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LOU REED'S NEW YORK ALBUM (1989): The pugnacious poet
Think about it, Lou Reed shouldn’t be here in 1989. Scan his background and the death vultures were wheeling from the first time he came through with the Velvet Underground. But all right, he’s here -- and should we still care? Face it, his albums in the 80s have been pretty uneven, some just simply bad. And yes, the granddaddy of punk now appears in American Express... more >>
Added: 1 Nov 08
ROBERT FRIPP INTERVIEWED (1990): The economic man at work
The only sound in this small foyer is a huge fly buzzing monotonously and occasionally slapping itself into the windows. Peter, one of the guitarists studying at this retreat in Howick whispers “are you the journalist?” and our conversation is carried out in hushed voices so as not to disturb the 20 or so people in the room next door. Their shoes lie around the floor, and... more >>
Added: 30 Oct 08
KARL WALLINGER OF WORLD PARTY INTERVIEWED (1993): Couldn't care less, couldn't care more
For a few smoke-filled seconds Karl Wallinger is difficult to see in this small airless room three floors up in suburban London, W10. Then through the haze of his cigarette smoke he emerges like some satiated Cheshire cat. Grinning. This is the day Wallinger has set aside to talk some about the new World Party album Bang!, and as chief Party member who writes, sings, arranges and most... more >>
Added: 27 Oct 08 
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ROBERT PLANT AND JIMMY PAGE INTERVIEWED (1994): Only the song remains
They’ve certainly seen worse than this dark oak lined bar where Sydney Harbour glitters seductively just through the panelled doors. And they’ve certainly done this whole thing before, one of them with forgivable ill-humour. But today they are jocular, blokey and their living-legend status is resting comfortably with them. Robert Plant exchanges a firm handshake and throws... more >>
Added: 20 Oct 08
OTIS REDDING: The lost legacy of a soul genius
The life and death of Otis Redding is replete with ironies. The man who displaced Elvis in the British magazine Melody Maker as top male vocalist in ’67 – knocking off the King after an eight-year straight residency – could barely crack the top 10 in his homeland. Yet after his death in December that year – his plane going nose-down into a Wisconsin lake –... more >>
Added: 19 Oct 08
BILL CHAMBERS INTERVIEWED (2003): Call of the big country
When Bill Chambers tells it, with a smile at the corner of his lips and in his leisurely Australian drawl, it sounds the most natural thing in the world. But it's kind of strange. He's talking about the mid-70s and what he was doing then, having grown up on country music and playing in bands. "I was a bit of a cowboy hippie, long hair but a cowboy hat. I had a long beard and the... more >>
Added: 16 Oct 08
DIAMONDS AND ROUGH IN A BOX: Nuggets; Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968 considered
There's an interesting local observation to be made about this four-CD box set of what is essentially low-rent, lo-fi American garageband rock. But first, a little history. Back in 1972 Lenny Kaye - later guitarist in Patti Smith's band - released the original double-vinyl compilation Nuggets. In a garish psychedelic cover (faithfully reproduced here across the four discs,... more >>
Added: 14 Oct 08
GILLIAN WELCH INTERVIEWED (2004): That ol' time contemporary music
For someone whose stark songs sound like they have come from the impoverished rural underbelly of Depression-era America, Gillian Welch seems as lively as a June-bug. She laughs readily and doesn't come across as a woman who sings death ballads and has the signature song Orphan Girl. But Welch surprises on many levels. Those who have heard her spare singing on the soundtrack to O Brother,... more >>
Added: 7 Oct 08
AMERICA'S DEWEY BUNNELL INTERVIEWED (2007): Upstarts up the charts
Among people whose musical credentials you wouldn’t question would be the Beatles’ producer George Martin. Or if you want a more contemporary reference maybe alt.country rocker Ryan Adams, James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins, or guys from the indie bands My Morning Jacket and Nada Surf. And the link -- possibly the only one -- between these diverse people is an unexpected one:... more >>
Added: 2 Oct 08
MUSIC IS MY MADNESS: Ego, drugs and minor chords, musicians who lost the plot
The world of music is populated by creative people -- and those around them who offer musicians absurd amounts of money, pampering for their inflating egos and medication for their every ailment, real or imagined. The surprising thing is that more musicians don’t follow Elvis, Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty into that netherworld of self-delusion, eccentricity... more >>
Added: 1 Oct 08 1 Comment
THE DOORS, ON AND OFF THE RECORD: Still opening and closing
I only saw the Doors once, in a packed club on Sunset Strip. That was five years ago. Jim Morrison had been dead 35 years but there they were -- or at least an excellent replica -- going through their hits as the leather-clad singer exuded menace, animal sexuality and seduction. The crowd -- mostly people not born when the Doors peaked in the late 60s -- included other Morrison... more >>
Added: 29 Sep 08
DAVID BOWIE INTERVIEWED (1993): Black tie, white noise and the duke bounces back
David Bowie is a pain. Or more correctly perhaps, “his people” are. Eighteen months ago, when he was keen to plug his uneven, already forgotten but not uninteresting Tin Machine II album (the follow-up to what we might have charitably called “a side project” in a long career) he was a pushover. Oh, just wait by the phone “his people” said and... more >>
Added: 29 Sep 08
LEE SCRATCH PERRY IN THE 90s: Getting dub'n'reggae through time tuff
By the early 90s - a decade on from the death of Bob Marley - the consciousness reggae movement he headed was floundering internationally. In New Zealand, where reggae is one of the bloodlines, it was disappearing from radio and aside from well attended appearances by Judy Mowatt and Ziggy Marley concerts it really was “time tough,” as Toots once said. But there was also a... more >>
Added: 28 Sep 08
DAVID GILMOUR OF PINK FLOYD INTERVIEWED 1988: Us and Them Lawyers
Rock stars shouldn’t talk this way, not in these well-rounded vowels and carefully constructed, oh-so English sentences. But then, this is David Gilmour from Pink Floyd – and as rock bands go Pink Floyd are no ordinary band at all. Here is the band which presents astonishingly visual concerts, every couple of years unleashes a monster of an album and then disappears into... more >>
Added: 27 Sep 08
JUDY MOWATT INTERVIEWED (1990): Reggae's reigning queen
Judy Mowatt wears her unofficial title “the queen of reggae” easily. A striking figure of regal bearing she holds her head high, and, as a member of The Twelve Tribes of Israel, talks as easily about the Queen of Sheba in ancient times as she does about Yellowman, DJ dancehall stars in Jamaica today and shows a canny knowledge of chart placings for various reggae artists. In... more >>
Added: 27 Sep 08
TOM RUSSELL INTERVIEWED: The stories he could tell
Julio Gonzalez was pumped up and crazy when he was tossed out of the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx in mid-March 1990. He was 36, unemployed and had been in the States for only 10 years after arriving with thousands of other Cubans in the Mariel boatlift. An argument with his former girlfriend who worked in the cloakroom, a couple of bouncers heavying him into the streets, a short... more >>
Added: 25 Sep 08
ROD STEWART INTERVIEWED : Too often the singer, not the songs
In typically witty cover notes to the six-album Storyteller anthology released two years ago to celebrate 25 years in music, Rod Stewart appended something interesting after his signature...”Stewart’s the name, singing’s the game.” And that’s worth remembering. Fashions may change (and with Stewart every debauched or debonair picture tells a story),... more >>
Added: 25 Sep 08
WATERMELON SLIM INTERVIEWED (2007): He's had interesting lives
“You tell them this,” says 58-year old bluesman Watermelon Slim in a voice which sounds like he has been gargling whisky-soaked nails. “God has blessed me with an extremely full and interesting life. It’s not all been fun or positive and I’m not proud of everything I’ve done. But I’ve been blessed to get this far.” Indeed, because Slim -- aka... more >>
Added: 24 Sep 08
WIRE INTERVIEWED (2004): From garages to galleries, the rise and re-rise of art-rock
You need a little patience when trying to get a handle on the career of the four-piece British art-punk band Wire, who emerged in the late 70s at the start of punk. But first let's establish that Wire were Colin Newman, Bruce Gilbert, Graham Lewis and Robert Gotobed. The early-90s line-up, wittily named Wir, was the same guys, but without drummer Gotobed. That’s reasonably simple... more >>
Added: 19 Sep 08
HARRY NILSSON PROFILED. The fire this time
The too-short life of the greatly under-appreciated singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson (1941-94) was full of bitter ironies: not the least was that this gifted songwriter's biggest hits were written by others.His memorable Without You was penned by Pete Ham and Tom Evans from the Beatles-blessed power poppers, Badfinger; and although Nilsson's beautiful original song I Guess the Lord Must... more >>
Added: 18 Sep 08
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