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A HARD DAYS NIGHT AND QUADROPHENIA: The Beatles and the Who on DVD (2001)
There's a brief scene in A Hard Day's Night that went right past most people at the time. Watch carefully in the first few minutes and you'll catch it.John Lennon is sitting in a railway carriage and holding a bottle of Coke. With a knowing look he sniffs, or more correctly, snorts it. It's the little things in life really, isn't it? Viewed from this distance, that Beatles film of 1964 is a... more >>
Added: 15 Feb 08
THE BEATLES IN AMERICA 1964: Songs of innocence -- and experience (DVD reviewed, 2004)
In the beginning there were just the four of them. Then we learned of the fifth Beatle. Depending on who you talked to it was producer George Martin, New York DJ Murray the K, or the dumped drummer Pete Best. Then we heard about their Hamburg days and the dead Beatle Stu Sutcliffe, their manager Brian Epstein (below) and the rest of the supporting cast. As their legend grew the... more >>
Added: 14 Feb 08 
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THE LENNON LEGEND BOOK, REVIEWED (2003): More or less Lennon
Had John Lennon lived, he would have turned 63 last month. It's interesting to speculate what kind of music he might be making today. Interesting, but pointless: Lennon never saw the trickle-down of punk and new wave; the big-hair 80s; the rise of rap, Madonna and Springsteen; Guns N' Roses, Nirvana and grunge; trends like nu-metal, nu-jazz and boy bands ... Lennon saw none of this. Not... more >>
Added: 14 Feb 08
YOKO ONO: Back with the blueprint (2001) and re-disc-covered (2007)
Some years ago at another posthumous John Lennon album launch, a journalist asked Yoko Ono why she hadn't released an album of her own in quite some while. "There seemed no great call for it," she laughed. True enough. Whether it be her extraordinary primal screaming and emotional venting, her un-nuanced feminist polemics or naive childlike songs, there was never a groundswell of... more >>
Added: 14 Feb 08
THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY IN PRINT (2000): Hardback Writers?
The Beatles' story has been recounted by those who knew them intimately and those who not only never met them but would seem, after enduring a few pages of their authors recycling press clippings, to have had little real interest in them. But it has rarely been told by the only ones who know the true story -- the Beatles themselves. Until now.After the outsiders have had their say --... more >>
Added: 14 Feb 08
JOHN LENNON, IMAGINE RECONSIDERED (2000): Peace in our time?
Some people just don't get it, do they? Wouldn't you love to meet those gearing up to pay an expected $4.5 million at on-line auction for the piano on which John Lennon wrote Imagine?Imagine no possessions, huh?Of course, the Famous White Piano will command top dollar because Imagine was recently voted the best song ever written or something, and in Britain was used to welcome the new... more >>
Added: 14 Feb 08
OASIS: DEFINITELY MAYBE DVD REVIEWED (2004)
When Oasis, out of Manchester, started to gain real momentum a decade ago one wag wrote to a Britrock magazine and said this was all very well, but they were dull to watch live: just hold a postcard of them at arm's length and move it about a bit, he said, and that's about it.That was true but he forgot to factor in one thing, that they could also be thrilling.We didn't see them at their best... more >>
Added: 8 Feb 08
THE WHO, THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT DVD REVIEWED (2004)
The first clip on the exceptional Who bio-doco The Kids Are Alright captures the band at their unpredictable best. It is late '67 and they are being interviewed on the US television show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour by the very straight Tommy Smothers. They are witty and slightly heretical and - we now know - prankster drummer Keith Moon was drunk. So drunk, he and the stagehands packed... more >>
Added: 8 Feb 08
THE RAMONES END OF THE CENTURY. METALLICA SOME KIND OF MONSTER DVDS REVIEWED (2007)
The best thing about being in a band? You get to stay up late and make a lot of noise, maybe make some money and become famous. If you want people to notice your group it's a good tip to all dress alike so when you walk in a room you come off like a gang. Black is good.Worst part about being in a band? Well, these two docos about noisy gang members who favoured black, the Ramones and... more >>
Added: 8 Feb 08
ERIC BURDON INTERVIEWED 2001: The songs of a survivor
Eric Burdon is alive and ... well, the fact that this founder member of Britain's legendary 60s r'n'b garage band The Animals is alive is enough to be happy with, let alone that he sounds well. Speaking from his California home in Joshua Tree, Burdon -- croaky of voice and lucid, if tangential, in conversation -- sounds extremely well for a man aged 60 who has been singing throat-abusing blues... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
ROBERT SMITH OF THE CURE INTERVIEWED (2001): Hits and the one that missed out
He's had a day of interviews yet few people have asked Robert Smith of the Cure the obvious. Something to do with the age of those asking the questions, he laughs. The question is simple: The Cure have a Greatest Hits album out - not their first such collection - but there's a notable omission.So Robert, was it the political climate, pressure from the record company, or are you just so sick of... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
JOHN PAUL JONES OF LED ZEPPELIN INTERVIEWED (2003): The songs remain reissued
They might have been the biggest band in the world at the time, but they were openly despised, ignored or condemned by critics. Even later, after the shouting had died and a clearer perspective was possible, Dave Marsh, one of America's most venerated rock writers, couldn't resist another attack.He damned one of their classic songs as "the most vulgar record in [rock history]" and... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
ZAKIR HUSSAIN INTERVIEWED (1999): Has tabla, will travel
Early morning in Paris and the start of another long day for Zakir Hussain, master of the tabla drums and son of tabla legend Ustad Alla Rakha. Hussain speaks of the previous day's programme: some showcase performances with guitarist John McLaughlin (with whom he co-founded the seminal Indo-jazz group Shakti in the mid 70s), CD signing sessions (a Best of Shakti has just been released on... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
BUDDY GUY INTERVIEWED (2001): One of the last men standing
Oddly enough, this is not the best time to talk to 64-year-old bluesman Buddy Guy - despite him having released Sweet Tea, one of the finest albums in his long career.It is days after the death of his contemporary John Lee Hooker and Guy is understandably philosophical rather than keen to talk up his new album which was, uncharacteristically for this seminal figure in Chicago blues, recorded... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
NORAH JONES INTERVIEWED (2002 and 2003) AND ALBUM REVIEWS: Great Expectations -- and then some
Somebody up there obviously likes Norah Jones and blessed her with extraordinary good looks. Those are her cheekbones and ruby lips which have been replicated in their thousands and grace the cover of her album Come Away With Me. And just in case her looks alone weren't enough to draw attention to this 22-year-old singer/pianist, that somebody up there also blessed her with musical... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
BILL PAYNE OF LITTLE FEAT INTERVIEWED (2001): Feat don't fail me now
Bringing up the "famous dead member" is never easy when you are talking to a band. It can seem ghoulish, is most often unnecessary and can result in suddenly finding yourself alone in the room or that telephone tone which says you've just been hung up on, don't bother calling back. When the American band Little Feat lost their founder, main songwriter and slide guitarist Lowell... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
XTC's ANDY PARTRIDGE INTERVIEWED: A man in the middle ages (1999)
The last time XTC had a new album out, Oasis didn't. In fact Oasis didn't even exist back when Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory dropped their assured 1992 album Nonsuch on a world which simply looked the other way. Since then these veterans of the 70s punk-new wave wars have been on strike (their deal with Virgin ensured the company would make money, but they wouldn't) and... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
RANDY NEWMAN INTERVIEWED: What's the Buzz? (1999)
Randy Newman is a problem in popular culture, a man misplaced into the rock textbooks simply because there's nowhere else to put him. He's part of rock culture by association (his albums are reviewed in rock magazines) but more correctly he's an ironic, acerbic songwriter who has populated his songs with an extraordinary collection of bigots, misfits, racists and cynics for three decades.He... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
TIM AND JEFF BUCKLEY: Their short musical legacy (2004)
The shoreline beneath the Memphis Visitors Centre -- with its massive statues of Elvis and BB King -- isn't that appealing. There's a rocky bank scattered with litter leading down to Wolf River, a sliver of thick water between the city and Mud Island, renowned for its swirling eddies and unpredictable undercurrents. You wouldn't want to swim in dirty and dangerous Wolf River, least of all... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
GEORGE HARRISON: A dark horse reconsidered (2004)
This year's Oscars were unusual, and not because they recognised fantasy films, or for Nicole Kidman's bizarre shelf-bust. No, what was odd was how lacking in sentiment they were.Usually you'd expect a veteran favourite like Clint Eastwood to be recognised, or some time-server to get best supporting something. But no, what Lord of the Rings didn't win went to choices seemingly unmotivated by... more >>
Added: 6 Feb 08
