The aching melancholia of Gillian Welch’s songs about struggle is only partially balanced by the sprightly, lyrical playing of her immensely skilled guitarist and partner David Rawlings. In a concert that lasted well over two hours and included almost 30 … Continue reading
There has been plenty of comment about Mick Hucknall’s suitability or otherwise as a replacement for Rod Stewart in a reformed Faces but unless I’ve missed it what no-one seems to have mentioned is what they might actually play. When … Continue reading
I came across this hilarious document in an Elvis book many years ago and Xeroxed it. At the weekend I was clearing out some old files and I came across it again. It is evidently an aural transcription of the … Continue reading
I’m sure I’m not alone amongst RBP contributors in mourning the death this weekend of Carol Clerk. I first met Carol in 1972 when she turned up out of the blue at the offices of Melody Maker on Fleet Street, … Continue reading
Check this out music lovers…
Twenty-nine years ago today I awoke to the news that John Lennon had been murdered by a gun-toting lunatic in New York, and it still rankles. Henry Kissinger, who I believe is still wanted for war crimes in parts of … Continue reading
Let me start by declaring an interest. I commissioned, edited and published the book ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock’n’Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury’ by Richard Balls which was first published in 2000 by Omnibus Press. This book contains 145,000 … Continue reading
My iPod is my best friend that doesn’t breathe. It accompanies me everywhere, on the trains to and from London every day, when I walk my dog in the Surrey Hills and when I go to the supermarket. I plug … Continue reading
Yesterday I drove to Reading pick up my 17-year-old daughter who had spent five days and four nights in a tent at the festival along with a crowd of friends, her first ever big rock experience. In some ways she’s … Continue reading
All of them start somewhere and most of them, including me, fail but every so often I think back fondly to the brief career of my teenage band, The Rockin’ Pandas from Skipton in West Yorkshire, which featured yours truly … Continue reading
Over the past three days I have been frantically attending to an update of an Omnibus Press book entitled Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary which was last published in 2005, just before the much publicised child molestation trial from which … Continue reading
If, like me, you still get a shiver down the spine when the you hear the words ‘Well it’s been building up inside of me for, oh, I don’t know how long’, then allow me to draw your attention to … Continue reading
On Waterloo Station and probably elsewhere there is a large poster of John Lennon and Bob Dylan playing electric guitars and promoting the services of a company called Henderson New Star with the words “Imagine if they worked together…” This … Continue reading
The Last Mad Surge Of Youth by Mark Hodkinson (Pomona Books) In this taut, pacey and authentic rite-of-passage novel, Mark Hodkinson offers an inside look at the unsentimental realities of being in a band, the injustices and the indignities, at … Continue reading
It is the prerogative of rock stars to enjoy the attentions of beautiful women to a greater degree than most other men, and among those who took full advantage of this privilege of course was Keith Moon, a man with … Continue reading
It is not often I come across the name Quintessence these days but the give-away CD on the most recent Mojo is an Island folk compilation that includes a track by this now largely unheralded group, a bunch of raga … Continue reading
This week I found myself in a friendly dispute with our libel lawyer in a matter concerning the meaning of the term ‘looking after’ in regard to a record company’s responsibilities to an artist. My lawyer is an expert on … Continue reading
This doesn’t happen often, though I’ve actually bumped into Paul Weller once or twice unexpectedly (in Holland Park and also in the Surrey village of Shere near where I now live), and I’m not talking about concerts, front or back … Continue reading
