MOR
Pat Boone: Why I Became A Beatnik
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, NME, March 1962
PAT BOONE fans who saw last week's NME pictures of him at the Royal Film show won't see him looking so clean-cut in his latest ...
Anthony Newley: I'm Worried About My Discs: I Still Need Hits admits Tony Newley
Interview by Alan Smith, NME, July 1962
ANTHONY NEWLEY smoothed out a crease in the trousers of his tuxedo suit, sipped from a large mug of Shepperton film studio tea and looked ...
Bachelors, The: 'Don't Call Us Paddy' Begged The Bachelors
Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, February 1963
"WHENEVER we talk to anyone they call us 'Paddy'," complained the three Bachelors. "We've got names you know." ...
Judy Garland: Judy Cried At Herself
Report and Interview by Alan Smith, NME, March 1963
"BRITAIN IS A home from home to me," said Judy Garland recently. "I remember my career was at a low ebb back in 1950 and ...
Andy Williams Explains Why He Didn't Do A Palladium TV
Interview by Alan Smith, NME, May 1963
ANDY WILLIAMS settled back into a deep armchair at London's Dorchester Hotel. "I couldn't appear on Sunday Night At The Palladium," he said, "because of ...
Profile and Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, August 1963
Frank Ifield had all the Star Qualities – Good Looks, Good Voice, Charm, etc., but it took him three years to hit the top, because ...
Mel Carter: Swingin' Mel Carter Setting New Goals
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, January 1966
WHEN HIS heart sings it really sings. His name is Mel Carter and he is one of the few remaining ballad singers who continues to ...
Herb Alpert: The Million Dollar Trumpet
Profile and Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, March 1966
THEY SAY that in order to make a lasting name for yourself in the music business you've got to come up with something which is ...
Neil Diamond: A Look Inside A Rather 'Solitary Man'
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, June 1966
NEIL DIAMOND is real. And in the record business, that's unusual. In a world of phonies and "yes" men, a real person stands out like ...
Neil Diamond's Searching for Tone
Interview by Louise Criscione, KRLA Beat, November 1966
THOSE WHO start young are more apt to make it since they've more time to profit from their errors. Such a person is Neil Diamond. ...
Kathy Kirby: Kathy And The Problems Of Being A Girl Singer
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, March 1967
KATHY KIRBY loves her work but it happens to be one of the commercial facts of life that a highly paid entertainer sometimes gets in ...
Harry Secombe: Hearty Harry Talks Of His First Big Hit...
Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, April 1967
POOR OLD Harry Secombe! ...
Tom Jones: The Champagne World of Tom Jones
Profile and Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, August 1967
'The doctor says champagne is good for the throat' ...
Bobby Darin: Hate to Ruin His Image, but He's Nice
Interview by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press, November 1967
I REALLY hate to ruin anyone's reputation, but Bobby Darin just doesn't live up to his: During his years in show business, Bobby has often ...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Sounds, October 1970
IT HAS taken the amazing Bread over a year to 'break nationwide' – or for that matter to break anywhere on a really large scale. ...
Bread: Revolution Club, London
Live Review by Penny Valentine, Sounds, October 1970
AT THE end of Bread's London appearance at the Revolution club on Thursday night they were called back to do two encores and treated to ...
Neil Diamond: A Boy Who Outgrew His Hits
Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, March 1971
IT TOOK a long while but the U.K. public woke up one day and discovered Neil Diamond. And with 'Sweet Caroline' providing a quick follow-up ...
Tom Jones: Madison Square Garden, New York NY
Live Review by Mike Jahn, New York Times, June 1971
TOM JONES EXCELS IN GARDEN RECITAL ...
Shirley Bassey: State Of The World Means 'Kids' Can Now Relate To Me Says Shirley Bassey
Interview by Tony Stewart, NME, September 1971
UNEXPECTED, but marvellous – and Shirley Bassey puts down her latest recording success, 'For All We Know' down to a change of style, which she ...
John Denver: Rocky Mountain High
Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, October 1972
THERE HE IS on the screen of your color TV: blond, bespectacled, and peach-faced – the sight of him makes you want to adjust the ...
Liberace: Magic Moments In Showbiz Schmaltzville
Report by Nick Kent, NME, November 1972
Mean teen NICK KENT (along with Abe and Ruby from Wisconsin and Tom and Ethel from Phoenix) meets LIBERACE ...
Blue Mink: Out of Preaching Bag
Profile and Interview by Keith Altham, NME, January 1973
UNTIL THE advent of Blue Mink and hits like the current 'Stay With Me' and 'Melting Pot' — which established them a couple of years ...
Olivia Newton John: Nights in White Satin
Interview by Ray Fox-Cumming, Disc and Music Echo, February 1973
SOME INTERVIEWEES need only to be given their head with a single question before sounding off about their whole life history and psyche, while the ...
Neil Diamond: Hot August Night (MCA)
Review by Gene Sculatti, Creem, March 1973
YEAH, IT IS pretty dismal. Yeah, there's a dearth of R&R and a wealth of vacuous pap for the most part. Yep, old ND has ...
Profile and Interview by John Tobler, ZigZag, April 1973
How Neil Sedaka Added An Extra Chin And Sang His Own Songs Again ...
Review by Loraine Alterman, New York Times, August 1973
Harry? He's Lost in the Woodwinds ...
Interview by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages Audio, 1974
Interviewed by Kini Kedigh and Tom Graves just as he's starting to hit big, Manilow talks about his background in music, backing Bette Midler at the Continental Baths, and gives his opinions on just about everything under the sun.
File format: mp3; file size: 45.1mb, interview length: 49' 16" sound quality: *
Frank Sinatra: Palladium, London
Live Review by Philip Norman, Sunday Times, 1974
THE EMERGENCE of Frank Sinatra from retirement has become as regular a ceremony as when Lloyd George or Churchill used to be wheeled out on ...
Carpenters, The: The Carpenters
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, NME, February 1974
PEOPLE ARE always saying that the real modern age miracle is how you can fly London to Furt-frank and stand a penny on a table, ...
Carpenters, The: The Carpenters: Up From Downey
Profile and Interview by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, July 1974
KAREN CARPENTER, the solo singing half of a brother and sister musical duo that has sold over 25 million records world-wide, has classic "good looks" ...
Neil Diamond: Gold Diamond Vol. 2
Review by Chris Salewicz, NME, September 1974
ALTHOUGH IT'LL never get to the situation where the ramifications of his use of Room 109 are being discussed, the time is probably just about ...
Review by Max Bell, NME, May 1975
THE GRAPEVINE WHISPERS Billy Joel is going to be a superstar. ...
Leo Sayer: Leo Raises His Glasses
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, May 1975
LITTLE Leo Sayer leaned across and asked with his usual charm and courtesy: "Have you got any matches?" A surprising request from a non-smoker, but ...
Cher, Tammy Wynette: Cher: Stars/Cher's Greatest Hits; Tammy Wynette: The Best Of Tammy Wynette
Review by Mick Farren, NME, June 1975
IN MANY WAYS Cher and Tammy Wynette make up the two facets of the Cosmopolitan philosophy, that candy coated version of feminism that seems to ...
Manhattan Transfer, Paul Anka: Paul Anka: Feelings/Manhattan Transfer: Manhattan Transfer
Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, September 1975
FIRST OF ALL there was that punky Canadian kid with the big voice and the tremor that even got to me ("Put your head on ...
Leo Sayer: Winter Gardens, Bournemouth
Live Review by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, October 1975
LEO SAYER IS in danger of losing fans if he persists in forcing his personality on audiences, as he did when his British tour opened ...
Elton John: Rock Of The Westies
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, October 1975
FACT: ELTON JOHN is one of the nicest people ever to touch ground while walking. ...
Frank Sinatra: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, NME, November 1975
ENFORCED AUDIENCE IDENTIFICATION – that's what this "black tie" demand on the ticket is. Imagine reading "gauche gaucho" on Roxy tickets or "sequined jockstrap" on ...
James Last: Last of the MORicans
Report and Interview by Tony Stewart, NME, February 1976
Forget that Kaspar Hauser. JAMES LAST – or "Hansi" if you prefer – is the real Enigma of modern Germany. TONY STEWART investigates. ...
Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, March 1976
WITH THE SUNSHINE on his shoulders and the mountain water in his veins, John Denver is an enigma surrounded by moonbeams, a v friendly postman ...
John Denver: What's The Poor Guy Ever Done?
Comment by Mick Houghton, Sounds, April 1976
IT SEEMS as if you can't be complimentary about John Denver without adding some kickback remark to cover yourself. Take Grace Slick's reported comment a ...
John Denver: Palladium, London
Live Review by Chris Salewicz, NME, April 1976
WILL JOHN SWOOP down to the stage on the back of a pantomime Golden Eagle? Will his teeth be clean in time for the new ...
5th Dimension, The: The 5th Dimension: The Times They Are A Changin'
Profile and Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, June 1976
ALMOST SINCE their inception a decade ago, The Fifth Dimension have become almost a musical institution. Not necessarily one to everyone's taste because for the ...
Demis Roussos: Onassis Of Rock
Interview by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, June 1976
TWENTY miles east of the Arc de Triomphe, across the Seine as it meanders north, and a fast drive through grimy Paris suburbs, there looms ...
Starland Vocal Band: Starry-eyed
Profile and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, July 1976
NEW YORK: As each summer rolls by it brings with it an easily identifiable summer hit which is almost always a catchy vocal treatment of ...
Cliff Richard: Cliff Brings Good News To Belfast
Report and Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, October 1976
CLIFF RICHARD wasn't smuggled into Belfast on Saturday night in the back of a furniture van. Nor was his appearance marred by a background of ...
Review by Cliff White, NME, December 1976
ALTHOUGH A lot of recorded music is impersonal (not necessarily a bad thing, it's quite possible to enjoy a record for its own sake without ...
Chris De Burgh: At The End Of A Perfect Day
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, September 1977
YOU'D EXPECT sensitive singer-songwriters to be well-served by the quiet decorum of the studio where every nuance can be polished to perfection. But it doesn't ...
Harry Chapin: Dance Band On The Titanic
Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, October 1977
I REALLY can't make my mind up about this guy Harry Chapin. One one level he is totally crass and on another he is totally ...
Leo Sayer: The Palladium, London
Live Review by Tony Stewart, NME, October 1977
THE VERY idea of Leo Sayer trotting about the hallowed stage of the Palladium is enough to have him executed by any gang of rock ...
Kevin Coyne: Beautiful Extremes 1974-1977
Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, February 1978
KEVIN COYNE is, make no mistake, a major artist. His 'product' might not 'ship' a million 'units' but in every other way he's the superior ...
Live Review by Danny Baker, NME, October 1978
A NIGHT distinguished for me by the worst support set I've ever heard and the most tuchus-licking tolerant audience ever assembled in one Vaudeville room. ...
Neil Diamond: September Morn (CBS)
Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, February 1980
THAT SLIGHT tremor in his voice tells you that Neil Diamond is emotional and vulnerable. Those bass notes tell you he's manly and he can ...
Connie Francis: All-American Girl
Profile by Martin Hawkins, History of Rock, The, September 1982
LISTENING TODAY to many of the records Connie Francis made for MGM in the late Fifties and early Sixties it is difficult to see their ...
Review by Leyla Sanai, NME, September 1983
OK, FORGET the drip through the roof. Forget the mortgage and the DHSS snoop halfway through the letterbox. Imagine a night out on the town ...
Barry Manilow: Opium of the Missus
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Marxism Today, April 1984
IF BARRY Manilow’s career is on the wane, you’d never have guessed it from last summer’s grandiose Concert At Blenheim Palace, when 40,000-odd pilgrims, preponderantly ...
Johnny Mathis: Play Misty For Me
Live Review by Penny Reel, NME, October 1984
JOHNNY MATHIS stands still long enough to move PENNY REEL at the Hammersmith Odeon. ...
Live Review by Simon Witter, NME, November 1986
WHERE IS Tushmobile? On the basis of this show I'd guess it got lost somewhere in the mix. Lord knows I've waited to see ZZ ...
Retrospective by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, August 1989
BREAD VIRTUALLY invented soft rock in the early Seventies, and the group's biggest hits – 'Make It With You', 'If', 'Baby I'm-a Want You' and ...
Pet Shop Boys, Liza Minnelli: Liza Minnelli: Results (Epic)
Review by Terry Staunton, NME, October 1989
THE LAST time Ms Minnelli did anything of note was at the start of the decade. Her portrayal of shoplifting Linda, the object of Dudley ...
Tony Bennett: Hi-De-Hi-Me To The Moon: Tony Bennett At Butlins
Report by Michael Gray, Daily Telegraph, December 1990
IT WAS AN ADVERT in a tabloid that caught my eye. "Lose Your Heart To Tony Bennett... Butlin's Super Weekend Break." Mesmerised, I read on: ...
Profile and Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Goldmine, February 1991
LET'S PLAY the numbers game. According to Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1986, Pat Boone is the fifth highest-ranking artist in the history of the ...
Tom Jones: Who The Hell Does Tom Jones Think He Is?
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, March 1991
THE BIG-BONED "boyo" stands in the centre of the room engaged in an elaborate mime: he crouches as he runs his clenched fists down along ...
Frank Sinatra/Don Rickles: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Live Review by Richard Gehr, Spin, January 1994
"HE TOUCHES his dick more than Robin Williams does," mocked my wife as a tuxedoed Don Rickles lumbered around the square, center-court stage like a ...
Tony Bennett: Take the L Train
Interview by Chris Bourke, Listener (New Zealand), April 1995
AUCKLAND HAD TWO music legends in town over Easter Weekend. While the Rolling Stones dazzled the Western Springs ampitheatre with millions of dollars of high ...
Burt Bacharach: Bacharach to the Future
Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, October 1995
As grey-haired, 67-year-old composers go, Burt Bacharach is pretty f***ing cool. Paul Lester interviews the melodic inspiration behind Oasis, Stereolab and Pulp. ...
Bobby Darin: Beyond the Sea...Beyond the Music
Retrospective by Steve Roeser, Goldmine, October 1995
HE WAS born a year after Elvis, and died four years before Presley breathed his last. ...
Carpenters, The: Interview with Richard Carpenter
Interview by Chris Ingham, MOJO, April 1996
For the grisly details of pill addiction, anorexia nervosa and blue velvet jackets, try Ray Coleman's book. Today, Richard Carpenter talks to Chris Ingham about ...
Sagittarius, The Millennium: Sagittarius: Present Tense; The Millennium: Begin
Review by Max Bell, Uncut, March 1998
TO GET THE full scope of these groundbreaking recordings, released within weeks of each other in the summer of '68, it's vital to know that ...
Obituary by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998
IN A SENSE, Frank Sinatra represented a lie. Much as beneath Bing Crosby's ambling, indolent persona lay a pointedly less easy-going character, Sinatra was actually ...
Report and Interview by David Sinclair, Q, December 1998
Yes, maam! Safety-conscious Celine Dion is the vowel-wobbling queen of candyfloss pop, and for 30 months she's sold one album every 1.2 seconds. David Sinclair ...
Beth Nielsen Chapman: The Lightness of Being Beth Nielsen Chapman
Interview by Debbie Kruger, Performing Songwriter, September 1999
WHAT STRIKES YOU first about Beth Nielsen Chapman, and then again repeatedly on further meetings, is her lightness. She is a woman who has been ...
5th Dimension, The, Jimmy Webb: Up Up and Away Jimmy Webb and The 5th Dimension
Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, September 1999
ONE OF the most respected songwriters of the modern era, Jimmy Webb was just 18 years old when he struck up a friendship with Marc ...
Jimmy Webb: Pizza on the Park, London ***
Live Review by Keith Cameron, Guardian, The, October 1999
WHEN THE Boo Radleys wrote a song called 'Jimmy Webb is God' they presumably weren't gripped by a vision of the Lord playing a gig ...
Carpenters, The: Karen Carpenter
Retrospective by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, August 2000
KAREN CARPENTER possesses such iconic value now — feminist totem, camp death-cult, Prozac Nation suffragette — it is increasingly difficult to assess her unique musical ...
Robbie Williams: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, Observer, The, October 2001
WHAT A SWELL party it was. Not being an opera fan, I don't often see 3,500 people in black tie and evening gowns. It's a ...
Pat Boone: Should Pat Boone be Inducted Into the R'n'R Hall of Fame?
Comment by Gary Pig Gold, Cosmik Debris (cosmik.com), April 2002
SEEMS A simple, even innocent enough little inquiry, doesn't it? But I swear, seldom in all my quarter-century-plus of Piggery has one topic – one ...
Pat Boone: My Breakfast with Boone
Memoir by Gary Pig Gold, Cosmik Debris (cosmik.com), June 2002
AS BIZARRE as even I still consider this lil' factoid to be, Yours Truly honestly did spend the majority of the Reagan administration touring Canada's ...
Essay by Gary Pig Gold, Cosmik Debris (cosmik.com), November 2002
[What follows is the concluding portion of our Pat Boone trifecta, part one being the infamous RnR Hall Of Fame Poll, which somehow led straight ...
MOR's Adventures in the Lands of Pop and Rock
Overview by Gene Sculatti, Scram, 2005
STAN CORNYN'S liner notes to Buddy's in a Brand New Bag, middle-of-the-road singer Buddy Greco's 1967 LP, tell it all: "Now the hip Mr. Greco ...
Retrospective by Kieron Tyler, MOJO, March 2005
FROM '50S TEEN idol to '60s folk singer, Bobby Darin never stopped packing a handful of startling singing careers into 15 short, debauched years. Not ...
5th Dimension, The: The 5th Dimension: Up, Up and Away/Magic Garden
Sleevenotes by Gene Sculatti, Collector's Choice Records, 2006
IT'S NO SECRET that time has a way of erasing details and leaving our memories with only the broadest contours of our shared experience. Most ...
Herb Alpert: Legends Of Songwriting: Herb Alpert...
Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, July 2007
...plus an interview with Dolores Erickson, the lady beneath the Whipped Cream ...
Tom Jones, Glen Campbell, Tony Christie: Crooners: The Second Coming
Overview by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, October 2008
Inspired by Johnny Cash with his ring of fire, a slew of ageing crooners are pursuing their desires ...
Tony Bennett: Palladium, London *****
Live Review by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, October 2011
THIS IS HOW to do it. At 85, Tony Bennett scampers on to the Palladium stage in a perfectly pressed suit, a folded red hankie ...
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