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Bob Woffinden

Bob Woffinden
Bob Woffinden wrote for the NME and was associate editor during the 1970s. From the 1980s onwards, he specialised in investigating miscarriages of justice. Woffinden also had several book titles to his name, including New Musical Express Book of Rock 2, Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock and Miscarriages of Justice. He died in May 2018.

Duncan Campbell's Guardian obituary

83 articles

List of articles in the library

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Dobie Gray: Drift Away

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, September 1973

I COULDN'T find the name 'Dobie Gray' in any of the rock encyclopaedias. Presumably after 'The In Crowd' he became one of those half-forgotten names ...

ZZ Top: Tres Hombres (London, Import)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 September 1973

THERE'S A huge spread of all-American grub dominating the sleeve of this album. ZZ Top are a three-piece Southern fried chicken band from Texas, and ...

Diana Ross: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973

ANYONE WHO doubts that Diana Ross is a star in the old-fashioned sense of the word should have been at the Albert Hall last Tuesday. ...

Judy Collins: In Through The Other Door

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 September 1973

TRANSATLANTIC phone calls can be a precarious undertaking at the best of times. But on this grey Wednesday afternoon, as successive international operators tried vainly ...

Fairport Convention: Nine (Island)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

I'VE BEEN trying for some time not to like a Fairport Convention album. After the endless catalogue of disaster and misfortune, it seemed vaguely unnatural ...

Don McLean: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973

AFTER RECEIVING one of the warmest receptions that it's possible for a sepulchral Albert Hall audience to give there can be no doubt about either ...

Judy Collins: Easy Times Come Hard

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 October 1973

JUDY COLLINS TALKS TO BOB WOFFINDEN ON MUSIC, FILMS, PEACE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF FURTHER POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT ...

Don McLean: Playin' Favourites

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 October 1973

AN ALBUM of other people's songs from someone who's written a few celebrated ones of his own? Yes, this is Don McLean laying bare his ...

Don McLean: One Of Mammy's Boys

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 November 1973

DON McLEAN on the traumas of 'instant' success and the virtues of Al Jolson's act...not to mention, of course the incredible Perry Como and Bing ...

The Band: Moondog Matinee

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974

WHATEVER REASON you might tender to explain the artistic atrophy that has overtaken Dylan, it's beginning to seem as though his old cronies, The Band, ...

Bonnie Raitt: Takin' My Time

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974

THE COVER of this album has real style. Bonnie Raitt is photographed in one of those cavernous early-twentieth century railway stations, slumped in a large ...

Gladys Knight: Imagination

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 2 February 1974

COME TO THINK about it, I always did rate Gladys Knight very highly. ‘Take Me In Your Arms and Love Me’ especially was one of ...

Al Green: Call Me 
(London), Livin' For
You (London)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974

THESE TWO ALBUMS have been released here in the last three months, in uncomfortably close succession, mainly because Decca procrastinated over issuing Call Me by which time Livin' ...

Van Morrison: ...It's Too Late To Stop Now... (Warner and his wonderful Brothers)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 March 1974

Hey, the caravan is on its way... ...

Gladys Knight: Anthology

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 March 1974

Seven years in the shadow of Diana Ross ...

Richard Thompson, Richard and Linda Thompson: Richard and Linda Thompson: Life without Fairport

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 June 1974

RICHARD THOMPSON wrote 'Meet On The Ledge', in case you'd forgotten. On that basis alone the man would be due a certain portion of immortality. ...

Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight: Gladys Knight: Claudine (Original Soundtrack)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 22 June 1974

IT MUST have seemed a good idea. Amalgamating the talents of Buddah stablemates Gladys Knight and Curtis Mayfield for the sound-track of Claudine. ...

Boz Scaggs: Slow Dancer

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 29 June 1974

WHY DO people make albums? There are probably three reasons: ...

Jimmy Buffett: Living And Dying In 3/4 Time

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974

JIMMY BUFFETT will never be a rock'n'roll star. ...

Jimmy Cliff: Skanking In Exile

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974

I'VE BEEN living in Stoke Newington for about six months. The area's one of the most cosmopolitan in North-East London, with an immigrant population that ...

John Mayall: Empty Rooms/The Turning Point

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974

WHAT WE HAVE here is a shrewd exercise in marketing. Two deleted albums reissued as one double package for the apparently reasonable price of £2.99. ...

Lorraine Ellison: Lorraine Ellison

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 September 1974

THE STORY so far: in 1966 Lorraine Ellison made one vast contribution to popular mythology with 'Stay With Me, Baby', unquestionably a classic (maybe this ...

Carole King, Leonard Cohen: Leonard Cohen: New Skin For The Old Ceremony; Carole King: Wrap Around Joy

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974

THE LATEST saga in the Great American Singer/Songwriter Conspiracy, Jewish Division, in which Cohen and King are chief protagonists. ...

Fairport Convention: A Society For The Preservation Of Fairport Convention Will No Longer Be Necessary

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 September 1974

Sickness and diseases may bring you down, and FAIRPORT CONVENTION have had more than their share, but they always come back for more. BOB WOFFINDEN ...

Kiki Dee: The Life Story Of A Hot Girl

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974

I'LL SHOOT you a few names. Dusty Springfield – okay on that one? Susan Maughan – yeah? Then how about The Caravelles? Louise Cordet? Ethna ...

Steeleye Span: Hark The Village Wait

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 5 October 1974

IN THE BEGINNING there was Ashley Hutchings, he of steadfast purpose, leaving Fairport to form a group dedicated to the preservation of English folk-song in ...

Johnny Bristol: Hang On In There, Baby

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 12 October 1974

HEY, THIS cat's a whole lot better than Barry White. ...

Curtis Mayfield: Sweet Exorcist (Buddah); Move On Up — The Best Of Curtis Mayfield (Buddah)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 19 October 1974

IF CURTIS Mayfield had started out with the intention of riding squarely astride every bandwagon that was rolling he couldn't have done better than 'Sweet ...

Maria Muldaur: Waitress In A Donut Shop

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 16 November 1974

MARIA MULDAUR'S got class – no argument about it. It may have been a long, hard climb, but she is now receiving the attention she ...

Al Green: Explores Your Mind

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974

CAN AL GREEN recover his credibility and save the world after all?, is the theme of today's programme. ...

Ringo Starr: Goodnight Vienna

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974

ONE GOOD album deserves another, they say — but that's as maybe. What we have here is John Lennon's maxim of "never change a winning ...

Steeleye Span: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 December 1974

IT WAS not one of Steeleye's better gigs – perhaps the Rainbow doesn't suit them. ...

Don McLean: Homeless Brother

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 December 1974

UNEASY PREAMBLE: I don't really know what to make of this album. Bits of it seem to me very good, other bits leave me unconvinced, ...

George Harrison: Dark Horse

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 21 December 1974

THERE'S NOTHING more disappointing than finding one's teenage heroes crumbling ineluctably into middle-aged mediocrity. Hari Georgeson (as he often refers to himself) is on a ...

Alan Stivell, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span: Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Alan Stivell: The New Face Of Ethnic Music

Overview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 December 1974

Are Steeleye Span last year's thing? Is Alan Stivell just a Celtic showman? And where is Richard Thompson now that Bob Woffinden needs him most ...

Scafell Pike: Lord's Rake

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 January 1975

SCAFELL PIKE ARE a four-piece, three guitars and piano, who confine themselves to British traditional song and seem to specialise in sea shanties. Given that, ...

Kiki Dee: I've Got Music in Me

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 11 January 1975

THIS ALBUM RIDES out with a crescendo of powerful, robust rock, as the band and Kiki pull out all the stops. The song in question, ...

Steeleye Span: Commoner's Crown

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 1 February 1975

STEELEYE SPAN ALWAYS deliver on time. Commoner's Crown is the fourth offering from the Mk. III line-up in a little over three years, and they've ...

Claire Hamill: Stage Door Johnnies (Anchor)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 1 March 1975

CLAIRE HAMILL'S AGED 24 if you take notice of the inaccurate bumf from Anchor Records, but considerably younger than that – about 20 – if ...

Chuck Berry: Chuck Has Been Leaving The Stage For 20 Years

Report by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975

They weren't complaining – they were awestruck ...

Kiki Dee at Drury Lane

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975

THIS WAS THE one that mattered for the Kiki Dee Band, and they made sure it counted. ...

Richard and Linda Thompson: Do You Wanna Be A Star?

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 8 March 1975

IT WAS ONE of those large Edwardian houses in London's Hampstead, just off the main road. Like most of the others, it had been converted ...

Ringo Starr: Everyone One Of Us Has All We Need…

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975

SOMETIMES your friendly neighbourhood interviewer is allowed to conduct his interview in a small room with only the interviewee and a tape, recorder for company. ...

Anne Murray: Victoria Palace, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975

THE DIFFICULTY OF categorising Anne Murray as a singer – is she pop, country, soul or strictly MOR? – was probably the main reason for ...

Judy Collins - Judith

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 April 1975

JUDY COLLINS HAS recently completed a movie about a female symphony conductor. ...

Emmylou Harris: Pieces of the Sky

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975

THIS IS AN album that has been quite eagerly anticipated, mainly because of the reputation Emmylou Harris built for herself with her participation as co-vocalist ...

Steeleye Span at Hammersmith Odeon

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 May 1975

THIS WAS STEELEYE'S loudest gig, a fact which may or may not indicate the shape of things to come. ...

Don McLean at The Albert Hall

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975

WHY SHOULD DON McLean have chosen to open his Albert Hall-concert – and with it his first British tour for eighteen months – with his ...

Billy Swan, Eddy Mitchell, The Jordanaires: Eddy Mitchell/Billy Swan/The Jordanaires: Olympia, Paris

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 June 1975

Vegas on 8 cheeseburgers a day...or a bitch-in with Nashville's men of steel in Gay Paree. Which would you prefer? ...

Gay and Terry Woods: Backwoods

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975

AFTER BEING INITIATORS in the early development of English folk/rock – a period which culminated in their helping to form the Steeleye Span's first cup-winning ...

Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 28 June 1975

THIS ALBUM REPRESENTS Joan Baez's volte-face; after the years of diatribe and tireless dissemination of political views by every available channel, her records included, she's ...

Stevie Wonder - Blind, Gifted and Loaded

Report by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 23 August 1975

THERE HAS BEEN an official silence about Stevie Wonder's plans since he publicly announced in March last year that he was to retire in 1976 ...

Paul Simon: Still Crazy After All These Years

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975

INSTANT OPINION: BLOOD On The Tracks apart, Still Crazy is the best album you're likely to hear all year. ...

Steeleye Span: All Around My Hat (Chrysalis)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975

Now Steeleye got a brand new bag ...

Emmylou Harris: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975

THE OTHER ROLLING thunder revue stole into town last week. ...

Paul Simon: Palladium, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975

LAST TIME PAUL Simon toured in Summer '73, he used a South American group, Urubamba, and an American gospel quartet, the Jessy Dixon Singers (Jessy ...

Steeleye Span: Making Sense Of Original Sin...

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 December 1975

IN BRITAIN we voted to stay in. In Eire and Denmark they voted to go in. In Norway the public answered the call to European ...

Meet The Hit Makers Of '75

Overview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 December 1975

We kid you not.What else happened?Remarkably little actually. ...

Ringo Starr: Blast From Your Past

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 3 January 1976

THE REASONS WHY Ringo has chosen this moment to release a Greatest Hits album are perhaps two-fold: ...

Cat Stevens: A Cat Stevens Spiritual Tours Vacation

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 10 January 1976

RONALD BIGGS, the last of the Great Train Robbers still not in captivity, was finally run to ground by the Daily Express in a Rio ...

Bobby Bare: Hard Time Hungrys

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976

In which BOBBY BARE, country singer of the '60's re-emerges with a bunch of Shel Silverstein songs and a socialism as potent as Keir Hardie's; ...

Joan Baez: From Every Stage

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 7 February 1976

LAST AUTUMN, IN a move that marked a complete departure from previous practice, Joan Baez went out on the road in the States with a ...

Gladys Knight: The Best Of…, A Little Knight Music, Gladys Knight And The Pips

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976

DON'T BE MISLED – The Best Of... actually refers to the best of Gladys and the 'Pips' Buddah output, but such is the strength of ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Victoria Palace, London

Live Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976

And yet more folksiness as Kate & Anna McGarrigle BLITZ OVER LONDON ...

The Band: The Best Of The Band

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 September 1976

ANYTHING THAT allows The Band to maintain their self-imposed torpor should be actively discouraged, and it is with this sentiment in mind that I proposed ...

Marvin Gaye: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Cliff White, Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976

WELL, IT finally happened. After much speculation, confusion and gnashing of teeth, the rehirsuted one arrived in Britain for the first time in 12 years, ...

Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976

RUMOURS THAT the New Musical Express has deliberately pursued a course of hostility towards Stevie Wonder are, of course, utterly without foundation; but (even at ...

Ringo Starr: Rotogravure

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976

RY COODER isn't the only person using a Mariachi band at the moment. ...

Steeleye Span: The Universalisation Of Steeleye Span

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976

SALLY JEAN IS DARK, demure and very attractive. Though well-dressed, well-spoken and well-meaning, she is alas also well dull. For over two hours now she ...

Abba: Arrival

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976

How they made a billion while still in their twentiesWITH THE POP MUSIC OF TODAY ...

George Harrison: Thirty-three & 1/3

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

WHEN I tell you that the first line of the song with the most memorable hook on the album is. "I was so young when ...

Joan Baez: Gulf Winds

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

THESE ARE heady days for Joan Baez. ...

Ike & Tina Turner, Phil Spector: Ike and Tina Turner

Profile by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 December 1976

THAT THE Tina Turner-Phil Spector combination should have produced one isolated tour-de-force 45 was perhaps not surprising; after all, Tina more than anyone else was ...

The Jacksons: The Jacksons (Epic/Philadelphia International); Joyful Jukebox Music (Tamla Motown)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977

The red carpet, but no heat treatment ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Dancer With Bruised Knees (Warner Bros.)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 12 February 1977

THE DIFFICULTIES of following an album not simply outstanding but universally acclaimed as such are only too apparent. Even a demonstrably first-class work could not ...

The Band: Islands (Capitol)

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 March 1977

IT IS no accident that The Band have been the most bearded outfit in the rock business. They entered the public arena, when at all, ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Dancer With Bruises

Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977

THERE ARE three sisters altogether. Jane, the eldest, who sometimes plays organ on her sisters' records, lives a happily married life in California, and the ...

Frankie Miller: The Everything's-Coming-Up-Roses-For-Frankie Miller Headline

Report and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 16 July 1977

ONLY SOMEONE as talented as Frankie Miller could have afforded to be so profligate with his gifts. He's a survivor, sure, but it's been a ...

Karla Bonoff, Kate Bush: Kate Bush: The Kick Inside; Karla Bonoff: Karla Bonoff

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 25 February 1978

THOUGH ON the surface just another member of the incestuous West Coast singing/songwriting sisterhood, Karla Bonoff is different in one crucial respect — she isn't ...

The Beatles: The Beatles: The Authorised Biography, Hunter Davies

Book Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 15 July 1978

FIRST PUBLISHED in 1968, Hunter Davies' official biography of The Beatles had just been reissued, for the most part in its entire, original form. ...

The Charts and the 12-inch Limited Edition Single

Comment by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 26 August 1978

NME's LAST chart-hyping piece concluded with a statement to the effect that the twin threat of both exposure in the press and the greater number ...

Annie Nightingale Joins The Old Grey Whistle Test

Profile and Interview by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 30 September 1978

WHY THE BBC MAKES YOUNG WOMEN CARRY OUT THIS HIDEOUS ANCIENT RITUAL ...

Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones: Rolling Stones Dump On Rolling Stone

Report by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978

THE CHANGES which the imaginary magazine depicted in Between The Lines goes through — from radical underground to counter-culture to hip capitalist establishment — is ...

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