Street Life

Who, The: The Who

Essay by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

THAT summer: Tolliday and I roaming Soho’s warm night streets, swapping stories, putting each other in roles, lingering outside sawdust-floored Italian food-stores, sniffing in the ...

Nils Lofgren

Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

TEN years after he heard his first rock record: "I thought pop music was too simple, I could call out all the chords and analyse ...

Bonnie Raitt: Home Plate (Warner Bros.)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

BONNIE RAITT is an intriguing talent, firmly rooted in the music of men like Otis Rush and Fred McDowell whom she met and worked with ...

Van Dyke Parks: Clang Of The Yankee Reaper (Warner Bros.)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

ONE DAY I got this strange note from America. It said: "Thanks for the review of my single. It is the first good review I've ...

Rufus: Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan (ABC)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

AMERICAN BLACK music (that which is loosely termed 'soul') has been going through a disturbing period. It continues to do so. Where once the arm ...

Neil Young: Zuma (Warner Bros.)

Review by Chris Briggs, Street Life, November 1975

THE FIRST real Crazy Horse album since Everybody Knows catches Young on his left foot backing off broken romance. ...

Nils Lofgren: The Selling Of Nils Lofgren

Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

The chalked sign on the blackboard at Manchester University reads: Tonight – Nils Lofgren, and then in brackets Ex-Neil Young & Crazy Horse. The price ...

Cat Stevens: Numbers (Island)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, November 1975

THIS ALBUM is sub-titled 'A Pythagorean Theory Tale'. Pythagoras, you may remember, had a theory that the education system approved of, about the square of ...

Emmylou Harris: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, December 1975

THE LIGHTS had just gone down, the musicians were just striking up when these two guys fell up the stairs singing loudly, "New York, New ...

Paul Simon: London Palladium

Live Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, January 1976

PAUL SIMON is small and neat and nervous. His songs reflect him perfectly. They are small and neat and edgy. Paul Simon delivers his songs ...

Rory Gallagher: Newcastle City Hall

Live Review by Idris Walters, Street Life, January 1976

RORY GALLAGHER is a Conservationist. He preserves various traditions – the old blues, 'British' rhythm and blues, the anti-star guitarist mood and the Celtic will ...

Bob Dylan: Desire (CBS)

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, January 1976

DESIRE begins with ‘Hurricane’, Dylan’s account of how black boxer Reuben Carter was falsely charged and jailed for murder. I don’t know how many cut ...

Emmylou Harris: Elite Hotel

Review by Mick Brown, Street Life, January 1976

AFTER JUST one album (two and a half if you count her collaborations with Gram Parsons a couple of years back) Emmylou Harris' name is ...

Van Dyke Parks: The Clang of Van Dyke Parks

Profile by Penny Valentine, Street Life, February 1976

"He deals in streams of consciousness and clicks someone’s brain on to accepting an abstract concept... he can grab those feelings and wrench them out ...

Bad Company: Run With The Pack (Island)

Review by Idris Walters, Street Life, February 1976

SOMEWHERE DEEP inside the mix on Bad Company's first album was a little shimmer of Oriental Rock. Not much. Just enough to suggest the germ ...

Buck Owens: You Don’t Buck The Rules On The Bus: Buck Owens

Report and Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, February 1976

IT’S LIKE Tom Wolfe said: you’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus. No three ways about it. ...

Commander Cody: Lost Planet Airman Finds Lone Star, Starts Drinking

Report and Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, February 1976

THEY DIDN’T ask Commander Cody if they could use his face to advertise Lone Star beer, but he’s the first to admit it fits. "Country ...

Joan Armatrading, Elkie Brooks, Carol Grimes, Kiki Dee, Linda Lewis: A Question of Survival: Rock'n'Roll Women

Overview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, March 1976

THE NUMBER of women working in British music is pitifully small. You can count them on one hand. Why? ...

Robin Trower: City Hall, Newcastle

Live Review by Idris Walters, Street Life, March 1976

THIS WAS a Sunday, all day long. ...

Joe Boyd: An Interview

Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, March 1976

Penny Valentine talks to the man in between, Joe Boyd who has recently produced Toots Hibbert, Maria Muldaur, and the McGarrigles. ...

Barry White: The Discreet Charm Of the Black Bourgeoisie: Barry White and Company

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, March 1976

WHEN YOUNG American blacks threw off their jeans, gave them to the white kids, and emerged supercool in their three-piece suits, brogues and cashmere sweaters ...

Maria Muldaur: Sweet Harmony (Reprise)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, March 1976

THE FIRST time I saw Maria Muldaur live she was magnificent. Which is unfortunate because it set a precedent she could never follow short of ...

Gladys Knight & the Pips: Gladys Knight and the Pips (DJM)

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, March 1976

SHE'S JUST GONNA have to get used to it. When you're the greatest pop singer in the world (and she is) and have been together ...

Isaac Hayes: Golden Hour Presents Isaac Hayes and Groove-a-thon

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, March 1976

FOR A FEW YEARS Isaac Hayes' reputation veered alarmingly: genius? fraud? joke? God? The settled consensus was that he had founded a new sort of ...

Janis Ian: Aftertones (CBS)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, March 1976

"SOMETIMES IT'S all too much to say aloud...sometimes the words are painful to the ear." ...

Emmylou Harris: Sincerity in Sin City

Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, March 1976

OF COURSE, Emmylou Harris has to be staying in an elite hotel. Large, rambling, fin-de-siecle. The author J. P. Donleavy stays here when he's in ...

Bobby Womack Sings Through Clenched Teeth

Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, April 1976

IT PROMISED to be, in that time-honoured cliche of showbusiness hyperbole, a 'star-studded occasion'. His publicist said Bobby Womack would be dropping off in the ...

Laura Nyro: Smile (CBS)

Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, April 1976

AS PEOPLE are attracted to evil I was always fascinated by Laura Nyro. The fascination was on two levels – as a musician she was ...

Charly Records: The Dark Side Of The Sun

Retrospective by Charlie Gillett, Street Life, April 1976

SAM PHILLIPS must be shaking his head in bewilderment that somebody should be issuing his out-takes. ...

Bonnie Raitt

Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Street Life, May 1976

FREEBO’S SHAGGY, morose head appears through the doors of the van: "There is no truth in the rumour," he shouts, "that when Bonnie Raitt arrived ...

Robin Trower: Once More With Feeling

Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, May 1976

THERE ARE THREE kinds of limousine driver in America. There are the elder men who used to be accountants or clerks, until the recession forced ...

James Brown: Hot (Polydor)

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, May 1976

IN WHICH the Godfather of Soul issues a firm but gentle reminder of who's boss and why... ...

Miracles, The: The Miracles: Love Machine

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, May 1976

'LOVE MACHINE' was the Miracles' biggest hit for years (if not ever) and a fine single too. Why? What are the Miracles doing right again? ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers: Bob Marley and the Wailers: Rastaman Vibration

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, May 1976

I DON'T KNOW how this music will be rated but my word would be mellow. This is a very uncluttered album – the rhythms are ...

Temptations, The, Marvin Gaye: Soul Albums Reviewed

Review by Simon Frith, Street Life, May 1976

Temptations: Wings of LoveMarvin Gaye: I Want YouLee Garrett: Heat For The Feets EVEN SOUL musicians grow old and, though black music has never ...

Patti Smith: Patti in Excelsis Deo

Profile and Interview by Mick Gold, Street Life, May 1976

WE LIVE in dangerous times. We live in a society that can co-opt its own downfall, sprinkle some glitter on it, and gift wrap it ...

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Dr Hook: Act Naturally

Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, June 1976

THE REPORTERS from the provincial press had gathered in the room where the press conference was to be held and were guzzling record- company wine, ...