Mark Cooper
Mark Cooper (snapped in Sweden in 1983) began his career as a music journalist with Q, No 1, Mojo, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Record Mirror, where his first review was of the last Sex Pistols gig at Winterland, San Francisco, in 1978. From print journalism, he moved into PR and began working for Virgin and Polygram, before working on his first TV show, Wired for Initial and Channel 4 in 1988. He joined the BBC in January 1990 on BBC2’s arts and media programme The Late Show, with the responsibility for music performance and features.
Until 2019, Mark was Creative Head of BBC Music Entertainment, the department responsible for much of the BBC's popular music coverage, encompassing studio shows, live events and documentaries. He conceived Later… With Jools Holland with Holland and director Janet Fraser Crook in 1992. He was also the Executive Producer of many groundbreaking and award winning documentaries, including the six-part series I’m In A Rock and Roll Band, Queens of Britpop, Latin Music USA, Neil Young: Don’t Be Denied, Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays, and the Britannia Series, which has covered a variety of musical genres from Heavy Metal to Synth to Folk and Blues.
267 articles
List of articles in the library
Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols: Winterland, San Francisco
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 January 1978
London's pride take over USA – The Pistols' last gig? ...
Blondie: Starwood, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 May 1978
They still don't know who Blondie is in LA ...
The Clash: The Roxy, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Sounds, 1979
The Clash: Live At The Roxy, Los Angeles A CLASH TREAT for their fans this, a five dollar ticket and a smaller setting than bands ...
Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 March 1979
Polite Elvis ...
Axis, Judas Priest: Judas Priest, Axis: Starwood, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 21 April 1979
Judas wants you for a sunbeam ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 April 1979
EVER HEARD the one about New Yorkers in Los Angeles? Well there's more than one, as Woody Allen knows, and Blondie have a few on ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 15 December 1979
DOWN AT Acquarius Records an assistant keeps rushing out to put out more copies of 'One Step Beyond'. He's kept pretty busy. They're being bought ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 January 1980
MARK COOPER sinks his teeth in ...
Pat Benatar: Old Waldorf, San Francisco
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 23 February 1980
PAT BENATAR is on her way — American style. She is exactly the kind of performer who points to the huge difference between English and ...
Pink Floyd: Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 23 February 1980
WALL OF SECRETS ...
The Specials: Stanford University, California
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 1 March 1980
THE SPECIALS' mini-tour of California has, predictably enough, been full of incident. Three sold-out nights at the Whisky in LA, the club all decorated in ...
XTC: Old Waldorf, San Francisco
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 15 March 1980
XTC HAVE toured the East Coast a few times now, but this is their San Francisco debut. Incredibly, Drums and Wires is their first release ...
Gary Numan: Warfield Theatre, San Francisco
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 22 March 1980
Frozen Robots ...
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 22 March 1980
THE EAGLES on home turf in California, even if it does rain more here in the north. ...
Public Image Ltd.: Lydon The Exorcist
Report by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 29 March 1980
John Lydon's back in America, as cynical as ever. He wants to forget the memories, do away with the past and rock 'n'roll. MARK COOPER ...
The Pretenders: Talk Of The USA
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 May 1980
LAST YEAR'S "next big thing" rarely succeeds in becoming "This year's model" with the ease with which the Pretenders have performed the feat in Britain. ...
Public Image Ltd: Market Cultural Center, San Francisco
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 May 1980
PUBLIC IMAGE in a cultural centre — sounds arty enough to make you wonder if they've gone over the top. ...
The Tourists: Tourists But Not Exiles
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 7 June 1980
HERE WE are with the Tourists in Los Angeles at the end of their first sightseeing tour of America, 40 dates to promote their debut ...
Judas Priest: The Empire Strikes Back
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 5 July 1980
MARK COOPER encounters JUDAS PRIEST under a pile of volcanic ash of the third kind ...
Queen: Oakland Auditorium, Oakland CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 2 August 1980
HALF WAY through this show, Freddie Mercury finds a pack of disposable razors that someone has lobbed on stage, a fairly unsubtle hint as to ...
The Only Ones: Old Waldorf, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 2 August 1980
THE ONLY Ones are in grave danger of remaining a cult in England and obscure in America. This is their second appearance at the Waldorf ...
The Go-Go's: I-Beam, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 20 September 1980
THEY BURST on stage as bubbly as cheap champagne with a resounding "pop". Their clothes are swinging teenage sixties, miniskirts and tights, Mary Quant boots ...
Dead Kennedys: The Dead Kennedys: Anarchy American Style
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 27 September 1980
On the eve of the Dead Kennedys British tour MARK COOPER talks to Jello Biafra who says: "Our live shows are basically ways of torturing ...
Christopher Cross: Fox Warfield Theatre, San Francisco CA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 18 October 1980
CROSS MAKES ideal radio music, faceless and bland with a touch of a story to it and trinkling piano riffs to hook into your gills. ...
Bruce Springsteen: The Man, The Myth, The Magic
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 25 October 1980
MILWAUKEE IS up by the Great Lakes in the industrial badlands. Concrete freeways, steel chimneys, cloudy skies and breweries. The kind of place "where Mister ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 15 November 1980
THE BEAT are beginning again at the beginning. Here they are in Chicago, four or five weeks into their first American tour — much of ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 29 November 1980
STEVE STRANGE, chief of the new clan of the beautiful people has made a record. MARK COOPER talks to him about the concept ...
Judy Mowatt: Black Woman (Island ILPS 9649)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 6 December 1980
THIS ALBUM is an explicit statement of spirituality and of strength — a black woman's survival. The title offers the record as a statement and ...
Obituary by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 December 1980
WHEN WE were growing up, my brother and I, he loved John Lennon especially. Our parents used to give us a Beatles album every Christmas. ...
The Stray Cats: On The Tiles With The Stray Cats
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 20 December 1980
Your storyteller: MARK COOPER (MA, DFC, VD and Private Bar) ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 January 1981
MARK COOPER joins the AU PAIRS' campaign trail ...
The Jacksons, Michael Jackson: The Jacksons: Off The Cuff
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 21 March 1981
Stevie Wonder's rival? The black Bambi or just James Bond's scuba diving companion? Mark Cooper looks at the mystery behind Michael Jackson's shades… and finds ...
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 25 April 1981
THE CULMINATION of Culture's brief tour of Britain that features only flashes of the old Cultural genius and falls somewhere between showbiz and a testifying ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 2 May 1981
'We've got to get out and we've got to fight back' is still the message from SLF and their commitment hasn't evaporated since the heady ...
The Beat: Wha'ppen? (Go Feet) ****
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 9 May 1981
IN WHICH the Beat define their sound over a whole album, realise their strengths (most notably the individuality of each performer) and, in general, settle ...
The Cure: Swaying with the Cure
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 16 May 1981
READING ON a rainy Sunday afternoon is about as cold and empty as an English town can get. There's no one on the street and ...
Tenpole Tudor: A King Without A Clown
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 23 May 1981
Tenpole Tudor march into the heartland of England (well, Sheffield actually) carrying their proud banner of scruffy English eccentricity. MARK COOPER watches the march of ...
Bruce Springsteen: Wembley Stadium
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Quarto, June 1981
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN returned to England in June for the first time since 1975, appearing before audiences totalling over a quarter of a million people. On ...
Yoko Ono: Season Of Glass (Geffen K99164)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 June 1981
SINGLE FANTASY ...
Pink Floyd: Earls Court, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 20 June 1981
PINK FLOYD'S The Wall is the ultimate rock concert, more a funeral than a celebration. ...
Wah!: Nah-Poo-The Art Of Bluff (Eternal Classic 1)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 4 July 1981
WAH! WARS ...
Was (Not Was): Was (Not Was) (Ze ILPS 7015)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 4 July 1981
WAS (NOT WAS) are as good an example of post-Vietnam paranoia as you're going to get. While all around them are losing theirs, Was (Not ...
The Human League: Beautiful Dreamers
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 8 August 1981
Start with pop with a capital P, add a touch of glamour, stir with a generous helping of amateur enthusiasm and you've got the new ...
The Teardrop Explodes: We Can Be Heroes Just For One Day
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 September 1981
Christ, Warhol, Arthur Lee (who?), Scott Walker, JULIAN COPE. Are these the immortals of the next century and beyond? Julian Cope hopes so, after all ...
Carlene Carter: Blue Nun (F-Beat XXLP12).
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 October 1981
WHEN IT comes to being blue, Carlene's a natural, a belle of the ball with a ballbreaker's wit. Carlene looks like an angel but underneath ...
John Martyn: Glorious Fool (WEA k99178)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 October 1981
JOHN MARTYN'S twelfth album, his first with Warners and his first with a band. The glorious fool continues to go his own way with little ...
Tom Tom Club: Tom Tom Club (ILPS 9686)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 October 1981
GIRLS IN THE CLUB ...
The Human League: A Soap Opera
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 17 October 1981
An everyday story of human life starring the HUMAN LEAGUE. Script MARK COOPER ...
U2: October (Island ILPS 9680)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 17 October 1981
PURGATORY IN MOTION ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 31 October 1981
MARK COOPER talks to the 'cool ruler', Gregory Isaacs ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 21 November 1981
Martin Fry spells out the ABC manifesto to MARK COOPER ...
Tenpole Tudor: University College, Dublin
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 21 November 1981
CAVALRY TRILL ...
The Teardrop Explodes: Club Zoo, Liverpool
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 21 November 1981
Escape from Tinseltown ...
Aswad, Creation Rebel: Creation Rebel: Psychotic Jonkanoo (STAT IP4); Aswad: New Chapter (CBS 85336)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 November 1981
Aswad — home grown Roots ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 November 1981
GASPER LAWAL'S track record might suggest that he is a music business hack. He is not. He has played with many who are anyone, from ...
Soft Cell: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (Some Bizzare BZLP 2)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 November 1981
SYMPATHETIC SYNTHESIS ...
Scritti Politti: Suspicious Minds
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 5 December 1981
Making their way from the margins to the mainstream SCRITTI POLITTI have discovered the beauties of pop. But what took them so long? "Professor" MARK ...
A Certain Ratio: Sextet (Factory Fact 55)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 16 January 1982
A CERTAIN JE NE SAIS QUOI ...
Ras Michael & The Sons Of Negus: Disarmament (Trojan)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 16 January 1982
DISARMAMENT IS a surprise – perhaps the first reggae album to openly confront the threat of nuclear warfare with the power of Jah Love while ...
Rhoda Dakar: Being Boiled – Rhoda Dakar
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 23 January 1982
2-Tone's follow up to 'Ghost Town' is equally timely and a good deal more controversial. The single is 'The Boiler' and its subject is rape. ...
Talking Heads: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 January 1982
Joining the stadium set ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 6 February 1982
"I'm not nuts," says RALF HÜTTER of mighty Germanic megastars KRAFTWERK. "Blimey," gasps MARK COOPER (PHD Engineering and Knitting) in disbelief. Well, is he or ...
Haircut 100: The Young Ones, Darling We're The Young Ones
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 February 1982
Young is beautiful, say HAIRCUT 100. MARK COOPER gets nostalgic with the band every mother wants her daughter to love. ...
The Jam: The Gift (Polydor POLD 5055)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 6 March 1982
MAN'S GIFT... ...
Pigbag: Dr Heckle and Mr Jive (Y 17 LP)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 13 March 1982
BLOW ME down and shake me round, here comes Pigbag, a tornado in your town. Yes, yes a breath of fresh air designed to move ...
The Fall: Hex Enduction Hour (Kamera KAM 005)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 20 March 1982
What the hex ...
Bill Drummond, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes: A Life In The Day Of Bill Drummond
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 April 1982
Bill Drummond, manager of The Bunnymen and The Teardrops, talks to Mark Cooper ...
Altered Images: On a Clare Day!
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 April 1982
Silly Billy MARK COOPER on the Grogan trail (PS: Who are ALTERED IMAGES anyway?) ...
Motörhead: The Rank Organisation!
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 10 April 1982
MARK COOPER probes beneath the scum on the surface of rock's greasy snipers. MOTÖRHEAD An interview that squeezes the spots other music papers can't reach. ...
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: I Love Rock And Roll (Epic)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 April 1982
JOAN JETT is 23 years old. She's been in rock and roll for the last 10 years. It shows. ...
Echo & The Bunnymen: Glen Pavilion, Dunfermline, Scotland
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 8 May 1982
COME FEEL THE NOISE! ...
The Clash: Combat Rock (CBS) ***
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 15 May 1982
Gonna write a Clashic ...
Girlschool: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 22 May 1982
THE SPECTACLE is always the same – blinding flashes and smokebombs, loud guitar and pounding drums. The band dedicate the songs to the crowd, the ...
Jonathan Richman: The Venue, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 29 May 1982
JONATHAN RICHMAN made his name by singing about the modern world in a style that belonged to the cityscapes of the Velvet Underground. Then he ...
The Human League: A Life In The Day Of Martin Rushent
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 5 June 1982
MARTIN RUSHENT, producer of the Human League and Altered Images, talks to MARK COOPER. ...
Siouxsie & the Banshees: Stare Case
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 June 1982
Siouxsie raises eyebrows in Sweden ...
Soft Cell: Non Stop Erotic Dancing (Some Bizarre) **
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 19 June 1982
I'M NOT dancing, I'm sulking. Here we have a copy of Soft Cell's dance-mix album, a supposed treat, and I'm rooted to the floor. Church ...
Dennis Brown: Dennis the Menace
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 26 June 1982
DENNIS BROWN talks high finance with MARK COOPER ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 July 1982
Mark Cooper throws a few questions at the brand new Pigbag ...
Scritti Politti: The Sweetest Boy
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 17 July 1982
I'm not arrogant, just good, says Scritti Politti's Green Gartside ...
The Jam: Whine, Women and Song
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 17 July 1982
One man and his misery — Paul Weller of The Jam by Mark Cooper ...
The Clash: Doubt and desperation on the edge of town
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 24 July 1982
From Garageland to hell with Joe Strummer of the Clash ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 7 August 1982
MARK COOPER puts a fatherly arm round ANNABELLA'S shoulders ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 7 August 1982
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN discipline and fierce spontaneity lies the storm that is Carmel. ...
Everything But The Girl: Cole Minors
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 7 August 1982
THE NAME comes from a furniture store in Hull, the tune from the songbook of the master, Cole Porter. Everything But The Girl's version of ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 21 August 1982
Mark Cooper explores boffin chic with electro popper Thomas Dolby ...
Gregory Isaacs: Night Nurse (Island ILPS 9721)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 August 1982
FOLLOWING A brief sojourn on Pre, the 'Cool Ruler' now elects Island to release the latest fruits of his labours. A change of label does ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 28 August 1982
Phew, what a scorcher! Mark Cooper takes an Away day to the sizzling south coast with saucy songsters Tight Fit ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 4 September 1982
JIM KERR is sitting in the bay window of a hotel in Portobello, his head surrounded by a halo of sunlight Jim is smiling and ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 6 November 1982
THESE THREE men belong to neither pavement nor penthouse. Instead they've grown comfortable by the fireside. Heaven 17, Martyn Ware, Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 8 January 1983
TERRY HALL reckons the Funboy Three have grown up into a real group. The proof is threefold. First, the release of one of this year's ...
Rip Rig and Panic: The Ace, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 8 January 1983
CHOOSING TO take the Ace by storm, Rip Rig and Panic ran headfirst into their own arrogance, particularly that of brat-of-the night, Gareth Sager. ...
Strawberry Switchblade: Every Witch Way But Loose
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 15 January 1983
ROSE AND JILL of Strawberry Switchblade may look like Macbeth's weird witches but sisters they aren't. "We actually think we dress quite differently," complains Jill, ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 22 January 1983
THE GAP BAND 'Outstanding' (Polygram) Yet another soul concerto from The Gap Band with a monstrously hard-hitting handclap from the engine room and a vocal ...
Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (RCA 6063)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 29 January 1983
YET ANOTHER compact duo making studio music for the age of video, Eurythmics lack that vital edge of character. This, their second album in a ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 February 1983
HALL & OATES have taken up permanent residency in the world's Top Tens. The American duo have spent the last decade and more making albums ...
Joe Cocker, Jennifer Warnes: Jennifer Warnes: With a little help...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 February 1983
WHEN JOE Cocker met Jennifer Warnes, he didn't know who she was. She, however, had first seen Cocker's appearance on America's Grammy Awards and been ...
Rockers Revenge: Revenge is Sweet
Interview by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 19 February 1983
THE MANAGEMENT of Brooklyn's Music Factory have more on their minds than their dayjobs. They have to explain that the silver discs on the wall ...
Blancmange: The Ritz, New York
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 March 1983
AMERICANS HAVE never heard of Blancmange: they can't buy it in shops and they can't pronounce it. If Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe are to ...
Fun Boy Three: Leeds University, Leeds
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 March 1983
Ain't what you do... ...
The Thompson Twins: Thompson Twins: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 12 March 1983
FORMER DOGS, currant diamonds, the Thompsons are the last of their class to turn from frogs to princes. Former darlings of student halls, the Twins ...
Aztec Camera: High Land, Hard Rain (Rough Trade 47)
Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 9 April 1983
Height of fashion ...
Afrika Bambaataa: Bambaataa Of The Bronx
Interview by Mark Cooper, No. 1, 31 March 1984
The Grandmaster of hip hop lectures Mark Cooper on the meaning of the Funk ...
Echo & The Bunnymen, The Smiths: The Smiths and Echo & The Bunnymen: The Smith and the Bunnyman
Interview by Mark Cooper, No. 1, 28 April 1984
No.1 brings together two of rock's most charismatic singers... and two of its biggest egos as well!" ...
Sandie Shaw, The Smiths: Sandie Shaw with the Smiths
Interview by Mark Cooper, No. 1, 5 May 1984
TEMPTED OUT of retirement by the friendship and the songs of The Smiths, Sandie Shaw seems girlishly bemused by the sudden fuss around her. ...
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. ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Blasphemy of Stardom
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 21 July 1986
Mark Cooper reports on the brothers from East Kilbride they banned on Radio 1 ...
Elvis Costello: Blood and Chocolate
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, October 1986
ELVIS COSTELLO'S CAREER now consists of a spiral of sidesteps and multiplying identities, all designed to accommodate the extraordinary fecundity of his writing. ...
The Oyster Band: Out Of Their Shells
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 16 January 1987
Mark Cooper on The Oyster Band's place in the "roots" dance revival ...
DAT: How Japan has got the trade taped
Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 27 February 1987
There's another audio revolution on the way, and it could pose a piracy threat to the music business, says Mark Cooper. ...
Rough Trade Records: Rough At The Top
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 February 1987
In the record industry big doesn’t always mean best, and the independent Rough Trade have beaten the big boys in fostering new talent and ideas. ...
Burning Spear: Redemption Song
Interview by Mark Cooper, City Limits, 19 March 1987
"Music for your children and my children and their children" is how Burning Spear looks at his 15 years in reggae. In Europe and America ...
Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer: Thrash Metal: Psycho Path to the Top
Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 20 March 1987
Thrash metal is the new noise of teenage horror, a vinyl equivalent of the video nasty. Mark Cooper reports on the bands that delight in ...
Cocteau Twins: "None Of This Should Have Happened"
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1987
Unlistenable early tapes. Refusals to appear on Top Of The Pops. Information-free record sleeves. A mistrust of people "who can play all the strings on ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 17 April 1987
Chris Isaak's melancholy songs hark back to the teen ballads of the Sixties, reports Mark Cooper ...
Randy Newman: The Star And Snipes
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 22 May 1987
Mark Cooper talks to Randy Newman, standard bearer against the smug and prejudiced ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1987
In the late '60s, Joe Boyd helped create a peculiarly English form of folk-psychedelia, producing albums for Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and Nick ...
The Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, Slayer: Def Jam: Don't Knock The Rock – Rap It
Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 1 June 1987
Mark Cooper on how Def Jam crossed over punk with rap, white with black, and stayed cool with both sides ...
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...) ...
Terence Trent D'Arby: Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1987
HERALDED AS THE NEW crown prince of soul, Terence Trent D'Arby already has Britain at his feet courtesy of 'If You Let Me Stay', his ...
10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M.: REM and 10,000 Maniacs: Rulers Of The Campus
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 25 September 1987
College rock is alive and gigging in the US. MARK COOPER hears why from Michael Stipe of REM and Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs ...
Robbie Robertson: Off the Band Stand
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 October 1987
After turning off the road to rock and ruin, Robbie Robertson is back — on his own terms. Mark Cooper reports ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1987
SOMETHING HAPPENED halfway through the recording of Babylon And On, Squeeze's seventh studio album. They ran out of money. ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Roger Waters: Out of Troubled Waters
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 20 November 1987
Roger Waters now finds himself in competition with his one-time colleagues in Pink Floyd – he doesn't like it but there are compensations. Mark Cooper ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1988
IN 10,000 MANIACS' native America, hotel operators hang up when friends ask for the band by name and nervous radio programmers assume that Elektra are ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1988
LEONARD COHEN HAS spent 53 years perfecting the art of being Leonard Cohen, poet of romantic despair. A self-declared "ladies' man" in his songs, Cohen's ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1988
FIVE YEARS AGO Ry Cooder packed out the Hammersmith Odeon for eight consecutive nights, the culmination of a triumphant European tour. ...
Prefab Sprout: A Satisfying Whiff of Glue
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 11 March 1988
Paddy McAloon of Prefab Sprout talks to Mark Cooperabout Tin Pan Alley, nostalgia and his search for enchantment ...
David Byrne, Talking Heads: David Byrne: Heads and Tales
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 18 March 1988
With Naked, Talking Heads' tenth album, David Byrne is still asking "How did I get here?" Mark Cooper examines a stranger in paradise. ...
Morris Day: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 29 April 1988
A bad Daydream ...
Alexander O'Neal: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, May 1988
BANK HOLIDAY weekends used to be taken up with rock and roll frolics. These days soul music has a better grasp of good times and ...
Fleetwood Mac: All Meat With The Big Macs
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 13 May 1988
As Fleetwood Mac start a major tour Mark Cooper talks to Christine McVie about the band that refused to die ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 20 May 1988
Ry Cooder is on the road again. He talks to Mark Cooper ...
k.d. lang: Shadowland (Sire WX17LP/Cass/CD)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1988
k.d. lang's "torch'n'twang": corn with a cutting edge. ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bunny Wailer, The Wailers: A Wailer Surfaces to Claim Reggae's Crown
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 26 August 1988
After Marley, what price reggae? Mark Cooper on Bunny Wailer's musical crusade ...
Talk Talk: Spirit Of Eden (EMI)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, October 1988
TALK TALK'S fourth LP is the kind of record which encourages marketing men to commit suicide. ...
Anita Baker, Luther Vandross: Luther Vandross, Anita Baker: Omni Coliseum, Atlanta GA
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 25 November 1988
Casanova in a shiny suit ...
Roy Orbison: The Big O 1936-1988
Obituary by Mark Cooper, The Observer, 18 December 1988
Chubby and shaded, Roy Orbison made a generation weep in pleasurable misery, says MARK COOPER ...
Martin Carthy: A Passage to England
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 29 December 1988
Martin Carthy believes in the power of performance, not purity. Mark Cooper meets the folkie who refuses to play safe. ...
Simply Red: A Simply Red hot lover
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Observer, 29 January 1989
Mick Hucknall bristles with social convictions but his songs aren't those of an angry young man. MARK COOPER meets the singer with a penchant for ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Time Out, 8 February 1989
LUTHER VANDROSS' popularity has firmly established him as the King of Soul. His songs of love and loneliness have sold millions, and now his only ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1989
ELVIS COSTELLO'S LAST two albums were released back in 1986. Despite their excellence, the combination of King Of America and Blood & Chocolate suggested that ...
Luther Vandross: The Soul Survivor
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 24 March 1989
Mark Cooper on the awesome presence that is Luther Vandross ...
Lucinda Williams: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 May 1989
Twang go the heart strings ...
10,000 Maniacs: A Lioness's Share of Woe
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 19 May 1989
Natalie Merchant is fighting the world's battles in her songs. Mark Cooper finds out why. ...
Bobby Brown: Bobby Bites The Bullet
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 23 June 1989
Mark Cooper meets the young American soul star everybody's gunning for ...
Cowboy Junkies: The Cowboy Junkies: Cowboy country
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 June 1989
Mark Cooper hears how the Cowboy Junkies draw on Canada for their inspiration ...
Paul McCartney: Flowers In The Dirt
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1989
Spiked by Costello, Paul McCartney is back in the pink ...
Chaka Khan: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 1 July 1989
No Khan do... ...
Pet Shop Boys: The Pet Shop Boys: The double exposure
Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 7 July 1989
Previously glimpsed only on videos and record sleeves, the Pet Shop Boys are going live. Mark Cooper previews their materialisation ...
Carole King: Stepping Out Of The Shadows
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 14 July 1989
Carole King is coming out from behind her piano because she wants to rock. Mark Cooper reports. ...
Bob Mould, Husker Du: Bob Mould: Out of the Warehouse
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 21 July 1989
DESPITE THE flood of veterans currently patching up ancient quarrels for one last sack of ancient dollars, divorce rather than reconciliation remains the common fate ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1989
BY RIGHTS, The Pogues should surely be dead by now, overcome by the drink or the enthusiasm of their fans. Yet somehow they've survived the ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, October 1989
Eurythmics: the kind of sadness that can't shed tears ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent Magazine, 1 October 1989
"Takin' a life or two/That's what the hell I do." The rap band NWA – Niggers with Attitude – compares Los Angeles street life to ...
The Neville Brothers: At Last The Legend Lives
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 October 1989
The Neville Brothers, long held in awe by fellow musicians, are finally selling records. Mark Cooper on the London-bound band. ...
Danny Thompson: Romance From A Bit Of A Raver
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Sunday Correspondent, 22 October 1989
Breaking the rules comes easily to double-bass player Danny Thompson, says Mark Cooper ...
Rickie Lee Jones: Keeping Her Cool
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 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 ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989
NEW LIGHT Through Old Windows, last year's re-recorded look through his back pages, finally established Chris Rea as a frontrunner in his own country. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989
DESPITE DAVID Byrne's beaver-like activities over the last few years, his persona and his work have gradually been losing much of their old allure. Perhaps ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989
J.J.CALE LEANS back from his lunch and reaches for the tab, waving aside the objections of his guests with unusual tenacity. "Might as well do ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1989
The drugged and the destitute, the needy and the greedy, unrest between East and West...Don't ask Neil Young where it's all leading. "I'm just a ...
The Wonder Stuff: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 28 November 1989
Carry on rocking: Mark Cooper on a glittering performance from Wonder Stuff ...
Jimi Hendrix: The Jimi Hendrix Concerts
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1989
THE RECENT spate of activity that has surrounded Jimi Hendrix – The South Bank Show, Charles Shaar Murray's musical biography Crosstown Traffic and now the ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1989
OUTSIDE NENEH CHERRY'S modest terraced house in West London's Kensal Green, four bursting rubbish sacks jostle for attention by the front door. Round the back, ...
Paul Simon: Melancholy beat of a backpacking magpie
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Independent on Sunday, 1990
Mark Cooper on Paul Simon's latest borrowings and his lucrative flair for domesticating the alien ...
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1990
RAIN IS STREAMING down in sheets on the Long Island suburb of Hempstead but, inside Public Enemy's headquarters, the group's leader Chuck D is just ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, February 1990
Although embarrassed at being hailed a "cultural ambassador", David Byrne has temporarily put Talking Heads on hold to step out with his 14-piece Latin big ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 8 February 1990
From Satchmo to Wacko Jacko, Quincy Jones has worked with them all. Now, he tells Mark Cooper, it's time to take stock. ...
Dick Gaughan: Handful Of Earth
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1990
FIRST RELEASED BACK in 1981, Handful Of Earth survived the '80s so well that it was voted Album Of The Decade in Folk Roots magazine's ...
Sinead O'Connor: Forgive…And Forget
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1990
She arrived in '87, all Doc Marten's and radical chic, disparaging those who'd helped her, declaring support for the IRA. Now there's a new Sinead ...
The Jungle Brothers, KRS-One, Public Enemy: Rapped in Black
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990
An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...
The Jungle Brothers, KRS-One, Public Enemy: Rapped in Black
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990
An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...
Bob Dylan: Elizabeth Thomson & David Gutman (eds): The Dylan Companion
Book Review by Mark Cooper, Q, May 1990
DESPITE THE CRITICAL and commercial success of Oh Mercy and the recent Hammersmith shows, the reverence with which Bob Dylan was regarded in the '60s ...
John Cale, Lou Reed: John Cale and Lou Reed: Songs For Drella
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, May 1990
ANDY WARHOL'S NAME was all over the famous banana sleeve of The Velvet Underground's debut album. ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, May 1990
Sober, wiser, more than a little weather-beaten, John Martyn hassurvived 20 turbulent booze-fuelled years pursuing a romantic image ofthe lone folk troubadour. But the "rebel ...
Bonnie Raitt: Raitt's Progress
Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 26 May 1990
Twenty years ago Bonnie Raitt was a cult success. The Eighties treated her badly but now, aged 40, she has become an overnight sensation. MARK ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1990
THE VIDEO FOR Madonna's recent Number 1 has her "voguing" her way through a series of classic Hollywood images. As Madonna metamorphoses into blonde after ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1990
LIKE THE PRETENDERS, Aztec Camera have long since become a solo act in all but name with Roddy Frame matching Chrissie Hynde's refusal to churn ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1990
WITH THE EXCEPTION of Luther Vandross, most of the current crop of soul men restrict themselves to the limited sphere of their bedroom mirrors and ...
Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (4th & Broadway BR551)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1990
THE RELATIVELY flat reception for NWA's recent British shows was surely a direct response to rapper Ice Cube's departure in January. Ever the brutal realist, ...
Bonnie Raitt: The Bonnie Raitt Collection
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1990
THE RELEASE OF this 20-track retrospective of her nine Warners albums must be sweet revenge for Bonnie Raitt. ...
The Neville Brothers: Brother's Keeper
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1990
AFTER SPENDING A decade producing four albums for as many labels, the four Nevilles finally got the bit between their teeth with the Daniel Lanois-produced ...
Robert Cray: Wedded Bliss Blues
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 15 September 1990
Mark Cooper asks, can contented men sing the blues? I do, says Robert Cray ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Dead But Unburied Dreams of the Sixties
Profile by Mark Cooper, Independent on Sunday, 14 October 1990
After 18 years of making magic music, the Grateful Dead – who return to Britain this week – still remain true to their legendary spontaneity. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1990
DURING LAST YEAR'S concerts, Pet Shop Boys reserved a moment amidst the costumes and the dancing for an intimate spell at the piano with Neil ...
Essay by Mark Cooper, Q, 1991
WHEN U2's recent Number 1 single 'The Fly' first came on the radio, it sounded like a confused mess, an irritating jangle of throbbing guitars ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1991
PRIOR TO THIS exhaustive four-CD box set with its careful remixing, 17 previously unissued recordings, four new songs by three of the original band and ...
Cher: Cher by J. Randy Taraborrelli ***
Book Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1991
"I DON'T THINK this means I am somebody," remarked a tearful Cher of the 1988 Best Actress Oscar she won for Moonstruck, "but, you know, ...
Alexander O'Neal: All True Man
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1991
ALEXANDER O'NEAL ONCE once remarked that he was successful because he helped "bring back masculinity to the black industry". ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1991
DESPITE MICHAEL STIPE'S production activities with the likes of the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies and the recent emergence of Tourfilm, from 1989's Green tour, R.E.M. have ...
Richard Thompson: The Unsung Thompson
Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 11 May 1991
Mark Cooper meets the folk hero who is now sharply observing home from abroad. ...
Johnny Cash: Pills'n'Thrills And Bellyaches
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1991
HITCHING UP HIS blue jeans to give his hands something to do, country music's Greatest Living Legend smothers a cough before the familiar voice offers ...
Kirsty MacColl: Kirsty In Control
Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 22 June 1991
Mark Cooper watches as Kirsty MacColl reluctantly prepares to meet the world ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1991
AS THE REIGNING king of Dancehall, Rexton Gordon aka Shabba Ranks is a major Jamaican sex symbol, ambitious enough to crush his rivals at Sunsplash ...
Luther Vandross: Battle Of The Bulge
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1991
ON THE HOSPITALITY TABLE OF Luther Vandross's suite at Hollywood's Four Seasons Hotel, four untouched plates of king prawns lie waiting next to a half-demolished ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1991
THE FAMOUS DANCER'S legs are hidden by the kind of white trouser suit favoured by the molls of Italian mobsters, but the tiny figure with ...
Chris Whitley: Living With The Law
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1991
ON THE COVER OF THIS, his debut, Chris Whitley's long hair and cowboy boots are shrouded in shadows, while his open shirt reveals a crucifix ...
The Pixies: Pixies: Trompe Le Monde
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, October 1991
BOSTON'S PIXIES have already ascended close to stadium status judging from their recent triumph at Crystal Palace. Yet their mounting success betrays no loss of ...
Gram Parsons: Ben Fong-Torres: Hickory Wind: The Life And Times Of Gram Parsons
Book Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1991
HE VIRTUALLY INVENTED country rock with The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers and was a major influence on the Stones of Sticky Fingers. He ...
Elton John: Various Artists: Two Rooms
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1991
HITHERTO, TRIBUTE ALBUMS have tended to be the preserve of the American college circuit with R.E.M. seemingly ubiquitous as today's aspiring eccentrics queue up to ...
Tori Amos: Stranger in a Strange Land
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, December 1991
THE LIGHT IS falling in Tori Amos's Kensington flat and she is packing for a Christmas visit to her parents back in the USA. Amos ...
Paul Simon: Concert In the Park
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1992
TEN YEARS after Simon And Garfunkel crowned their short-lived reunion with a concert in Central Park, Paul Simon returned solo to claim the patch as ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1992
WHEN U2'S RECENT NUMBER 1 single 'The Fly' first came on the radio, it sounded like a confused mess, an irritating jangle of throbbing guitars ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, February 1992
THESE DAYS, PREPARING for a Lou Reed interview is like joining the Civil Service. First, the specially run-off CD of the new album, Magic And ...
Garth Brooks: Meet Nashville's New Breed Of Generously Stetsoned Crooner
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1992
BANDY-LEGGED and pigeon-toed, Garth Brooks has finally taken off his stetson and is staggering around the stage of Atlanta's Omni like a man who's just ...
Lyle Lovett: The Singer Who Argues With God
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 27 March 1992
Lyle Lovett's latest album gives a contemporary twist to the Old Testament, says Mark Cooper ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1992
MONDAY IS TRADITIONALLY a slow night in the music calendar, especially the first Monday in January in clubs like the Sweetwater, a small but chic ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, May 1992
Confusion and uncertainty are Lyle Lovett's middle names. Is he country? Or is he blues, or gospel, or swing? What the hell, he decides, "They're ...
Tracy Chapman: Matters Of The Heart
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1992
THE COMBINATION OF 'Fast Car' and the Mandela show transformed Tracy Chapman from an odd throwback to the era of folk protest into the voice ...
Henry Rollins: Don't Get Even, Get Mad
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1992
He wants to kill policemen. He is obsessed by his father. He dosen't have a girlfriend and his best friend is dead. "Either I write ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1992
THE GUINNESS BOOK Of British Hit Singles offers no less than nine entries for Orange Juice, beginning in November 1981, with their cover of Al ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley: Songs For Freedom
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1992
WHEN LITTLE RICHARD stood up at his piano and hollered 'Tutti Frutti', he sounded like a man who'd just broken out of prison. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1992
TRUST THAT CONTRARY old buzzard Neil Young to come up with something as cunning and contrary as this "sequel" to 1972's Harvest, his biggest-selling record ...
Tasmin Archer: Stop The World, I Want To Get Off
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1992
Your very first record has just gone to Number 1. Tonight you're on Top Of The Pops for the third time in a month. The ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1993
Yikes! Ice Cube is America's most controversial (dead heat with Ice-T) and successful rapper, recently blasting good ole Garth Brooks off the top of the ...
Love: Comes In Colours (Raven)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1993
Long before psychedelic rock meant meandering guitar solos drifting peacefully towards nirvana or oblivion, there was Love. ...
Alice In Chains: Dearly Beloved
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1993
ALMOST TWO years ago to the very day, Seattle's Alice In Chains supported Megadeth here in Berlin's Neu Welt club on a first, rather pointless ...
Willie Nelson: Cheer Up, It Might Never Happen
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1993
…Er, unfortunately it already has. Three failed marriages, a son's suicide, his house burning down — and that's before the small matter of a $16.7 ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, November 1993
A RIOT OF SEQUINS and studded belts, of thick foundation and fringed pastel jackets, of monstrous boots and massive hair, Nashville's old – and new ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, November 1993
ACCORDING TO MOST rock histories the late '70s were defined by punk rock and the Sex Pistols. Commercially speaking, however, the awful truth is that ...
Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, December 1993
THIS SUMMER'S VELVET UNDERGROUND reunion inevitably recast John Cale in the role of Lou Reed's foil. After all, while the Velvets clearly depend on the ...
Stereo MCs: If Bob Marley Came To Nottingham
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1993
"ARE YOU there, Milwaukee?" enquires a ghostly but undoubtedly English voice. It is around seven o'clock in the evening at the Marcus Amphitheatre in Milwaukee ...
John Martyn: Johnny Too Bad: John Martyn
Book Excerpt by Mark Cooper, 'Love is the Drug' (Penguin), 1994
HE'S A JAZZ MAN, he's a folkie and he's been a drinker. Singer songwriter John Martyn has been most things, apart from commercially acceptable. Now ...
Public Enemy: Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, 1994
BY RIGHTS, THEY should be out of here. Hip hop may be black folks’ news channel, as Chuck D likes to point out, but today’s ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, January 1994
I FIRST SAW MADNESS EARLY IN 1980 IN A SAN Francisco club. It was the city's mecca of punk but the locals didn't know quite ...
Mazzy Star: Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, January 1994
IN THE PRIVACY OF ONE'S OWN HOME, CALIFORNIA'S MAZZY Star can sound like an American bar band performing at half-speed at the bottom of a ...
Comment by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1994
Randy Newman does not suffer fools gladly but surely he is currently pushing a point a little too far. ...
Janis Joplin: Janis (Columbia/Legacy)
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, March 1994
DYLAN FELL OFF his motorcycle, The Beatles broke up and Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin paid the full price of ‘60s rock stardom ...
Tori Amos: Under The Pink (Atlantic)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1994
THESE HAVE not been good years for distinctive new voices who have to swiftly follow their groundbreaking debuts with that crucial sophomore outing. ...
Emmylou Harris: Pieces Of The Sky
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1994
WHEN GRAM PARSONS 'DISCOVERED' Emmylou Harris in late 1971, she was working as a folkie in Washington DC, and singing the occasional country tune like ...
The Proclaimers: Hit The Highway (Chrysalis)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, April 1994
DEF LEPPARD, Tears For Fears, even The Stone Roses have their excuses. After all, success breeds its own insecurities and what's a year or two ...
Tim Buckley: Live At The Troubadour 1969
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1994
HE WAS, ABOVE all, a beautiful boy. Sure, the album sleeves show those impossible good looks steadily thickening into manhood and by 1974's Look At ...
Chaka Demus and Pliers: The Rolls Royce of Ragga
Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, May 1994
"ANY QUESTIONS then?" ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, June 1994
WHEN NICK DRAKE'S Five Leaves Left first came out in 1968, albums with gatefold sleeves by moody songwriters accompanied by orchestras were almost two a ...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1994
WHEN SEAL first appeared on billboards all around Britain in 1991, he cut a vast, almost monumental figure. Hands on hips like a fashion model, ...
Johnny Cash: American Recordings
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, September 1994
SOMETIME IN THE LATE '80S, Columbia Records unceremoniously dropped Johnny Cash. No matter that Cash had been one of Sun's Million Dollar Quaret, alongside Elvis ...
Public Enemy: Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age (Def Jam)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1994
BY RIGHTS, they should be out of here. Hip hop may be black folks' news channel as Chuck D likes to point out but today's ...
Sade: Habitual: Sade: The Best Of (Epic) ****
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, November 1994
When will Britain wake up to Sade? ...
John Lee Hooker: Chill Out (Point Blank VPB 22)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1995
John Lee Hooker: an Old Testament prophet for modern times. ...
Fairport Convention: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1995
TWO FAIRPORTS STILL STICK IN my mind from the late '60s, early '70s. The first was London's answer to Jefferson Airplane, furiously eclectic and frequently ...
PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, April 1995
THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT PJ HARVEY IN A dress that doesn't quite gel and that's the something that she's chafed and worried at in her bruising, ...
Tindersticks: The Tindersticks' Second Album
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, May 1995
THERE'S A WONDERFULLY hushed, still quality about Tindersticks that pulls you closer to the speakers. Casually overheard, much of this album sounds like little more ...
Supergrass: Mojo Rising: Supergrass
Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, July 1995
Now trespassing in the charts, three princes of rascal rock… ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, July 1995
SHE'S BARELY IN HER THIRTIES, SHE became the voice and face of 10,000 Maniacs as a 17-year-old and yet there's always been something olde-worlde and ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones in Hyde Park # 1
Memoir by Mark Cooper, MOJO, July 1995
THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE VERY nature of being a schoolboy that necessitates getting caught. In the summer of 1969, I was boarding in the lower ...
Van Morrison: Days Like This (Polydor)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1995
Although Van Morrison has enjoyed unprecedented commercial success since signing to Polydor in 1989, in creative terms it has been an uncertain period for him. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, August 1995
WHEN JOY DIVISION'S UNKNOWN PLEASURES was released in June, 1979, it sounded like it came from another planet. Of course, it's easy now to historicise ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, August 1995
LONGEVITY, STABILITY, COMMITMENT – this is what has enabled the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead to become the biggest draws in ...
Neil Young, Pearl Jam: Neil Young: Oh But I Was So Much Older Then...
Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1995
...he's younger than that now. Neil Young's new album, Mirror Ball, is a scintillating trans-guitar-generational collaboration with hip young gunslingers Pearl Jam, and has given ...
George Jones, Tammy Wynette: Stand By Your Ex: George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1995
Wait till I get you home...to Splitsville, Tennessee, where George Jones and Tommy Wynette have resided since the classic song D.I.V.O.R.C.E. came true following perhaps ...
Bruce Springsteen: Hushed — Bruce Springsteen: The Ghost Of Tom Joad (Columbia 481650)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1996
Bruce Springsteen: the new Boss — very different to the old Boss. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, February 1996
COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH are doomed to be best remembered for that old crowd-pleaser they churned out at Woodstock in August, 1969. No matter ...
Bo Diddley: Godfather Back On The Beat
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 11 May 1996
If guitar rhythms could be copyrighted, Bo Diddley would be a millionaire. As it is Mark Cooper finds him warily hitting the comeback trail again ...
Review by Mark Cooper, MOJO, August 1996
ONE OF THE GREAT maverick stylists of British music, John Martyn has been out on a limb in recent years, marooned first by some increasingly ...
Norma Waterson: Past Caring About a Career
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 7 September 1996
Folk music matriarch Norma Waterson shot into the limelight with her solo album. But, she tells Mark Cooper, she could give up performing tomorrow. ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1996
IN THE GOOD old bad old days,Christy Moore was the Brendan Behan, the Shane MacGowan, of his generation. A wild troubadour lashing out at himself ...
Neneh Cherry: Spirited: Neneh Cherry: Man (Hut) ***
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, October 1996
Neneh Cherry: she deserves better. ...
Tricky: Pre-Millennium Tension (Island BRCD 623)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, December 1996
Tricky: no way is everything getting to him. ...
Gillian Welch: As Real And As Raw As It Gets
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Independent, 7 June 1997
Mark Cooper samples Gillian Welch's alternative bluegrass ...
Paul Weller: Heavy Soul (Island) ****
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, August 1997
Paul Weller: very much lord of his "manor". ...
Nick Drake: Tortured Artist: Nick Drake: The Biography by Patrick Humphries (Bloomsbury) ***
Book Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1998
Nick Drake: still an enigma after all these years ...
Beverley Knight: Prodigal Sista (Parlophone 496 2962)
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, October 1998
Explosive British R&B singer comes in from the cold with self-penned second album. ...
Review by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1999
Yo! Apocalypse: It's a mad, bad, Wu-Tang world ...
Johnny Cash: The Last Great American — Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American)
Review by Mark Cooper, The Word, January 2004
Johnny Cash's final recordings were as powerful as anything in his whole career ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Cooper, Observer Music Monthly, 11 October 2008
Charles Manson, the Iraq war, a near fatal aneurysm: Neil Young has spent five decades fighting anything foolish enough to get in his way. On ...
Book Excerpt by Mark Cooper, 'Later... with Jools Holland' (Harper Collins), September 2022
LEONARD COHEN taught us what Later... could become. He would show us how the show could be much more than the accidental sum of its ...
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