Tom Graves
Tom Graves was the editor of Rock & Roll Disc magazine. He has written music and other articles for Rolling Stone, Musician, The Oxford American, American History, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, and many other publications. He is also the author of several books including Pullers, a novel about the sport of arm wrestling, and the memoir White Boy.
You can email Tom at pullers2004@yahoo.com
55 articles
List of articles in the library
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages audio, 1974
Interviewed by Kini Kedigh and Tom Graves just as he's starting to hit big, Manilow talks about his background in music, backing Bette Midler at the Continental Baths, and gives his opinions on just about everything under the sun.
File format: mp3; file size: 45.1mb, interview length: 49' 16" sound quality: *
Steve Hoffman: The First Genius Of CD
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, October 1987
MCA's Remastering Genius Discusses His Archival Work And His New Position At Dunhill Compact Classics ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1987
IF MICHAEL JACKSON is not the most confusing entertainer of our time, you can't blame him for not trying. ...
Gene Vincent: Born To Be A Rolling Stone (Topline Records)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, December 1987
TO SEE JUST how far a former great rock and roller can sink, check out the 12 pieces of aural excrement that comprise Gene Vincent's ...
Sam & Dave: Sam and Dave: The Best of Sam & Dave
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, December 1987
DURING THE HEIGHT of the Blues Brothers craze, I went to a small club to see the re-formed Sam and Dave. The dance floor ...
Frank Zappa, The Mothers Of Invention: The Rock & Roll Disc Interview: Frank Zappa
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, December 1987
FRANK ZAPPA is nothing if not an American original. As American youth swarmed to record stores in search of Monkees and Archies records (it ...
The Rolling Stones: Mick Taylor (1989)
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages audio, 1989
From being a fresh-faced Bluesbreaker to the Rolling Stones and beyond: guitars, the blues, Altamont, the glamour and the dark side.
File format: mp3; file size: 61.5mb, interview length: 1h 07' 16" sound quality: * (phoner)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, July 1989
BORN TO ROCK, the first album from rockabilly legend Carl Perkins in quite some time, is a respectable if not an especially remarkable work. ...
Mick Taylor, The Rolling Stones: Stone Alone: A Rare Interview with Mick Taylor
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, July 1989
MICK TAYLOR initially came into the public spotlight as the very young (17 years old) replacement for the renowned Peter Green in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. ...
Doobie Brothers: The Doobie Brothers: Cycles
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, July 1989
WHEN IN DOUBT, regroup. At least that seems to be the formula these days for the rock era's dinosaurs, has-beens, and once-wases. This ...
The Gyuto Monks: Freedom Chants From the Roof of the World (Rykodisc)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, July 1989
FOR CONNOISSEURS of the weird, the Gyuto Monks' Freedom Chants From the Roof of the World demands a place of honor among your trophies. ...
Chet Baker: Chet Baker Sings and Plays From the Film ‘Let's Get Lost’
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1989
I AM NO JAZZ CRITIC, and there are several Rock & Roll Disc writers far more qualified to write about Chet Baker than I. But ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1989
IF ANY CRITIC ever cut Aerosmith slack during their halcyon days in the ‘70s, I never saw evidence of it. Steven Tyler seemed no more ...
Jerry Lee Lewis: Live At the Star Club (Bear Family)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1989
WHAT IS IT about Jerry Lee Lewis that so fascinates us and makes us love a character so inherently unlovable? He only had a handful ...
J. Geils Band: The J. Geils Band: The J. Geils Band
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1989
WHILE I DON'T think there is a single instance of great, enduring songwriting on this disc -- don't look for any Hall of Fame nominations ...
The Sugarcubes: Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1989
IT IS THE JOB of the P.R. people at record companies to shove this week's newest big thing down the throats of a hungry music-buying ...
Paul Revere & the Raiders' Mark Lindsay (1990)
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1990
The Raiders' front-guy takes us back to Seattle garage-punk, the British invasion, long hair and costumes, Dick Clark's Where the Action Is... and, er, the entire history of '60s US pop!
File format: mp3; file size: 92.6mb, interview length: 1h 41' 05" sound quality: ****
Wanda Jackson: Rockin' in the Country (Rhino)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, August 1990
THE PROBLEM WITH Wanda Jackson is her conviction, or more precisely her lack of it. She was a died-in-the-wool country weeper until she met ...
Ronnie Hawkins: The Best of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (Rhino)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, September 1990
I’M CONVINCED that Ronnie Hawkins’ name has been kept alive in rock literature for over 30 years, not because of anything he actually did ...
Jack Kerouac: The Mythmaking of Jack Kerouac: The Jack Kerouac Collection (Rhino)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, September 1990
TRUMAN CAPOTE very nearly sank Jack Kerouac’s literary reputation with five well-chosen words that exploded like cigarette loads in the public eye. ...
Paul Simon: The Rhythm of the Saints
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1990
AFTER WORLD WAR I, Kenya became a refuge for rich, spoiled British expatriates who had dishonored their family name or provoked scandal – enough anyway ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, November 1990
THAT LITTLE OL' BAND from Texas is actually a corporate juggernaut that has raked in the millions in the 20 some-odd years it has been ...
Gang of Four: A Brief History of the Twentieth Century (Warner Bros.)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, February 1991
IF YOU HAPPEN to own a copy of The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records, you can open it to just about any page, ...
Tennessee Ernie Ford: Guilty Pleasures
Retrospective by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, March 1991
MY MOTHER TELLS the story of a Bob Hope television special that aired in the 1950s. The comedian had just made a crack about ...
Alex Chilton: 19 Years: A Collection of Alex Chilton (Rhino)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, April 1991
IF ANY ONE PERSON is emblematic of the musical malaise of rock's cutting edge during the 1980s, it would have to be cult factotum Alex ...
The Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Collection (Alligator)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, May 1991
REMEMBER THOSE Lowery Organ displays that were once a staple of every suburban shopping mall in North America? The ones where some weenie in a ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, June 1991
RIGHT OUT OF the box The La’s had me hooked like a red snapper. All my complaints of yore about the bored soul at the ...
Paul McCartney: Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, July 1991
I HAVE A MENTAL image of Paul McCartney that I carry in my heart like a mother's locket. It's one of those moody black ...
Bill Inglot: An Analog Heart In A Digital Domain
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, August 1991
THE NAME Bill Inglot became synonymous with the CD medium in the earliest days of the new digital technology. Working most often with Rhino Records, ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, August 1991
SOME PEOPLE are labouring under the mistaken notion that Pat Benatar is a rock vocalist. What she really is is a music video ...
The La's: Have Mersey: An Interview with The La’s’ Driving Force and Angriest Member Lee Mavers
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, September 1991
JUST WHEN YOU think you’ve seen or heard everything that could happen in the music business, something like the La’s imbroglio comes along. The ...
Chris Montez: All-Time Greatest Hits
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, October 1991
ANYONE WHO still doesn't think remastering ace Steve Hoffman is a genius should be forced to listen to this anthology of Chris Montez. ...
The Doors: The Doors in Concert
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, Spring 1991
AS MUCH AS I would feel vindicated by a kick-ass live set by the Doors, who I have defended against some of rock criticism’s biggest ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, January 1992
CORRECTION. Eric Clapton was God. ...
Willis Alan Ramsey: A Perfect Ending to a 20-year Vacation
Profile and Interview by Tom Graves, Musician, March 1992
AT THE END of Willis Alan Ramsey's only album, a self-titled 1972 Shelter release, the song 'Northeast Texas Woman' fades to studio chatter, and the ...
Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out By Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield
Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 18 October 1992
THE LATE Bill Graham is remembered by most as the prickly, hyperactive browbeater who opened not one, but two Fillmore concert halls during the height ...
In Pursuit of Pure Sound: The Story of the Audiophile Record Label, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs
Report by Tom Graves, American Way, 1 May 1993
HERB BELKIN, EXECUTIVE vice president of ABC records at the time, remembers the day in 1977 when two young audio engineers came into his office ...
Review by Tom Graves, Rolling Stone, 2 September 1993
MONTHS BEFORE the Sugar Cubes' first album debuted in the United States, a heavy buzz began to circulate about the group's lead singer, Björk. ...
Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett: Pink Floyd: The Division Bell; Syd Barrett: Crazy Diamond
Review by Tom Graves, Rolling Stone, 16 June 1994
IS THIS still really Pink Floyd? That seems to be the question, as it has been since Roger Waters left the band in 1985 to ...
Peace, Love, Music: Woodstock Revisited
Retrospective by Tom Graves, American History, February 1996
"IT'S A NEW dawn," Grace Slick, lead singer for the Jefferson Airplane, told a swelling crowd of 400,000 at Woodstock, the most famous music gathering ...
Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 23 June 1996
RECORD PRODUCER Sam Phillips, who owned the tiny Sun record label in Memphis, has been hounded for years by journalists and biographers about his decision ...
George Jones with Tom Carter: I Lived To Tell It All
Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 23 June 1996
I LIVED TO TELL IT ALL, the long-awaited autobiography of country music legend George Jones, has to be one of the bleakest, most disconsolate music ...
James Sallis: The Guitar In Jazz – An Anthology
Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 23 June 1996
WHY IS IT that jazz, one of the most exciting and explosive forms of music, has been the subject of some of the lamest, most ...
Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 23 June 1996
ESSENTIALLY A NOVELTY book for novice songwriters, Songs In the Rough is both shy on substance and skimpy on songs. The idea behind the book ...
Retrospective by Tom Graves, Memphis Flyer, 2 July 2004
Note: The following article of mine appeared in the July 2 special issue of the Memphis Flyer that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth ...
Peter Green: Sleep Easy Jeff Beck
Essay by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages, September 2007
ON TOP OF the indignity of coping with a severed digit (which is coming along quite nicely, thank you very much) I learned last week ...
Robert Johnson: The Death of Robert Johnson
Book Excerpt by Tom Graves, DeMers Books, October 2008
Excerpt from the book Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson (DeMers Books) ...
Elvis Presley, John Lennon: Sympathy for the Devil – A Kind Word for Albert Goldman
Essay by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages, April 2009
ALBERT HARRY GOLDMAN is inarguably the most controversial music biographer of the last generation. His biographies of first Elvis, then John Lennon, have been spit ...
10 LPs You Probably Don't Have (But Should)
Comment by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages, August 2009
WE ALL HAVE seen the lists of the absolutely greatest LPs, singles, movies, TV shows, books, etc. OF ALL TIME. I've done them myself and ...
The Sex Pistols: When the Pistols Came to Memphis
Memoir by Tom Graves, Guerilla Monster Films, August 2010
WHEN THE SEX Pistols blitzed into Memphis on a very cold Friday night in January (the 6th) 1978, probably not one in ten people in ...
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2016
Ms. Ward talks about her Memphis upbringing and family life; making waves on the local gospel circuit as a girl; going to college and attracting attention as a singer; the rapid success of 'Ring My Bell' and her opinion of the song; being a one-hit-wonder and the slog of touring; her return to performing and belatedly getting paid... and her near-fatal car crash.
File format: mp3; file size: 86.8mb, interview length: 1h 30' 23" sound quality: *****
Anita Ward (2016) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages transcripts, May 2016
This is a transcript of Tom's audio interview with Anita. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages audio, 3 May 2016
After talking about her life after the hits, the 'My Boy Lollipop' girl takes us back to her youth, winning a talent contest aged 12; cutting her first records in Kingston; invited to England by Chris Blackwell and recording 'Lollipop' with Blackwell and Ernest Ranglin; life as a star in the UK; writing the song 'Enoch Powell', and on the difference between bluebeat and reggae.
File format: mp3; file size: 42.5mb, interview length: 44' 14" sound quality: *** (phoner)
Millie: An Interview with Millie Small
Interview by Tom Graves, Goldmine, August 2016
MILLIE SMALL, the diminutive Jamaican teen sensation who introduced the world to the sounds of ska with her worldwide smash hit 'My Boy Lollipop', is ...
Anita Ward: Last of the Disco Queens
Interview by Tom Graves, Memphis Downtowner, Summer 2018
IN 1979 AN unknown singer from Memphis named Anita Ward was talked into recording a disco song she did not particularly like to complete her ...
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