Instrumentals

Lonnie Mack: The Instrumental Influence and Hit Star

Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, August 1963

BEAT instrumentals are probably at a higher degree of popularity in the States than ever before. Discs like 'Wipeout', 'Tips Of My Fingers', 'Pipeline', 'Hot ...

Booker T & The MGs: College Comes First For Jones

Report and Interview by Ann Moses, Rhythm 'n' News, August 1965

FEW FULL-TIME college students could find enough time, energy or initiative to record and promote a record like the 1964 hit 'Green Onions'. But Booker ...

Deep Purple, Keef Hartley, Keith Moon: Various, Drum Bash: Bumpers Club, London

Live Review by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, March 1971

DEAFENING fun! That was the all-star drum conversation held at London's Bumpers Club last week. ...

Dennis Coffey: The White Soul Guitar

Profile by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, November 1972

DENNIS COFFEY is a white man who plays soul music. Ask any soul fan. Regular pop fans might not be acquainted with his name but ...

Roy Buchanan: An Oldie but Goodie: Roy Buchanan

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Millar, Let It Rock, July 1973

FREAKS MAY BE trading in their Rory Gallagher albums for those by the new, laid-back, spaced out, country Clapton, but 'Echoes' readers know better – ...

Duane Eddy: The Guitar Man Twangs Back

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, October 1973

THE FIRST REAL guitar superstar of the rock and roll age sits in an office no larger than a bathroom on North Vine off the ...

Link Wray: The Lyceum, London

Live Review by Philip Norman, Times, The, June 1975

LINK WRAY was – I should say, is – an American guitarist who, somewhere around 1960, recorded an instrumental tune called 'Rumble'. ...

Diga Rhythm Band: Diga

Review by Max Bell, NME, September 1976

AFTER MY initial listening to this album I was going to take the easy way out, fob off with a few jokes about the Raga ...

Joe Sample: Rainbow Seeker (ABC Import)

Review by Max Bell, NME, April 1978

SEARCH AND DEPLOY ...

Rock Instrumentals: Without A Voice

Retrospective by Greg Shaw, History of Rock, The, 1982

Rock is essentially a vocal musical form: the singer is the pivot and he or she is supported by the group. ...

Hank Marvin, Shadows, The: Hank B. Marvin

Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, 'The Guitar Greats' (BBC Books), 1983

TO DEMONSTRATE to any potential unbelievers the importance of Hank B. Marvin, we must go back to 1977, when a TV commercial was screened showing ...

Joe Satriani, Mick Jagger: The Devil And Joe Satriani

Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Musician, April 1989

A Guitar Hero Strikes a Different Kind of Bargain ...

Roy Buchanan: Sweet Dreams – The Anthology

Sleevenotes by Colin Escott, Polydor Records, 1992

ROY BUCHANAN seemed to come out of nowhere in 1972 when a laudatory article in Rolling Stone was followed by his first album, but it ...

Just a Thought…Whatever Happened To New Age Music?

Comment by Lloyd Bradley, Q, August 1992

Dreamy celestial soundscapes. Tinkly cosmic meditations Worryingly little public interest...Is the music of the future becoming a thing of the past? ...

Duane Eddy: Twangin' from Phoenix to L.A. (Bear Family)

Sleevenotes by Colin Escott, Bear Family Records, 1994

LET'S NOT TALK about guitarists who can play circles around other guitarists, or about which famous picker influenced which other famous picker. ...

Junior Walker & The Allstars: Junior Walker 1931-1995

Obituary by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, January 1996

IN EARLY 1965, a new single lit up American radio. It began with a gunshot, echoed by the snare drum that followed. Then a tenor ...

Ace Cannon: The Best of Ace Cannon: The Hi Records Years

Sleevenotes by Colin Escott, The Right Stuff/Hi Records, 2001

SPARE, FUNKY, and disarmingly simple. Ace Cannon and Bill Black defined a sound. There was never a surplus note or inflection. These were records that ...

Booker T & The MGs: The Backroom Boys: Booker T & the MGs

Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, August 2001

IF EVER THERE WAS a piece of music that deserved the epithet "timeless", it’s Booker T. & the MGs’ ‘Green Onions’. The most basic of ...

Too Cool For Words! Gary Pig Gold's All-Time Favorite Rock 'N' Roll Instrumentals

Guide by Gary Pig Gold, earcandymag.com, March 2007

DRUMS AND wires often DO speak louder than words, and in that age-old teen spirit I hereby present a wholly chronological, but admittedly entirely objective ...

The Instrumental Touch

Comment by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, October 2009

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC is the neglected child of rock and pop — but it's the absence of a human presence that can make it so interesting. ...

Tortoise, Cluster: Tortoise / Cluster: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, November 2009

CURRENT DEFINITIONS of jazz are clearly somewhat flexible, judging by the avant-rock double bill that closed this year's London Jazz Festival on Sunday night. The ...