Roy Carr
The late Roy Carr began his career as a member of Blackpool-based band the Executives. The band supported many leading acts in the mid-1960s, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Who, and had several unsuccessful singles issued on the Columbia and CBS labels. Carr became friendly with many leading musicians, including John Lennon; in 1969, when working with a local promoter in Toronto, Carr reported on Lennon's appearance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival.
After first starting to write reviews for Jazz News and the NME in the early 1960s, he joined the NME staff in 1970. He contributed as reviewer, interviewer and columnist to the magazine's relaunch later in the decade under editors Alan Smith and Nick Logan. During the 1980s and 1990s Carr compiled the majority of free tape and CD compilations that were given away with music magazines such as NME, Vox and Melody Maker, including the influential C86 cassette compilation. Carr also worked as a broadcaster, record producer, and writer of album liner notes.His career as a music journalist and magazine editor continued until his official retirement in 2006, in later years contributing as a freelance writer to jazz magazines. Roy's health deteriorated after the sudden death of his son in 2013.Carr died of a heart attack in hospital on 1 July 2018, aged 73.
49 articles
List of articles in the library by artist
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 10 November 1973
ROY CARR in Wandsworth with another of those up'n coming pub bands. ...
Allman Brothers Band: At Fillmore East (Atlantic T659005, £3.45)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 13 November 1971
WITH THE current output of albums at saturation point, it is extremely hard for a reviewer to devote more than just one brief hearing to ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 April 1972
TALKING TO the Allman Brothers at their overnight camp in a palatial hotel in Hollywood, it soon became obvious that everyone still thinks and talks ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 July 1972
Will CSN&Y ever re-unite and find true happiness? ...
The Band, Todd Rundgren: Raving Over The Runt, Alias Todd Rundgren: Rock Whiz-Kid
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
THE NAME Todd Rundgren may sound more like a catarrhal growl than the monicker of an aspiring 23-year-old young musical whiz-kid. ...
James Brown the Cassius Clay of Music
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...
James Brown: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
"I WANNA know... do I you feel alllllrrriiiigggght?" "Yeaaaaahhhh," roared the audience in reply. "Did yaa bring your sex machine with you?" The affirmative cry ...
James Brown: The Cassius Clay of Music
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971
JAMES BROWN — broad and stocky — America's Soul Brother Supreme, with a warm smile etched deep into his granite face — perhaps the very ...
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973
This is the man Presley's musicians turn to when they're sick of those Las Vegas riffs. ...
The Chi-Lites: Roy Carr in Harlem sees the Chi-Lites
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
IT HAS TAKEN the Chi-Lites ten years to become an overnight success. A decade of dues playing on the Chitlin' circuit which helped justify their ...
Jimmy Cliff, Cat Stevens: Jimmy Cliff Has No Plans To Do Another Stevens Song
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
WHEN I ARRIVED at Island Records' outpost, which is just a stallholder's cry off the colourful Portobello Road street-market in West London's Notting Hill Gate, ...
George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Funkadelic, Parliament: The Creation of Dr Funkenstein
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 7 January 1978
The scene: Maggotropolis, Hollywood. The target: the infamous Mr. GEORGE CLINTON High Priest of a Black Unholy Trinity. Enter a reporter clutching a clove of ...
Cockney Rebel: The Human Menagerie (EMI)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 January 1974
JUDGING FROM the mass of press coverage that Cockney Rebel are currently grabbing for themselves, it would appear that their verbose frontman Steve Harley is ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: John Fogerty: I've always wanted to be a rock 'n' roll star
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
IF THERE has been one solitary factor which has completely dominated John Fogerty's lifestyle, it has been his insatiable desire to be a successful rock ...
Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson (CBS 70089; £2.19)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
FOR WELL over two decades of music, trumpeter Miles Davis has remained as one of the few unchallenged innovators and to this day he still ...
Desmond Dekker Is To Reveal His Two Sides On Double LP
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
THE WHOLE economical structure of pop music is to seek out an acceptable format and then market it for mass appeal and consumption. So what ...
Dire Straits: A Poor Man's Guide To That First Million
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 9 June 1979
ROY CARR gives DIRE STRAITS a lesson in market forces. But M. Knopfler Inc. need no telling. ...
The Doors: L.A. Woman (Elektra EKS.75011; £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
CONTROVERSIAL DOORS ...
The Doors, Jim Morrison: Jim Morrison, Dec. 1943-July 1971
Obituary by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
AMERICA DIDN'T have a Jagger. It did have Jim Morrison... the first major American male sex symbol since James Dean. ...
Lamont Dozier: Holland-Dozier-Holland
Interview by Roy Carr, Gavin Martin, Uncut, September 2004
They were pop's most prolific hit factory, producing 70 US Top Ten singles and 20 No. 1s. On the 45th anniversary of Motown, we meet ...
Dr. John: Dr John: In A Sentimental Mood (Warner Bros LP/Cassette/CD)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989
FUNNY OL' game the record business! First, we have the triumphant return of the Neville Brothers to the A&M stable after a ten year absence ...
Ian Dury: New Boots And Panties!! (Stiff)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 October 1977
WHAT WE have in New Boots And Panties!! is a long overdue solo album from one of Britain's most unique and uncompromising talents. ...
Ellie Greenwich: Leaders of the Pack
Interview by Roy Carr, Andrew Tyler, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973
Ten years ago the American pop scene was dominated by two opposing song factories — KIRSHNER'S Krazy Kids and the Behemoths of the BRILL BUILDING. ...
Free: Live (Island ILPS 9160. £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 June 1971
Free's last album — their finest ever? ...
Grateful Dead: Jerry Garcia: A Rare Interview
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 5 February 1972
Roy Carr in New York: the problems of making the Dead NOT happen ...
Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead: Empire Pool, Wembley, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
SINGIN' AND BOPPIN' WITH THE DEAD ...
Al Green: Let's Stay Together (London)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
WHILE SUPER Spade and Mighty Whitey have been down in the alley battling it out to see who has the most soul n' funk, Al ...
Hotlegs' hit more atmosphere than songs says Lol Creme
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
"I SUPPOSE you could say that 'Neanderthal Man' is really a freak record... Well, it's hardly a song, is it?" ...
Jefferson Airplane: Bark (Grunt Records. FTR 1001. £2.15)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 11 September 1971
Airplane: One of year's best LPs ...
Jo Mama, Carole King, James Taylor: James Taylor, Carole King, Jo Mama: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
FROM THE outset you just can't but help having a warm affinity for James Taylor. Seemingly all arms, legs and baggy trousers, Taylor shyly lopes ...
Carole King: Subtle, Intense: Carole King: Fantasy (Ode Import)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 23 June 1973
AFTER THE DISAPPOINTMENT of Rhymes & Reasons, I found myself approaching this album with a certain degree of trepidation. For, having failed to ignite any ...
Jonathan King: My Ego? Its Still Huge Says Jonathan King
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 24 July 1971
Each week Roy Carr puts an In-The-News name in the NME Hot Seat ...
Led Zeppelin: Thirty Years Gone: Remembering John Bonham
Book Excerpt by Roy Carr, 'Talk on the Wild Side' (EarBooks), 2009
WELL, THIS IS L.A., so I assume we're being hit by an earthquake. What else could cause the walls of my hotel room to vibrate ...
Led Zeppelin: Gassin' With Zeppelin
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
HOW ROBERT PLANT STAYS FRESH ...
Led Zeppelin: Houses Of The Holy (Atlantic)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973
Zep make masochism worthwhile ...
Linda Lewis, Jimmy Webb: Jimmy Webb, Linda Lewis: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
THERE MAY BE something extremely valid in a composer performing his own highly successful material in concert, and though Jimmy Webb accomplished this to a ...
Report and Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 June 1971
In true Mickey Spillane style, Roy Carr investigates the case of the six-year-old hit. ...
Mott The Hoople: Mott the Hoople: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
WHEN MOTT the Hoople took the dear old Albert Hall by storm on Thursday evening it was like a return to the halcyon days of ...
Professor Longhair: Longhair, the man who started it all
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 14 July 1973
ROY CARR MEETS PROFESSOR LONGHAIR, THE WORLD'S MOST RIPPED-OFF LEGEND ...
The Rolling Stones: Eight Stone Exiles
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
IT COULD TAKE the Rolling Stones' new double-album Exile On Main Street, says NME's ROY CARR, to awaken those members of the rock nation so ...
The Rolling Stones: Exile On Main Street (Rolling Stones Records)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 April 1972
And here, a track by track of the upcoming Exile On Main Street set three weeks before release ...
Jimmy Ruffin Forecasts Motown Sound Chances
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 4 April 1970
"WITHOUT A doubt there is going to be a big change in the Motown sound as we know it. And many of today's 'happening' names ...
Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything? (Bearsville Records)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 April 1972
ENTER, ONE lanky fair-haired youth called Todd Rundgren weighed down with an armful of instruments, a clear head filled with sun-blessed songs 'n' sounds, a ...
Slade: Bovver Boys Who Grew Their Hair And Got A Hit
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 17 July 1971
SLADE, BRITAIN'S first skinhead band — were launched just over a year ago in the true tradition of eye-catching pop publicity. But the implications of ...
Sly & The Family Stone: Not Only Sly, But Sometimes Just Plain Damn Evasive
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 29 July 1972
ROY CARR talks to Sly Stone — why he missed Bardney and other tales ...
Sly & The Family Stone: Sly & the Family Stone: Lyceum, London
Live Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 September 1970
Sly and Family Stone send Lyceum ravers berserk ...
Ike & Tina Turner: Tina Turner: Get Your Eyes Off... and Listen
Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 26 May 1973
THE MAKING of Tina Turner — was it the singer or the song? Well, we all know the answer to that one don't we? The ...
The Who: Live at Leeds (Super Deluxe Edition)
Review by Roy Carr, Classic Rock, January 2011
IT TURNS OUT that the greatest live album in rock history was only the soundcheck. Actually, Live at Leeds was the second choice – a ...
Yes: Time And A Word (Atlantic stereo, 2400.006; 42s. 6d.)
Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 22 August 1970
YES, IT'S SUPERB! ...
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