Penny Valentine
Penny was one of the first British pop writers of note, writing in the ’60s for Disc and Music Echo, and then later for Sounds, City Limits and many other publications. She was also the first female pop writer in the British press. She co-wrote (with Vicki Wickham) Dancing With Demons: The Authorized Biography of Dusty Springfield. Penny died in January 2003.
Hear Penny talking in February 1968
207 articles
List of articles in the library
The Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts: Why I Want To Be A Writer — By Charlie Watts
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc, 26 December 1964
talking to PENNY VALENTINE ...
Them: Everyone wants to know about... that there Them group!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc, 10 April 1965
...and here's the secret of their success — writes PENNY VALENTINE ...
Report by Penny Valentine, Disc Weekly, 12 June 1965
IT IS A QUARTER to eight at the BBC studios in London. There is an audience of 300 but the place is very quiet as ...
Bob Dylan: 'Like A Rolling Stone' (CBS)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc Weekly, 14 August 1965
AND NOW A SIX-MINUTE TREK THROUGH DYLAN-LAND ...
Sonny & Cher: The Mad Mad World of Sonny And Cher!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc Weekly, 4 September 1965
SONNY and Cher had just arrived in their manager's office in Los Angeles. It was 2.30 p.m. and they had bounced happily back from a ...
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc, 13 November 1965
What DO DUSTY, SANDIE and CILLA talk about when they're trapped? ...
Cilla Black: Cilla Sings a Rainbow (Parlophone)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 April 1966
CILLA: A SUPER NEW LP ...
Cilla Black: Cilla on Marriage
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 April 1966
'THE QUEEN HASN'T DONE TOO BADLY – BUT IT'S NOT YET FOR ME!' ...
Film/DVD/TV Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 April 1966
…and wasn't Dusty a gas on RSG? ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 14 May 1966
Sandie's improved — this is a big hit ...
The Rolling Stones: Stones Single — Your verdict
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 14 May 1966
FRIDAY THE thirteenth of May — tomorrow — will be a red-letter day for Stones fans. It's the release date of the new Stones single ...
The Beach Boys: Beach Boy In Town... Cool, So Cool
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 28 May 1966
BRUCE JOHNSTON is 23 and has sandy hair and wears bright custard shirts. He used to be a record producer for CBS in America and ...
The Troggs: OOPS! A TROGG named PRESLEY! And his relations were furious.
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 28 May 1966
HAVE YOU ever come to wonder about Reg Trogg's surname being Presley? It's very strange really. ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 28 May 1966
Subdued Animals — smash hit! ...
Paul Jones: How I went on Juke Box Jury — and LIVED!
Report by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 July 1966
Disc and Music Echo singles reviewer whose Jury appearance this week was recorded last Saturday. ...
The Walker Brothers: Walker Brothers: Does John Maus miss the cream?
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 23 July 1966
THIS WEEK, into Disc and Music Echo's offices, appeared the following tome: "We have all had enough of Scott Engel. Even Gary gets more attention ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 6 August 1966
THIS IS THE BEST BEATLE SONG EVER! ...
The Troggs: Troggs: Why The Nasty Knocking?
Comment by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 27 August 1966
I WOULD like to defend The Troggs. ...
Mike D'Abo, Manfred Mann: Miked D'Abo: D'Abo Digs Dollies!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 17 September 1966
MIKE D'ABO turned up ten minutes late, full of apologies but his cats Alfie and Dolly had been ill. ...
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 October 1966
They're Off! Walkers, Troggs, Dave Dee ...
The Supremes: Supremes smash phone records!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 15 October 1966
NO MATTER where they happen to be — Japan or Germany, Australia or Andalusia — a phone call is put in to Mrs. Ross, of ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 29 October 1966
BEACH BOYS' new single — and it's a work of art 'Good Vibrations': What can you say about a work of art other than stating ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 12 November 1966
WHO PLUS BATMAN: A MINI BONANZA! ...
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 19 November 1966
The 'Reach Out, I'll Be There' boys hit town and cause a sensation among the stars and fans at their concert ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 10 December 1966
WHO AND THE HAPPY WORLD OF PETE TOWNSHEND 'Happy Jack' (Reaction) — Happy Who, happy us, happy world of Pete Townshend! ...
Cat Stevens: Cat: What A Drag It Is Being Young
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 21 January 1967
THE LYRICS IN Cat Stevens’ songs would imply that he was a simple person involved with the simple things in life. Working for a rotten ...
The Monkees: The Monkees (RCA)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 21 January 1967
CATCHEE MONKEES — on their first great LP ...
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 4 February 1967
Ball at the Albert Hall ...
Johnny Rivers: This Johnny is a cool customer
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 18 February 1967
JOHNNY RIVERS is the sort or name they've been throwing around with abandon in the hippie homes USA-style for some time now. ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 11 March 1967
Hendrix: incredibly ugly but so much excitement ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 1 April 1967
Blast-off for THE big four is this Friday — Here's Disc's curtain-raiser by the stars themselves ...
Manfred Mann: That Mobbing Scene Is Over
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 April 1967
MICHAEL D'ABO burst into song, sitting in the sun outside a London pub, and signed two autograph books proffered by two slightly embarassed fans. ...
Pink Floyd: They're all in the PINK!
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 April 1967
THE PINK Floyd burst on to the London club scene in a kaleidoscope of colours some months ago. Literally, because colour, shapes and light gave ...
The Rolling Stones: Swedes Riot For The Stones While Jagger Plans A Fresh Tour Draw...
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 April 1967
HALFWAY through their Continental tour last week the Rolling Stones were experiencing scenes of fantastic fan fervour, riots and galloping policemen. ...
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 22 April 1967
BO and BEN: the rock-soul truce men! ...
Dusty Springfield: Talk Of The Town, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 13 May 1967
DUSTY A WOW IN CABARET ...
Jimi Hendrix, Garnet Mimms: Jimi Hendrix Experience, Garnet Mimms: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 13 May 1967
Hendrix turns on the heat ...
Jeff Beck, Cream: Cream, Jeff Beck: Saville Theatre, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 July 1967
Cream — just beautiful! ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 15 July 1967
THE CREAM are all things bright and beautiful. They have suddenly arisen from the depths of a mediocre music scene, like a splendid awakening Kraken. ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 5 August 1967
SANDIE SHAW was engaged in something of a friendly battle with an Italian waiter at the Palace Hotel, Viareggio, when I finally caught up with ...
Dusty Springfield: Searching so hard to find herself...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 9 September 1967
Close up on a pop giant... by Penny Valentine ...
Procol Harum: Procol: "It's nice to think they're copying us..."
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 30 September 1967
'A WHITER Shade Of Pale' has sold four million copies. A fact which would have most jolly groups leaping about in joy, but which Procol ...
Dusty Springfield: Where Am I Going? (Philips 33s. 6d.)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 18 November 1967
Dusty: so worth the wait ...
Guide by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 2 December 1967
Christmas is here — and so are thousands of visitors from all parts of Britain and the world to see the lights and sights of ...
Gladys Knight and the Pips: Gladys Knight: How It Took Miss Knight 14 Years To Get A Hit
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 9 December 1967
GLADYS KNIGHT And The Pips have been together for 14 years — a fact made all the more unbelievable when you consider that Gladys herself ...
Love: 'Alone Again Or' (Elektra)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 20 January 1968
CERTAINLY THE best of the West Coast groups, I have always loved Love's ability to combine progress with strong melody and a certain indefinable something. ...
The Small Faces: We excite ourselves say Small Faces!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 20 January 1968
ONCE KNOCKED for being merely a bunch of mini noise-makers with spots and gravelly voices who were not exactly listed among people you would most ...
Tim Rose: Meet Tim Rose, Man Who Helped To Put Jimi Hendrix On The Hit Trail
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 24 February 1968
TIM ROSE is an American in the odd position of having been responsible for two of pop's standard classics — without actually having a hit ...
The Peddlers, Lou Rawls: Lou Rawls, the Peddlers: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 25 May 1968
Lou Rawls — staggered ...
The Rolling Stones: 'Jumping Jack Flash' (Decca)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 25 May 1968
Yes! Yes! Stones flash back with a No.1 ...
Simon & Garfunkel: 'Mrs. Robinson'
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 6 July 1968
I HAVE A strange and nice feeling that this is going to be the record to break the Simon & Garfunkel chart silence in Britain. ...
Tim Hardin Talking Of Life's Raw Deal...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 20 July 1968
THAT TIM HARDIN actually arrived in London last week to embark on his first concert tour is a history-making event in itself. ...
Jack Good: Blasting British Pop TV
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 5 October 1968
T.V. whizz-kid Jack Good flies in to make a spectacular and says: "I don't want the masses; they can go watch Coronation Street" ...
Dusty Springfield: Five Great Years of Dusty
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 2 November 1968
ON NOVEMBER 5, 1968, Dusty Springfield celebrates five years as a solo star. ...
The Beatles: The Beatles (Parlophone)
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 9 November 1968
73 bob is the cost of the Beatles' LP. Pay up and smile THE BEATLES GETS AWAY FROM SERGEANT PEPPER ...
Lulu: A tiger in her £20,000 cage… Lulu at home
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 30 November 1968
ITS ALWAYS news when pop stars move into houses — so few have permanent homes of any kind because they're always on the move. ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 30 November 1968
Dusty: this might be that elusive smash... ...
Crosby Stills and Nash: It's A Revolution
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 7 December 1968
IN A SMALL TOP-FLOOR flat off Bayswater, London, a music revolution is taking place. ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 18 January 1969
BLONDE, GRITTY Christine Perfect not only bears the distinction of being lead singer of the famed Chicken Shack blues band, but is also married to ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 10 July 1969
DAVID BOWIE – AMAZING SOUND! ...
David Bowie: Chart Control to David Bowie: The "Human Oddity" Interviewed
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc, 11 October 1969
DAVID BOWIE IS 22 years old, thin, with a halo of fair hair, a delicately soft face and two cold eyes. One is pale kitten ...
David Bowie Says Most Things The Long Way Round!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 25 October 1969
ON HEARING a new LP called David Bowie, someone remarked: 'Well it's very nice, but do you think he's a lasting talent?' ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 8 November 1969
WHEN CHRISTINE Perfect was 19 and studying to be a sculptress in Birmingham, she was roped into playing bass for a local group that didn't ...
Christine Perfect part 2: Perfection In Married Life, By Christine And John...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 15 November 1969
HER VOICE IS dry with a tinge of North Country humour in it; she's not conventionally pretty – but she is pleasant and warm and ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 29 November 1969
DESMOND DEKKER had a pretty nasty experience the other day when fans got hold of his scarf and nearly strangled him. He was unconscious for ...
David Bowie: Big Week For Bowie: A new star shoots upwawrds
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, February 1970
DAVID BOWIE has had a good week. ...
Stephen Stills keeps fighting — against violence in pop music
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 28 February 1970
STEPHEN STILLS is possibly the most underrated musician and musical force of our time. But he’s no demi-god. It is one of those strange ironies ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 11 April 1970
GINGER BAKER is 31 years old and you DON’T ignore him. You can’t. He has accumulated a monstrous reputation over the past 10 years that ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
IT HAS taken the amazing Bread over a year to 'break nationwide' – or for that matter to break anywhere on a really large scale. ...
Elton John, Fotheringay: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
PUTTING ELTON John second billing to Fotheringay at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night was a taste of mistaken booking if ever there was ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: Rod Remains a Face
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
GASOLINE ALLEY is Rod Stewart's second solo album. Out here this month it has already, in America, put him streaks ahead in the solo champ class. ...
The Who: Roger Daltrey: The Sounds Talk In
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
DO YOU feel your position as a singer with the Who is as influential as you'd like it to be? ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 October 1970
Magnificent, dynamic Nyro ...
Bread: Revolution Club, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
AT THE end of Bread's London appearance at the Revolution club on Thursday night they were called back to do two encores and treated to ...
Elton John: The Great White Hope
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
CALL ELTON John what you will. The most brilliant singer/pianist we have ever produced, one of the best artists on record or on stage you ...
Humble Pie Get Back To Steve's Roots
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
HUMBLE PIE have got back to what could ostensibly be called Steve Marriott's roots. Today their musical approach involves a good solid line in basic ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
PETE TOWNSHEND, who usually has an eye and an ear for the musically arresting and is no man to argue with, could be said to ...
The Voices of East Harlem: Voices of East Harlem: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 October 1970
IF THE Albert Hall had been full to its capacity audience of 8,000 on Friday night then the Voices of East Harlem could well have ...
Emerson Lake And Palmer, The Nice: Emerson Lake & Palmer: Here Comes Another Orgasmic Peak
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
KEITH EMERSON is, to say the least, very upset at the release of old Nice tapes currently flooding the market. ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
JAMES TAYLOR was in town and you could tell it by the buzz in the air and the musicians who walked around muttering his name ...
James Taylor, Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell in with James
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
JONI MITCHELL flew into London last Sunday – with James Taylor the man with whom she is being romantically linked. ...
T. Rex: I'm A Pop Star On Any Level Says Marc
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 31 October 1970
MARC BOLAN – whose voice has been known to bring some people out in an allergy and others to their knees in supplication – has ...
Badfinger: No Dice (Apple SAPCOR 16)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 19 December 1970
BADFINGER ARE one of Apple's natural phenomena who continue to sound disturbingly like the early Beatles. I say "disturbingly" only because the comparison is almost ...
Elton John: Tumbleweed Connection
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1971
IT IS ALL too easy to go overboard with praise about Elton John. I am guilty of doing it – frequently. But then, when faced ...
Elton John: The Record Rise Of A Superstar Called Reg
Essay by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 1971
IN APRIL 1970 an album was released that was to whisk Reg Dwight of Pinner into Elton John. It was, quite simply, titled Elton John, ...
David Bowie: Bowie, Music And Life
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 February 1971
DAVID BOWIE has never been a conventional anything. Certainly he is no run of the mill product of the music business, something rather that was ...
Tim Hardin: Contemporary Songwriters: Tim Hardin
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 27 February 1971
MANY SONGWRITERS could be said to expose a little of their soul during the course of their writing, but there can't be anyone in the ...
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 20 March 1971
CAT STEVENS is very rare amongst the British writer syndrome in that a vast percentage of his work stems from his environment. He is a ...
The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones: 'Brown Sugar'/'Bitch'/'Let It Rock' (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 April 1971
IF ANYONE had been led to believe by the rumours feverishly circulating in the past couple of months that the Rolling Stones were about to ...
The Faces: Here Comes Britain's Biggest Rock And Roll Band
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 April 1971
Penny Valentine talks to a Face and makes a prediction ...
David Bowie: Contemporary Songwriters: David Bowie
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 May 1971
THE WORK of songwriters is conditioned by many things. Their environment, their childhood, their brushes with love, their hopes and dreams, their disillusionment. And they ...
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Four Way Street (Atlantic)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 May 1971
I HAVE to admit at the start of this review that I'm generally not over keen on live recordings. Although occasionally they show that an ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 May 1971
You're very rare in music today in that you managed to virtually disappear for two years when you were ill and then came back ...
Cat Stevens: Teaser And The Firecat
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1 August 1971
Singer, musician and songwriter. As such, in the opinion of many, Cat Stevens is one of the most brilliant and worthwhile talents to have emerged ...
Rick Wakeman: Just Another Yes Man
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 28 August 1971
WHEN HE was six years old, Rick Wakeman's father dispatched him to a very fine lady piano teacher in Harrow. Two lessons later the infant ...
Cat Stevens: Teaser And The White Hot Cat
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 25 September 1971
"I built my house of barley rice, green paper walls and water ice, tables of paper wood, windows of light and everything emptying into white." ...
The Rainbow Theatre: Cheap Seats In Pot Of Gold
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 October 1971
"ROCK audiences now are interested in having a comfortable place to sit and really listen to music. The days of freak out dancing to anything ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 30 October 1971
FIVE YEARS ago a stocky guy with hair to his shoulders and a fur coat round his shoulders and a slim, stunning girl who wore ...
Elton John: Madman Across The Water (DJM)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 30 October 1971
IT'S AN ODD fact that the British tend to malign their own products to the point of insanity. We managed to ignore Joe Cocker, almost ...
T. Rex: Fairfield Hall, Croydon
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 30 October 1971
MAGIC IS a hard thing to summon up on a Sunday after-lunch afternoon audience. So if anyone deserves the award of the month it's Marc ...
Isaac Hayes: Shaft (Stax 2659 007)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 November 1971
IT WAS obvious, the way he was going musically, that Hayes' next step would be into the film-score scene. His craft as a man who ...
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (Tamla Motown STML 11190).
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 November 1971
THE BEST album to come out of the Motown for longer than I care to remember comes in fact from Marvin Gaye's own "first". First ...
The Moody Blues: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 6 November 1971
GREMLINS WERE rife when the Moody Blues kicked off their first British tour for over a year at the Festival Hall on Saturday night. ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, December 1971
BRITISH MUSIC now seems to have a quality of holding onto its stars, and it’s maybe only once a year that anyone manages to surface ...
Stevie Wonder: Music Of My Mind (Tamla Motown)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 4 December 1971
THIS HAS been hailed as Stevie Wonder's final "coming of age", but I think this album is more important and will certainly have more important ...
The Faces: A Nod's as Good as a Wink to the Faces...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
IT'S BEEN a long hard rest for Ronnie Wood — as indeed it has been for the rest of the Faces. Days when there wasn't ...
Billy Preston: I Wrote A Simple Song (AM AMLH 63507).
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
WARMTH ...
Isaac Hayes: Black Moses (Stax Super 2628 004)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
HAYES HAS got to the stage now where "genius" is a word liberally applied to just about everything he does and, certainly, he has reached ...
Joe Cocker: Why The Cut in Cockerpower?
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
WHEN JOE Cocker came back to Britain at the end of 1970, went back home to Sheffield and word got around to a stunned music ...
Stevie Wonder: Stevie's Moog Music...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 22 January 1972
"I never did realise it would take me so long to lose that 'Little' Stevie Wonder tag. There are times when I wish I'd only ...
Billy Preston: Billy's Feelin' Real Good
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 January 1972
A BROOKLYN friend of mine who had this uncanny knack of being able to spot a rising star at 100 yards said to me a ...
"Mama" Cass Elliot: Cass Elliot: Cass Elliot (RCA)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 January 1972
CASS'S FIRST SOLO ALBUM for her new company shows that the lady has always had much more to offer in terms of phrasing and feel ...
Bloodstone, Curtis Mayfield: Curtis Mayfield, Bloodstone: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 January 1972
CURTIS LOSES BUT WINS ...
Curtis Mayfield In The Talk-In
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 February 1972
WHEN YOU first used strings on your early work with the Impressions it was something of a breakthrough in soul music. Did you find any ...
David Geffen: David's Talented Asylum
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 February 1972
Penny Valentine talks to America's leading manager David Geffen ...
Helen Reddy: Weekend Ever Reddy
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 February 1972
A VERY HEAVY American biography on Helen Reddy comes on with excessive amounts of material on the supernatural, her beliefs in ESP and parapsychology* until ...
Elton John: Start of a New Era
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 February 1972
MIDNIGHT ON Monday evening and in his luxury ranch-style house in Surrey, where the carpet grows deep and the huge knife-edged plants threaten to eat ...
Procol Harum: Procol Back On The Pedestal
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 8 April 1972
PROCOL HARUM’S new album — not the extravaganza that comes out this week with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra but the one Gary Brooker and Keith ...
Manassas, Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills' Manassas: Manassas (Atlantic K60021)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
OF ALL the members of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young it's been Stephen that seems to have had the roughest passage going it alone. Critics ...
John Denver, The Moody Blues: The Moody Blues, John Denver: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
MOODIES: HEROES AT THE POOL ...
Valerie Simpson: Exposed (Tamla Motown STML 11194)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 29 April 1972
THIS FIRST solo album by songwriter Valerie Simpson could be subtitled Motown's answer to Carole King. Certainly there are many facts that tie in between ...
Joni Mitchell: Royal Festival Hall, London,
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 13 May 1972
Saturday night was Cup Final day in London and – in passing – the last time the crowd joined for ‘Abide With Me’ at Wembley. ...
Joni Mitchell: An Interview (part 1)
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 3 June 1972
THE LADY WHO walks on eggs is sitting in her hotel suite overlooking St. James' Park with her legs tucked up, her chin resting on ...
Joni Mitchell: An Interview (part 2)
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 June 1972
LAST WEEK Joni Mitchell spoke for the first time in over two years about why she virtually "retired" from the music scene during a period ...
Procol Harum: Reid Between The Lines
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 August 1972
"I HAVE A VERY bad reputation," says Keith Reid thoughtfully. "Especially with the men who hold all the money in this business". I'm quite sure ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 August 1972
"I DON'T THINK we've ever had a particular status. I think we're a band a lot of people underestimate and in many ways I think ...
Donny Hathaway: Everything Is Everything (Atlantic K40063)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 9 September 1972
DONNY HATHAWAY, the young black writer/producer/arranger/keyboard player who has worked with Mayfield, Flack, Jerry Butler, Staple Singers and Carla Thomas, comes up here with his ...
Ray Charles: A Message From The People (Probe SPB 1060)
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 9 September 1972
RAY CHARLES has apparently wanted to do an album like this — where the songs reflect a series of ideas, soft protests and pain at ...
Joe Cocker: 'With A Song In Your Heart'
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 18 November 1972
JOE COCKER has had a pretty heavy day of it so far. Two Australians had been gritting their teeth at him... 'Was it true that ...
Cat Stevens: A Cat Breaks Free
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 9 December 1972
Penny Valentine takes a jaunt to see Cat Stevens ...
Dusty Springfield: Talk of the Town, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD'S return to the British music scene for her first live appearances for four years took place last week at the Talk Of The ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
IN A VAST, empty, wild beach a blonde girl sits in the breakers and watches the sea rolling endlessly into the sand. There are seagulls ...
Dory Previn: Surviving All Odds: Dory Previn
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 16 December 1972
WHEN DORY Previn wrote: "I no longer plead with heaven or go rummaging in books for the answers to the questions life contains", she had ...
Procol Harum: Procol's Triumph
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1973
"MAKES QUITE a change for a Friday night at the Rainbow," said the guy behind me surreptitiously half-way through Procol Harum's appearance last week ...
Terry Reid: Terry’s Funky Steamer
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 1973
FOR A WEEK now in Los Angeles the local TV station have been running a series of old maestro W.C. Fields movies each morning. Today ...
Profile by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 13 January 1973
RONNIE WOOD'S always been pretty modest about his guitar playing. Mention how good it's got over the past two years and he tends to look ...
Bette Midler: Trying To Be Free
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 February 1973
THE DIVINE MISS M. sparkles and shines like a great glossy cake trimmed up with rich icing. On stage, word has it, she is superbly ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 February 1973
LITTLE LINDA Lewis picks up her guitar this week, gets on a plane, flies to New York and will, for the first time in her ...
Joni Mitchell: The Voice of Woman: Joni Mitchell
Comment by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 17 February 1973
I am on a lonely road and I am travellingLooking for the key to set me free . . . ...
Fanny: The Crossroads Are Where Fanny Are At
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 24 February 1973
ALL RIGHT. So Fanny can play with due competence, can pull in and please the crowds, make chunky representative albums and they've got over the ...
Steely Dan: Get Your Thrills Here
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 10 March 1973
THE MOST exciting new band to break from the States this year is Steely Dan. ...
Keith Moon: Bored Side Of The Moon
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 5 May 1973
Penny Valentine meets an old friend ...
Gordon Lightfoot's Mid-Day Madness
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 2 June 1973
IT'S MIDDAY in Toronto on Thursday of last week and Gordon Lightfoot is sitting back and reckoning that everything's getting just a touch silly. Which, ...
Cat Stevens' Subtle Love Affair
Review and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 14 July 1973
CAT STEVENS walks out of the burning sun, through the huge glass windows. It’s a surprise to see him. He seems as surprised to be ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart: Swashbuckler Rod
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 25 August 1973
ROD STEWART and I have been talking about the Liberal party and their chances in the next election. Now he's standing – one long green ...
Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel In Flight
Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 April 1975
As Minnie Riperton hits No. 1 in America Penny Valentine reports from New York ...
Gladys Knight & The Pips: Midnight Train To Harlem
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 April 1975
Blowing it at the Apollo means you haven't really made it at all. After a heart-stopping false start, GLADYS KNIGHT went on to prove that ...
LaBelle: ...How The West Was Won — Nearly
Report by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 26 April 1975
A few days in the life of LaBelle. Penny Valentine reports from America's West Coast where the critics are a harder nut to crack than ...
Little Feat, Allen Toussaint: Little Theatre, New York NY
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Record Mirror, 10 May 1975
LITTLE THEATRE — once a rather seedy showcase home for acts that couldn't make the bigger circuits — has undergone a recent facelift and is ...
Bonnie Raitt: Bonnie Comes Marching Home
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, 12 July 1975
When Bonnie Raitt comes marching home to pack Carnegie Hall, Penny Valentine is there to talk to "the one woman who is a pure musician ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Let It Rock, August 1975
WHEN SHE SINGS 15 year old girls run out of the audience, down the auditorium, arms raised in a two fisted salute. What they are ...
Bonnie Raitt: Home Plate (Warner Bros.)
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 1 November 1975
BONNIE RAITT is an intriguing talent, firmly rooted in the music of men like Otis Rush and Fred McDowell whom she met and worked with ...
Nils Lofgren: Teenage Genius Grinned
Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 1 November 1975
TEN years after he heard his first rock record: "I thought pop music was too simple, I could call out all the chords and analyse ...
The Who: Imagine a Life Full of Heroes & Villains & Fools
Essay by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 1 November 1975
THAT summer: Tolliday and I roaming Soho’s warm night streets, swapping stories, putting each other in roles, lingering outside sawdust-floored Italian food-stores, sniffing in the ...
Van Dyke Parks: Clang Of The Yankee Reaper (Warner Bros.)
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 15 November 1975
ONE DAY I got this strange note from America. It said: "Thanks for the review of my single. It is the first good review I've ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 29 November 1975
THIS ALBUM is sub-titled 'A Pythagorean Theory Tale'. Pythagoras, you may remember, had a theory that the education system approved of, about the square of ...
Emmylou Harris: New Victoria, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 29 November 1975
THE LIGHTS had just gone down, the musicians were just striking up when these two guys fell up the stairs singing loudly, "New York, New ...
Rufus: Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan (ABC)
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 29 November 1975
AMERICAN BLACK music (that which is loosely termed 'soul') has been going through a disturbing period. It continues to do so. Where once the arm ...
Nils Lofgren: The Selling Of Nils Lofgren
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 29 November 1975
The chalked sign on the blackboard at Manchester University reads: Tonight – Nils Lofgren, and then in brackets Ex-Neil Young & Crazy Horse. The price ...
Joan Baez: Slack Time For The Revolution
Interview by Penny Valentine, Let It Rock, December 1975
JOAN BAEZ PUTS it bluntly: "If I'd done another political album at this point, I'd have been bankrupt. I had no money left. So I ...
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 10 January 1976
PAUL SIMON is small and neat and nervous. His songs reflect him perfectly. They are small and neat and edgy. Paul Simon delivers his songs ...
Van Dyke Parks: The Clang of Van Dyke Parks
Profile by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 7 February 1976
"He deals in streams of consciousness and clicks someone’s brain on to accepting an abstract concept... he can grab those feelings and wrench them out ...
Comment by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 21 February 1976
THERE ARE three women writers on Street Life. We are generally treated with the same 'respect' as our male colleagues. In other words, if there's no ...
Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Maria Muldaur, Toots & The Maytals: Joe Boyd: An Interview
Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 21 February 1976
Penny Valentine talks to the man in between, Joe Boyd who has recently produced Toots Hibbert, Maria Muldaur, and the McGarrigles. ...
Overview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 6 March 1976
THE NUMBER of women working in British music is pitifully small. You can count them on one hand. Why? ...
Maria Muldaur: Sweet Harmony (Reprise)
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 6 March 1976
THE FIRST time I saw Maria Muldaur live she was magnificent. Which is unfortunate because it set a precedent she could never follow short of ...
Barry White: The Discreet Charm Of the Black Bourgeoisie: Barry White and Company
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 6 March 1976
WHEN YOUNG American blacks threw off their jeans, gave them to the white kids, and emerged supercool in their three-piece suits, brogues and cashmere sweaters ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 20 March 1976
"SOMETIMES IT'S all too much to say aloud...sometimes the words are painful to the ear." ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 3 April 1976
AS PEOPLE are attracted to evil I was always fascinated by Laura Nyro. The fascination was on two levels – as a musician she was ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 1 May 1976
FREEBO’S SHAGGY, morose head appears through the doors of the van: "There is no truth in the rumour," he shouts, "that when Bonnie Raitt arrived ...
Peter Frampton: The Rise And Rise
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, October 1977
IN WHICH THE PLAN IS REVEALED, ITS ARCHITECTS STEP FORWARD, AND ALL CONCERNED LOOK TO THE FUTURE ...
Traffic: Steve Winwood: Don't Call Him Stevie
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, November 1977
When Steve Winwood was 15 years old he was the child prodigy/focal point of the Spencer Davis Group. Singing with a soul voice experienced beyond ...
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 28 January 1978
Penny Valentine reports from the Talking Heads tour ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, April 1978
Roger Taylor: We Will Trump you!"Blokes in the audience...think he (Freddie) is just weird, very weird." ...
Marianne Faithfull: Still Faithfull After All These Years
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, June 1978
REAL SURVIVORS are rare in rock 'n' roll. Those who live in the fast lane tend not to make it to 30, the rest are ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Out Of The Closet And Into The Streets
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, September 1978
Summer Of '77A chance mid-week gig at a small London pub. ...
Bryan Ferry: The Bride Stripped Bare
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978
WITH HIS USUAL panache (some may say pretensions), Bryan Ferry has taken his album title from a famous work by the surrealist Marcel Duchamp: The ...
Emmylou Harris: Profile…Best Of Emmylou Harris
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978
UNDOUBTEDLY, Emmylou's success has been to make traditional country music acceptable to a rock audience. She has a lot to answer for, and in a ...
Joan Armatrading: Fragile Surfaces And Fast Getaways
Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 30 September 1978
IN HER KITCHEN Joan Armatrading washes up the plates from a vegetarian meal we have just eaten. "You wouldn't think," she had said earlier with ...
Linda Ronstadt: Living In The U.S.A.
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 30 September 1978
OVER HER PAST few albums and, curiously, ever since she won a wall full of awards, something has been happening to Linda Ronstadt's "interpretative" powers. ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 28 October 1978
IT'S RARE FOR any artist to re-emerge successfully from a long period of musical sterility. Harder still, somehow, for black musicians, whose problems – brought ...
O'Jays: The O'Jays: So Full Of Love (Philly Int PIR 86066)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 11 November 1978
THIS IS an album that's already had two tracks pulled off as singles. Yet the real prize is lurking on the last track of side ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 9 December 1978
ALICE NEVER really was a contender for the world's greatest rock musician or singer (that's why he had to "kill" chickens and babies every night ...
Peter Gabriel: The Lamb Brought Down In Paris
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 23 December 1978
ON THE WAY TO Paris to meet a man I've never seen there is a white sign splashed across a motorway bridge: 'Vive Le Proletariat' ...
Roy Hill: Riverside Studios, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 3 February 1979
APPROACHING Roy Hill via one sub-Bowie single ('I Like, I Like, I Like') and a first album saturated in unsympathetic production, I was not – ...
Elvis Costello: Hammersmith Palais, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 10 February 1979
HAS Elvis Costello finally become an Establishment "star," or is he still mounting a concerted attack against the old-fart fortress? Taking the stage at Hammersmith ...
Lene Lovich: Bedford College, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 24 February 1979
EMERGING FROM the Stiff tour as little more than a suspicious record company packaging job with a clever line in Spanish lace, Lovich is now ...
Frankie Miller: Falling In Love (Chrysalis)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 10 March 1979
AT ONE time Frankie Miller looked as though he was going to do a Joe Cocker without the intervening period of success. Now he just ...
Raspberries: The Raspberries: Best Of The Raspberries (Capitol)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 17 March 1979
THE ONE clever thing that Eric Carmen's earlier outfit did was to put Overnight Sensation out in the summer, the one time the record could ...
Rachel Sweet: What Rachel Did Next
Report and Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 14 April 1979
Rachel Sweet may follow Tanya Tucker's career with particular interest, but she really wants to be Bruce Springsteen. PENNY VALENTINE followed her on a tour ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979
AN EMPTY hotel restaurant reverberates with the sound of waiters shovelling ice. In a corner, wearing black leather trousers, a zipped jacket and a black ...
Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson: Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson: Waiting For The End Of The World
Comment by Penny Valentine, Creem, May 1979
TWO GOOD things about rock music: how it makes even cynics get emotionally involved when they least expect it; how the best moments are the ...
Bad Company: Desolation Angels Have Gastric Juices, Too
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, June 1979
Bad Company flee Screaming From Reality ...
Anita Ward: The Bell Rings and School's Out
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 23 June 1979
THIS VERY day, 'Ring My Bell' has made it to number one in the British charts. The boys at TK records (who function from the ...
Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Live at Hammersmith Odeon
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 11 August 1979
FIRST OF ALL I’d like to say I’ve always felt ambivalent towards Ian Dury. His work has always been, like his persona, male-orientated without being ...
Maria Muldaur: Open Your Eyes (Warner Bros)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 18 August 1979
MUSICIANS WHO return after a hiatus as long as Muldaur's – since the confusion of Sweet Harmony – face several problems, not least over-effort. It's ...
Nina Simone: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 22 September 1979
NINA SIMONE has never been a comfortable musician to see live. A powerful performer, she is formidably dedicated to her art. It's hardly surprising, then, ...
Richard And Linda Thompson: Sunnyvista (Chrysalis)
Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 22 September 1979
THIS THOMPSONS package tour is a fine irony. Its visuals signal a break from the couple's traditional melancholy, replacing it with a sarcastic, partially threatening, ...
Interview by Penny Valentine, Creem, October 1979
IN HER TIGHT jeans and t-shirt her body looks like a 12-year-old's. Her face and her manner tell another story. Make-up across her broad cheekbones, ...
Review by Penny Valentine, Creem, May 1980
IT LOOKS LIKE the Flying Lizards are going to have their third hit in a row with 'TV'. Out a few days and it already ...
Def Leppard: Letter from Britain: Iron Cookies From Island Nations
Column by Penny Valentine, Creem, August 1980
MY FRIEND Nigel looked at the queue winding its way two blocks round the Rainbow Theatre and made his pronouncement: "Bored punks who never got ...
Joy Division: Letter from Britain: The Exploding Psychedelic Inevitable
Column by Penny Valentine, Creem, November 1980
"YOU CRY OUT in your sleep/And all my failings exposed," mourns Ian Curtis on the extraordinary, emotional 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. This song, currently ...
Letter from Britain: Rock Papers For Brits
Report by Penny Valentine, Creem, June 1981
BEING A survivor of at least two British rock papers — one of them now slipped in the annals of time — a new arrival ...
Fun Boy Three, The Jam, The Special AKA: Letter From Britain: Jammed Up, Jelly Tight
Comment by Penny Valentine, Creem, June 1982
Struggle after struggleYear after yearThe atmosphere's a fine blend of ice.I'm almost stone cold deadIn a town called malice.— 'Town Called Malice', the Jam. ...
Profile by Penny Valentine, The History of Rock, 1983
IF THERE WAS one band that successfully rose above punk’s swift and premature decline, it was the Clash. Although historically the Sex Pistols remain the ...
Elvis Costello: Punch The Clock
Review by Penny Valentine, City Limits, September 1983
"They put the numb into number — the cut into cutie — the slum into slumber — the boot into beauty." ...
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