Pete Paphides
Formerly The Times’ chief rock critic, Pete Paphides has been writing about music ever since his fanzine Perturbed came to the attention of Melody Maker in 1991. Leaving university the following year, he spent over two years writing for Melody Maker before commencing eight years at Time Out, interviewing artists as disparate as Prince, Radiohead, David Bowie, Cher, Pulp and Sting.
Whilst there, he didn’t waste any opportunity to record several of his subjects to record outgoing answerphone messages for him. Getting all three Bee Gees to sing, "If you want to leave a message for Pete/Hold on, hold on/Leave your name and number after the beep..." is a personal career highlight – closely trailed by the time Arnold Schwarzenegger’s P.A. physically ejected him from the room for having the temerity to make a similar request.
Prior to joining The Times in 2005, Pete wrote for Mojo, Q, The Guardian and Observer Music Monthly. He still contributes to The Word and Uncut – and has written and presented two series of Lost Albums for Radio Four, as well as Greek Blues – a one-off for the station in which he traced the roots of the music that his parents played during his early life.
Recent years have seen him interview Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Arctic Monkeys, Mariah Carey, Billy Joel, Mary J Blige and – during an epic bender which culminated at Kebab Machine in Notting Hill – an encounter which saw Paul Weller ordering him to "Have a kebab – it’s your heritage, man."
Pete has been lucky enough to interview members of his three favourite bands of all time – Radiohead, Abba and Pentangle, having written liner notes for the latter’s recent box set The Time Has Come. His acclaimed memoir Broken Greek was published in 2020.
161 articles
List of articles in the library
Live Review by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 23 January 1993
TRANSISTOR LOVERS ...
Pulp, Saint Etienne: Saint Etienne, Pulp: Mayfair, Glasgow
Live Review by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 6 March 1993
WHAM BAM, THANK YOU, GLAM! ...
Stereolab: Space Age Bachelor Pad Music (Too Pure)
Review by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 20 March 1993
"BASICALLY, I want to change the world. I want to make people think about how they live every day, shake them a bit." ...
Curve: Radio Sessions (Anxious)
Review by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 5 June 1993
THE TROUBLE WITH a lot of these session albums is that they don't appear to offer you anything tastier than slightly less slick versions of ...
Juliana Hatfield: No Fun Girl Three: The Juliana Hatfield Three: Become What You Are (east west)
Review by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 31 July 1993
SHE'S KIND OF complicated, our Juliana. Like in the way most people are complicated. ...
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 21 August 1993
One day last week, THE BMX BANDITS — those hardy Scottish indie perennials — got caught up in a rather bizarre incident involving diminutive Antipodean ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, Melody Maker, 8 January 1994
PETER PAPHIDES thought he was on a simple assignment to secure an exclusive ELASTICA interview. Little did he bank on the whole of Essex wanting ...
Shane MacGowan: Roamin' Catholic
Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 22 September 1994
It's a long way to Tipperary. Ask Shane MacGowan, who staggered out of The Pogues to spend two years exploring his home town and re-examining ...
Report by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 15 March 1995
Prince has always been a bit weird, but lately he seems to have lost it completely. He's changed his name to 0+>, declared war on ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 18 March 1995
IT'S BEEN a long ascent for Kirsty MacColl. Over 15 years, she's toiled away unassumingly in pursuit of that elusive beast, the perfect pop song. ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 11 October 1995
Captain's log, chartdate 1995: Pulp, Britpop's most militant misfits, are set to trounce rivals with a new zeitgeist-friendly album of caustic lyrics, hum-me tunes and ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 20 December 1995
SOMETIMES IT'S hard to know where the marketing stops and the music begins. When Tori Amos's record company launched her first album, Little Earthquakes in ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, Time Out, 5 November 1997
It's hard to believe, but only four years ago no one really knew who Radiohead were. Now, with OK Computer lodged firmly in the Top ...
Queen: Mercury Rising: We Will Rock You
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 11 May 2002
A new West End musical, We Will Rock You, plunders Queen's back catalogue for tunes. But, says Peter Paphides, it misses the chance to tell ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 8 June 2002
People were often a bit sneery about Abba, born of Eurovision, duded out in satin and feathers, quintessentially pop. Only years after the group broke ...
Cathy Dennis, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Songwriters: Musical Chairs
Special Feature by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 21 September 2002
Today's pop stars, say their critics, aren't half as talented as their predecessors because they have little or nothing to do with writing their songs. ...
Profile by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 5 October 2002
They raced from zero to inner-city heroes in one summer, then stalled in scandal. But don't write off So Solid – there's a serious business ...
Asha Bhosle: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 28 October 2002
POP STARS who complain about their workload might care to ponder the achievements of Asha Bhosle. Since she first stepped into a studio, aged ten, ...
Report by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 16 November 2002
For adolescents, it was a thrill – the first music they owned. Singles survive in the CD age as bootlegs and indie specials. Their covers ...
The Cradle Will Rock: Punk rock for babies
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 23 November 2002
Nirvana and the Clash are the perfect bedtime listening for toddlers, reckons new label Punk Rock Baby. Anything for a good night's sleep, says Peter ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 14 December 2002
ON HIS arrival in 1997, Badly Drawn Boy was feted as a Beck-style musical polymath, but was then embraced as a traditional singer-songwriter. Lately though, ...
XTC: Andy Partridge: English Settlement
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, February 2003
BEARING IN MIND his back catalogue, it may not be too surprising to learn that Andy Partridge is an assiduous recycler. ...
Daft Punk: French Pop: A Long Way From Françoise Hardy To Daft Punk
Overview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 February 2003
IT IS no surprise that France has only just got around to its own equivalent of Top Of The Pops. In a country where philosophy ...
Ed Harcourt: From Every Sphere
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, March 2003
IF THEY DON'T write songs like they used to, no one told Ed Harcourt. Before the 26-year-old former chef put out his first album — ...
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 8 March 2003
To some, the Here And Now Tour is a has-beens cabaret, to others it's a harmless trip down memory lane. Peter Paphides reports from the ...
India.Arie: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 22 March 2003
WHERE India.Arie is concerned, the journey to enlightenment will stop at nothing – not even hair. Shorn of her customary dreadlocks since her last British ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, August 2003
Depression, dysfunction and near-dissolution – Radiohead have spent the last few years in the wilderness. In a series of astonishingly intimate interviews, Peter Paphides charts ...
Belle And Sebastian: Belle & Sebastian: Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Review by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, October 2003
Two tales of one city: Pete Paphides finds that despite the help of former Frankie Goes To Hollywood producer Trevor Horn, there is still a ...
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: Sleep/Holiday
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, October 2003
Wales has never sounded so far away or magical ...
Eric Clapton, Pavement, The White Stripes, Frank Zappa: The Record Doctor: Paul Smith
Interview by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, October 2003
In his continuing quest to improve the musical tastes of the stars, Record Doctor visits the godfather of British fashion. ...
The Thrills: Filesharing etc.: Money Pit
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 11 October 2003
Who are the victims of music filesharing? Peter Paphides reveals the real band of thieves ...
Al Green: I Can't Stop (Parlophone)
Review by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, November 2003
For Lord's sake... ...
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Word, April 2004
When the police found him howling at the moon in a mud-stained Santa suit after calling his mother the worst word imaginable, it was another ...
Nick Drake: Stranger To The World
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, 25 April 2004
Nick Drake's rare talent was almost ignored in his brief lifetime. Since his suicide 30 years ago, his legend has grown and now the discovery ...
Nick Drake: Made To Love Magic
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, June 2004
The most anticipated Drake release since his death includes a gorgeous five-minute version of 'Three Hours', and the hitherto undiscovered 'Tow The Line'. ...
Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, July 2004
PANNED ON ITS RELEASE, STEVIE WONDER'S JOURNEY THROUGH THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS MADE PREFAB SPROUT'S PADDY MCALOON A SONGWRITER. ...
Comment by Pete Paphides, Observer Music Monthly, 18 July 2004
Will iTunes really kill off the record shop? Perhaps not – after all, digital information isn't something you can have and hold. And, says Peter ...
The United States Of America: The United States Of America (Sundazed)
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, August 2004
James Coburn dug their insurrectionary space rock; Paul Simon hated it; no one else cared until decades later. An era-defining underground album resurfaces with 10 extra ...
Finn Brothers: The Finn Brothers: Everyone Is Here
Review by Pete Paphides, MOJO, September 2004
Woodface II – well, that was the idea. The reality, however, is rather more complicated. ...
Bob Geldof: Live Aid: The View From The Pitch
Memoir by Pete Paphides, The Observer, 17 October 2004
Nothing was going to stop a schoolboy fan of the Boomtown Rats making it to Wembley on that fateful day. Peter Paphides recalls every high ...
Robyn Hitchcock: Why Is Robyn Hitchcock Better Off Without Hit Records?
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Word, December 2004
ON FIRST impression, only the birds printed all over his shirt detract from Robyn Hitchcock's professorial air. It was his idea to rendezvous in Swiss ...
Dido, KT Tunstall: Dido et al: Music to Watch Girls Buy
Overview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 25 March 2005
Our correspondent casts a weather eye over the fleet of female singer-songwriters floating their sonic pedalos in the wake of Dido's mighty MOR steamship ...
Boomtown Rats: The Boomtown Rats
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, May 2005
LONDON 1978. Flushed with the vindication that comes with two hit singles, Bob Geldof has decided its time for payback. ...
Saint Etienne: Lives Of The Saints (And Their Kids)
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 June 2005
Saint Etienne have produced a concept album and a set of children's songs. But they aren't Yes ...
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 June 2005
Songs about conflict and warfare are guaranteed to destroy a musician's credibility ...
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 July 2005
THESE DAYS, the Zeitgeist might prefer to be seen on the town with the likes of Coldplay – but for a band shadowed by past ...
Charlotte Church: Tissues and Issues (Sony BMG)
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 9 July 2005
DID YOU see her on Jonathan Ross the other week? Didn't she do well? Quick-witted, funny and worldly in the face of her interlocutor's ceaseless ...
Circulus, The Incredible String Band: Nowt so queer as acid folk
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 15 July 2005
In a parallel world alongside mainstream rock lies a folk revival. Pete Paphides enters the zone ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 July 2005
THE EDITORS' rapidly growing legion of fans sent the group's recent single, 'Munich', into the Top 30 — and by the time you read this, its ...
King Creosote, Tunng: Luminare, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 August 2005
TUNNG'S percussionist has a range of shells, chimes and beaded items of Middle Eastern persuasion available to him. But for their second song, 'Kinky Vans', he ...
Editors: The Scala, London, N1
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 August 2005
THE STUDENTS and indie cubs near the stage won't be unduly troubled by any feelings of dejà vu on this night. With formative musical memories ...
Franz Ferdinand: You Could Have It So Much Better (Domino)
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 30 September 2005
WHAT WOULD you give for a tenth of the confidence with which Alex Kapranos carries himself? With five singles taken from Franz Ferdinand's eponymous debut ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 October 2005
FUNNY WHAT mainstream appeal can do to an artist. Ms Dynamite has never sounded like someone who strived too hard to achieve it, but her ...
Gorillaz: Opera House, Manchester
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 November 2005
AS IF IT HADN'T escaped the attention of the Gorillaz co-creator, we're in the Oasis heartlands. And in the city where more than anywhere else ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 November 2005
HOW TONY PARSONS delighted in playing the contrarian on last Friday's Newsnight Review. Having lived with Babyshambles' long-awaited debut album for a week, the Mirror columnist took ...
Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 13 January 2006
GIVEN THAT there probably isn't a guitar-wielding teenager who wouldn't swap with them right now, it might seem strange to suggest that we should feel ...
Richard Ashcroft: Keys to the World (Parlophone)
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 20 January 2006
HE MAY BE "a million different people from one day to the next", but if recent form is anything to go by, only one of ...
The Feeling: That loving Feeling
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 27 January 2006
Soft rock is the new punk and the Feeling are its Sex Pistols, reports Pete Paphides. ...
Editors — You're holding the front page
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 February 2006
LEFT ALONE IN EDITORS' dressing room for a couple of minutes, it's hard not to fear the worst. A well-thumbed copy of George Orwell's 1984 ...
Farewell, Smash 'Makes Mash' Hits
Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 February 2006
Paying tribute to the mag that had its finger on the pulse, but now has no pulse at all ...
Sway: This Is My Demo (Dcypha)
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 February 2006
IF THIS is the moment that Derek Asafo — aka Sway — crosses over, you can hardly blame him for exercising a little caution. For ...
Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: Corinne Bailey Rae
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 24 February 2006
LEST WE FORGET, this isn't the first time that a new artist has been propelled into the spotlight to massed cries that she's the new ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 3 March 2006
OUT IN CYBERSPACE reunion rumours swirl with niggling persistence, but David Gilmour's perpetual half-smile masks an unyielding nature. Asked about a putative Pink Floyd re-formation ...
Gogol Bordello: Careful with that act, Eugene
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 March 2006
The name of Eugene Hütz's band is only part of his Ukrainian whimsy, Pete Paphides discovers ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 17 March 2006
IN THE SIXTIES, when record companies thought nothing of squeezing two albums a year from their artists, the music industry benefited rampantly productive artists. As ...
Amadou & Mariam: Here's the case for global warming
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 31 March 2006
The blind Malian couple Amadou and Mariam will be the toast of the World Music awards next week, Pete Paphides met them ...
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 31 March 2006
We get the football anthems we deserve, says Pete Paphides. Can Embrace score a winner? ...
The Streets: The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 7 April 2006
DOES IT SIGNAL the beginning of the end when an artist casts around for inspiration and can think of nothing to write about other than ...
Arctic Monkeys: Magna Centre, Rotherham
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 24 April 2006
SPEND AN hour in the company of Britain's hottest young band and an inescapable irony heaves into view. How is it that a frontman with ...
Plan B: Who Needs Actions When You Got Words
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 June 2006
AS EUREKA moments go, Ben Drew's was so obvious it seems perverse that he didn't think of it before. ...
Badly Drawn Boy: Born in the UK (EMI)
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 6 October 2006
JAMES BLUNT may have recently been voted Britain's fourth-biggest irritant, but he's found an unlikely ally in Damon Gough, the man who trades as Badly ...
Girls Aloud: The Trojan Horses of Pop
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 20 October 2006
Girls Aloud can't write songs. So what? They turned pop on its head ...
The Feeling: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 6 November 2006
IT HAS BEEN less than a year since the Feeling released their first single, but in that time the London quintet have chalked up several ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 22 June 2007
THROUGHOUT 2005 there were few more ubiquitous young indie bands than Arcade Fire and Editors. Now, in 2007, both have been faced with the job ...
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 26 October 2007
OUT OF THE BLUE, Jo Bartlett, the co-organiser of the small folk festival, Green Man, received a phone call one day from someone purporting to ...
Radiohead: 93 Feet East, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 17 January 2008
IT STARTED AT 10am yesterday and by mid-afternoon reached epidemic proportions. Radiohead fans all over London complained that they felt unwell — well, that's what ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 February 2008
Chips with everything ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 April 2008
JUST BECAUSE Goldfrapp's new single is a sunny pop tune that goes by the name of 'Happiness', it doesn't mean that Alison Goldfrapp holds any ...
Dennis Wilson: Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)
Review by Pete Paphides, Uncut, July 2008
A lost career collected: his solo masterpiece, plus its follow-up. ...
Radiohead: In Rainbows Discbox/CD Seven Album Box/USB stick
Review by Pete Paphides, Uncut, September 2008
The Parlophone years in a box, plus an In Rainbows you can hold. Like the universe itself, it starts with an explosion and expands to barely ...
The Incredible String Band: A Goat of Many Colours: The Incredible String Band
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, Rock's Backpages, October 2008
Forty years ago this month, The Incredible String Band released their benchmark double album Wee Tam & The Big Huge, just one of many milestones ...
Beyoncé: Shy Big Sister by Day, Wild Girl by Night
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 14 November 2008
Her partner wowed Glastonbury, her music sells millions and her private life keeps everyone guessing. We talk to an unusually demure superstar. ...
Paul McCartney: Electric Arguments
Review by Pete Paphides, Uncut, December 2008
YES, HE MAY HAVE HAMMERED the point home a little gracelessly at times. But nevertheless, Many Tears From Now — the 1997 biography virtually dictated ...
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 December 2008
SIX YEARS AFTER they last played together, 13 since their epic chart duel with Oasis and almost three decades after the band's dominant figures met ...
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 December 2008
IN 1996, WHEN Keith Flint – the face that soonest springs to mind when people think of the Prodigy – shovelled on the kohl and ...
Paul McCartney, the Fireman and the smokescreen
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 19 December 2008
Paul McCartney has made his most experimental album in years, so why the pseudonym? ...
John Martyn: May we never forget the genius of John Martyn
Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Times, 30 January 2009
FOR MANY MUSIC fans, one lingering image of John Martyn, the British singer-songwriter who has died at the age of 60, remains preserved in the ...
Candi Staton: How tragedy makes the diva
Retrospective and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 13 February 2009
WHAT IS CANDI Staton doing on Valentine's Day? With hindsight, it seems an indiscreet question to ask a single 65-year-old woman. ...
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 27 March 2009
IT TAKES SOME doing to instigate a backlash from your fans without actually releasing a record. Yet this month, by revealing that their record company, ...
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 27 April 2009
SOULLESS THEY may be, but modern leisure hangars are efficient places when it comes to meeting the needs of those who come to see their ...
Florence and the Machine: What's Haunting Florence and the Machine?
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 19 June 2009
Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine, was a macabre child. Now she's haunted by other fears — of success, mainly. ...
Michael Jackson: The Musical Appreciation
Overview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 26 June 2009
You didn't just like his music. You believed in him, whatever the distance between musical legacy and personal strife. ...
Michael Jackson: Child star Michael Jackson became a man with a rebel "Yeow"
Retrospective by Pete Paphides, The Times, 27 June 2009
THE FOOTAGE is grainy and has been replayed a million times, used on every programme ever made about Michael Jackson's life. ...
Frankmusik: The World according to Frankmusik
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 August 2009
The world as listed by the new star of British pop ...
Little Boots: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 14 December 2009
AT SOME POINT, research will surely show that certain people are more genetically predisposed to impulse buys on eBay than others. Anyone who has charted ...
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 December 2009
WHEN JIM MORRISON sang, "The men don't know but the little girls understand," on the Doors' 'Backdoor Man', whatever he had in mind all those ...
Why the music cassette has never died
Report by Pete Paphides, The Times, 18 December 2009
Central to the lingering affection that people still have for tapes is the fact that you can compile them yourself ...
Haircut 100: Cadogan Hall, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 21 December 2009
Nick Heyward wore his guitar as high as ever and tore into the finger-shredding funk of 'Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)' ...
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 21 December 2009
AS A SOURCE of theoretically endless music, the iPod — launched in 2001 — was an immaculately designed microcosm of the shift in our music ...
2010: a look ahead at the year in pop
Preview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 January 2010
The pop climate is becoming like the actual climate. Where you once had distinct seasons now it all happens at once ...
Delphic: Why Delphic are music's Next Big Thing
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 15 January 2010
Green tea, genre-defying dance music and the band who have re-invented the Manchester sound for a whole new generation ...
The Maccabees: The Maccabees May Yet Become Greats
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 29 January 2010
The NME tour's latest headliners may be the next big thing, but they remain modest enough to doubt their No1 potential ...
Paolo Nutini: Paisley's Own Caped Crusader
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 February 2010
SEVERAL MONTHS have elapsed since Paolo Nutini got the idea for his performance at the 2010 Brit Awards. If he remembers the moment well, that'll ...
How I fell back in love with music
Memoir by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 April 2010
Getting your music for free sounds like heaven — but, as the Times pop critic and lifelong fan Pete Paphides learnt, it comes at a ...
Grace Jones: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 28 April 2010
FOR ALL OF its high production values, perhaps the most surprising thing about this one-off show was just how little it took to derail it. ...
Gorillaz: Roundhouse, London NW1
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 30 April 2010
NOT LONG AGO, Damon Albarn's reaction when asked about his involvement with Gorillaz was coyly to keep his counsel. At the concert that launched them ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 7 May 2010
SPARE A THOUGHT for the hapless hack who had the temerity to ask the National: "How does a totally unknown band like you sell out ...
The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 8 May 2010
TWO ALBUMS in ten months from the second of Jack White's "other" bands, featuring the Kills singer Alison Mosshart, would have been impressive anyway. Factor ...
Damon Albarn, Gorillaz: Monkey see, monkey do, monkey tour: the Gorillaz are back
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 May 2010
"I SAY! They're fancy!" exclaims Jamie Hewlett when Damon Albarn strides into the pair's West London headquarters. The object of his fascination? Albarn, his sidekick ...
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 May 2010
IF 2008 WAS the year in which Rihanna consolidated her status as a global pop phenomenon and 2009 the year that she came back stronger ...
Pavement: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 May 2010
IT'S A LITTLE odd to dispense your first thank-you, as the Pavement percussionist Bob Nastanovich did, within seconds of walking on stage. However, in the ...
Paul Weller: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 26 May 2010
WITH WILD WOOD, in 1993, Paul Weller rediscovered his mojo just in time to soak up a few plaudits as Britpop's tribal elder. In snobbier ...
The Divine Comedy: Bang Goes the Knighthood
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 29 May 2010
NOW THE DIVINE COMEDY have left EMI, the band's sole member, Neil Hannon, is putting out albums himself and needs to sell a fraction of ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 4 June 2010
Sounding older and more confident than early, effortful works such as 'Genie in Bottle', the singer puts the X in Xtina. ...
Rage Against the Machine: Finsbury Park, London, N7
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 8 June 2010
THE MOST POPULAR T-SHIRT at the merchandise stands depicted a scoreboard that read "Rage 1 Cowell 0." As a means of explaining why Rage Against ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 June 2010
LOVING THE BAND as much as they loved themselves could be hard work. Not so now, thanks to a focus group. ...
Supergrass: Brixton Academy, London SW9
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 11 June 2010
EVEN FANS WHO FOLLOWED Supergrass over the years would have to agree that the group, best known for their early Britpop-era hits such as 'Alright' ...
The Chemical Brothers: Further
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 June 2010
LIKE DICTAPHONE-WIELDING Dorothys reporting back the news that, actually, the Wizard was just, like, this bloke, the Chemical Brothers' interviewers still struggle to contain their ...
Midlake get set to take Glastonbury
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 18 June 2010
MIDLAKE'S TIM SMITH is hunched over the small sink beside his Bristol dressing room. Possibly because an overnight trip from Belgium has left him bereft ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 19 June 2010
AS DECLARATIONS OF INTENT go, there are few less stirring than Eminem's when asked last year why he had cut short his retirement with Relapse. ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 2 July 2010
With a new single and album that mark a return to form and after her Glastonbury debut, Kylie is more loved than ever. ...
Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid
Preview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 9 July 2010
Another girl, another planet, another experience ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 July 2010
"I WANT TO be an outsider," she said, eating a truffle-flavoured French fry. A feature in the New York Times on the Sri Lankan-born, London-raised ...
Example, Professor Green, The Streets: Professor Green and Example are Streets ahead as rap stars
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 13 July 2010
With the two young London rappers enjoying mainstream success, they explain how they outgrew their mentor, Mike Skinner. ...
R.E.M.: Fables of the Reconstruction
Retrospective by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 July 2010
THE MYTH SURROUNDING THE ALBUM is itself being reconstructed as Peter Buck dispels the myth that the band members didn't like it. ...
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 16 July 2010
AT THE MAIDEN show by the new group formed by Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol's frontman, it was bound to happen: if anything, the surprise was ...
Plan B on overcoming his anger
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 17 July 2010
His hit 'She Said' is the song of the year so far, and half a million people have bought his critically acclaimed album. But if ...
Biffy Clyro on their moment in the Mercury sun
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 23 July 2010
The builders' sons discuss their award nomination, a disastrous support gig for the Rolling Stones, and marital rows. ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 24 July 2010
WHEN ASKED WHAT he does for a living, Simon Cowell says his job is to "guess what's going to be popular". In fact, the strange ...
Emerson Lake & Palmer: Emerson Lake and Palmer: Victoria Park, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 26 July 2010
"WE'VE ONLY been away for 12 years — you can make more noise than that!" said the drummer Carl Palmer towards the end of this ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 31 July 2010
"I WOULD LIKE to think that in ten years' time, if people were to greet a new Arcade Fire album with that sort of build-up, ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 6 August 2010
Another quality offering from the L.A. outfit who once styled themselves "just another band" – but are definitely not. ...
Fool's Gold: Komedia, Brighton
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 10 August 2010
BEFORE THEY EVEN PLAYED A NOTE, you figured that Fool's Gold must be doing this for the love. When an eight-piece group of Los Angeles-based ...
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 August 2010
Modern pop stars are corrupting the young, says pop veteran Mike Stock. But isn't that what they've always done? ...
Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga: Is Lady Gaga Corrupting Our Kids?
Comment by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 August 2010
Modern pop stars are corrupting the young, says the pop veteran. But isn't that what they've always done? ...
Iron Maiden: The Final Frontier
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 13 August 2010
Apocalyptic portent, three-pronged guitar attack and hefty hooks... This is EMI's most loyal act at their best. ...
Alasdair Roberts & Friends: Too Long in This Condition
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 14 August 2010
The folk musician, Alasdair Roberts, has a preoccupation with death. ...
Phil Selway: Radiohead's Philip Selway strikes out alone
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 14 August 2010
It's tough going solo when you're in one of the biggest bands in the world — Radiohead — and a drummer to boot ...
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Barbican, London
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 12 September 2010
IN THE FIVE YEARS since she started working with Mark Lanegan, Isobel Campbell has emitted a low hum of irritation that we should find their ...
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan: Barbican, London EC1
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Sunday Times, 12 September 2010
IN THE FIVE YEARS since she started working with Mark Lanegan, Isobel Campbell has emitted a low hum of irritation that we should find their ...
Manic Street Preachers: Postcards from a Young Man
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 17 September 2010
ANYONE WANTING TO HOLD the Manics to account on the basis of what they believed in their early twenties may struggle with this album. ...
Ben Folds/Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 24 September 2010
WHEN IT WORKS the clever lyrical conceits glow like the criminals you see on helicopter cameras, but it's an uneven affair. ...
Mark Ronson, Amy Winehouse: Record Shopping with Mark Ronson
Report and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 24 September 2010
He may have fallen out with Amy Winehouse but the A-list producer finds a soulmate in a fellow vinyl obsessive ...
I Am Arrows: 100 Club, London W1
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Sunday Times, 26 September 2010
EVEN FOR A DRUMMER, Andy Burrows's timing really cannot be faulted. In 2009 he announced his departure from Razorlight just as their stock seemed to ...
I Am Arrows: 100 Club, London, W1
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 26 September 2010
EVEN FOR A DRUMMER, Andy Burrows's timing really cannot be faulted. In 2009 he announced his departure from Razorlight just as their stock seemed to ...
Tom Jones: Union Chapel, London N1
Live Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 27 September 2010
The Welsh heartthrob brings his gospel to the London stage as his popularity never seems to flag. ...
Carl Barât, Fran Healy: Carl Barât: Carl Barât, Fran Healy: Wreckorder
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 1 October 2010
THE TRAVIS AND LIBERTINES sometimes frontmen have released laudable solo efforts, but there can be only one winner. ...
Tinie Tempah, The Prince Of Grime, Hits The Big Time
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Times, 2 October 2010
Tinie Tempah, our new rap superstar, talks music, fashion and royal hobnobbing ...
Bees, The (Isle of Wight): The Bees: Every Step's A Yes
Review by Pete Paphides, The Times, 9 October 2010
Love sets the tone for the band's fourth, and most direct, album to date ...
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 10 February 2011
June Tabor's new album draws inspiration from the sea. But dogs, cows and a margarine ad also featured when Pete Paphides met her. ...
Rumer: The persistence of Rumer
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 17 March 2011
Sarah Joyce was given a mission by her dying mother: to make peace with her past. She talks about the journey to Pakistan that freed ...
Kiki Dee: The way she came in: Kiki Dee: I'm Kiki Dee (Fontana 1968)
Retrospective by Pete Paphides, MOJO, June 2011
Rescued this month from the dank basement of underground music fandom, '60s pop splendor of uplift and emotional devastation. By Peter Paphides. ...
Kaiser Chiefs... but Under Your Control
Profile and Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 3 June 2011
Burned by past leaks, Kaiser Chiefs release their new album today after exactly zero buildup – and it might well be the world's first bespoke ...
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, October 2011
The ravishing, quasi-pagan soundscapes of Feist's third album connect most powerfully just before dawn. Prepare to be spooked. ...
Bert Jansch: A Modest Man with an Immodest Talent
Obituary by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 6 October 2011
"REMEMBER ASKING Bert, 'When you were doing it, did you know that you were like … heavy? Heavier than all those bands that were heavy? ...
R.E.M.: "There's a good chance we'll never play together again"
Interview by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 10 November 2011
After 31 years, R.E.M. are no more, after an amicable, mutual decision to split. But is it really what they all wanted? And is it ...
Kate Bush: Catch Her Drift: Kate Bush: 50 Words For Snow (Fish People/EMI) ****
Review and Interview by Pete Paphides, MOJO, December 2011
Snow as a metaphor for the fragility of youth or a woman with "a thing" for snowmen? Kate Bush's second album of the year is ...
Lucky Luke, Trembling Bells: Lucky Luke: Travelling For A Living/Trembling Bells: The Marble Downs
Review by Pete Paphides, The Word, June 2012
Lucky Luke were the greatest folk band that never was. They live on in Trembling Bells — now with added Will Oldham. ...
Black: Colin Vearncombe didn't want to be defined by one song — and he shouldn't be
Retrospective by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 27 January 2016
The singer of Black viewed his hit 'Wonderful Life' as a burden, something that has often been the fate of artists with one breakout hit ...
Prefab Sprout: Why Prefab Sprout's return with 'America' is a whim and a wonder
Report by Pete Paphides, The Guardian, 6 March 2017
Paddy McAloon surfaced on Friday with a new track that is heartbreaking in an entirely unexpected way. ...
Book Review by Pete Paphides, Medium, 4 September 2017
THIRTY-THREE YEARS have elapsed since the wildly prodigious Roddy Frame volunteered Aztec Camera's most impressive song to date for release on Alan Horne's Postcard label. ...
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