Adam Sweeting
List of articles in the library by artist
Ryan Adams: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, January 2002
I SAW rock'n'roll's future and its name is… all right, calm down everybody. ...
A Flock of Seagulls: A Flock Of Seagulls: Beaks On Broadway
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, June 1982
"AND THAT was a Flock with 'Space Age Love Song' here on K-ROQ Los Angeles. For those of you who don't know yet, that's A ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, April 1982
DESIGNED BY computer, hand-built by robots...Completely calculated, thoroughly contemptible, Asia is very bit as hollow, shallow and nasty as anyone had a right to expect. ...
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, March 1985
IF IT'S TUESDAY, this must be Paris. How about Europe so far, girls? ...
Bay City Rollers, The: Tam Paton
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, April 2009
Bay City Rollers manager who was mired in scandal ...
George Benson: "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, February 1987
KEN FRITZ, the slim, obsessively neat half of George Benson's management team Fritz & Turner, was worried that he may have caught a chill while ...
Book Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, September 2002
MOST ROCK stars realise they need to plug the new album and stir up column inches when concert tickets go on sale, but eventually it ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, October 1989
THE WOMAN pouring tea in a hotel near EMI records has a wide, warm smile and speaks with such endearing openness that you wonder if ...
Kate Bush: Return of the Recluse
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Independent on Sunday, October 2005
PLENTY HAS HAPPENED in the twelve years since Kate Bush last released an album. Tory sleaze has morphed into New Labour; mobile phones and iPods ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, June 1982
"THERE'S 70 million people on earth." "Where are they hiding?" ...
Retrospective by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, July 2001
GENE CLARK'S NO OTHER IS ONE OF THE GREAT LOST ALBUMS. ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How's Your Fathers (Imp)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 1980
COSTELLO BUFFS will undoubtedly be familiar with this generously-stuffed collection of His Master's Voices from its previous existence on cassette. On the other hand, they ...
Elvis Costello And The Attractions: Punch The Clock (F Beat)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, September 1983
PHEW, for a moment there I thought the penny wasn't going to drop in time. Luckily, after a further batch of circumnavigations of the turntable, ...
Elvis Costello: A Dream Comes True
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Gramophone, January 2004
A ballet from pop legend Elvis Costello based on Shakespeare? How did the musical changeling meet the challenge, asks Adam Sweeting ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, February 2009
Co-founder of the Cramps, exponents of trash culture and 'psychobilly' music ...
Crosby Stills Nash and Young: Crosby Stills Nash & Young: "Deja Vu Again"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, October 1999
THERE'S NO MISTAKING the portly middle-aged man with the walrus moustache beached on a sofa at the Dorchester hotel, plucking the chords of Neil Young's ...
Cure, The: The Cure - Curiouser and Curiouser
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Spin, July 1987
IT WAS THE very last edition of The Tube, the most interesting pop show on British TV. After five eventful years, the program had ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, April 1984
Suddenly, yesterday's men Dead Or Alive are pop Stars. Here, flamboyant PETE BURNS tells Adam Sweeting about fame and dressing up. ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, June 2008
American pioneer of rock'n'roll who influenced the Beatles and the Rolling Stones ...
Thomas Dolby: The Flat Earth (Parlophone)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, February 1984
ANYBODY WHO'D put Magnus Pyke in one of their videos has to be a gimmick merchant, right? Though Thomas Dolby scored a hit in all ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, March 1984
Adam Sweeting gets all smoochy with Eighties Renaissance Man THOMAS DOLBY. ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, February 1987
MADNESS ALWAYS called him Uncle Ian, and there's still that avuncular earthiness about Ian Dury. "They always say, we are entertainers," he notes, "and I'll ...
Retrospective by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, April 2002
HOW STEVE EARLE'S GUITAR TOWN BROUGHT A NEW ATTITUDE TO NASHVILLE. ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, August 2001
MAC LADS' four-CD retrospective ...
Eurythmics: Be Yourself Tonight (RCA)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, May 1985
AMONG their assimilations, borrowings and treatments, Eurythmics remain outsiders. "I'm a looker, a viewer of things," said Annie Lennox. Their Sweet Dreams album nailed the ...
Eurythmics: The Ministry Of Truth
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, May 1985
AMONG THE CRASH of crockery and the hubbub of tea-slurping customers, Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox sit unobtrusively at a table in the Waldorf Hotel. ...
Eurythmics, Dave Stewart: The Man Most Likely To: Dave Stewart
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, February 1987
THE MATCHING PAIR of black and white Mercedes limousines nose, cautiously down the narrow street, unearthly craft looking for a landing space in the Milan ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, July 1982
UNDER THE nuclear shadow, something stirs. Looking west, it decides to reject the old men's fear and guilt. If the sands of time are turning ...
Rory Gallagher: Gallagher: The Rory Details
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Beat Instrumental, March 1979
I LOST COUNT of the number of times men in check shirts spilt beer down me. Elderly blues and rock and roll music thundered over ...
Gang of Four: Songs Of The Free (EMI)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, May 1982
AND SO the most highly-evolved piss artists in "rock" came to release their third LP. ...
Macy Gray: Shepherds Bush Empire, London ***
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, May 2003
HER RECORD COMPANY had spent the day warning everybody that she would be on stage at 9pm, not 9.15pm as advertised, but in the end ...
Jason & the Scorchers: Jason and the Scorchers: Fervor
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, July 1984
WITH MUCH contemporary sound becoming more than a tad anaemic (they know who they are), we must turn our eyes to the West for a ...
Jesus & Mary Chain, The: The Jesus & Mary Chain: Ah, Showbusiness...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, October 1987
...the roar of the crowd, the smell of the greasepaint, the reverberating thud of boot through amplifer. Live sets lasting nine whole minutes. A riot ...
Norah Jones at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, October 2002
At 23, Norah Jones is both old beyond her years and curiously insecure in front of an audience, even such a plainly partisan one as ...
Joni Mitchell: Joni Rides Home
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Vox, April 1991
JONI MITCHELL MAY HAVE CUT HER MUSICAL TEETH DURING THE ERA OF LOVE AND PEACE BUT SHE TAKES NONE TOO KINDLY TO COMPARISONS WITH TODAY'S ...
B.B. King: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, April 1980
A SLY old dog who knows all the tricks, B. B. King is capable of making you realise that the blues is rather more than ...
Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways
Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, November 2004
THIS IS KRAUSS'S first studio album for three years, though in the meantime she's delivered a bestselling live album, won three Grammy awards, and made ...
Arthur Lee, Love: Arthur Lee 1945-2006
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, August 2006
Flower-power myth maker who captured the dark side of the summer of love ...
Annie Lennox: The Right Stuff: Annie Lennox on Singers
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, February 1987
I NEVER HAD enough money to have a record player, so I never got into the habit ol buying records, and so my only real ...
Little Feat: Snakes On Everything
Retrospective by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, December 2001
FOR A FEW moments, it sounded just like old times. Little Feat were rolling unhurriedly through 'Day Or Night', embellishing it with their traditional lopsided ...
Manassas: The Feast Of Stephen
Retrospective by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, February 2002
ADAM SWEETING ON MANASSAS, STEPHEN STILLS' GROUNDBREAKING 1972 MIX OF COUNTRY AND ROCK ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, February 2008
Rock drummer who graced the stage with Hendrix in his heyday ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, July 1982
THE AIRPORT at Minneapolis is surprisingly big, considering the town itself is hidden away up towards Canada in the big blank heart of the mid-West. ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, July 2010
Prolific Jamaican musician who was a pioneer of dancehall reggae ...
Review and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, January 1986
THEY'VE ALL all been coming out of the woodwork this past year, the artists who'd never deign to speak to anyone - ole Neil, Dylan ...
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, April 1982
THERE'S SOMETHING invisible about the Mothmen. Oh yes, they've included a picture of themselves here and their names are all written down for inspection...but the ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Trouser Press, May 1981
"NOISE IS a big part of Motorhead mania" says the stark black lettering inside one of the band's tour brochures. Immediately below it is a ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, January 1986
With last year's album Low-life, NEW ORDER finally laid the ghost of Joy Division and emerged as one of this nation's saving graces with a ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, December 1986
THESE ARE MY favourite 10, and not in any particular order. For instance, I do think Billie Holiday was better than Peter Cox, the singer ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 1981
IT'S AN IRONIC twist of fate that Pere Ubu's latest visit to the UK should be prefaced by Rough Trade's reissue of the band's debut ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty
Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, June 1981
BENMONT TENCH remembers the day well. "It was April Fool's Day 1974 when we drove to LA" he recalls. At the time, keyboardsman Tench, guitarist ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, September 2008
Keyboard player and founder member of Pink Floyd ...
Redskins, The: The Redskins: Keeping On And On
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, February 1984
Adam Sweeting weathers a storm of political invective from THE REDSKINS ...
Keith Richards, Rolling Stones, The: Keith Richards
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, December 2002
ON DECEMBER 18 next year, he'll celebrate, simultaneously, his 60th birthday and 20 years of marriage to Patti Hansen. He's a father of four, and ...
Lionel Richie: Dancing On the Ceiling
Review by Adam Sweeting, Q, October 1986
IT IS SAID THAT Lionel Richie's previous solo album, Can't Slow Down, sold an unthinkable 15 million copies, the kind of statistic that can cause ...
Pete Shelley, Howard Devoto: Shelley-Devoto: The Odd Couple
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, April 2002
YOU HAVE BEEN parachuted into the middle of 1976. Text messaging, Hear'Say and Osama Bin Laden belong to an unknowable future, but The Sex Pistols ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Q, August 1987
HE HAS HEARD the big music, and he'll never be the same. "At the end of the day we are a hell of a noise," ...
Sonic Youth: Here Come The Noise Terrorists: Sonic Youth
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, July 1992
THUNDEROUS mantra-grooves and jagged fanfares of atonal brass boom across the parched grass of New York's Central Park, though it could equally well be Monterey ...
Spear Of Destiny: Spear of Destiny: Spear & Loathing
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, January 1984
SPEAR OF DESTINY'S KIRK BRANDON bares his soul to Adam Sweeting ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, September 2002
IF ALL YOU'VE ever seen of New Jersey is Newark airport or the bits they show you in the opening sequence of The Sopranos, you ...
Bruce Springsteen: Talking To The Boss
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Vox, September 1992
FOLKLORE TELLS us there was a time, about 25 years ago, when meeting the stars was a simple matter. You just had to hang out ...
Squeeze: Sweets From A Stranger (A&M)
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, May 1982
CELEBRATED FOR their willingness to look the slings and arrows straight in the eye, Squeeze return with more observations and scars from the battle zone. ...
Style Council, The, Wham!: Wham! Style Council: Miners' Benefit, Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, September 1984
Pit-Head Ballet ...
Chip Taylor: Lock 17, London ****
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, July 2005
EVEN BEFORE he met Carrie Rodriguez, Chip Taylor's life had the authentic ring of fiction about it. ...
Television: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, June 2002
IT WAS SOMETHING of a coup to recruit Television for David Bowie's Meltdown festival. The glacial new-wavers made rock history with their 1977 debut album, ...
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty: Petty Larceny
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Vox, September 1991
HEIR TO DYLAN OR BEL AIR AIRHEAD? SOMETIME WILBURY TOM PETTY IS 40 WITH KIDS, AND EVEN THOUGH HIS NEW ALBUM WITH THE HEARTBREAKERS IS ...
U2: At The Homecoming: U2’s Unforgettable Fire
Review by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 1985
THIS HAS BEEN a long time coming, and there have been signs of strain. War, U2's last album of new material, was released more than ...
Townes Van Zandt: Keeping Quiet For The Sake Of A Song: Townes Van Zandt 1944-1997
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, January 1997
OTHER MUSICIANS revered Texan song writer Townes Van Zandt who has died of a heart attack aged 52, but he made real efforts, helped by ...
Tom Waits: A Mellower Prince Of Melancholy
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, September 1992
HE MIGHT STILL dress as though he staggers around sniffing under dustbin lids, but now the self styled Oddball Kid refuses to play his old ...
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, August 2004
"WE LOVE PLAYING HERE," Gillian Welch told us more than once, and since she and her musical soulmate David Rawlings were on for more than ...
XTC: A Coat Of Many Cupboards (Virgin) ****
Review by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, April 2002
FOUR-CD box set offers alternative history of quintessentially English pop group. ...
Neil Young: "Will I be deported?"
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, May 2003
IT IS DIFFICULT to find supportive things to say about George Bush unless your construction company is rebuilding Iraq, but it would be a droll ...
Neil Young: Legend Of A Loner (part 1)
Interview by Adam Sweeting, NME, September 1985
NEIL YOUNG is one of rock's most enduring heroes. From Buffalo Springfield to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to his own brilliant, if erratic, solo ...
Neil Young: Legend Of A Loner (part 2)
Interview by Adam Sweeting, NME, September 1985
He's back! In part two of Adam Sweeting's definitive epic, NEIL YOUNG explains the gentle art of growing old gracefully. ...
Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, September 1985
The old Crosby, Stills and Nash hippie has taken on a new redneck colouration with firm roots in country music. Adam Sweeting looks back from ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, February 2003
BILLY CORGAN has been dreaming of Christina Aguilera, pop's best undressed woman. She was staying at the same London hotel as Corgan's new band, Zwan, ...
List of genre pieces
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Richard Williams, Guardian, The, December 2006
A mogul who nurtured the careers of stars such as Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield ...
Obituary by Adam Sweeting, Guardian, The, March 2009
Alan Wendell Livingston, businessman, born 15 October 1917; died 13 March 2009 ...
Report by Adam Sweeting, Q, October 1986
THE CONNAUGHT ROOMS in London, WC2, are used to Lord Mayors, masonic gatherings and businessmen full of brandy, but on a grey August Monday the ...
back to LIBRARY
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
download eBooks and audio interviews
RBP on Spotify: The Absolute Best o' Burt
RBP Album Club, June 13th: Miki Berenyi and Lucy O'Brien celebrate a Blondie classic
Essential Listening: Mick Gold meets Patti Smith in '76
Essential Reading: RBP's awesome Ozzy anthology
Essential Reading: Nina Antonia introduces her new poetry collection
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut