Absolute Elsewhere
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RUTHIE FOSTER (2011): A Southern soul sister rises
3 May 2011 | 4 min read
When the once-great B.B. King recently played in Auckland it was my unhappy task to write the review of his sad, disappointing and uncomfortable performance. The man is clearly past it -- the singing but a spark of its old self, his guitar work now woeful, the "performance" mostly rambling and often distracted talk -- and you had to wonder why he was still doing this. I suggested... > Read more
Ruthie Foster: Fruits of My Labor (from The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster)
RAY CHARLES 1954-1960: A soul brother movin' on
2 May 2011 | 3 min read
The word "genius" was used so often about Ray Charles that people probably ceased to believe it in this age where a minor sports figure is referred to as "an icon" and "awesome" has long since lost any meaning at all. But Charles was a genius -- "The only genius in our business," said Frank Sinatra -- because in the mid Fifties he started to reshape... > Read more
Ray Charles: I Want a Little Girl (1958)
ROY ORBISON 1960-65: The years of monumental pop
26 Apr 2011 | 5 min read | 1
Looked at one way, the great Roy Orbison (who died in late '88) had five separate careers, but he only ever changed musical direction once. "The Big O" -- or "the Caruso of Rock" -- as he was known, had long periods away from the spotlight and it would be fair to observe his defining work was done in an exceptional period of creativity which lasted just four years.... > Read more
Roy Orbison: In Dreams
JAYREM RECORDS (1975-2011): The independence movement
21 Apr 2011 | 3 min read | 1
Despite the decline in music sales, anyone starting a record company today has it relatively easy when considering what James Moss was up against when he launched his label in early 1975. CD technology -- cheaper to produce than vinyl -- was still more than five years in the future, labels were reliant on snail-mail postage, telephones were used rather than e-mails and all the possibilities... > Read more
Ngahiwi Apanui: He Whakapapa
BOB DYLAN: OFF THE BARRICADES (2011): The China syndrome
18 Apr 2011 | 4 min read
In 1971 -- at the height of the war in Vietnam, the rise of Black Panther activity and the revolutionary spirit sweeping across the US and Europe -- Joan Baez stepped onto a stage in New York and sang a new song. It put her old lover Bob Dylan right in the cross-hairs for him abandoning the peace movement and any political activity. The song was To Bobby (just in case you didn't get it) and... > Read more
Bob Dylan: Neighborhood Bully (from Infidels)
JIMI HENDRIX; SOUTH SATURN DELTA (2011): The sun rises again
18 Apr 2011 | 2 min read
As with Bob Marley's "catalogue", it seems only right that Jimi Hendrix's messy existence -- he seemed to a sign a contract at the drop of an offer, and would record with whomever when the mood took him -- should be reined in and given some coherence. So when the Hendrix family finally wrestled a measure of control after years of litigation we started to see "new"... > Read more
Jimi Hendrix: Midnight Lightning
BOB DYLAN: THE TROUBADOUR IN THE 21st CENTURY (2011): And the road shall not weary him
18 Apr 2011 | 4 min read
In his recent collection of essays Listen to This, the New Yorker music critic Alex Ross has an interesting and provocative piece on Bob Dylan. It opens, “America is no country for old men. Pop culture is a pedophile's delight” then he ask what – in this world of manufactured teen pop – we are to do with “a well-worn, middle-aged songwriter who gravitates... > Read more
DROPKICK MURPHYS INTERVIEWED (2011): Putting the bagpipes into punk
13 Apr 2011 | 5 min read
From the first enjoyably rowdy bars of the new Dropkick Murphys album Going Out in Style you can sense that here is a band whose time has come. With the rollicking outlaw roar of Hang 'Em High then the title track – an old Irishman considering a boozy wake and who he should invite – the sound of the band's Celtic-punk is roof-rattling and energetic. For the band –... > Read more
Dropkick Murphys: Hang 'Em High
LEON RUSSELL INTERVIEWED (2011): Ever the journeyman
13 Apr 2011 | 7 min read | 1
When Leon Russell left his home in Tulsa for Los Angeles after having played in teenage rock bands, a career in music wasn't what he was expecting. But in a couple of months he will receive two major awards: he will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. Russell – now 68 -- spent time as an anonymous session musician in the Sixties with... > Read more
Leon Russell and Elton John: I Should Have Sent Roses (from The Union)
ERIC CLAPTON, LAYLA 40 YEARS ON (2011): I don't want to fade away
28 Mar 2011 | 4 min read | 1
By the time Eric Clapton flew to Miami in 1970 to record what would become the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs double album, he had spent six years in an emotional wringer: he was the acclaimed guitarist in the Yardbirds before he abruptly quit over dissatisfaction with their pop direction; took time out; joined John Mayall in his Blues Breakers for one album and was hailed in... > Read more
Derek and the Dominos: Have You Ever Loved a Woman?
GUY GARVEY OF ELBOW INTERVIEWED (2011): A homecoming to the top
26 Mar 2011 | 13 min read
The very personable Guy Garvey – songwriter and singer for the award-grabbing British band Elbow – laughs when he describes himself as “a rock star”, in part because at 37 he's getting a bit old for that game, but mostly because he knows he looks more like the plump Ricky Gervais than the buffed Ricky Martin. Garvey – self-effacing, good humored,... > Read more
Elbow: Neat Little Rows
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE; THE SIDE PROJECTS 1970-74: The Baron and the Nun go it alone, together
25 Mar 2011 | 6 min read
The New York garageband Blues Magoos' Psychedelic Lollipop of 1966 was one of the first albums to have the word “psychedelic” in the title, but it wasn't quite the spaced-out sweet thing the name suggested. 13th Floor Elevators out of Texas the same year with their debut The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators were more like the real thing: Psychedelic Sounds is... > Read more
Grace Slick: Come Again? Toucan? (from Manhole)
13th FLOOR ELEVATORS (1966-69): Shall we take a trip, or a Roky ride?
23 Mar 2011 | 3 min read | 1
The description “psychedelic music” – much like “freedom” – can mean whatever you want. The first albums with “psychedelic” in the title were by 13th Floor Elevators out of Texas (The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators) and New York's Blues Magoos (Psychedelic Lollipop), both released in 1966. Psychedelic Lollipop –... > Read more
13th Floor Elevators: Postures (from Easter Everywhere)
BOB BROZMAN INTERVIEWED (2011) All the world's a stage, and he plays on it
16 Mar 2011 | 11 min read
American guitarist Bob Brozman must have an impressive passport. For the past two decades he has been almost itinerant as he has played across the planet from Hawaii to Mali, Okinawa to Papua New Guinea. And along the way he has collaborated with some exceptional musicians, among them Indian slide guitarist Debashish Battacharya for the album Mahima, Okinawa guitarist Takashi Hirayasu (on... > Read more
Bob Brozman: Beer Belly Dancing (from Six Days in Down)
PHIL MANZANERA OF ROXY MUSIC INTERVIEWED (2010): When work is play
6 Mar 2011 | 8 min read
Guitarist Phil Manzanera remembers very clearly how and when he first met the band that would give him his career, Roxy Music. “Yes, I failed the audition,” he says about that day in '71when he went to a house in Battersea and plugged in his Gibson ES-325 (“unfashionable for Roxy Music”) to play alongside singer Bryan Ferry, knob and tape twiddler Brian Eno,... > Read more
N-Shift (from the album K-Scope, 1978)
PAPA MALI INTERVIEWED (2011): The Nawlins spirit walking
2 Mar 2011 | 6 min read
Malcolm Welbourne of the Austin-based band 7 Walkers delivers a cool line in New Orleans funk'n'blues, has Willie Nelson as a guest on the band's self-titled debut album, co-writes with Robert Hunter (lyricist for the Grateful Dead) and the band counts in its ranks George Porter of the Meters on bass. Yet Welbourne – known as Papa Mali, a name given him by friends in reggae... > Read more
7 Walkers: Evangeline
LUCINDA WILLIAMS INTERVIEWED (2011): Darkness from light
28 Feb 2011 | 12 min read
These are more good days for Lucinda Williams: happily married and comfortable, a Grammy nomination for Kiss Like Your Kiss (best song in a film or television series, it appeared in True Blood) and acclaim from her peers, critics and an increasing fan base. And she has a new album out, Blessed which was produced by Don Was, her husband Tom Overby and Eric Leljestrand (the latter... > Read more
Lucinda Williams (with Elvis Costello): Seeing Black
DENNIS LECORRIERE INTERVIEWED (2003): Is there a Doctor in the house?
23 Feb 2011 | 5 min read
Dennis Locorriere spends most of the hour laughing and is more amused than irritated that many people mistake him for someone else. Locorriere - with slight streaks of silver at his temples and celebrating his 54th birthday on this day - is the voice of Dr Hook. But he wasn't the face of that Seventies hit-making machine which cluttered up radio with songs like Sylvia's Mother, Cover... > Read more
RUMER INTERVIEWED (2011): Thankful, and slowing it right down
23 Feb 2011 | 12 min read
With her debut album Seasons of My Soul; the British singer Rumer has delivered an album destined for many 2011 Best of the Year lists come December. For Rumer – born Sarah Joyce in Pakistan 30 years ago – it has been the culmination of a long and quite remarkable journey. After she and her mother returned to England, she grew up in London, tried her hand in bands and... > Read more
Rumer: Love and Affection
BILLY JOE SHAVER PROFILED (2011): The rough diamond from Texas coal
21 Feb 2011 | 7 min read
The truth about Billy Joe Shaver is much more interesting than anything anyone might make up about the guy. Shaver has lived on the hard edge of life. Born in Corsicana in Texas in late 1941 or '39 depending on where you read it (“just a cotton-gin town, the same one Lefty Frizzell came from") and raised in Waco, he lost two fingers in a sawmill accident when he was 26... > Read more