Tom Nolan
Tom Nolan wrote for Cheetah, the LA Times and Rolling Stone in the '60s. He has subsequently written for the Wall Street Journal and been a contributing editor to California and Los Angeles magazines. Nolan's acclaimed biography of crime writer Ross MacDonald was published by Scribner in 1999, and Three Chords for Beauty's Sake: The Life of Artie Shaw by Norton in 2010. He lives in Glendale, Los Angeles.
Tom Nolan interviewed about Ross MacDonald
Buy Tom Nolan's Artie Shaw biography
49 articles
List of articles in the library
Groupies: A Story Of Our Times
Special Feature by Tom Nolan, Cheetah, December 1967
The March of Time's issue about teen-age girls is worth seeing in the sense that one might examine with interest a slide of cancer tissue. ...
The Beach Boys, Taj Mahal: How Goes It Underground?
Report and Interview by Tom Nolan, Los Angeles Times, 18 February 1968
IT WAS A big day for me, for I had just met Andrew Oldham, the brains behind the Stones. He was very thin and he ...
The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (Apple Corps/BBC)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Tom Nolan, Los Angeles Free Press, 21 June 1968
THE BEATLES' Magical Mystery Tour is superb, brilliant, great, heavy, boss, light entertainment, good clean fun, a Message Picture, an entertaining nightmare, and it has ...
Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 4 January 1969
"WHAT I'M AFRAID of," says Taj Mahal, watching the sun set on Sunset, "are these closet fascists, the guy workin' unloadin' trucks scared to death ...
The Doors, Tim Hardin: Tim Hardin: Hobnobbin' With The Superstars
Report by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 19 April 1969
LOS ANGELES – The Chateau Marmont is one of the nicest places and reasons to stay in Los Angles. It retains the charm of old ...
Phil Ochs: God Help The Troubadour
Profile and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1971
Who was that foolThrew the basket in the pool? ...
The Beach Boys, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson: The Beach Boys: A California Saga
Special Feature by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 28 October 1971
Part One: Mr. Everything ...
Special Feature by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 11 November 1971
There is the tale, told by an anonymous Beach Boy, about an outrageous instance of Brian Wilson's creative humor. Brian was about 18. The family ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 17 August 1972
SPRING IS MARILYN and Diane Rovell who, as the Honeys, recorded such 45s as 'Surfin' Down the Swanee River', and urged: "Push 'em back! Push ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 9 November 1972
HIS SPIRIT is omnipresent in this elaborate package. He has written extensive program notes to the handsome booklet. He is there suddenly at the beginning ...
John Entwistle: John Entwhistle: Whistle Rymes
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 21 December 1972
"Thank you Mother Nature/ For the way you got things planned/ Don't ever change a thing/ I'm happy as I am." ...
Manassas: Stephen Stills and Manassas: Down The Road
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 21 June 1973
THE PACKAGING of a person's pain is a sticky subject for criticism. It feels uncouth to suggest the suffering should be more graceful. ...
Harry Nilsson: A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, September 1973
HERE IS AN IDEA whose time should never have come. Harry Nilsson's newest album, produced by Derek Taylor and arranged by Gordon Jenkins, is a ...
Van Morrison: Hard Nose The Highway
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, October 1973
THE TEMPTATION is simply to quote huge chunks of lyrics, but allow me instead the indulgence of a passage from Kierkegaard, cited by A. Alvarez ...
John Prine: Sweet Revenge (Atlantic)
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 31 January 1974
SWEET REVENGE is another side of John Prine, a departure from the nearly unrelenting somberness of his earlier work, and an engaging picture of the ...
Bette Midler: Bette Midler (Atlantic)
Review by Tom Nolan, Creem, April 1974
ALL THIS diverse material – old Broadway show tunes, a Phil Spector classic, a Wardell Gray jazz novelty, soul songs, Dylan – you can almost ...
Cat Stevens: Buddha And The Chocolate Box
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1974
ON THE COVER of Cat Stevens' new album is a Japanese buddha of the Heian Period. On the back is a koan or parable depicted ...
Terry Melcher: Surf's Up! Terry Melcher's Nightmare Is Over
Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 9 May 1974
LOS ANGELES – Terry Melcher, a consistent professional, has participated in scores of hits with artists as diverse as Frankie Laine and the Byrds. Seven ...
The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band: The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, July 1974
"HERE I GO AGAIN," Richie Furay sings the opening words of this album, "it's all right." Certainly, especially when the singer is good ol' Richie ...
The Carpenters: Up From Downey
Profile and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 4 July 1974
KAREN CARPENTER, the solo singing half of a brother and sister musical duo that has sold over 25 million records world-wide, has classic "good looks" ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: Small Talk (Epic)
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, August 1974
THIS RECORD IS more to be appreciated in the mind than enjoyed by the ears – at least when this particular mind and set of ...
Elton John: Caribou (MCA-2116)
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 15 August 1974
Maestro of Mediocrity ...
The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan/The Band: Before The Flood (Asylum)
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 29 August 1974
THROUGHOUT BOB DYLAN'S performances on this in-concert album there is evident an effort to match the material – nearly all from much earlier in his ...
Terry Melcher: A Beach Veteran Looks Back
Interview by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, September 1974
ONE OF THE most influential and talented Californians to prosper during the '60s sun-speed-surf period in pop was Terry Melcher. As producer and (teamed with ...
Paul Anka: The Lonely Boy Grows Up
Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 24 October 1974
RENO — PAUL Anka, on the eve of his 33rd birthday, glides onto the stage of the Headliner Room at Harrah's with the aplomb of ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, November 1974
RANDY NEWMAN'S new record is all about the South, a concept album of sorts which stops short of operatic unity but which does exist in ...
Linda Ronstadt: The Linda Ronstadt Coverup!
Interview by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, November 1974
IN 1970 DAN Wakefield, who had just published his first novel, Going All the Way (a heartbreakingly hilarious chronicle of America's dismal sex life in ...
Billy Paul: Got My Head On Straight (Philadelphia International KZ 33157)
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, 1975
TYPICALLY SMOOTH and lavish Gamble-Huff production highlights this very commercial collection by the 'Me and Mrs. Jones' man. ...
Joni Mitchell: Miles Of Aisles
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, January 1975
THE TWO MOST annoying things (to me) about Joni Mitchell in the early years of her career were her songs, which often seemed impersonal, shallow ...
Andy Fairweather Lowe: Andy Fairweather Low: Spider Jiving
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 30 January 1975
ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW has one of the quirkiest and most distinctive voices in recent pop memory, and from the first bar of this topnotch debut ...
Billy Swan: I Can Help (Monument KZ 33279)
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 13 February 1975
THE RISE to the top of pop and country charts by the title single of this debut album seems to have been as much a ...
Loggins & Messina: There's Gold In The Middle Of The Road
Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 27 February 1975
THE RUSTIC HOUSE on Round Valley Drive in the hills of the San Fernando Valley is in one of those pockets of geography that provides ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, March 1975
THIS EXCITING album by a veteran group (so experienced in working together they seem to anticipate each other's moves) is characterized by masterful use of ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Golliwogs: The Golliwogs: Pre-Creedence
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, April 1975
BLUESY ROCKIN' quartet from El Cerrito makes debut with this derivative but infectious disc of baker's-dozen-plus-one tunes. Opener, ‘Don't Tell Me No Lies’, will appeal ...
Interview by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1975
THE HOUSE WAS set back behind a stone wall, at the end of a cul-de-sac off Coldwater Canyon between Beverly Hills and the San Fernando ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1975
FLESHED OUT WITH such guest performers as Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Glenn Frey and Steve Goodman, Common Sense comes on like Prine's ultimate supersession production; ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1975
WHILE NOT A debut album, Suicide Sal is the LP that signals Maggie Bell's arrival as the fine, powerful singer we had been touted to ...
Rick Wakeman: The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, May 1975
I ONCE VAGUELY planned a toney essay, to be modeled on Susan Sontag's ground-breaker, on the grotesque changes rung on the concept of Camp once ...
The Eagles: California Dreamin’
Interview by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, June 1975
"I WANT TO SLEEP with you in some chocolate tonight," Glenn Frey sings in impromptu addition to the lyric of ‘Peaceful Easy Feelin’, and the ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 31 July 1975
LISTENING to this Joan Baez album – her first self-declaredly apolitical, decidedly commercial album since the days of folk rock – it is possible to ...
The Faces, Rod Stewart: Rod Stewart Faces the American Dream
Report and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1975
BY SUNDOWN the 55,000 people packed into the Los Angeles Angels' Anaheim Stadium for this "sunshine festival" have stolidly endured six hours of a rather ...
The Carpenters, Neil Sedaka: Neil Sedaka: Second Stairway To Heaven
Report and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 4 December 1975
AWAY FROM the Vegas casino clatter, inside the Riviera Hotel's now empty Versailles Room, onstage, seated at a piano is a petite, energetic man who ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 18 December 1975
LEON REDBONE, according to the record jacket of his first album, is not to be confused or associated with the Epic recording artists Redbone. Hardly. ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, January 1976
AFTER FOUR ALBUMS with Grin, guest-work with Crazy Horse and Neil Young, and one solo album, Nils Lofgren – creator of a body of songs ...
The Faces, The Rolling Stones: Faces Break Up – Wood a Stone?
Report by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 29 January 1976
LOS ANGELES – After a six-year association, Rod Stewart is leaving the Faces. The news was revealed at a London press conference called by Stewart ...
Review by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, March 1976
NOT AS, NOT AT all as, not nearly as, doesn't even come close to being anything at all as good as their last one, Silk ...
The Osmonds: The Family Plan Of The Latter-Day Osmonds
Profile and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 11 March 1976
The Wizards who Live in the Land of OsWorship their God and Obey the LawsWear Ice Cream Suits without Bulges or FlawsAnd Smile with the ...
Smart Radio — Fun at the Low End of the Dial
Report and Interview by Tom Nolan, L.A. Weekly, 3 September 1981
KCRW: Cutting Through The Hum And The Humdrumby ...
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