Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 565 i Record Collector

It's a pleasure and a privilege to be helming this, my seventh Record Collector Christmas issue as Editor. For the cover story, JR Moores, long-time RC writer and author of a new book exploring Paul McCartney's recorded output of the 90s, examines the idea that McCartney – not, as is usually believed, John Lennon – was the risk-taking Beatle, the adventurous one who pushed the envelope and took the band to places that they might not otherwise have dared to go. McCartney, JR muses, continued to be the ex-Beatle most likely to raise a curious eyebrow long after the Fabs imploded, the one whose music was likeliest to dovetail with what used to be called the zeitgeist. If ever an article is going to kibosh the notion of McCartney as…

JR Moores, who penned this month's Macca cover story (p96), is the author of Off The Ground: Paul McCartney In The 1990s. His previous book, Electric Wizards, championed Helter Skelter as the foundation for modern heaviness. He claims to hear something new in Temporary Secretary each time he plays it. Our former RRPG editor, Ian Shirley, who wrote this month's article on Brian Eno (p56), now works for Ace Records as their production manager. He also runs his own label, OM Swagger Music, who recently released the excellent jazz album, Jobber Overtid ('Working Overtime') by Kronstad 23. Turning 70 in 2024 got Kris Needs remembering landmark gigs for next year's hugely expanding autobiography, including witnessing Can (p70) three times between 1973-74. Needs never would've dreamed that, 50 years later, he'd…

How come you're back now? Dave Morgan: Recording a BBC session last year, it all seemed to click into place. It felt like the time was right to make our 'debut' studio album. Tell us about the new set. Pete Astor: Ten songs. There's a balance between when I bring a song to the band, and what happens to songs when they come out the other end. It evolved into them being done by all four of us. Were there any amusing episodes during its creation? Bill Prince: Mostly in-jokes about who's playing something that sounds like something else from a bygone era. How long did it take to make? Dave: About 40 years! We spent seven days recording with our old friend, Sean Read, and he mixed it in…

The David Bowie World Convention, with colleagues Earl Slick, Erdal Kizilcay, Kevin Armstrong, Ava Cherry, is at Liverpool venues on 6-8 June 2025, including Q&As and gigs. It's preceded by the Dublin Bowie Festival, Ireland, 26 February-2 March 2025, which has exhibitions, talks, film screenings. Several books are due in the new year, including Don Klees David Bowie 1983-2016 On Track, on Sonicbond, 31 January, Peter Carpenter Bowieland, 27 March, Hachette, and Denis O'Regan David Bowie By Denis O'Regan photobook, ACC Art Books, 3 July. The Convention Bowie France 2025 is at La Java, Rue Du Faubourg Du Temple, Paris, France, 16 March 2025. On the World Convention, see bowieconvention.com. Re Ireland, dublinbowiefestival.ie. For more on Bowie, see RC issues 43, 48, 63, 75, 85, 90, 97, 103, 109, 116, 118,…

Barry Winton, who earned the soubriquet “Mr Vertigo” via a love of that legendary label, is one of the rare collectors to have been featured as a Collector in these hallowed pages more than once: he is, he says, “honoured” to be appearing here for the second time – the first was in December 2005. “I can't say in enough words how thrilled I am to be asked back as Collector of the Month,” he says. He would also like it to be known that he went to the Marquee Club “around 500 times” and attended every Sunday afternoon Roundhouse concert from 1973 onwards. “I have dedicated my entire life to the joys of music and collecting and have done it for all the right reasons,” he says. “I spent…

No 15: 78 Record Exchange, 9 Lower Hillgate, Stockport An Aladdin's cave of 78s, 45s, LPs, sheet music, record players and gramophones, the 78 Record Exchange had a reverential atmosphere, with collectors carefully sifting through 78s and examining the shellac, while a radio tuned to Test Match Special invariably played at low volume in the background. Owners Bill Kloet and Peter Howarth started out buying records from junk shops, keeping the discs they wanted and acquiring enough stock to start a small shop in Marsden Square, central Manchester in the early 60s. The shop opened on Saturdays before moving to six days a week as its fame spread through local advertising. When it was due to be demolished to make way for the construction of Manchester's Arndale Centre in the…

Now includes Whole Love Of Lots CONTACTS DISCOGS: www.discogs.com EBAY: www.ebay.co.uk INDUSTRIAL SILENCE: marc@industrial-silence.com; www.industrial-silence.com POPSIKE: www.popsike.com ROCKAWAY: www.rockaway.com; 001 323 664 3232 SAS: Tel 01635 580 595; www.specialauctionservices.com TRACKS: Tel 01257 269726; www.tracks.co.uk Send your Most Wanted suggestions to paulrigby@theaudiophileman.com…

DAVID ESSEX And The Tears Came Tumbling Down (7”, 1965) £50 The debut single, a British soul beat ballad co-written by Perry Ford of The Ivy League, could have been a hit for 17-year-old Essex with a bigger push. But if it had been, we'd probably never have got Rock On. Rock On (LP, 1973) £10 Includes the breakthrough title single, the wild Dr John-in-Day Of The Locusts follow-up Lamplight, and the menacing Streetfight, later quoted/sampled by Massive Attack. Out On The Street (LP, 1975) £6 The fourth and final collaboration between Essex and producer Jeff Wayne, an urban exploration that includes the epic single, City Lights, and the eightminute, proto-Suede, Run With The Pack. This One's For You (LP, 1984) £5 Released in the final flush of Essex's pop…

COCKNEY REBEL Steve Harley was born Steve Nice. Really. Interviewing him a few years ago, I found him to live up to his original name – friendly, intelligent, loaded with candid stories regarding the glam rock era I was quizzing him about. He wasn't always perceived this way in the early-to-mid-70s, as his band Cockney Rebel flamed into fame. Back then (influenced by Dylan's attitude as much as that of any mascara-sporting peers), he talked the talk with strut and swagger. The delicate petals of the music press were upset by his lick of arrogance and show of self-belief, forgetting that pride, peacocking and a puffing out of the poetic chest were pretty much the go-to game moves of the era. He fell out with his band, too, as the first…

BOB WILLS When astronaut Pete Conrad commanded the Apollo 12 mission to the Moon in 1969, to prevent Texan-born crew member Alan Bean from feeling homesick, he played him a cassette recording of the state's unofficial anthem, San Antonio Rose, by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. That made it the first country song to be broadcast in outer space. Apparently, Bean, who'd brought along The Archies' slightly more groovy Sugar, Sugar, was not impressed. By the end of the 60s, Bob Wills was passe for a large section of America. He was a paunchy fiddler and bandleader with a big grin and a receding hairline, usually hidden beneath a 10-gallon hat. His best records were made before Elvis Presley entered a recording studio. Scant surviving live footage hardly captures…

Like many major artists, McCartney is prone to nestling some of his stranger recordings on the flipsides to poppier singles. Here are some of the kookier songs from his catalogue of post-Beatles B-sides. Girls' School (Capitol R 6018, 1977) £5 Officially part of a double A-side, Girls' School is less well remembered than the accompanying Mull Of Kintyre. Concerned that the Scottish waltz was too quaint even for him, McCartney insisted it be paired with a harder number. Inspired by magazine advertisements for blue movies, the narrative concerns a boarding-school-cum-brothel for sex-trafficked teenagers. In its third verse, some of the adolescents are drugged and bashed over the head. Edgy enough for you? Check My Machine (From McCartney II, MPL HRM-32813-0, 2LP, 2011) £70 If McCartney experimented with synthesisers on McCartney…

Magazine Real Life INTGDS 004 (LP) Secondhand Daylight INTGDS 005 (LP) The Correct Use Of Soap INTGDS 006 (LP) Murder, Magic And The Weather INTGDS 007 (LP) No Thyself INTGDS 008 (LP) Rays & Hail 1978-2011 INTGDS 009 (2LP) A disillusioned Howard Devoto left Buzzcocks to form Magazine in 1977 to try something more “progressive” than straight-ahead punk, but outside the confines of traditional rock. Magazine may not enjoy the high profile and adoration of Joy Division, but it was these two bands that more or less invented post-punk, give or take Wire and PiL. Devoto is not one for labels, though. When this writer asked him to define post-punk, he helpfully replied: “The rock music style/movement that came after punk?” He refused to elaborate, the question mark showing his…

ISAAC HAYES' Truck Turner (Reel Cult) is the soundtrack album to the 1974 blaxploitation flick of the same name directed by Jonathan Kaplan and featuring the aforesaid Hayes in the titular role of a retired footballer-turned-bounty hunter. The soundtrack, Hayes' third after Shaft and Tough Guys, became his final album for Stax and hit the US R&B Top 20. Filled with the kind of overblown orchestral funk that his reputation is built on; dramatic strings, celestial backing vocals, intense grooves filled with breakbeats ripe for sampling and on the main title theme and ballad You're In My Arms Again his inimitable baritone; this vinyl reissue is much welcome and cut from the original analog tapes, pressed on 180gram translucent purple wax but limited to 3100 copies. Inspired by the Paul…

Various Artists Celebrate Yourself! The Sonic Cathedral Story 2004-2024 Sonic Cathedral SCR 320 BOX (4CD) As fans sporting “shoegazer” T-shirts may agree, shoegaze developed to become a more multifaceted thing than those “scene that celebrates itself” jibes implied. Likewise, former NME sub-editor Nathaniel Cramp spawned Sonic Cathedral as a shoegaze club night and then as a label, intuitively nurturing an expansive vision of shoegaze's off-shoots, forebears and kindred spirits as it grew. Cramp spreads his congregation across four CDs (plus accompanying 7” singles), beginning with Celebrate Yourself!'s subjective label best-of. Recalibrate Yourself! gathers remixes, Reverberate Yourself! corrals live recordings, and the frankly wonderfully titled Celebrate Your Elf! gift-wraps 18 seasonal pieces. Singles, deep cuts, rarities and more furnish feasts of flanged delights, dreamy vocals and distorted offerings, with discoveries aplenty…

Down Home Blues: Chicago: The Beautiful Stuff Wienerworld WNRLP 5131 (LP) Choice cuts from explorative blues releases Culled from Wienerworld's three box sets of postwar Chicago blues, this compilation is 14 CDs in total and stuffed with Chicago blues rarities, unissued and alt. takes from the 40s to the early 60s. Picking 15 tracks must have been tough but included are Muddy's Rollin' Stone; Jimmy Rogers' That's All Right, J. B. Lenoir's The Mojo plus sides from Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Billy Boy Arnold, J. B. Hutto, Robert Lockwood, Johnny Shines and Elmore James. Totally essential, everyone of them. There are real rarities including Mata Roy's 1952 jump blues outing; Blue Smitty's originally unissued Date Bait cut for Chess and Memphis Minnie's swinging remake of Chauffeur Blues from 1952. With…

The Coward Brothers The Coward Brothers New West CDNW 6543 (CD, LP) Fans attending Elvis Costello's 1984 UK solo tour would have witnessed the live debut of The Coward Brothers, two men who looked suspiciously like opening act T Bone Burnett and the headliner, playing a brief set that included Beatles and George Jones covers. At the time, the Merseybeat-Nashville hybrid spawned just one single, and only now can the full tale be told. Henry and Howard Coward first scored a modest hit in 1957 with the lascivious rockabilly of My Baby Just Squeals, a template they tweaked for the subsequent My Baby Just Purrs and Cold War commentary My Baby Just Whistles (“…here come the missiles”). However, they gained greater notoriety by faking their deaths but continuing to record,…

Joan Armatrading on living in the present and why she'll never stop writing new material. You famously do everything yourself. It tangibly sounds like you're having a blast this time. Yes, I have a great time when I'm writing and recording but on this record it was because I wasn't thinking, “How will I sing this live?” because I'm not going to be touring this album so I could just do whatever I wanted. On Back And Forth I just woke up one morning and really felt like playing guitar. Then I thought I might as well record it. I just played and played because I was just making a record and that was very freeing. It is one of the best albums I've made, if not the best. What's…

Sell Vinyl/CDs direct to RC readers, call us on 0208 752 8172 or email listings@recordcollectormag.com. Rates: recordcollectormag.com/advertise NEXT ISSUE: JANUARY 2025 (on sale 29 DECEMBER) Deadline for submitting adverts (Listings & Classified): Monday 2 DECEMBER Please email your advert (word doc/excel file/plain text) to: listings@recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Listings, Diamond Publishing Limited, 4th Floor, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London EC4Y 8DP Following issue: FEBRUARY 2025 (on sale 23 JANUARY) Deadline: Thursday 2 JANUARY…

This month: John “Poli” Palmer “Starting out as a drummer, back in the 60s, it was a normal thing for drummers to double on vibes [vibraphone] on the jazz scene,” John 'Poli' Palmer tells RC. “For a while, I was doing jazz gigs on vibes and rock gigs on drums. In the early days of rock'n'roll, there was not much in the way of musical colours, and apart from fuzz boxes and wah-wah pedals for guitars, there were only cheesy organs – a Hammond was too expensive and acoustic pianos could never be trusted to be in tune. So, I was inveigled into bringing the vibes along as well as the drums to rock gigs. The flute was my attempt to downsize, but I've always found vibes to be my…

SEND YOUR PRAISE, MISSIVES AND CALLS FOR THE DEFENESTRATION OF DAVID STUBBS TO: rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk, or to Record Collector, 4th Floor, Harmsworth House, 13-15 Bouverie Street, London EC4Y 8DP, or via social media rc.editorial@metropolis.co.uk www.recordcollectormag.com Record Collector Magazine @RecCollmag RecordCollectormag @recordcollectormag RC INTOXICATES Stupendous December issue. Just when I dared to think it's all been committed to paper, you go and print an impressive end to 2024. December's RC 564 without a doubt paid off, offering an eclectic collision of diverse musical fascination. Always much fondness for Mike Batt (who knew my copy of that oddly lyrically crammed-collaborated mashup with Roy Wood & The Wombles festive single would be worth £10?). Joe Geesin's 'Fan Fare' page brought to mind my time in Siouxsie & The Banshees' fan club when they mailed…

Acoustic+ Tori Amos Diving Deep Live LP, CD with four bonuses, Decca, 6 December. ■ Dorie Jackson Stupid Says Run, with Toby Skaer (Seth Lakeman), Talking Elephant, 17 January 2025, and on Squeeze's Chris Difford's upcoming set. ■ Leonard Cohen unissued The Bird On A Wire Concerts 2CD/DVD, Gonzo, 13 December. Due: November (29) Gordon Giltrap Giltrap, Gonzo December (6) Reba McEntire Keep On Loving You, Humphead (13) The Blasters Over There, Wienerworld (27) Ed Sheeran +-=÷xC Tour Collection 2CD, double-cassette, edsheeran.com January 2025 (17) Doug Kershaw Mama Kershaw's Boy/Alice & Kickin'/Ragin' Cajun/Flip, Flop & Fly 2CD, Morello March (21) Tommy Emmanuel Live At The Sydney Opera House DL TBC Old Crow Medicine Show OCMS, Tennessee Pusher, Carry Me Back, Firebird. Biz Leeds Boom venue closes in March 2025, while the 1,000-capacity Manchester Amber opens 5 December. The…

A 15 November auction of 350-plus Music Memorabilia lots via propstore.com included Michael Jackson Beat It handwritten lyrics, jackets (one estimated at £400,000), 15 Noel Gallagher guitars, including his first with Oasis (£50,000), John Lennon amp (£200,000), Prince synth (£100,000), unissued album tape. A 17 November sale included Oasis Definitely Maybe white label demo LP (£6,000), Queen Bohemian Rhapsody blue 7” (£6,000), The Beatles Yesterday & Today 'butcher cover' LP (£3,000). ■ An 18 October auction via Dalshire of Carrollton, Texas, included a Michael Jackson hat (estimate, $125,000). ■ On 27 September, an Eric Clapton guitar was offered for charity at London Oval. ■ On 23 October, The Beatles Help! signed LP sold via andersonandgarland.com for £10,000 and, on 19 February 2025, a musical instrument auction is held. ■ Items offered via…

In March 2025, a 30CD collection of unissued John Mayall sound-desk and audience recordings is due, along with a hardback photobook. Mayall approved the project prior to his death last July, and it comprises CDs of Fillmore East, New York, 9/2/68; Newport Jazz Festival, Rhode Island, 5/7/69; Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, 11/9/70; Konserthuset, Gothenburg, 12/4/72; Record Plant, Los Angeles, 1/275; My Father's Place, Roslyn, 3/10/76; Pavilion De Paris, Paris, 23/5/79; Paradise Club, Boston, 2/2/80; The Rolling Stone, Milan, 15/7/81; Gaz's Rockin' Blues, London, 31/12/81; Keystone, Berkeley, 16/1/82; Club Chevron, Melbourne, 1/2/82; Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, California, 5/4/84; Maxim, Stuttgart, 24/2/86; Chestnut Cabaret, Philadelphia, 6/6/87; Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, 31/3/91; Gaz's Rockin' Blues, London, 20/2/92; Tempodrom, Berlin, 12/5/93; and 2CDs of Teatro Tenda, Padova, 14/12/82; Casino De Paris, Paris, 23/5/83; The Coach…

AUTO AMERICAN I recently picked up an American pressing of Autobahn on the Vertigo label. I only paid £1 for it. When I got out of sight of the seller I noticed it contained two American Kraftwerk singles, Autobahn and Comet Melody 2. So a great deal! Can you shed light on their value, please, and share any stories behind the records? Terry Harris via email By 1974 Kraftwerk had already released three albums, though none had been pressed in America. According to an article in Billboard in March 1975, what made the music for their fourth album so appealing was value for money. “Phonogram's A&R director bought their master tape without hearing it when told the asking price was only $2,000.” Autobahn had been recorded in Ralf Hutter and…

Quincy Jones was one of the 20th century's great musical polymaths. While best-known as the producer of a trio of phenomenally successful Michael Jackson albums - Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad – his seven-decade career working as a trumpet player, composer, arranger, conductor and producer saw him create seminal recordings across the fields of big-band jazz, bebop, gospel, pop, soul, funk, disco, R&B and film and TV soundtracks, embracing and mastering new musical trends as they appeared. Born in Chicago, he moved with his family to Washington state and then Seattle after his parents divorced. Throwing himself into music from an early age, he began playing the trumpet, befriended a young Ray Charles and learned the art of arranging. After taking a course at Boston's Berklee College of Music…

Tell us a bit about your latest effort. I produced 25 songs that are essentially reactions to some of the joys and challenges of the last four years. What film could they soundtrack? A Richard Linklater film, like Boyhood or Waking Life. A few of his films had a profound effect on my creativity. Is there anything still unissued? Yes. I'm always recording and writing. There's a ton that I've yet to dig out, but I've been underwhelmed with people's interest in the archival stuff. It's exciting to dig through the past but, ultimately, I want to present new ideas. Have you done anything that fans may not know about? Quite a few jingles for brands, and I've guested both as an artist and producer on many records. I miss…

OPINION Tony Banks is one of the most unvarnished, honest men in popular music. A professional musician since 18, the keyboard player chose between academia and prog rock in 1969: he gave up after his first year at Sussex University to make a go of it with Genesis, the band he co-founded while at public school. Given quite how romantic and melodic a lot of his compositions were with Genesis, few were surprised when he crossed over from the pop to the classical realm in 2004, with the first of three classical works, Seven, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The latter, with its follow-ups, Six and Five, are now compiled as 18 Pieces For Orchestra 7.6.5. Speaking to RC from his home in Surrey, Banks is his usual ball of witty,…

Bob Wills/Tommy Duncan Together Again (Liberty LRP 3173, LP, 1960) £8 Towards the end of the 50s, Wills engineered a reunion with Tommy Duncan, the best vocalist he ever had. It led to a flurry of new recordings, backed by the Texas Playboys. This album, which satisfyingly revisited a few of the band's old favourites, helped spark a mini-Wills revival. Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys For The Last Time (Columbia UA-LA216-J2, LP, 1974) £8 The last gathering of Wills and the Texas Playboys in the studio, with Wills taken ill before the record was completed. But the old magic of Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer), Twin Guitar Boogie (“Aaah! Take it away Leon, take it away!”) and That's What I Like About The South lingers. Bob Wills…

Across decades and genres, musicians have been quick to recognise AON's unique sounds. Here are a just a handful… Big Audio Dynamite In Full Effect (1989) Mick Jones' post-Clash hip-hop group sampled the quirky rhythm from Snapshot for this epic number. Nine Inch Nails Ruiner (1994) The thudding drums from Beat Box formed the spine of this number by Trent Reznor's rock outfit. The Prodigy Firestarter (1996) The punk/dance band's huge single, their first UK No 1, reuses the striking “hey” vocal hit from Close (To The Edit). Snoop Dogg In Love With A Thug (1999) Taken from the American rapper's No Limit Top Dogg album, the track's foundation is the striking groove from Moments In Love. Jagged Edge Tip Of My Tongue (2009) Yet another outfit to make use…

2005's Twin Freaks LP offers further evidence of Paul McCartney's interest in the zeitgeist. It is sometimes cited as a collaboration. In the short-term, at least, it's essentially the work of DJ Roy Kerr, aka The Freelance Hellraiser, who made his name making mashup tracks such as 2001's A Stroke Of Genius which spliced The Strokes' Hard To Explain with Genie In A Bottle by Christina Aguilera to dizzying effect. Kerr was hired, in 2004, to provide the preshow entertainment for McCartney's tour dates by mixing together different Macca tracks as audience members found their seats, munched their stadium hotdogs and waited for their hero to take the stage. Kerr was given free rein, with the only stipulation being he wasn't allowed to add any of his own or anybody…

What are your overriding memories of leaving Buzzcocks in 1977 to form Magazine? It was actually early 1977 that I left Buzzcocks. I never regretted it, or putting out that snotty press release. I still remained friends with the band. You said: “It was another in a series of perverse movements on my part.” Is this an overriding theme of your life? Perversity's simply an attempt to be original that doesn't always end well. “Perversity's simply an attempt to be original that doesn't always end well” Your LP covers are very distinctive. I hear you have a soft spot for the Real Life sleeve? When Linder [Sterling] showed me those heads she'd fashioned using pieces of torn paper, I really liked them so we worked on assembling four of them [for…

George Harrison Living In The Material World Dark Horse/BMG DH 0050 LP (CD/2CD, LP/2LP) More than 50 years after fans first heard Living In The Material World its broader themes of peace, love and understanding are as universally relevant as ever. Listening to the music again, however, tenderly and respectfully tweaked for 21st-century ears, there is a greater sense that, for much of the album, George Harrison is singing to himself. The shadow of the Fab Four still loomed large over in 1973, and although their subsequent careers kept them in the public eye George was noticeably becoming the most reclusive and least reluctant to exploit his past. “Give me hope, help me cope with this heavy load,” he sings on the album's lead single Give Me Love (Give Me…

Did you think Sonic Cathedral was a long-term prospect when you started? Absolutely not. It was supposed to be a one-off club night and then the label grew out of that and took over. I've always been a fan of record labels but I never had a plan to start one. It just sort of happened. One day I said I'd release a 7” single for Mark Gardener – after a gig and a couple of pints, it seemed like a good idea! I've never planned it, one thing just leads to another and I try to steer it. Did you look to other indie labels as examples? I always liked labels that have a sort of aesthetic. Not that everything is the same, just that it's obvious that they…

Garfunkel & Garfunkel Father And Son BMG 4099964112160 (CD, LP) Quite honestly, this is not quite what one might expect from a 'few of our favourite songs' recording by anyone, let alone the 83-year-old, silken-voice half of Simon and Garfunkel and his son Art Jr, known in Europe for his folk recordings in German. Yet it's a triumph, as modern as they come, certainly not in middle-of-the-road manner but maybe a hint of middle-of-the-autobahn. This isn't an album in the Simon & Garfunkel mould, a folk-tinged duo with a good-humoured foray into the past. There's barely a guitar in sight, instead all violins and cellos, just a touch of electro going on amid the orchestrations that make it, at times, dark and moody, and always thoughtful and imaginative. The orchestrations…

Elvis Costello on a Cowardly comeback Were the Cowards “born” as a light-hearted encore wheeze when T Bone opened for you on your 1984 solo tour, or was it something the two of you had talked about earlier? The Cowards forced their way onto the bill as a pretext for us to sing things like The Beatles' Baby's In Black and [Scott McKenzie's] If You're Going To San Francisco – I had to check every night that Henry [Burnett] didn't have a gardenia behind his ear. They proved to be enduring for a number of reasons, but while T Bone and I remained perfectly genial, some promoters found the Cowards could be a little unpredictable and difficult. The Audible backstory includes some aggressive sibling spats. Were you drawing on the historical…

In The Brewing Luminous: The Life And Music Of Cecil Taylor Philip Freeman Wolke, £30.00 ISBN 9783955932619, 344 Pages The jazz antichrist unmasked The sound of a piano being thrown down a thousand steps is how his detractors might describe Cecil Taylor's music, which is as divisive as Marmite. Some listeners embrace it wholeheartedly while others find it utterly repellant. Certainly, there's no grey middle ground, no polite indifference: it's extreme music provoking extreme responses. Taylor's musical journey, which saw his eventual transformation from a ridiculed jazz pariah into a respected, award-winning, White House-playing composer, is deeply fascinating. It's expertly told by Freeman, whose 2016 interview with Taylor for The Wire was the catalyst that sparked a deeper exploration of the late Long Islander's life and oeuvre. The upshot is…

David Gilmour London Royal Albert Hall 10/10/24 The fire in the belly so prevalent on his new Luck And Strange was evident at the second of Gilmour's shows at the Hall. With two of his seasoned team (Pink Floyd crewman, Guy Pratt, and keyboard king, Greg Phillinganes), plus joyful and relatively youthful newcomers, there was a sharpness to proceedings that was deeply refreshing. Luck And Strange, and closer, Scattered, were powerful, and his daughter Romany's turn on Between Two Points added a feeling of sweetness. The majority attending desired Pink Floyd material, of course, and DG didn't disappoint. Fat Old Sun, especially, benefited from a full-blown wig-out, and the subtlety of the grand piano/acoustic moment on The Great Gig In The Sky was warmly received. Daryl Easlea Mdou Moctar Westerly…

Gerry & The Pacemakers How Do You Like It? (Columbia 33SX 1546, LP, UK, 1963) £20 This was the time of the Liverpool Sound and when everybody else was going on about The Beatles, I was going on about Gerry & The Pacemakers. There was something really catchy, which was probably helped by the George Martin productions. And I remember seeing the movie Ferry Across The Mersey where Gerry had a guitar strapped to his back and he was on a little Vespa or something like that, and I thought that was the ultimate cool. Music is supposed to take you to a better place, and at 10 years old, it took me out of the tenements in Glasgow. The Beatles Revolver (Parlophone PCS 7009, LP, UK, 1966) £175 It's…

At the end of 1959, I went into Birmingham with a group of friends straight after school to buy tickets for the Duane Eddy/Bobby Darin/Clyde McPhatter package tour, which was coming to The Hippodrome in Manchester in April 1960. We booked a box to share for 10 shillings. We noticed that tickets were also on sale for the Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent package tour, so we bought them also. The show was on for six nights, two performances a night. A grand total of 12 performances. Billy Fury and Joe Brown were among the supporting acts. As was a 16-year-old Georgie Fame, who was older than me by only a few months! I remember he played piano, not organ, and performed Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls Of Fire. The…

The From Me To You: The Beatles In Canada, 1964-66 exhibition is at StudioBell, Calgary, Canada, to 5 January 2025. ■ The Girl Power – Spice Girls At 30 exhibition is at British Music Experience, Liverpool, to 16 March 2025. It features merchandise/memorabilia, including stage clothing, audio-visual installations, film screenings. In addition, Joy Division's Ian Curtis' guitar is on display on 28 November. ■ The Melbourne Arts Centre, Australia, has Collection Store tours at Hanmer Hall each weekend through December. ■ The Beyond The Stage: Art By Legends Of Rock'n'Roll exhibition is at Las Vegas Venetian Resort Grand Canal Shoppes Amazing Gallery in November. It includes artwork/instruments from Stevie Nicks, Robbie Krieger (The Doors), John Lennon, David Bowie, Jerry Garcia, KISS' Gene Simmons, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Steve Vai, Bob Dylan, U2's Bono, Ringo Starr,…

At RC Towers, we warrant that fresh music should be forthcoming from Marillion, Bullet For My Valentine, Cake, Symphony X, LCD Soundsystem, Exodus, Mariah Carey, Limp Bizkit, Chappell Roan, Kings X, 2 Live Crew, Sabaton, The Joy Formidable and solo Rhiannon Bryan and Rhydian Dafydd, King Diamond, Blondie, Armored Saint, Alexandra Burke, Sol Invicto, Kate Bush, Old Man's Child, Darkthrone, Lamb Of God's Mark Morton, Squeeze's Chris Difford, Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan, Envy Of None's Maiah Wynne, Biohazard (on BLKIIBLK), Sparks (Transgressive), Warfield (Napalm), Dry Cleaning (4AD), The Rasmus (Better Noise), Sophie Ellis-Bextor (Decca), Avantasia (Napalm), Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram (Red Zero), Raging Speedhorn (Spinefarm), TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe (Sub Pop, who plays London Islington Assembly Hall, 10-12 December); Mojave 3 reissues (on 4AD), Scissor Fits reissues (Cherry…

SUNBURY JUNIOR SINGERS Christmas Songs And Carols For Little Children (Music For Pleasure MFP1272, LP, UK, 1968) £3 It was Christmas 1968 and while the world was listening to pop, beat, psychedelia and soul, MFP opted to issue a rather nice album of carols sung by and for children. Not all the songs are carols or even festive, so, despite the title, it's not a strictly-Christmas album though the cover features two rosy-cheeked cherubs gazing at a nativity scene. The Sunbury Junior Singers were a choir of children put together by Joy Webb of The Salvation Army featuring youngsters from all over Britain. Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey is where the Salvation Army had their headquarters. Webb had been a member of the Christian pop group The Joystrings who had enjoyed chart success.…

One thing about having catholic tastes is that any snapshot of a moment might be soundtracked by something entirely unexpected. It's always a little humbling to be stuck at traffic lights, in the summer with your window wound down, so that everyone can hear what you're listening to, only for the record to be something weird, inappropriate or embarrassing. These moments are known as “traffic light specials” in our house. The first time I was ever conscious of a traffic light special was being stuck on Kilburn High Road, with people walking in front of the car looking slightly askance as The Beach Boys' Mrs O'Leary's Cow – aka the Fire music from SMiLE – blasted out of my car demonically, threatening to raze to the ground every building from…

Tell us a bit about the new album. I had the idea to do a covers album with some of my favourite songs from the movies, to pay homage to my father. Film songs like The Way We Were partly directed the course of my life. It introduced me to Barbra Streisand, and I wanted to be like her. She also led me to the same song sung by Gladys Knight, who further galvanised my quest. I watched a lot of those films with my father. What film could it soundtrack? One yet to be realised, about the love of a daughter and her conversations with her father through song. If you could re-visit any of your albums, what'd you change? I did this with Ripples/Echoes Of Dreams. I love…

Fifty years ago, Stardust was doing big business in British cinemas, starring David Essex as rock superstar Jim McLaine. When he'd signed up for Stardust, and its prequel, That'll Be The Day, Essex was a theatre actor who did the odd advert jingle. By the end of 1974 he was the hottest pop star in the country, having recorded the minimal, majestic Rock On in 1973, then scored a No 1 with Gonna Make You A Star the year after. Essex was in the middle of a run of albums with producer Jeff Wayne that gleefully mixed avant-garde, eerie dub productions, straight-up glam pop, and flickers of music hall. For collectors, he had a long pre-history of failed 60s singles to hunt down, like the mod-soul flavoured Baby I Don't Mind,…

Bristol might well have remained a third-rate musical backwater had it not been for the Jamaican diaspora. The West Country's largest city contributed the odd novelty hit to the national conversation during the 60s and 70s, though it was never truly in contention as a musical force until Bristol sound system culture started to bleed into the local music and disseminate into the mainstream. Don Letts once told this writer that bass was Jamaica's gift to the world, and the former British colony certainly bestowed it upon Bristol in abundance. Collectives from the 80s like the Wild Bunch would have been reared on sub-bass and giant speakers, later transforming into trip hop godheads Massive Attack, with Nellee Hooper going off to London to form Soul II Soul. The lineage was…

New Albums 1. THE CURE Songs Of A Lost World (Fiction/Polydor) It was finally the year that Robert Smith decided to let The Cure's 15th album out into the wild. An exhilarating record described by RC's Simon Price as a “bona fide masterpiece”, it showed the alt-rock titans could be as creatively thrilling as ever. Is it too soon to ask for a follow-up? 2. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS Wild God (PIAS) The first record in five years from the full Bad Seeds crew crafted euphoric, poignant paeans to making it through the most painful of times. 3. BETH GIBBONS Lives Outgrown (Domino) This long-awaited solo debut from Portishead singer Gibbons was more than worth the wait, pairing stark folk with airy, ethereal grooves. 4. DAVID GILMOUR Luck…

“I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I'm a 50-year-old, heavy-set black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery.” So joked EMILY REMLER, a trailblazing bebop-influenced guitarist who is largely forgotten now because her career was tragically cut short at 32 when she died in 1990 during a tour of Australia. Cookin' At The Queens Resonance), a fabulous, lovingly curated new compilation of previously unissued live performances, captures her on stage leading a trio in Las Vegas between 1984 and 88. Remler appears inspired as she breezes her way through a mixture of modal touchstones, swinging hard bop staples, jazz standards, and bossa novas. For those unfamiliar with the guitarist's nimble, dazzling fretwork, the collection will come as a revelation. A 3LP version of…

Having known George personally, did it affect how you approached this project? I was very lucky to spend time with George on the 30th anniversary remaster of All Things Must Pass. I worked with him on some outtakes. I've since spent a lot of time at Abbey Road on Beatles projects, so you get in the groove of what works. The goal of these remixes is to not stamp my taste on it; I know what George liked and that gives a confidence to what you do. You're also good friends with his son Dhani. Did that make it more emotional? I've known Dhani nearly all my life [Paul is the son of founding Hollies guitarist Tony Hicks – Ed], but it can be both physically and emotionally tiring if you…

The fourth official album by Philadelphia's freewheeling BARDO POND has been given the remastering treatment and pressed on plastic so purple it would keep J Mascis mesmerised for days on end. Set And Setting – 25th Anniversary Edition (Matador) opens with the 11-minute Walking Stick Man which takes the blueprint of the electric blues, turns it inside out and kneads it into a warm, sticky dough. Another highlight on an album that's packed with them is Again, a song driven by jumbo jet levels of distortion. While it's always a pleasure to hear Isobel Sollenberger's voice floating amidst the plethora of disorientating pedal effects, this record also boasts some fine instrumental moments. There's the woozily lumbering Datura, for example, or Cross Current which is like someone trying to compose a rustic post-folk…

Whose idea was the album? Art Jr: It was me, it was 2022 and I wanted to make an album that used, that documented, our two voices. What do you think, father? Art: It all started when he was two and we bought him onstage during soundchecks! It seemed magical to him that he could make sounds though the microphone and it would ring around the hall. It began right there. And audiences would go crazy when he sang “Feeling groovy!” He had beautiful pitch. And yet your voices are so different… Art Jr: We each have a unique timbre. My father's has gotten rounder, deeper as he's got older so he'll take the lower part… interesting how roles have reversed from the Simon & Garfunkel years. Our approach was…

Joan Armatrading How Did This Happen And What Does It Mean Now BMG 641138 (CD, LP) Writing in 1976, trailblazing music journalist Penny Valentine asked almost desperately, “The number of British women working in music is pitifully small. Why?” Citing America's many female artists, Valentine interviews UK “survivors” Carol Grimes, Elkie Brooks, Kiki Dee, Linda Lewis and Joan Armatrading. At that point, Joan had released two albums since 1972, experienced crippling business shenanigans, recorded seven Peel sessions for her early supporter and was about to start recording Joan Armatrading, the album led by Show Some Emotion that would propel her to becoming one of our most beloved singer-songwriters of any sex. Over 48 years later at 73, Armatrading is releasing her 21st album, which not only boasts her longest title…

Lordi Made Of Metal (Reigning Phoenix, no cat no) There are many great songs about telephones and some of the best ones were recorded by Blondie. Now the Eurovision metal champions Lordi have made their own highly specific contribution to the canon. This has been inspired by (read: commissioned for) the new OnePlus Nord 4 model, which is the only all-metal unibody smartphone of the 5G era, boasting a Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 3 processor and AquaTouch display. Whatever that means! You can listen to the tune on your mobile's Spotify app, if you wish, but Lordi's kind people also sent this analogue reviewer a copy on vinyl. With no catalogue details appearing on its sleeve, it's a mystery how widely (or narrowly) available this will be. The song itself…

Adjágas Mánu Rávdnji (Trust Me TMR 032, CD, Norway, 2009) £10 Fronted by Sámi yoik singers Sara Marielle Gaup and Lawra Somby, 'Adjágas' refers to the psychic state between sleep and wakefulness, which serves as a good indication of the dreamy wonderings to be found on this record. It's a set which encompasses quirky psychedelia, tonal soundscapes and propulsive chants. The musicianship is superb, but what catches the ears most is the sublime melding of twin voices. These artists inherited their tradition from a long line of Norwegian yoikers, and that sense of history echoes throughout this eclectic collection. Mari Boine Gula Gula (Idut ILP 891, LP, Norway, 1989) £20 Mari Boine grew up in a village on the banks of the Anarjohka river, Norway, surrounded by nature and steeped…