Alan Niester
Alan Niester has been called, by no less an institution than the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, "Canada's iconic rock critic." His writing career has spanned five decades and resulted in literally thousands of printed articles, celebrity interviews, television and radio appearances and even a feature profile in a Korean rock magazine. His journey started in the early seventies with regular appearances in CREEM Magazine, where he befriended and partied with the legendary Noise Boys Lester Bangs, Nick Tosches and Richard Meltzer. He was later conscripted to Rolling Stone Magazine by ex-CREEM editor Dave Marsh, and upon moving to Toronto in the late seventies, was asked to lend a helping ear to the arts section of The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper of record.
(photo: Al Niester, right, with Lester Bangs)
Beyond the Printed Page: The Life and Times of a Big Time Rock Critic
10 articles
List of articles in the library
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath Volume Four (Warner Bros.)
Review by Alan Niester, Creem, January 1973
OH JEEZ. The question is, would you rather have your Black Sabbath Volume 4 be, some sort of magnificent change of direction with the band ...
Christopher Milk: Some People Will Drink Anything (Warner Brothers)
Review by Alan Niester, Creem, January 1973
THE RUMOR you may have heard about all rock critics secretly wanting to be rock and roll stars is absolutely true. They won't all admit ...
Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (Warner Bros. W 2750)
Review by Alan Niester, Rolling Stone, 9 May 1974
VICES MARKS the latest step in the career of one of America's more noteworthy and consistent singles bands. And like most albums released by bands ...
Jerry Garcia: Reflections (Round Records RX-LA565-G)
Review by Alan Niester, Rolling Stone, 3 June 1976
LET'S PUT it this way. You'd have to be a real fan of, say, Ted Nugent to plunk down five bucks to hear him do ...
Hawkwind: Space Ritual (UA La 120-H)
Review by Alan Niester, Rolling Stone, 31 January 1974
YOU NEVER see any Hawkwind albums in bargain bins because they never get there. The unsold copies are apparently re-released with gaudy new covers and ...
King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Atlantic SD 7236)
Review by Alan Niester, Rolling Stone, 30 August 1973
REMEMBER ART rock? Well, it still lives. Every year or so Robert Fripp claws his way from a graveyard of past musical fads, emerging like ...
Roxy Music: For Your Pleasure (Reprise)
Review by Alan Niester, Phonograph Record, July 1973
THE FIRST time I heard it, I was kind of disappointed. Roxy Music, you understand, are what I consider to be the finest thing that's ...
Spirit: The Twelve Dreams Of Doctor Sardonicus (Epic)
Review by Alan Niester, Creem, March 1971
I SUPPOSE I should know who Doctor Sardonicus is, but I don't. I looked around a little to try and figure it out, but all ...
T. Rex: Electric Warrior (Reprise)
Review by Alan Niester, Creem, February 1972
IN ENGLAND there's this little bantam, Marc Bolan by name, who's got a voice like a starving baby eaglet, has had four straight #1 records ...
Yes: Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic)
Review by Alan Niester, Creem, April 1974
TALES FROM Topographic Oceans is a staggering example of what can happen when mortal man is afflicted with the Opus Syndrome, an all too common ...
back to LIBRARY
