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Jamie Atkins

Jamie Atkins

Currently based in London but born and raised in the South West, Jamie Atkins is the Reviews Editor of Record Collector. He has written about music for over a decade, having previously worked in both the health service and educational institutions. Consequently, he owns scrubs with his name embroidered on them, corduroy trousers and far too many records. He once shared Mike Love's houmous and pitta, which is about as rock'n'roll as things have got.

84 articles

List of articles in the library

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Animal Collective: Painting With (Domino)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2016

IF THERE'S a common thread that links Animal Collective's songwriting it's their instinctive use of repetition – from the mantra-like becalming kind, to the sort ...

Autechre: Exai

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2013

FOLLOWING 2011's mammoth stock-taking collection EPs 1991-2002, this new double-disc offering from electro pioneers Autechre emphasises that this most perpetually forward-thinking of groups is in ...

The Band, Robbie Robertson: Robbie Robertson: Testimony (Heineman)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2016

ONE OF THE delightful aspects of The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese's doc of The Band's goodbye hootenanny, are the scene-setting vignettes from the group that ...

The Beach Boys: Made In California

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013

THE BEACH BOYS' 50th anniversary year was never likely to be an event-free lap of honour. Upon reforming, they managed to produce an intermittently great ...

The Beach Boys: Wake The World: The Beach Boys 1967-'73

Retrospective by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2018

THERE ARE FEW things music fans like more than a good "what if". And the Beach Boys' career gifts enthusiasts plenty of fantasy scenarios: what ...

The Beach Boys, Gaz Coombes, The Cure, Brian Eno, Serge Gainsbourg, Harmonia, Inspiral Carpets, Iggy Pop, Elliott Smith, Patti Smith, Spacemen 3, Scott Walker: Gaz Coombes: The World's Strongest Fan

Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2018

Ever been curious about what's pumping on Gaz Coombes' stereo? RC's Jamie Atkins was, so he headed to Oxfordshire to find out. ...

The Beatles: Live At The Hollywood Bowl (Apple/EMI)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2016

THE BEATLES AT The Hollywood Bowl was always the last to be picked in a quick Beatles LPs jumpers-for-goalposts knockabout – the only snotty-nosed, clod-humper ...

The Beatles, Miles Davis, Robert Johnson, Grace Jones, Kraftwerk, Massive Attack, Curtis Mayfield, Malcolm McLaren, Frank Ocean, Richard Russell, Gil Scott-Heron, Scritti Politti, Shut Up And Dance, The Specials, Kanye West, Bobby Womack: Richard Russell: Rich Pickings

Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2018

As Richard Russell's collaborative album, Everything Is Recorded, is released, RC's Jamie Atkins meets him to talk about the recording and the music that led ...

Belle And Sebastian: Belle & Sebastian: The Jeepster Singles Collection

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2016

ON DELVING into this generous box set, you'll find reproductions of Belle & Sebastian's first three mail-outs to fans. ...

Björk: Vulnicura (One Little Indian)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2015

WHILE THE initial conversation surrounding Björk’s latest full-length concerned the internet leaks that led to its premature online release, it quickly became apparent that the ...

Marc Bolan, David Bowie: Simon Reynolds: Shock & Awe – Glam Rock And Its Legacy (Faber)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, November 2016

AFTER DEFINING studies of post-punk (Rip It Up & Start Again) and nostalgia (Retromania), Simon Reynolds turns his gaze to glam in all its glory. ...

David Bowie: Bowie at the Beeb

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2016

THIS ISN'T the review I expected to write, obviously. It wasn't supposed to be difficult listening, a beautifully packaged four-disc vinyl reissue of Bowie's early ...

Vashti Bunyan: Heartleap (Fat Cat)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2014

AFTER A 35-year gap between her beloved debut album and its follow-up, Lookaftering, Vashti Bunyan's third – and supposedly final – long-player, Heartleap, might have ...

case/lang/veirs: case/lang/veirs (Anti-)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2016

WHILE A collaboration was first mooted several years ago, it was only when k.d. lang and Neko Case contributed to Laura Veirs' underrated 2013 album ...

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: One More Time With Feeling (Bad Seed)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2017

IN THE BEST possible sense, there has always been an air of the caricature about Nick Cave: the public persona. His career has felt like ...

Cody ChesnuTT: My Love Divine Degree (One Little Indian)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2017

THE SUCCESS of 2002's The Headphone Masterpiece effectively wrote soul singer Cody ChesnuTT a blank cheque in terms of creative freedom. For a record to ...

The Clash: Sound System

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013

WITH A WHIFF of revisionism about it, Sound System collects the Clash's output up tothe departure of guitarist Mick Jones,ignoring 1985's Cut The Crap but ...

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 ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: CSNY 1974

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, September 2014

CSNY'S 1974 reunion has long been synonymous with the start of an age of the worst kind of rock'n'roll excess; 30 shows, masterminded by Bill ...

Rick Danko: Stage Fright – Live Collection (Floating World)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015

ON THE SURFACE, the years following the initial disintegration of The Band and the release of his only solo album yielded diminishing returns for Rick ...

Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie "Prince" Billy, The Everly Brothers: Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie "Prince" Billy: What The Brothers Sang

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2013

FOLLOWING THEIR bleakly festive 'Christmas Eve Can Kill You' single, Will Oldham and Dawn McCarthy return for an album-length exploration of the Everly Brothers’ songbook. ...

Richard Dawson: Nothing Important

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2014

WITH A TRACKLISTING running to just four songs, Richard Dawson's latest album might at first seem like an underwhelming prospect. As it happens, nothing could ...

Baxter Dury: It’s A Pleasure

Review and Interview by Jamie Atkins, Classic Rock, November 2014

BAXTER DURY’S last album, Happy Soup, saw the singer-songwriter follow a period of extended downtime with a more pared-back and lo-fi sound. It’s A Pleasure, ...

Baxter Dury: Prince Charming

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 ...

Father John Misty: I Love You, Honeybear (Bella Union)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2015

IN TERMS OF audacious ways to announce a new album, the way Josh Tillman heralded the arrival of his second as Father John Misty takes ...

Eleanor Friedberger: New View (Rough Trade)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2016

EMERGING FROM a band as idiosyncratic and cultishly-adored as the Fiery Furnaces to go her own way must have been a little daunting for Eleanor ...

Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders: Merl Saunders/Jerry Garcia: Keystone Companions – The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2017

KEYBOARDIST MERL Saunders' decision to sit in at a regular jam in San Francisco's Matrix club one night in December 1970 would prove a stroke ...

The Go-Betweens: G Stands For Go-Betweens – Volume 1, 1978-1984 (Domino)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2015

DOMINO TAKE a fittingly comprehensive approach to anthologising this rarefied band. The first in a planned three-volume set, it collects the group's first trio of ...

Grateful Dead, The National: Various Artists: Day Of The Dead (4AD)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2016

2009'S DARK WAS The Night benefit album for the HIV/AIDS charity Red Hot Organization was something of an anomaly among such compilations; whereas most collections ...

George Harrison: The Vinyl Collection (UMC)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2017

AH GEORGE, the thinking Beatles fan's favourite. The best haircut. The most endearingly grumpy interviewee. The one you'd bet has a wicked sense of humour ...

Julia Holter: Loud City Song

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013

Massive step forward for mesmerising talent. ...

Julia Holter: Loud City Song

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013

Massive step forward for mesmerising talent ...

Willie Hutch: Soul Portrait/Season For Love (Be With)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2017

IN THE FEW years they've been around, Be With have ensured so many great LPs are back on the racks that they're practically providing a ...

Bert Jansch: Living In The Shadows (Earth)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2017

IT'S DIFFICULT to imagine a musician of Bert Jansch's standing and talent ever being taken for granted. But back in 1990, save for the attention ...

Bert Jansch: Living In The Shadows (Earth)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2017

IT'S DIFFICULT TO imagine a musician of Bert Jansch's standing and talent ever being taken for granted. But back in 1990, save for the attention ...

Nic Jones: The Enigma Of Nic Jones

Film/DVD/TV Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2015

ORIGINALLY AIRED on BBC Four last September, The Enigma Of… uses the return to live music of one of British folk's most beloved figures as ...

Kendrick Lamar: untitled unmastered (Interscope/Top Dawg)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, May 2016

LAST YEAR, under enormous pressure, rapper Kendrick Lamar released one of the most culturally and socially resonant albums in memory, To Pimp A Butterfly. ...

Kendrick Lamar: DAMN. (Interscope)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2017

Kung Fu Kenny strikes again ...

Lambchop: FLOTUS (City Slang)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2016

WHILE THEY MAY have been conveniently lumped in with alt. country, Kurt Wagner's Lambchop have always had a lot more to offer than that suggests. ...

Jens Lekman: Life Will See You Now (Heavenly)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2017

OVER THE course of five albums, Sweden's Jens Lekman has established himself as a worthy successor to the likes of Jonathan Richman, Edwyn Collins and ...

The Libertines: Anthems For Doomed Youth

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2015

IT’S ASTONISHING to discover that the long-running soap opera, The Libertines, has been mildly piquing the interests of the nation for just two years less ...

Low: Ones And Sixes (Sub Pop)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2015

OVER THE COURSE of 11 albums, Duluth, Minnesota, outfit Low have been responsible for work of a remarkable consistency, almost as if their discography has ...

The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (Nonesuch)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2017

EVIDENTLY, STEPHEN Merritt is the sort of man who believes in grand musical gestures, and they work – the most extravagant thus far (69 Love ...

Stephen Malkmus: Gold Soundz

Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, May 2018

As leader of the Jicks and ex-frontman of Pavement, Stephen Malkmus' work has proved enormously influential. But what's on regular rotation on his turntable? Jamie ...

Manic Street Preachers: Rewind The Film

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013

Cassette-culture vultures pick at their own carcass ...

Laura Marling: Once I Was An Eagle

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2013

WHEN LAURA Marling announced that her follow-up to 2011's A Creature I Don't Know would be a mostly solo acoustic affair, one may have been ...

Paul McCartney: Tug Of War/Pipes Of Peace

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2015

WITH THE 1980 release of McCartney II, Paul McCartney was in his rudest creative health for some time. Though the following two years would see ...

Joni Mitchell: Love Has Many Faces – A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced (Rhino)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2015

AFTER THE SUCCESS of her 2007 war-themed ballet The Fiddle And The Drum, Joni Mitchell set herself the task of distilling her myriad writing on ...

Mogwai: Central Belters (Rock Action)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015

DURING THEIR RISE to prominence, very few onlookers would have predicted that post-rock upstarts Mogwai would have the staying power to be receiving the 20th. ...

Marissa Nadler: July (Bella Union)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2014

AN INITIALLY unlikely partnership that, if you think about, makes perfect sense, July sees folk-gothic singer songwriter Marissa Nadler team up with producer Randall Dunn, ...

Marissa Nadler: Strangers (Bella Union)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, May 2016

ON 2014's July cult folkie Marissa Nadler made the rather unexpected move of working with Randall Dunn, a producer best known previously for his work ...

The National: Trouble Will Find Me

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2013

THE SIXTH ALBUM from Brooklyn's The National sees them continue an impressive run of form which has left them seemingly on the verge of mainstream ...

Joanna Newsom: Divers (Drag City)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015

WHILE THE five years since the stunning triple album Have One On Me have seen Joanna Newsom expanding her horizons with acting roles and guest ...

Oasis: Be Here Now (Deluxe Edtion) (Big Brother)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, November 2016

FACE IT, IF YOU had gone from playing the toilet circuit to two nights at Knebworth in a couple of years, there's every chance your ...

Okkervil River: Away

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2016

WHILE OKKERVIL RIVER has always been a ship steered by principal songwriter Will Sheff, their eighth album proper sees Sheff effectively going it alone for ...

Will Oldham: Will's World

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 ...

Owen Pallett: In Conflict

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2014

Pallett cleanser for a string-driven thing. ...

Palma Violets: 180 (Rough Trade)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, March 2013

THE LATEST BAND hailed as the Great White Hopes of bland, student-friendly indie-rock, Palma Violets have, remarkably, managed to make a record so uninspiring and ...

Prince: Ben Greenman: Dig If You Will The Picture (Faber & Faber)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, May 2017

IT'S NO SURPRISE that Prince's death has inspired reams of writing attempting to either unravel the man, his creativity and unique appeal or – less ...

Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back/Fear Of A Black Planet (Deluxe Editions)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2015

BOTH THE music industry and the media have a way of attaching such an air of historical significance to certain records that it's easy to ...

Radiohead: A Moon Shaped Pool (XL)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2016

WHILE THE 2011 release of The King Of Limbs caused the kind of cyber kerfuffle that tends to greet the slightest of stirrings from the ...

The Replacements: Bob Mehr: Trouble Boys – The True Story Of The Replacements (Da Capo)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2016

IN RECENT YEARS there's been a shift in the way the Replacements are regarded. While for those in the know, they've always been adored, there ...

Run The Jewels: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2017

SOME OBSERVATIONS after having experienced Run The Jewels live for the first time: ...

Paul Simon: Stranger To Stranger

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, July 2016

2011's So Beautiful Or So What was an unheralded marvel from Paul Simon. It was a poised, wise set of songs that hinged upon Simon's ...

Sleater-Kinney: Carrie Brownstein: Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl: A Memoir (Virago)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2016

ARTISTICALLY, 2015 has been quite a year for Carrie Brownstein — the band that brought her to public attention, Sleater-Kinney, returned with No Cities To ...

Slint: Spiderland

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2014

UPON THE MARCH 1991 release of their second album, Spiderland, Louisville's Slint were officially no more. The four-day session that produced one of the most ...

Solange: A Seat At The Table

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2017

WITH 2012's EP True – the wonderful lead single 'Losing You' in particular – Solange Knowles minted a melancholy kind of lilting soul; as in ...

Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2015

EVER THE restless soul, Sufjan Stevens has, since the hysteric electro of his last album proper, 2010's The Age Of Adz, released an album with ...

Super Furry Animals: For Now and Ever

Retrospective and Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2016

Super Furry Animals emerged from the Welsh DIY scene in the mid-'90s before signing to Creation for their debut album Fuzzy Logic, beginning a run ...

Swans: To Be Kind

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2014

FOLLOWING AN album as monumental as 2012's triple-disc behemoth The Seer would be a tall order for just about any band. ...

Thundercat: Drunk (Brainfeeder)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2017

WHILE BASSIST Thundercat has been responsible for the nimble low-end of albums by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu and Flying Lotus, and has ...

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 ...

Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires Of The City

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2013

THE MODERN, thinking indie rock fan's band of choice, Vampire Weekend return from extended leave with their third album. While MVOTC doesn't represent a seismic ...

Sharon Van Etten: Are We There (Jagjaguwar)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, June 2014

It's fair to say she's arrived. ...

Warpaint: Warpaint

Review and Interview by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, January 2014

FEW BANDS OF recent times have made attracting both an obsessive fanbase and critical acclaim seem as effortless as Los Angeles’ Warpaint. The languorous, psychedelic ...

Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat: Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat: The Most Important Place In The World

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, April 2015

2011'S UNSUNG marvel Everything's Getting Older saw former Arab Strap chanteur Aidan Moffat and composer Bill Wells cataloguing the grimy process of aging with black ...

Wilco: Schmilco

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, October 2016

IF MOST BANDS were to announce that their 10th album, 21 years into their career, will be a largely acoustic affair, it would cause all ...

Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (Capitol)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, May 2015

THE NEWS THAT Brian Wilson was working with Frank Ocean, She & Him and Lana Del Rey on his latest album was met with derision ...

Amy Winehouse: Asif Kapadia: Amy (Island/Universal DVD)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, December 2015

WHILE GIFTED, tragic figures are the very bread and butter of the music documentarian, has there ever been a film in which the downward spiral ...

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 ...

Yo La Tengo: Fade (Matador)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2013

It takes four to Tengo. ...

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 ...

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Barry Cain and Neil Matthews: Flexipop! The Book

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, , January 2017

ADAM ANT revealing that, as a child, his father used to call him Fadius Nicodemus; the peculiar habits of Robert Smith ("Today I dressed up ...

Richard King: Original Rockers (Faber & Faber)

Book Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, May 2015

IT IS DIFFICULT to imagine a book more guaranteed to stir the nether regions of RC readers than Richard King's expansive memoir of his time ...

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