Nick Coleman
Nick wrote for NME for a year during the mid-80s before becoming Music Editor of the London listings magazine, Time Out, in 1987. From 1994 until 2006 he was Arts and then Features Editor at the Independent and Independent on Sunday before leaving to go freelance. His memoir The Train in the Night was published to wide acclaim in 2012, followed by the novel Pillow Man in 2015 and, in 2017, Voices: How a Great Singer Can Change Your Life.
Nick Coleman and Nick Hornby discuss Southside Johnny at the RBP Album Club
Nick Coleman on the RBP Podcast
68 articles
List of articles in the library
Alton Ellis, Prince Lincoln Thompson & the Royal Rasses: Notting Hill Carnival: Calypso Factor
Report by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 7 September 1985
Hustling herbman NICK COLEMAN ventured into the red-striped fog and filed this emotional report on the frenzied Notting Hill Carnival. ...
Anita Baker: Mouthful of Rapture
Interview by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986
ANITA BAKER is the soul voice of the '80s. NICK COLEMAN rings LA to chat about her new LP Rapture. ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 2 August 1986
NICK COLEMAN catches his breath after his first encounter with sweet songstress ANITA BAKER, who wowed London crowds last weekend. ...
Review by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, 11 October 1986
"THE GORGEOUS thunk of BMW doors, Jacob, like electric windows' reptilian blink on buttocks clenched in bucket seats, are signals too malodrous to be dismissed ...
Sandy Denny: Who Knows Where The Time Goes (Island)
Review by Nick Coleman, New Musical Express, Summer 1986
WHEN SHE DIED I was still preoccupied with the politics of holey jeans and why the Ramones were the perfect emblem of the beast Modern ...
Michael McDonald: Behind the Mike
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 8 April 1987
Though he's forsaken Doobies for duets, Michael McDonald's still basking in sunshine and success. Nick Coleman gets him on a bad line. ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, June 1989
"Sometimes I wonder if you love me the way you say you do... Sometimes I just fold my arms and say... weeeee-eeeeh awooooah!" ...
Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones: Keith Richards: Grin Reaper
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, July 1990
YOU CAN look Keith Richards in the eye and ask him if he's spent all his adult life divorced from reality. He stops, inclines his ...
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 ...
Michael Jackson: Promoting Michael Jackson: The Jackson Fivers
Report by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 27 November 1991
A new Michael Jackson album is not just a piece of plastic. It's a media event. Last week the Jackson publicity circus hit town to ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 1992
Fourteen years after they split, New York's noo-wave punksters Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd have repaired Television. Nick Coleman is electrified by their new album. ...
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 ...
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: Southside Johnny Lyon: Greetings From Asbury Park
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, February 1992
Unlike his old buddies Bruce Springsteen and Little Steven, Southside Johnny Lyon has forsaken the trappings of rock stardom for clapboard houses and the smell ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, May 1992
Until 'Walk The Dinosaur', the funky, cosmic pop of Was (Not Was) remained a cult. Now they've reached the giddy heights of supporting Dire Straits, ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, October 1992
BOOM BOOM boom boom – gonna shoot you right down… The blues is always the blues, even when it's advertising copy. Right off your feet. ...
Shonen Knife: Naughty But Knife
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 18 November 1992
Their songs have titles like 'Flying Jelly Attack' but Shonen Knife claim it's all serious stuff. As London succumbs to a Japanese arts invasion, Nick ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 2 December 1992
After the sheer brilliance of their debut album, The Sundays have delivered a follow-up, Blind, which is... not quite so fabulous. Nick Coleman goes to ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 27 January 1993
California smile, insolent mouth, articulate manner — Mick Jagger is an 'interesting bunch of guys' and each one still has the edge. But is he ...
Donald Fagen, Steely Dan: Donald Fagen: Dan Dare
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 12 May 1993
Back in the '70s, Steely Dan grabbed the American Dream by the throat with their deceptively soft rock. Now singer Donald Fagen is back, giving ...
David Sylvian, Robert Fripp: Robert Fripp, David Sylvian: Double Edge
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 30 June 1993
Guitar hero meets cool synth dude on The First Day, a new album by Robert Fripp and David Sylvian. They should go together like a ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 18 August 1993
From Sly and Robbie to Mick Jagger and Public Image, record producer Bill Laswell's client list is as varied as the sounds he pulls out ...
Report and Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, September 1993
Twenty years ago Steely Dan hooked white suburban America with their deceptively comfy rock classics. And even today they can shift 15,000 Madison Square Garden ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, 25 September 1993
American singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, is "better than just about everyone", but she's only now clawing her way to success. Nick Coleman takes her to dinner ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, November 1993
Kate Bush – what's she like, eh, with her wailing voice, whimsical words and penchant for throwing wild Terpsichorean shapes? Suitably intrigued by her new ...
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 ...
Marvin Gaye: The Classics Collection/Dream Of A Lifetime/Romantically Yours
Review by Nick Coleman, MOJO, October 1994
IN 1985, a year after his death, Gaye's Dream Of A Lifetime and Romantically Yours appeared in the CBS catalogue to confirm what we already ...
Peter Gabriel: Electric Disneyland
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, MOJO, October 1994
Peter Gabriel is developing an interactive self-therapy device. He talks of machines that can interface with plants. He sees himself not as a musician, more ...
Live Review by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 31 March 1995
Totem recall ...
Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: Sprout on his own
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 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 ...
CCS: The Tune that Hooked a Generation
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 30 April 1998
Nick Coleman explains why Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' will always be Top of the Pops ...
Princes And Peasants Of Medieval Pop
Overview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 22 May 1998
Musicians have long been fascinated by the Middle Ages. Perhaps it's down to the tight trousers and catamites. ...
Tricky: Angels With Dirty Faces (Island)
Review by Nick Coleman, MOJO, June 1998
A fourth album for the Bristolian angst-meister, now removed to the US and working with real instruments played by real musicians. ...
David Bowie: A Rock 'n' Roll Suicide: A live art event by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard: ICA London
Report by Nick Coleman, The Independent, July 1998
"OF ALL THE SHOWS on this tour, this particular show will remain with us the longest. Not only is it the last show of the ...
Allison Moorer: A simple tale of country folk
Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 21 July 2000
Allison Moorer is from Alabama. And yes, she sings about lost love and death. But so would you if you'd seen what she's seen... ...
Robert Wyatt and Annie Whitehead: Songs In The Key Of Louth
Report and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 25 October 2000
The trombonist Annie Whitehead has arranged a suite of Robert Wyatt's tunes, spanning 25 years of his off-beat career. Nick Coleman talks to them in ...
Björk: The Last Great Pop Star
Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 9 August 2001
She thumps reporters, wears funny clothes and thinks she was born in the wrong century. Now she's made an album about her kitchen. Nick Coleman ...
John Coltrane: Ashley Kahn: A Love Supreme – The creation of John Coltrane's classic album
Book Review by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 23 October 2002
Hot sax and religion in New Jersey ...
Dr. Feelgood, Wilko Johnson: Wilko Johnson: Rhythm Doctor
Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 30 January 2005
Flood and drugs and R&B – the life and works of Wilko Johnson have been fast and turbulent. But the Essex Assassin is still rocking ...
Bob Dylan: Greil Marcus: Like a Rolling Stone
Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, June 2005
POP MUSIC turned out not to be quite as disposable as was first thought. Not only is it still going, in modulated, increasingly moribund form, ...
Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 13 November 2005
DOES NARCISSISM have a sound? If it does, it is surely a dulcet, soft, melodic, tender sound. The music – for narcissism is nothing if ...
Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, May 2006
IN 1980 – following the triumphant release of the London Calling album and during the recording of what would become Sandinista! – the Clash had ...
Keith Richards: How to be Keef: A User's Guide
Guide by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 9 July 2006
WHAT GOES through the mind of a rock colossus as he falls from a coconut tree? Depends on your rock colossus, of course. So let's ...
John Martyn: The Barbican, London
Live Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 17 September 2006
"Burble burble burble... President Bush... flffle mffle wffle... 'kin 'ell... urgle wurgle gurgle... I'm trouble too! Heheheheheh..." ...
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 22 September 2006
Thirty years after drugs killed Free's guitarist, the band are back in vogue. They just won't talk to each other. ...
Gong, Steve Hillage: Steve Hillage: Woggle Head
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 14 January 2007
Steve Hillage was a prime groover on the Canterbury psychedelic scene of the Seventies and still makes far-out trance music today. So why do people ...
Pentangle: Britain's Grateful Dead
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Guardian, 16 March 2007
Folk pioneers Pentangle recently played together for the first time in 30 years. This is the perfect time for them to reform for good, says ...
Patti Smith: Roundhouse, London
Live Review by Nick Coleman, The Independent, May 2007
"JESUS DIED for somebody's sins, but not mine." It was a good way to start an album in 1975 and it remains a good way ...
The Watersons: "Feeling part of a dynasty in musical terms is a great feeling"
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, The Guardian, 12 May 2007
Author's note: The Guardian chopped this in half. It's better at full length – but then I would say that. This is the full-length one. ...
Linda Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Linda Thompson
Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 2 September 2007
Linda and Richard Thompson's marriage was fiery – so much so that Nick Hornby began a script about the legendary folk rockers. Here, on the ...
The Good Bad & The Queen: At Least It's Raining: An Albarn/Simonon Psychogeography
Interview by Nick Coleman, The Believer, October 2007
Things shared by Damon Albarn and Paul Simonon:• North Kensington• A Love of Dickens• A group hug with Chrissie Hynde ...
Led Zeppelin: Why We Should Dig The 'Rock Dinosaurs' All Over Again
Guide by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 2 December 2007
They were the biggest band of the 1970s and they're about to reform ...
Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 3 February 2008
In the summer of 1971, Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg holed up in a villa on the Riviera with the other members of the Rolling ...
Marvin Gaye's Here, My Dear: Deal Me Out
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 17 February 2008
At the age of 39, Marvin Gaye's marriage hit the rocks, and he was forced into the studio to pay the divorce fees. Reissued 30 ...
David Bowie: Thomas Jerome Seabrook: Bowie in Berlin – A New Career in a New Town (Jawbone)
Book Review by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 2 March 2008
ONE OF THE great privileges of being an adolescent rock fan in the '70s was the travelling you got to do. ...
The Band, The Rolling Stones: The Sounds of Scorsese
Overview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 26 March 2008
AS THE VETERAN FILM-MAKER RELEASES HIS CONCERT MOVIE ON THE ROLLING STONES, NICK COLEMAN APPLAUDS A DIRECTOR WHO'S ALWAYS PUT MUSIC AT THE HEART OF ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Intelligent Life, Spring 2008
Sparks are to begin performing their entire oeuvre next week in Islington. Singer Russel Mael tells Nick Coleman it's like buying pork futures... ...
Tom Waits: Barney Hoskyns: Lowside of the Road – A Life of Tom Waits (Faber & Faber)
Book Review by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 1 March 2009
SELF-REVELATION has never come easily to the Los Angeleno songwriter, musician and occasional actor Tom Waits, which is presumably why he writes the kinds of ...
Booker T. Jones: Booker T Jones: The King Of Stax Picks Up His Axe
Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 26 April 2009
With his band the MGs, Booker T was the resident genius at one of America's great soul labels. Now, with a bit of help from ...
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 3 January 2010
As a new film reminds us, he was a polio survivor from the suburbs and not much of a musician. ...
Profile and Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 29 August 2010
Gered Mankowitz wasn't yet 21 when his pictures captured London's groovers at their hippest. As the portraitist prepares to put his Hendrix archive on show, ...
Adrian Sherwood: The Man Who Built Jamaica In The Midlands
Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 27 February 2011
The founder of On-U Sound tells Nick Coleman that there is more to reggae than 'ooom-chicky...' ...
Adrian Sherwood is feeling the riddim
Retrospective and Interview by Nick Coleman, The New Zealand Herald, 25 November 2011
NOT MUCH reggae music came out of the Home Counties during the early 1970s, but an awful lot went in. More than you might think. ...
Sandy Denny: The Queen of Fairport
Retrospective by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 6 May 2012
LESS THAN A decade ago a retrospective CD box-set came out. A Boxful of Treasures documented the life and career of the English singer-songwriter Sandy ...
Be Bop Deluxe: Hung up on these silver strings: Be-Bop Deluxe in 1975
Book Excerpt by Nick Coleman, 'Yes Is The Answer' (Rare Bird Books) , 30 May 2013
BE-BOP DELUXE came in through the out-door. And, this being England, they brought some weather in with them. ...
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: The RBP Album Club on Southside Johnny (2013)
Interview by Nick Coleman, Nick Hornby, Rock's Backpages Audio, 11 July 2013
Messrs. Hornby and Coleman discuss the album: who they were when they first heard it; what it meant to them; the meaning of "R&B"; all things Miami Steve van Zandt, and engage the audience in some pretty lively discussion.
File format: mp3; file size: 78.4mb, interview length: 1h 25' 40" sound quality: ****
Nick Drake, John Martyn: Solid Air: John Martyn and Nick Drake
Report and Interview by Nick Coleman, Independent on Sunday, 10 November 2013
JOHN MARTYN and Nick Drake have just tipped up backstage at an Oxford College Commemorative Ball. It is 1973. The older, newly-successful man, Martyn, is ...
Book Excerpt by Nick Coleman, 'Voices' (Jonathan Cape), January 2018
GREGORY ISAACS may or may not have been a nice man. He may or may not have been piously observant of the Rastafarian faith that ...
Book Excerpt by Nick Coleman, 'Voices' (Jonathan Cape), January 2018
THE IMPORTANCE of Roy Orbison cannot be overstated. He emerged from Wink, Texas, in the 1950s, blinking astygmatically behind heavy-rimmed spectacles, a pudding-faced introvert of ...
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