swallows returning to Capistrano. Throughout the '70s, the socially conscious ...
Aimee Mann: The Discreet Charm of Aimee Mann: An Interview
Interview by Martin Colyer, Rock's Backpages, September 2012
A freewheeling chat, taking in Mann's new Charmer, her talented collaborators, reality TV, turning up the treble, Laura Linney's focus, Jack Kerouac's drying-out and women's ...
Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 5 September 2012
DYLAN FANS have invented some amusing parlour games. One is 'Guess That Song' from the strange, incomprehensible soup of his live performance. Another is keeping ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, Guardian, The, 12 September 2012
American singer and songwriter best known for 'Games People Play' ...
Mika meets Dita Von Teese: "I've had to work hard to stay like this"
Interview by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, 11 October 2012
The flamboyant singer and the burlesque performer share their thoughts on fetishism, sexuality and pop as the ultimate masquerade. ...
Interview by Gavin Martin, Daily Mirror, 12 October 2012
In the era of autotuned idols, the appeal of a unflashy young man and his heartfelt songs obviously strikes a universal chord ...
Van Morrison: Born To Sing: No Plan B
Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 12 October 2012
FOR VAN MORRISON, first and foremost, it's always been about the music, and finding that magic place inside the music that takes you someplace else, ...
Nick Lowe: The 'Peace' Maker: Nick Lowe
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Cincinnati CityBeat, 19 October 2012
WHEN CONSUMMATE singer/songwriter Nick Lowe played his most famous composition — '(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding' — near the World Trade Centre ...
Hurray for the Riff Raff: Protest and Survive
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2012
MUSIC AS AN instrument of change – remember that concept? It may seem a little naïve at a time when even the mighty have fallen ...
Robbie Williams: Take The Crown
Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 5 November 2012
"I THINK everything about Robbie Williams is fantastic," Morrissey once declared, "except the voice and the songs." ...
Report and Interview by Bruce Pollock, Songfacts, 7 November 2012
AT THE KEYBOARDS, Donald Fagen was the smoky voice and songwriting co-conspirator (with Walter Becker) on all of Steely Dan's classic hits, from 'Reelin' In ...
Connie Smith: Honoring Connie Smith: 45 RPM at Douglas Corner, Nashville
Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 7 November 2012
FOR THOSE WHO believe real country music has fled Nashville, the recent CMA Awards would do little to ease your notion. Bombast, smoke, lasers and ...
Report by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, 9 November 2012
Currently riding a crest of newfound attention thanks to the recently released documentary film about his unlikely career, the Sugar Man himself arrived at Columbus' ...
Gary Barlow: Bournemouth International Centre
Live Review by David Bennun, Daily Mail, 19 November 2012
CUT GARY BARLOW, one suspects, and he bleeds light entertainment. ...
Graham Parker repeats the Rumour
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Washington Post, The, 23 November 2012
IN THE NEW Judd Apatow movie, This Is 40, Paul Rudd's character runs an indie record label that reunites Graham Parker and the Rumour, the ...
Retrospective by Gene Sculatti, Rock's Backpages, 27 November 2012
ITEM: A recent Los Angeles Times article reported that the city's Wende Museum, which houses more than 100,000 Cold War artifacts, had outgrown its present ...
Retrospective and Interview by Rod Tootell, Rock's Backpages, December 2012
IN SEPTEMBER 1974, a Swedish journalist was interviewing a rock singer pretty much unknown in Sweden. His name was Bruce Springsteen. ...
Martha Wainwright: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, 3 December 2012
AMONG THE prodigal polymath musicians of the Wainwright-McGarrigle clan, Martha seems destined to come second to her brother Rufus. Among the prodigal polymath musicians of ...
Rosanne Cash: Union Chapel, London
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 3 December 2012
A HOST OF FACTORS, including brain surgery, have conspired to keep Rosanne Cash away from London for the last six years. Returning to a full ...
Ben Bullington, Rodney Crowell: Rodney Crowell, Ben Bullington and More: Station Inn, Nashville
Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 7 December 2012
BEN BULLINGTON had never played Nashville. The Montana doctor who'd lovingly crafted three albums thick with simple details and a voice that has a warm ...
John Cale: Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood
Review by Wyndham Wallace, bbc.co.uk, Fall 2012
IT'S UNFAIR THAT, almost half a century since their formation, John Cale remains best known for his role as co-founder of the Velvet Underground. ...
The Bee Gees: Barry Gibb: Three-Minute Genius
Book Excerpt by Clinton Walker, 'Rock Country', ed. Christian Ryan (Hardie Grant), 2013
IN 1961 THE Gibb family – parents Hugh and Barbara and kids Lesley, Barry, twins Robin and Maurice, baby Andy – were living on Queensland's ...
Doc Pomus: It's Great to Be Young and in Love
Review by John Morthland, Wondering Sound, 3 January 2013
YEAH, that Doc Pomus, the one who wrote such '50s and '60s rock 'n' roll standards as 'Save the Last Dance for Me' for the Drifters, 'Teenager ...
Matthew E. White: Lexington, London
Live Review by Stevie Chick, Guardian, The, 24 January 2013
"THIS ONE'S a groover," smiles a hirsute, check-shirted Matthew E White, looking like the Kings of Leon's friendly stoner cousin as he leads his five-piece ...
Aimee Mann: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, 29 January 2013
"WOW, THERE ARE people in here all of the way to the back!" marvels Aimee Mann two songs in, shielding her eyes to gaze deep ...
Review by Charles Bermant, No Depression, 29 January 2013
YOU GOTTA FEEL for someone who doesn't own any Bob Dylan or Neil Young albums and hasn't a clue where to start. There are too ...
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Push the Sky Away
Review by Mark Mordue, Monthly, The, February 2013
WE DON'T OFTEN go on journeys with musicians any more. Not over the length of an album. From iTunes to Spotify, we live in an ...
Ron Sexsmith: Forever Endeavour
Press Release by Barney Hoskyns, Cooking Vinyl Records, February 2013
IN A WORLD of workaday singer-songwriters mired in vacuous self-regard, news of a new Ron Sexsmith record can only gladden the heart of those who ...
Review by John Lewis, Metro, 1 February 2013
THE TENTH ALBUM from Eels shows that, while they may have fallen out of the limelight, their music is as sharp as ever. ...
The Troggs: Reg Presley, 1941-2013
Obituary by Dave Laing, Guardian, The, 5 February 2013
THE TROGGS WERE not among the most technically proficient of British pop groups of the 1960s, but they generated great affection among audiences and disc ...
Frightened Rabbit: "We were never cold enough to be art school"
Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Metro, 7 February 2013
Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison talks about swearing, not being an art school band and their new album Pedestrian Verse. ...
Frightened Rabbit: Concorde 2, Brighton
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 14 February 2013
UNTIL RECENTLY, Glasgow's Frightened Rabbit were best-known for being bigger in America than at home. ...
Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, Guardian, The, 20 February 2013
Founder member of Soft Machine and a key figure in British psychedelic rock. ...
Ed Harcourt: Death Before Silence: Ed Harcourt's Baker's Dozen
Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 4 March 2013
Singer, songwriter, pianist and all round bon viveur Ed Harcourt talks to Wyndham Wallace about his favourite records. ...
Steve Mason: "I don't think rioting is the answer any more"
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Observer, The, 10 March 2013
Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason explains why not everything on his new solo album is political. ...
Billy Bragg: SXSW: Billy Bragg plays songs from new album, plus one inspired by the Bible
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 15 March 2013
"THE PROBLEM with most protest songs," Billy Bragg said Wednesday afternoon, "is people spend all their time on the protest and not enough on the ...
John Grant: 'This Addictive Personality Permeates My Entire Being'
Interview by Nick Hasted, Independent on Sunday, 24 March 2013
After fighting drug problems, John Grant declared on stage that he was HIV-positive. Nick Hasted meets a very candid indie star ...
Yip Harburg and the Story of 'Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead'
Retrospective by Fred Dellar, Rock's Backpages, April 2013
THOUGH I HAVE tremendous sympathy for those who lost their jobs, their dignity and sometimes their lives, following the pit closures and ensuing strike of ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 17 April 2013
The late progster talks about writing songs for ELP and King Crimson; writing methods; writing with Pete Sinfield; the pleasure of playing live, and one particularly hairy gig with ELP in Bologna, Italy.
File format: mp3; file size: 33.7mb, interview length: 36' 50" sound quality: *** (phoner)
Burt Bacharach: "He writes in hat sizes. Seven and three-fourths." Frank Sinatra on Burt Bacharach
Comment by Mitchell Cohen, Rock's Backpages, 27 April 2013
IF THE DETAILS of Burt Bacharach's romantic escapades — and there were many, since as Sammy Cahn once said, Burt was the only songwriter who ...
Travis: How We Learned to Hate Travis and Why We May Be Wrong
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 28 May 2013
With Where You Stand, their seventh album – and first for five years – due out this summer, frontman Fran Healy joins Wyndham Wallace to ...
Tom Waits: Tom's Wild Year: The Story of Swordfishtrombones
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Classic Rock, June 2013
HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU it was not. Tom Waits did, however, have news for fellow guest Ian Hislop, rounding on the latter after ...
Burt Bacharach: What Was it All About?
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 1 June 2013
AT THE AGE OF 85, the man who has been described as the greatest songwriter of the 20th century cuts a surprisingly energetic and restive ...
Laura Nyro, Mark Winkler: Mark Winkler Finds Healing in the Songs of Laura Nyro
Report and Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, 7 June 2013
ASK JAZZ SINGER and songwriter Mark Winkler which of his parents he favors and he's unequivocal. "Oh, I'm definitely my mother's son," he grins. "My ...
Elton John: Don't Shoot the Piano Player: Elton's Croc-Rock Reconsidered
Retrospective by Gene Sculatti, Rock's Backpages, 17 June 2013
FOR SOME REASON — most likely the much-reported news of his participation in the new Queens of the Stone Age album — I've lately found ...
Miracle Legion, Mark Mulcahy: Heart Still Attached: Mark Mulcahy & Miracle Legion
Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Blurt, 24 June 2013
The erstwhile Miracle Legion vocalist crafts a fresh solo masterpiece. Meanwhile, Blurt presents a Mulcahy interview from the deep archives. ...
Willie Nile Hits New Career Peak with American Ride
Report and Interview by Jeff Slate, Guitar World, 1 July 2013
ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO, BBC disc jockey Spencer Leigh reviewed a show by my old band, the Badge, and wondered how we were able to ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 4 July 2013
PETULA CLARK WAS 80 years old when she released her 2013 album Lost In You, an elegant and contemporary set produced by John Williams – ...
Ian Hunter: When I'm President
Review by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 17 July 2013
WHILE MOST OF the Old Guard have slipped into the comfort of greatest hits packages and endless reissues, a few of them – Bob Dylan, ...
Burt Bacharach: Royal Festival Hall, London SE1; Anyone Who Had a Heart (Alcourt)
Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 18 July 2013
The effect of seeing Bacharach live at the Royal Festival hall was to be hit by more top-40 songs that you'd think a single act ...
Obituary by Tony Russell, Guardian, The, 11 August 2013
JACK CLEMENT, who has died aged 82, was not only a prolific and successful songwriter and an able musician but had a long track record ...
Warren Zevon: Keep Him In Your Heart For a While: Remembering Warren Zevon
Retrospective by Jim Sullivan, Rock's Backpages, September 2013
IT WAS THE FALL of 1989 and I was having lunch with Warren Zevon at Musso & Frank's, the famous Old Hollywood restaurant where he ...
Ron Sexsmith: A spoonful of sugar
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2013
Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith's true-life confessions are easy to swallow, says David Burke. So why isn't he more widely prescribed? ...
Bob Dylan: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971), The Bootleg Series Vol. 10
Review by Jeff Slate, Guitar World, 2 September 2013
THE THING ABOUT being a fan of Bob Dylan is that the discovery of his greatness is never-ending. ...
Neko Case: The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 3 September 2013
ONCE MERELY A third of the New Pornographers' indie-rock-Avengers front line and a solo act with country-rock leanings, ginormous pipes and comedy-club-stage banter, Neko Case ...
Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: "I'll do without an audience to make the music I want"
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, 5 September 2013
Prefab Sprout sold millions of records in the '80s, but singer Paddy McAloon always made music for himself rather than the masses. Now he's back ...
Elton John: Rocket Man on a New Mission
Report and Interview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 13 September 2013
After serious illness, the star is back with his best album in years. He tells Andy Gill how he found a new lease of life. ...
Tears For Fears: This Is Going To Hurt: The Mad World Of Tears For Fears’ Debut LP
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 20 September 2013
In his 100th piece for The Quietus, Wyndham Wallace talks to five key figures behind Tears for Fears to present an epic oral history of ...
Ty Segall: Garage rock's Pied Piper leads a new march
Profile and Interview by James Medd, Guardian, The, 21 September 2013
The hardest-working slacker in lo-fi has another album coming out, but this time he's having a bash on drums. ...
Kitchens of Distinction: An Accidental Comeback: Reassembling Kitchens of Distinction
Retrospective and Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 23 September 2013
The return of Kitchens of Distinction was unexpected, even for the band. Wyndham Wallace joins them for their first face-to-face interview together in almost two ...
Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 27 September 2013
FOR MORE THAN four decades, Garland Jeffreys has been playing, writing, performing, always close to the top, but somehow remaining the invisible man who never ...
Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013
Massive step forward for mesmerising talent. ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, Guardian, The, 28 October 2013
Velvet Underground frontman and solo artist whose hymns to transgressive behaviour created an audience of outsiders. ...
Lou Reed: The Wild Side, Magic, and Loss
Obituary by Robert Dean Lurie, National Review, 29 October 2013
His subjects were difficult and his voice abrasive, but he never tried to be anyone other than himself. ...
Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, November 2013
IT IS JAKE BUGG'S misfortune to be recording in a cynical, over-mediated age. ...
Lou Reed: Why no one wanted to write his obituary
Comment by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 1 November 2013
MOST ROCK STARS are about 70 years old these days, so their departure is a constant possibility and music journalists are mentally prepared to trot ...
Retrospective by Gary Pig Gold, PopDiggers, 9 November 2013
I FIRST BECAME aware of the man in 1970, as composer of what to this very day remains my absolute favourite Three Dog Night tune, ...
St. Vincent: The Totally Original Sound of St. Vincent
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Smithsonian , December 2013
TO UNDERSTAND Annie Clark's inventiveness as a composer, it helps to listen more closely to the first single off her latest solo album, Strange Mercy. ...
Jackson C. Frank: The tragic tale of Jackson C. Frank, forgotten legend of the '60s
Retrospective by Bob Stanley, Guardian, The, 9 January 2014
He was one of the great singer-songwriters of the '60s folk scene, more highly regarded by some than Paul Simon. But he only recorded one ...
Leonard Cohen: This Is What It's Like To Have Lunch With Leonard Cohen
Retrospective and Interview by Jon Wilde, Sabotage Times, 20 January 2014
ONE OF THE finest talents of modern music, Leonard Cohen has enjoyed something of a resurgence in later life. I got the opportunity to pick ...
Rosanne Cash: The River & The Thread
Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 21 January 2014
LIKE A GOOD claret or damp moss, Rosanne Cash's singing is something to sink into. Surrender to the tones – mostly dark, but marked by ...
Rosanne Cash: The River and the Thread
Review by Graham Reid, New Zealand Herald, The, 23 January 2014
ONE OF THE LAST songs Johnny Cash recorded was the moving 'September When It Comes' with his daughter Rosanne for her 2003 album Rules of ...
Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages Audio, 5 February 2014
The singer/songwriter talks about her first album in seven years, Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles; her writing process and collaboration with Gerry Leonard; the influence of spiritualism and the Tarot, and sampling 50 Cent!
File format: mp3; file size: 12.7mb, interview length: 13' 54" sound quality: ** (phoner)
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, 10 February 2014
The not-so-native New Yorker on her current album The River and the Thread; on rediscovering the American South, and the Tallahatchie Bridge; on being Johnny Cash's daughter; working with her husband and co-writer John Leventhal; on songwriting, and her sewing circle!
File format: mp3; file size: 57.9mb, interview length: 1h 00' 16" sound quality: ****
Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 24 February 2014
A MAVERICK musical magpie, Beck has over his 20-year career veered off into nu-folk, Mississippi blues, hip-hop, country, funk and electro-hued pop noir. He never ...
David Crosby: "The FBI scare me more than Hell's Angels"
Interview by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, 26 February 2014
The legendary songwriter on Janis Joplin, being "the voice of cosmic America" and Croz, his first solo album in 20 years. ...
Profile and Interview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 26 February 2014
WHEN GUY GARVEY split from his long-time partner Emma Unsworth, he had to get away. Far away. The genial, bear-like singer knew he needed a ...
Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2014
SHERYL CROW'S made a country album, they said. She's living down there in Nashville, hanging out with Vince Gill and Brad Paisley, going to church ...
Beck's back: A new album from pop's coolest chameleon
Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, Daily Telegraph, 1 March 2014
The singer-songwriter Beck talks about his new album, Morning Phase, the latest turn on a zig-zag career. ...
Live Review by Juliette Jagger, Exclaim!, 16 March 2014
A LONE SPOTLIGHT cut through the blackness in the room to reveal Lorde at centre stage, where her presence was immediately overwhelming. ...
Profile and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 12 April 2014
She has single-handedly built the template for the modern female rock'n'roller: she has out-partied, out-married and, in many cases, outlived her contemporaries. ...
Jesse Winchester: An Appreciation
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 14 April 2014
FOR 10 YEARS, from 1967 to 1977, Jesse Winchester couldn't set foot in the United States, the nation where he had lived until he was ...
Kate Bush: Sonic Foam: Kate Bush
Essay by Ian Penman, London Review of Books, 17 April 2014
A DREAM, just before waking. It's a day or two after Kate Bush's unexpected announcement of her return to the concert stage for a series ...
Damon Albarn: "Pop's gone back to showbiz. It's like the Beatles or Dylan never happened."
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, Observer, The, 27 April 2014
WHEN DAMON ALBARN was nine, he persuaded his parents, who were in the process of moving house from Leytonstone in east London to rural Essex, ...
Dave Mason, Traffic: Traffic Jammer Dave Mason Peers Into His Future's Past
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 14 May 2014
MOST OF THE TIME, a traffic jam is a wholly unpleasant experience and something to avoid at all costs. But when the said confluence of ...
Book Review by Robert Dean Lurie, Front Porch Republic, 16 May 2014
LEONARD COHEN occupies an unusual position in popular music history. He is routinely neglected by those "Best of the 60's" nostalgia-fests you see on VH1, ...
Bert Berns: Hit Man: Joel Selvin's Here Comes the Night
Book Review by Robert Gordon, New York Times Book Review, The, 30 May 2014
BERT BERNS the producer is the Phil Spector you've never heard of. Bert Berns the songwriter is the Leiber and Stoller you've never heard of. ...
Bobby Womack: Save The Children (Solar)
Sleeve and programme notes by Bob Fisher, unpublished, June 2014
WHEN BOBBY WOMACK died on June 27th, 2014, at the age of 70, he was one of the last links to the world of '60s ...
Bobby Womack: It's All Over Now: Remembering Bobby Womack
Memoir by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, June 2014
[This is the original – and very slightly different – version of a piece that appeared in the Observer on 29 June, 2014.] ...
Review by Steven R Rosen, Blurt, June 2014
Smooth '70s soul-pop, as revisited by the estimable archivists at Numero Group, never sounded silkier. ...
Sharon Van Etten: Are We There
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 5 June 2014
Sharon Van Etten's follow-up to her 2012 breakthrough is full of elegantly drawn gloom. ...
Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence: What the Critics Are Saying
Report by Roy Trakin, Hollywood Reporter, The, 17 June 2014
Sophomore album proves the chanteuse has created a strong identity, thanks to a back-to-basics production by Black Keys' Dan Auerbach. ...
Bob Dylan: Unlike a Rolling Stone
Comment by Robert Dean Lurie, American Conservative, The, 20 June 2014
Why Bob Dylan, troubadour of the revolution, turned homeward. ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, Guardian, The, 20 June 2014
Lyricist who, with his partner Carole King, wrote many hit songs of the 1960s. ...
Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull: The Fast-Moving Mind (and Mouth) of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 2 July 2014
IT SEEMS THAT Gerald Bostock, the noted writer and lyricist, is at it again. ...
Daniel Patrick Quinn: Acting The Rubber Pig
Review by Luke Turner, Quietus, The, 25 July 2014
WHERE HAVE ALL the awkward bastards gone, the square pegs in round holes, those who wilfully follow difficult paths, to their own detriment, in a ...
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, August 2014
YOUNG KATE. I sat across from her in EMI offices and Abbey Road Studios for around seven hours, 1979-89, asking awkward questions and getting awkward, ...
James Yorkston : The Cellardyke Recording & Wassailing Society (Domino)
Review and Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, September 2014
IT’S A RARE joy when an artist with unfailingly high standards over a decade-long career reaches a new level of excellence – and, with his ...
Ed Sheeran: iTunes festival, Roundhouse, London ****
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, 30 September 2014
Choirmaster builds to a climax... but keeps his shirt on. The multimillion-selling star stretches English self-deprecation to the limits while creating a whole band's worth of ...
Bachman Turner Overdrive, The Guess Who: Randy Bachman Is Forever Takin' Care of Business
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 8 October 2014
IN HIS CAREER as a co-vocalist/guitarist/songwriter for not one but two pretty successful classic-rock bands, the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Randy Bachman has sold ...
Julian Casablancas: "I have nothing against gentrification"
Interview by Paul Lester, Guardian, The, 9 October 2014
The Strokes singer on brunch and banks, dictatorship in the US and his Voidz protest album, Tyranny. ...
Neil Young's After The Gold Rush
Review by Juliette Jagger, Noisey, 10 October 2014
RELEASED IN THE fall of 1970, Neil Young's After The Gold Rush has over the course of the past 40 plus years become widely known ...
Jackson Browne: Standing in the Breach
Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 21 October 2014
IN 1974, JACKSON BROWNE released his third album, his masterpiece Late For The Sky, a record that was brilliantly constructed in every way from the ...
Jake Bugg: Alexandra Palace, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, 22 October 2014
JAKE BUGG'S ASCENT to fame may have been precipitous, but his idea of showmanship remains remarkably minimalist. ...
Stevie Nicks: 24 Karat Gold – Songs from the Vault
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 23 October 2014
The star re-records a batch of lost demos from four decades, using Nashville session A-team. ...
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 ...
Bruce Cockburn: Rumours of Glory
Sleeve and programme notes by Nicholas Jennings, True North Records, November 2014
IN HIS ILLUMINATING memoir, also called Rumours of Glory, Bruce Cockburn writes: "My songs are influenced by what I read, where I travel and what ...
Courtney Barnett: El Rey Theatre, L.A.
Live Review by Roy Trakin, Addicted To Noise, 10 November 2014
ROCK 'N' ROLL may be on its last legs, but it is still capable of providing an epiphany along its death spiral. Thank god for ...
Bob Dylan: Cover Star: Bob Dylan
Comment by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2014
BOB DYLAN DOES covers like a constant wash cycle of the soul, inspiration to aspiration to fulfilment. Then repeat. Until death us do part… ...
Billie Holiday: Blood on the Leaves: Eric Garner and 'Strange Fruit'
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 5 December 2014
"I CAN'T BREATHE," Eric Garner moaned moments before dying on a Staten Island street on July 17 of this summer. As one of millions who ...
Bob Dylan plays to an audience of one in Philly
Review by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 16 December 2014
ONE OF THE MOST powerful songs at the closing night of Bob Dylan's five-show run at New York City's Beacon Theater earlier this month was ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Basement Tapes and Free-Floating Stanzas
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 16 December 2014
BOB DYLAN HAS been much in the press lately thanks to the release of the six-CD box set, The Basement Tapes Complete and of The ...
Gene Clark: The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark (Four Suns DVD)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Ugly Things, Spring 2014
OF ALL THE hard-luck tales about musicians who died before their time – Brian Jones, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Parsons, Bloomfield, Cobain, Winehouse, et al. – ...
Justin Townes Earle: Light at the End of the Tunnel
Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 13 January 2015
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE released Single Mothers, one of the best albums of 2014, just four months ago in September. This week he's back with another ...
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, 21 January 2015
Forget moon in June. Today's pop lyrics are written by Pulitzer-winning novelists. We talk to the writers muscling into pop – and the musicians flirting ...
Elvis Costello, Wendy James: Elvis Costello and Wendy James: That Year's Model
Retrospective by Graham Reid, New Zealand Herald, The, 26 January 2015
TRANSVISION VAMP were one of those British bands who got through the door in the post-punk/New Wave era, but didn't quite know what to do ...
Chris Bell: He was the Cosmos: The Tragedy of Chris Bell
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2015
NOTE: This article is comprised of adapted excerpts from my big MOJO story written about Big Star and published in February 2000 – BH. ...
Jesse Winchester: Seems Like Only Yesterday: Live in Montreal 1976
Sleeve and programme notes by Gene Sculatti, Real Gone Music , February 2015
AMONG THE more effective pieces of ordnance most writers keep close at hand is a gift for understatement. Jesse Winchester's arsenal has always been well-stocked. ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, Guardian, The, 4 February 2015
Songwriter, singer and record producer whose compositions became hits for stars including Chubby Checker and Aretha Franklin. ...
Marc Almond: Let's Talk About Death
Interview by Simon Price, Independent, The, 17 February 2015
Simon Price talks to the enigmatic singer about Soho, Soft Cell and mortality. ...
Sandy Denny: Mick Houghton: I've Always Kept a Unicorn – The Biography of Sandy Denny
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, Guardian, The, 21 February 2015
WHAT, HYPOTHETICALLY, would have happened if Sandy Denny had tried out for The Voice UK? Would Rita and Ricky and Will.i.am and Sir Tom have ...
Kat Edmonson, Robert Ellis: Kat Edmonson/Robert Ellis: Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 25 February 2015
KAT EDMONSON AND Robert Ellis, who brought their tour to Annapolis Tuesday night, are Houston singers with the same final initial and current Brooklyn addresses. ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2015
THE OBJECTS OF pop culture iconography never grow old. Elvis Presley is forever framed as the hip-thrusting, kiss-curled, impossibly beautiful boy king, just as Bob ...
Sandy Denny, Jackson C. Frank: Learning the Game: Sandy Denny and Jackson C. Frank
Book Excerpt by Mick Houghton, 'I've Always Kept a Unicorn' (Faber), March 2015
"I think my first songwriting influences came from somebody called Jackson Frank. He's an American bloke who made one album over here just called Jackson ...
James McMurtry: Landscape Artist
Profile and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 5 March 2015
MOST OF JAMES MCMURTRY's songs are populated by rural and small-town characters, but these are not pastoral hymns to the easygoing joys of country living. ...
Ray Wylie Hubbard, James McMurtry: Down in Austin, music is something of a family business
Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 19 March 2015
AUSTIN MUSIC IS becoming a family business. Parents are passing down to their children songwriter/performer brand names as if they were used-car lots, drug stores, ...
Nick Cave: The SICK BAG Song (Canongate)
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, Guardian, The, 28 March 2015
WHEN YOU'VE personally witnessed Nick Cave nodding out on heroin and slowly lowering his head into a candle flame – his mass of dyed black ...
Townes Van Zandt: The Nashville Sessions
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, April 2015
IT COULD HAVE been the record that made him; maybe, even the record that saved him. ...
Todd Rundgren: Songwriter Interviews: Todd Rundgren
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 2 April 2015
'I SAW THE LIGHT' came a little too easy for Todd Rundgren. The song took him maybe 20 minutes to write, just going up and ...
Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 9 April 2015
"I'M JUST A horse with no name," sings Laura Marling on 'Warrior' — slyly invoking the 1970s soft-rock hit by America while conjuring a wanderer ...
Sufjan Stevens: Beacon Theatre, New York NY
Live Review by Iman Lababedi, Rock NYC, 12 April 2015
THE DIFFERENCE between Rufus Wainwright's full length lament for his late mother, All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, and Sufjan Stevens, Carrie And Lowell, is ...
Tracey Thorn: "I'd kill to be able to sing like Adele"
Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 12 April 2015
The Everything But the Girl frontwoman, whose book about the art of singing is out this month, on Twitter, The X Factor – and why ...
Curtis Mayfield: Revisiting Curtis Mayfield's There's No Place Like America Today
Retrospective by David Bennun, Quietus, The, 16 April 2015
NOTE: This article was adapted by its author from a piece in the 1995 Melody Maker book Unknown Pleasures. ...
Prince's Around the World in a Day at 30
Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, soulhead, 22 April 2015
IN THE SPRING of 1985, there were two types of Prince fans – those who boarded the violet-hued bandwagon years before Purple Rain (both the ...
Lionel Richie: "There was something seriously wrong with Michael Jackson. But this is Hollywood"
Profile and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 25 April 2015
The downside of marrying a model half his age. The day he discovered Michael Jackson was as mad as a snake. And why the Ku ...
Book Excerpt by Wyndham Wallace, 'Lee, Myself & I' (Jawbone), May 2015
The following extract takes place within a few minutes of my first meeting with Lee Hazlewood in April, 1999, at New York's Grand Hyatt Hotel, ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, Guardian, The, 26 May 2015
Singer and songwriter who found fame in the 1960s with her teenage tragedy hit record 'Terry'. ...
Burt Bacharach: Inside the head of... Burt Bacharach
Interview by Jon Wilde, Event Magazine, 30 May 2015
The composer says he's a perfectionist to the point of obsession (as Dionne Warwick or Cilla Black will tell you). It caused his biggest regret: ...
James Taylor: "A big part of my story is recovery from addiction"
Profile and Interview by Paul Sexton, Daily Telegraph, 20 June 2015
At the age of 67, James Taylor has made his 16th album, his first in 13 years. After spending his early career addicted to heroin, ...
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2015
DON'T TELL THE wife, but I've fallen for Buffy Sainte-Marie. She probably doesn't feel the same way about me, but then being well-versed in the ...
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Q, July 2015
IN TWO YEARS, THE YOUNG BRIT SINGER-SONGWRITER JAMES BAY HAS GONE FROM BARMAN TO CHART-TOPPING, AWARD-WINNING HEARTTHROB AND IS MOBBED WHEREVER HE TRAVELS. NO WONDER ...
Paul McCartney, Wings: Vinyl Icon: Paul McCartney & Wings' Band On The Run
Retrospective by Johnny Black, Hi-Fi News & Record Review, August 2015
KNIFE-WIELDING ATTACKERS, primitive recording facilities, medical emergencies – for sheer unadulterated behind-the-scenes drama and bizarre shenanigans, no other Paul McCartney album comes even remotely close ...
Paul Anka's enduring work has ranged from Sinatra to Nirvana
Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, 1 August 2015
"I'M 98 YEARS OLD!" he crows on the phone. Not quite; he's 74. But he's still going strong, singing with an orchestra Friday at the ...
Sun Kil Moon: St George's Church, Brighton
Live Review by David Bennun, Guardian, The, 4 August 2015
BACK, THEN, to the old question of whether, and how, one separates the artist from the art. Mark Kozelek's music has been justly treasured since ...
Curtis Mayfield: 10 of the best
Guide by Stevie Chick, Guardian, The, 5 August 2015
Deploying sweet soul and blistering funk – and pouring his gorgeous, honeyed falsetto over it all – Curtis Mayfield veered between breezy optimism and hard-edged ...
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages Audio, 5 August 2015
The venerable (post)punk talks about how he writes, from the Pistols days through PiL: his influences, motivation and about specific songs.
File format: mp3; file size: 31.3mb, interview length: 34' 09" sound quality: ** (phoner)
The Apartments: album's birth so traumatic 'it's a miracle it exists at all'
Profile and Interview by Andrew Stafford, Guardian, The, 7 August 2015
Peter Milton Walsh had no intention of releasing the songs he wrote after tragedy struck. After 18 years he is ready to share them at ...
Sufjan Stevens: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, 4 September 2015
IN AN INTERVIEW with The Quietus' Jeremy Allen in October 2010, with music streaming still in its relative infancy, Sufjan Stevens opined that technological change ...
Blick Bassy: 'I want to expose the dangers of the immigration dream'
Interview by Laura Barton, Guardian, The, 9 September 2015
The Cameroonian singer-songwriter draws on figures from Miles Davis to African freedom fighters to produce his soulful, melodic sound — but it wasn't until he ...
Interview by Carl Wiser, Songfacts, 16 September 2015
The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in 'Drop the Pilot' ...
Morrissey: Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith
Live Review by Kate Allen, Fashion Music Style, 21 September 2015
"THIS IS MY LIFE," are the words Morrissey welcomes the crowd with. And what a life it is at the moment: playing a large number ...
Fleetwood Mac: Eye Witness: Fleetwood Mac Start Work On The Follow-Up To Rumours
Retrospective and Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, October 2015
After a huge world tour and a two-month break, Fleetwood Mac reconvene in an expensively-customised L.A. studio to make the follow-up to the biggest selling ...
Review by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 23 October 2015
"WHY IS THE PAIN of birth lighter borne than the pain of death?" asks Joanna Newsom on the title-track of her first release in five ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Ties That Bind – The River Collection
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2015
ON HIS FIFTH E Street Band album, Springsteen still struggled "to gain the knowledge of how to make records". But this sense of technical difficulty ...
Elvis Costello: Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink
Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, November 2015
LIKE A HANDFUL of rock stars I have encountered along the way – among them Townshend, Bowie and Zappa – Elvis Costello would have made ...
Review by Mark Paytress, MOJO, November 2015
Freak-folk Cinderella follows acclaimed 2010 triple with an album of erudite pop and deepening moods. Mark Paytress takes the plunge. ...
John Grant: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
Review by Paul Trynka, MOJO, November 2015
UNHAPPY PEOPLE, a Russian once suggested, are more varied and interesting than happy ones — which makes John Grant a very special person indeed. Over ...
The City: Now That Everything's Been Said
Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, November 2015
Carole King's missing link between songwriter and solo superstar. ...
Julia Holter: Islington Assembly Rooms, London
Live Review by Richard Williams, Blue Moment, The, 13 November 2015
WHEN I TOLD my friend Howard Thompson that I was going to see Julia Holter at the Islington Assembly Hall last night, he said: "You ...
Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home
Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2015
NOTE: This piece appeared in Mojo 265, in an enclosed 52-page "book" entitled Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. ...
Guy Clark: Randall Knives, Desperados & Homegrown Tomatoes
Memoir by Holly Gleason, Bitter Southerner, The, 2016
IT'S 6:42 in the morning, and traffic ain't moving. There's no notion of how far this snake of pick-ups, sedans, mini vans twists and lays ...
John Cale: "Danger: Depressing": John Cale's Music for a New Society
Sleeve and programme notes by Barney Hoskyns, Domino Records, January 2016
JOHN CALE'S Music for a New Society startled in 1982 and it startles in 2016. It was markedly at odds not only with the synthetic ...
Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham: Do Right Men: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2016
DAN PENN AND Spooner Oldham still remember the day everything changed. "I was in American Studios in Memphis working on the Box Tops," recalls Penn. ...
Bob Dylan: How Bob Dylan And The Holy Trinity Changed Music Forever
Retrospective by David Dalton, Classic Rock, January 2016
BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde are the highwater mark of '60s rock, and with the quasi-religious reverence due ...
Nadia Reid: Listen To Formation, Look For The Signs
Review by Mike Barnes, MOJO, January 2016
Inspired debut by a young New Zealand singer-songwriter you'll feel you've known forever. ...
P. F. Sloan: P.F. Sloan: Requiem For An Icon of Song
Retrospective by Kirk Silsbee, Glendale News-Press, 2 January 2016
SONGWRITER P.F. Sloan died in November of pancreatic cancer, at age 70. Though the general music audience has seldom known his name, among singers and tunesmiths ...
Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Independent, The, 25 January 2016
JUST WHEN WE thought we didn't have any more space in our life for 21st century Denmarkia, along comes another slice of Danish. This time, ...
Book Excerpt by Chris Charlesworth, 'The Little Black Songbook' (Wise Publications), February 2016
"I pour out what has already been fed in. I merely reflect what is going on around me." (David Bowie, July 1973) ...
Leonard Cohen: "You can add up the parts, but you can't find the sum"
Special Feature by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2016
So said Leonard Cohen himself in 1992's Anthem. But RC's Jamie Atkins still tries to do the math in this tribute ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages Audio, 8 March 2016
The ex-Hollie and CSN(Y) associate talks about his new album This Path Tonight; about seeing the Everlys in Manchester as a youth, harmony singing, the recent changes in his life; about Trump, religion and the state of the world, and his continuing love of photography; and about the tribulations of David Crosby and the health of old flame Joni Mitchell.
File format: mp3; file size: 49.5mb, interview length: 51' 35" sound quality: *****
Guide by Angus Batey, Guardian, The, 20 April 2016
From a chequered career, the tussle between the religious and the secular is audible on all of Green's best songs – even the ones he ...
Beyoncé's Lemonade is an object lesson in collaboration
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, 28 April 2016
She's the centripetal force that marshals the likes of Robert Plant, Jack White, Kendrick Lamar and MNEK to craft exquisite pop music that transcends boundaries ...
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2016
DONNIE FRITTS MAY be an alumnus of Muscle Shoals, the Alabama mecca of southern soul, and a renowned songwriter and recording artist in his own ...
Guy Clark: Remembering Guy Clark, The Craftsman
Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 18 May 2016
GUY CLARK'S favorite place was the basement of his West Nashville home, where he painstakingly hand-built flamenco guitars and hand-built songs with the same exacting ...
Father John Misty: Roundhouse, NW1
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 20 May 2016
Despite some soft-rock padding, Misty’s signature brand of darkly funny lounge-singer archness came to the fore on slower numbers ...
Bob Dylan: How Dylan's Blonde On Blonde created the modern album
Retrospective by James Medd, Bigmouth, 23 May 2016
Fifty years ago, Bob Dylan turned pop entertainment into a vehicle for dazzling visions – and it's been that way ever since. James Medd investigates the album that invented an ...
Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, June 2016
WHEN BEN HARPER reunited with his band, the Innocent Criminals, for a sold-out four-night run at San Francisco's Fillmore in March, 2015, seven years after ...
Terry Reid: The Other Side Of The River (Future Days)
Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, June 2016
TERRY REID'S place in rock history is secure if only for his decision not to be the lead singer of Led Zeppelin (it wouldn't have ...
Percy Mayfield: The Poet of the Blues
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 3 June 2016
WHO IS THE most underrated songwriter of the rock 'n' roll era? Percy Mayfield. ...
DM Stith: Interview: DM Stith on his new album Pigeonheart
Interview by Wyndham Wallace, Quietus, The, 6 June 2016
After touring with Sufjan Stevens, and working on the Revival Hour's debut album with the Earlies' JM Lapham, DM Stith discusses the difficult genesis of ...
XTC: Andy Partridge: Mid-Morning Matters
Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2016
"Empires and whole XTC albums have been built on Tunnock's wafers. Their packaging! It's like the glam version of traditional." XTC's main songwriter and musical ...
Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2016
WHEN YOU THINK about it, email is only a truncated form of letter writing. The art of literary correspondence re-imagined. And every bit as revealing ...
Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2016
Over the past two-and-a-half decades Kentucky, Lousiville's Will Oldham, or the artist most commonly known as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, has amassed one of the strongest ...
Bert Berns: The Ecstatic Agony of a Producer/Songwriter
Report and Interview by Mitchell Cohen, Best Classic Bands, 7 August 2016
The Rock Hall member behind such classics as 'Brown Eyed Girl,' 'Twist and Shout' and more. ...
Dierks Bentley: How Dierks Bentley Became Country Music's Most Relatable Star
Profile and Interview by Maura Johnston, Esquire, 25 August 2016
IT'S A SULTRY August afternoon at the St. Louis record mecca Vintage Vinyl, and in the back of the shop amidst carrels of LPs, Dierks ...
Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 26 August 2016
IT'S 14 YEARS since Lisa Hannigan first came to attention as the second voice on Damien Rice's debut, O, and five since her last album, ...
Joanna Newsom: End of the Road festival, Wiltshire
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, September 2016
THERE AREN'T MANY contemporary musicians I'd stand in the pissing Wiltshire rain at summer's end to hear: I'm too ancient to care too much about ...
Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 4 September 2016
THE LAST TIME we heard from KT Tunstall, she was struggling with the double whammy of a broken marriage and the death of her father. ...
Ed Harcourt: "I'm coming out with fists flying"
Interview by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 14 September 2016
It's taken seven albums, visions of the child catcher and Billy Bunter's reflection in the mirror, but the English songwriter has finally refound his voice ...
Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run (Simon & Schuster)
Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, October 2016
TWO OF THE best Bruce Springsteen shows I ever saw were at Wembley Stadium in July of 1985. ...
Mose Allison: Who Is... Mose Allison?
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Music Aficionado, October 2016
THE LEGENDARY British organ player Georgie Fame once described his hero Mose Allison as "the jazz version of Bob Dylan." When an interviewer asked Fame's ...
Arab Strap: The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne
Live Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 13 October 2016
Aidan Moffatt and Malcolm Middleton revive tales of chaotic lifestyles for Brexit Britain, with music that ricochets between folk, pop and intense dance. ...
Marc Almond: "I've had the chance to be subversive in the mainstream"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, Observer, The, 23 October 2016
With a career-spanning 10-album box set coming out, the Soft Cell star reflects on the '80s, Brexit and his fading love affair with London. ...
The Jayhawks Soar Back Into Houston
Report and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 26 October 2016
THEY INITIALLY CAME to prominence under the alt-country/No Depression banner in the mid '90s. But no listener to the whole discography of the Minnesota-bred Jayhawks ...
Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, November 2016
Two years ago, in crisis, doubting his worth and dismissed by his own label. Then he started to sing about that uncertainty, and everything changed. ...
Tim Buckley: The Dream Belongs to Me: The Tragic Journey of Tim Buckley
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, November 2016
FIFTY YEARS AGO this month, an album was released that, in its own strangely magical way, managed to stand out among the recent folk boom ...
James Blake: O2 Academy, Bristol
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 1 November 2016
JAMES BLAKE has had a bumper year, guesting on Beyoncé's Lemonade album and releasing his own sublime third long-player, The Colour in Anything. ...
Leonard Cohen and his eternal search for peace
Retrospective by Mick Brown, Sunday Telegraph, 13 November 2016
IN 1999 LEONARD COHEN travelled to India to see a spiritual teacher named Ramesh Balsekar. Cohen was a man in search, if not exactly of ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, Guardian, The, 14 November 2016
IN 2010, ELTON JOHN surprised his fans by releasing an album in collaboration with the pianist, singer and songwriter Leon Russell, whom he described as ...
Kate Bush: "I'm not sure you're ever really happy with what you create"
Interview by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 24 November 2016
In a rare interview, the reclusive 'Wuthering Heights' singer opens up about her nerves performing live and working with her son on the spectacular visuals for her 2014 shows, ...
Gillian Welch: Boots No. 1 - The Official Revival Bootleg
Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, 28 November 2016
THE ARRIVAL OF A new record from Gillian Welch and her partner Dave Rawlings is an eagerly anticipated event at Just Backdated. ...
John Cale: Fragments of a Rainy Season
Sleeve and programme notes by Barney Hoskyns, Domino Records, December 2016
THOUGH FRAGMENTS of a Rainy Season is the fourth live album released by John Cale in his post-Velvet Underground career, it's the first to feature ...
Paul Simon: Peter Ames Carlin: Homeward Bound – The Life Of Paul Simon
Book Review by Chris Charlesworth, Just Backdated, December 2016
IF EVER A career in music was pre-ordained, it is that of Paul Simon, the ambitious, gifted and ever-so-scrupulous first son of a professional double-bass ...
John Prine: Songs from the Gut: A Conversation with John Prine
Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, Fall 2016
JOHN PRINE, the original "new Dylan", has always written songs with a deep heart and a strong empathy for the people who go unseen. ...
Chuck Berry: You Can't Catch Me: Chuck Berry's Final Years
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2017
THE ARTIST IS immortalised in death as seldom in life. At least that's mostly the way of things. But not when it came to Chuck ...
Kate Bush: Not Drowning But Waving
Interview by Jim Irvin, MOJO, January 2017
Forty years into her career, Kate Bush is still looking for fresh ways to exhaust herself. Before The Dawn, her run of 22 live shows ...
The Band, Robbie Robertson: Robbie Robertson: Testimony
Book Review by Clinton Heylin, Spectator, The, 21 January 2017
THE RECENT SPATE of rock memoirs has proved one of the less rewarding sub-genres in the post-digital Gutenberg galaxy. Obeying few rules of a good ...
The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield: Beautiful Brother: The Gentle Genius Of Curtis Mayfield, Part One
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, February 2017
How a poor boy from Chicago became the voice of the civil rights movement in soul's greatest vocal group, defined the black pride anthem and ...
Jim Lauderdale: Jim Changes Everything
Interview by David Burke, Country Music, February 2017
JIM LAUDERDALE knows his country music history – and he's very aware of his and his contemporaries' modest place in it compared to the iconic ...
Obituary by Chris Charlesworth, Rock's Backpages, March 2017
THANKS TO HIS duck walk, the way he swung the neck of his guitar around and those nifty little bent-note licks that opened his songs, ...
Comment by Everett True, Music That I Like, March 2017
ED SHEERAN is shit. Do not believe the crowd. ...
Curtis Mayfield: Move On Up: Curtis Mayfield Part 2
Retrospective by Kris Needs, Shindig, March 2017
VASTLY EXCEEDING his hopes when it was released that September, Curtis was greeted as the most exciting soul album since Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul ...
Justin Hayward's Endless Nights in White Satin
Profile and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 3 March 2017
OF ALL THE HITS that the Moody Blues have charted over the past 50-plus years of existence, the one big calling card for the English ...
Prefab Sprout: Why Prefab Sprout's return with 'America' is a whim and a wonder
Report by Pete Paphides, Guardian, The, 6 March 2017
Paddy McAloon surfaced on Friday with a new track that is heartbreaking in an entirely unexpected way. ...
Nelly Furtado: Canadian Bands You Should Know: Nelly Furtado
Profile and Interview by Juliette Jagger, nmc.ca, 24 March 2017
AT THE ONSET OF 1998, Nelly Furtado was a fresh-faced, bright-eyed, 19-year-old singer-songwriter from Victoria, BC, sharing a partitioned apartment at Yonge and Finch in ...
Elton John: Madmen Across the Water: How Elton John (and Bernie Taupin) stormed the USA
Retrospective by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, April 2017
IN NOVEMBER 1970, Elton John performed an intimate concert at A&R Studios in New York, recorded for WABC FM. In front of 125 people, Elton ...
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 11 April 2017
On the faux-raunchy rock numbers he simply lacked conviction: antiseptic, anodyne and asexual. The blond leading the bland. ...
Live Review by David Bennun, Guardian, The, 30 April 2017
Singer who redefined rock'n'roll 50 years ago continues to confound expectations as tour brings him to London Palladium. ...
John Grant's North Atlantic Flux festival, Hull
Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, 3 May 2017
The American singer-songwriter played a rapturously received selection of barbed ballads at his own boutique festival. ...
Review and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Paste, 9 June 2017
CHUCK BERRY WAS one of our nation's great writers. In fact, it's puzzling that the Library of America hasn't yet turned his collected lyrics, poetry ...
Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, 17 June 2017
The band's new album, Every Valley, chronicles the destruction of the Welsh coal industry and how its legacy still resonates in these uncertain times. ...
John Murry: A Short History Of Decay
Review by Tim Cooper, Quietus, The, 19 July 2017
EVERYTHING ABOUT John Murry is blurred. From the Southern Gothic backstory to the near-death drug overdose to the recurring cycle of tragedy and redemption, right ...
Feist: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Rick Pearson, Evening Standard, The, 28 July 2017
JARVIS COCKER joined Feist on stage at the Empire, ambling on during 'Century' to ask: "How long is a century? Almost as long as a ...
Profile and Interview by Andrew Stafford, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 28 July 2017
A PIECE OF PAPER stuck to the entrance of the Coburg RSL in Melbourne reads "cash only (dark ages)". It's not much warmer inside than ...
PJ Harvey: Playhouse, Edinburgh
Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 13 August 2017
THERE'S NO NEED to ask how PJ Harvey takes her coffee. From the all-black dress code and shadowy stage lighting to the dense, dusky music, ...
Nick Lowe: Nick the Knife and other reissues (Yep Roc)
Review by Jon Young, Mother Jones, 21 August 2017
Nick the Knife/The Abominable Showman/Pinker and Prouder Than Previous/Party of One/Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit/The Rose of England (Yep Roc) ...
Bruce Springsteen: Live In Belfast 1996 – The Ghost Of Tom Joad Revisited
Review by Rod Tootell, Rock's Backpages, October 2017
RUNNING THROUGH October and November, Bruce Springsteen will play a series of solo shows at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway. It seems a fitting ...
Profile and Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, November 2017
After being given an impromptu tour of his manor in search of a decent cup of coffee, RC's Jamie Atkins talked to Baxter Dury about ...
Debbie Gibson: All-American Girl
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, November 2017
DEBBIE GIBSON feels as though she's in a Tina Turner moment at this stage of her career, on the precipice of a midlife renaissance. ...
Luke Haines: Godfathers of Pop: Luke Haines
Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, November 2017
LUKE HAINES has fronted the Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder, released 13 albums under his own name, composed the soundtrack for Paul Tickell's ...
The Eagles: Trouble in Paradise: The Eagles' Hotel California and mid-'70s Los Angeles
Retrospective by Ed Doheny, Rock's Backpages, November 2017
DON HENLEY once described the Eagles' 1976 album Hotel California as "our interpretation of the high life of Los Angeles", adding that the band had ...
Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten: Angel Olsen: Phases/Sharon Van Etten: (it was) because i was in love
Review by Jon Young, Mother Jones, 9 December 2017
WHETHER PERFORMING stark acoustic folk or giving her confessional songs a jolt of electricity, Angel Olsen always sounds like she's one beat away from a ...
Joni Mitchell: David Yaffe: Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell
Book Review by Clinton Heylin, unpublished, Fall 2017
WARREN ZEVON, a Laurel Canyon contemporary of Joni Mitchell, once wrote a song called 'Accidentally Like A Martyr'. Taking a leaf from Zevon, David Yaffe's ...
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2018
"IT NEVER FELT like it was going to be a life-changing moment," says Robert Finley. "It was just an ordinary Saturday morning, and I was ...
Kate Bush: What joy – 40 years of hitting the heights with Kate Bush
Comment by Barbara Ellen, Observer, The, 21 January 2018
THE KATE BUSH song 'Wuthering Heights' is 40 years old this month. One could argue that this has momentous import for Bush, female musicians and ...
Shawn Colvin: Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
Live Review by Peter Ross, Times, The, 23 January 2018
The folk veteran's rendition of her 1997 album A Few Small Repairs was full of polish, with great cover versions, but lacked a vital spark. ...
Mary Gauthier: Rifles & Rosary Beads
Review by Andy Gill, Independent, The, 25 January 2018
MARY GAUTHIER'S reputation as one of today's greatest songwriters, admired by peers such as Tom Waits and Bob Dylan, is rooted in her relentless commitment ...
Beck: "I miss people. I have a longing for connection and human contact": Life on Planet Beck
Profile and Interview by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 30 January 2018
THE CHILSTON PARK Hotel in Lenham, Kent, was once owned by Judith and Martin Miller, the antiques stars of the '80s who wrote the Miller's ...
Bob Dylan: "A hundred-mile-an-hour clip": Bob Dylan and the Beats
Book Excerpt by Michael Goldberg, 'Kerouac on Record' (Bloomsbury), March 2018
Editor's note: The just-published Kerouac On Record includes many essays about the influence of Jack Kerouac on musicians, including the Grateful Dead, Patti Smith, Tom ...
Brigid Mae Power: Servant Jazz Quarters, London
Live Review by Tim Cooper, Louder Than War, 8 April 2018
After two acclaimed albums and a harrowing #metoo contribution, Brigid Mae Power performed her first sell-out date in East London. Tim Cooper went along for an ...
Courtney Marie Andrews: Islington Assembly Rooms, London
Live Review by Rick Pearson, Evening Standard, The, 25 April 2018
PICKING UP THE gong for International Artist of the Year at the recent UK Americana Awards, Arizona's Courtney Marie Andrews came to Islington with expectations ...
Review by Dave Simpson, Guardian, The, 4 May 2018
IN 2016, ELEANOR Friedberger spent a month in Athens, Greece, ending up in what the half-Greek American describes as an "'80s goth disco" – called ...
James Taylor: Going on tour with his old friend Paul Simon
Profile and Interview by Paul Sexton, Sunday Times, The, 13 May 2018
Fifty years after he signed up with the Beatles, Taylor is returning to London. He's not stopping yet. ...
Stephen Malkmus Doesn't Think He Was a Jerk
Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, New York Times, The, 14 May 2018
"I HATE BEING TAN," Stephen Malkmus said almost immediately, standing in the lobby of a Midtown hotel. His olive complexion, the unwanted result of a ...
Courtney Barnett on coping with fame, homophobia – and thinking she still sucks
Profile and Interview by Jenny Valentish, Guardian, The, 17 May 2018
The Australian musician has gone from indie darling to global star, but she's still uneasy in the limelight and wracked with self-doubt – even self-hate. ...
Courtney Barnett – Tell Me How You Really Feel (Marathon Artists / Milk! Records)
Review by Tim Cooper, Louder Than War, 18 May 2018
Courtney Barnett releases her hugely anticipated sophomore solo album Tell Me How You Really Feel. Three years after the Australian's landmark debut attracted plaudits and awards, ...
Violent Femmes: These Daddies Haven't Gone Anywhere
Profile and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 29 June 2018
BRIAN RITCHIE says that he gets asked a certain question often. Maybe somebody sees him with his long blond hair. Or that he's carrying a ...
Review by Simon Price, Metro, 28 August 2018
IT WASN'T ALWAYS easy to discern the purpose of Anna Calvi. A spare PJ Harvey in case we lost the real one down the back ...
Review by Wayne Robins, Rock's Backpages, September 2018
THE FLUSHING Meadow Park concert area is a stout walk from both the Citi Field parking lots and subway stations. ...
Bob Dylan: No One Else Could Play That Tune: An Introduction
Book Excerpt by Clinton Heylin, 'No One Else Could Play That Tune' (Route), October 2018
And I could never let you go, No matter what goes on, 'Cause I love you more than ever, Now that the past is gone. —Last ...
Lisa Hannigan and Stargaze: Barbican, London
Live Review by Rick Pearson, Evening Standard, The, 5 October 2018
LISA HANNIGAN is still best-known for her work alongside Damien Rice: her voice was the ethereal counterpoint to his earthy tones on multi-platinum-selling O in 2002. ...
Sharon Van Etten: Remind Me Tomorrow (Jagjaguwar)
Review by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 23 January 2019
In Van Etten's new album, life's mess is powerful and holding it all in your arms is a creative act. ...
Uncle Tupelo, Wilco: Jeff Tweedy: At Least That's What He Said
Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2019
The recent publication of his autobiography and the release of his first solo album, Warm, have seen Wilco man Jeff Tweedy reflect on a remarkable ...
Bill Medley, Jennifer Warnes: How we made Dirty Dancing's '(I've Had) The Time of My Life'
Interview by Henry Yates, Guardian, The, 9 April 2019
Franke Previte, co-songwriter: ...
Nick Cave, Larry "Ratso" Sloman: Ratso Has A Record (and a duet with Nick Cave)
Comment by Michael Simmons, Dangerous Minds, 25 April 2019
WHAT MOST PEOPLE dream about, Larry "Ratso" Sloman makes happen. Anyone who's read Ratso's first book, 1978's On The Road With Bob Dylan, has witnessed ...
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 ...
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 ...
Ed Sheeran: No. 6 Collaborations (Atlantic)
Review by Caroline Sullivan, Metro, 15 July 2019
OTHERWISE known as Pop's Insanely Successful Mr Average, Ed Sheeran rouses many people to eye-rolling disbelief: four albums in, how can Ginger Ordinaire still be ...
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