Ira Robbins
Ira Robbins was born in New York City in 1954. He first discovered rock music when his big sister made him listen to the Beatles on WABC-AM in early 1964. That summer, he was introduced to folk music at a lefty summer camp (where he was taught guitar by the music counselor, who was one of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s orphaned sons), and went on to develop an abiding enthusiasm for blues and bluegrass. Then he heard The Who Sell Out in early 1968.
Robbins’ first published piece of music criticism was a Doug Sahm record review in a paper called Good Times in 1972, for which he received the princely sum of two dollars. He then began writing album and concert reviews for Zoo World, followed later in the ‘70s by Circus, Crawdaddy, Gig, Creem and, later still, by Spin, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, Tower Pulse and numerous other periodicals.
While completing a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1974, he co-founded Trouser Press magazine and kept that going for a decade, drifting from a writing/editing role to a writing/publishing role, learning in the process that no skills necessary to criticism apply to running a business, other than resolute cynicism.
He was involved in the fledgling New York rock scene of the mid-‘70s, as a fan, supporter and incidental participant and is exceedingly proud of being cited in a Pete Frame family tree thanks to a genealogical connection to Blondie.
In 1983, Trouser Press magazine spun off the first of a series of five well-received record guides, which Robbins edited and contributed to. He has also worked in some capacity on a number of other music books, either as a contributor, consultant, editor or researcher.
Robbins has alternated periods of steady paid employment at Video Magazine, New York Newsday (where he served as lead pop critic and editor) and MJI Broadcasting alternating with stints of freelancing, producing countless reviews, articles, liner notes and aggrieved letters.
In the early ‘90s, he returned to dilettante music-making by forming Utensil, a new wave cover trio, with journalist Michael Azerrad and publicist/writer Jim Merlis, and a recording-only side band called Heather Has Two Mommies.
Ira Robbins lives in Brooklyn with his third wife, Kristina Juzaitis, a graphic designer and magazine creative director, and their cat Bobo. His invaluable Trouser Press Record Guide was published in five editions and is now available online at www.trouserpress.com. He is currently Editorial Director of Premiere Radio Networks.
List of articles in the library by artist
10,000 Maniacs: The Wishing Chair (Elektra)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, March 1986
LEST 10,000 Maniacs be mistaken for members of the SoHo establishment, check your map: the sextet's home base, Jamestown, New York, is roughly the same ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, CMJ New Music Monthly, January 1999
The music editor at Rolling Stone thought I was kidding when I pitched a cover story on him. The guy at the Sunday New York ...
Bryan Adams: The Ritz, New York City
Live Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, March 1992
THE BIRTH OF ROCK & ROLL WAS A messy business. With an instinctive need for communication that just couldn’t wait for formal language, the baby ...
Aerosmith: Joe Perry Meets The Press
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, November 1978
"I don't care if we never make another album as long as we can play live." "I've never tried to be a guitar hero." ...
Backstreet Boys: 50,000,000 Backstreet Boys' fans can be wrong
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, June 1999
THE SWEAT-DRENCHED rock 'n' rollers of the '50s knew all about good and evil. Forty years later, the Backstreet Boys are singing love songs to ...
Lester Bangs: Did Lester Bangs Die In Vain?
Book Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, April 2000
Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic By Jim DeRogatis, Broadway, 256 Pages ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Be Bop Deluxe: Drastic Plastic (Harvest)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
For a while there, Be Bop was one of the great post-glitter hopes from Britain. The first trio of albums displayed Bill Nelson as a ...
Be-Bop Deluxe: Be-bop Deluxe: Futurama
Review by Ira Robbins, Circus Raves, December 1975
FIVE YEARS AGO in the bleak Northeast England town of Wakefield a guitar player named Bill Nelson sat around rapping with some friends who owned ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Crawdaddy!, November 1977
Every British band knows it: only American success buys the Bentleys. Be Bop Deluxe, Steve Harley and Ian Hunter have all had their stateside ups ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, November 1977
They like to think of themselves as "pop punks." In America most of the attention paid Blondie is focused on namesake Debbie Harry, whose blonde ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1981
THE GENERAL PUBLIC is no doubt familiar with the Blondie story: from Bowery pop-punks to mid-American Euroschmaltzers and product endorsers. What was once a band ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
It would be a laughable understatement to say that lots has happened to Blondie (the group) since their previous album appeared slightly over 12 months ...
Marc Bolan, T. Rex: A Wizard, A True Star
Retrospective by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1980
Marc Bolan's brief blaze of glory ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Addicted To Noise, 1995
Had it not been for the stiff on line in front of me at the microphone in Avery Fisher Hall at September's CMJ convention in ...
Bronski Beat: The Age of Consent (London/MCA)
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, March 1985
NOW THAT FRANKIE HAS PROVEN TO BE a remote-controlled sham with less depth (not to mention stage presence) than its sloganeering T-shirts, the gay-rock mantle ...
Sleevenotes by Ira Robbins, Sex, America, Cheap Trick (Sony Legacy), May 1996
AT A TIME WHEN AMERICAN ROCK'N'ROLL was sinking under the commercial weight of glitter-ball beats, arena bombast and California no-cal, Cheap Trick blew out of ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
FOR ANYONE COUNTING, this is the third Trick LP to be released in a smidge under fourteen months. In that time, the band has played ...
Cheap Trick: Greetings From Rockford, Ill.
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1980
Rockford, Illinois (population 140,000) has made two notable contributions to the entertainment world: John Anderson and Cheap Trick. While there is little similarity between the ...
Cheap Trick: Sight Gags For Simps
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1977
It all started innocently enough. There I was, sitting in the office of an ordinarily credible marketing honcho at Epic Records discussing Marc Bolan and ...
Cheap Trick: Smart, Sleek and Debonair
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1978
AMERICA'S A FUNNY place for rock music. Just when you assume that the well of talent that unleashed classic outfits like the Velvet Underground, Doors ...
Cheap Trick: Presenting Cheap Trick: A Musical In Eleven Years
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, August 1978
Without a doubt, Cheap Trick has definite shortcomings as a band. They're certainly not perfect. However, they've now got three albums in their catalogue and ...
Clash, The: Clash City Talkers: New York Meets Jones And Co.
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1979
There's nothing quite as frustrating to watch as the hypocrisy of press, radio, and record companies rushing to get behind some new band that has ...
Book Excerpt by Ira Robbins, The Big Takeover, 1994
Even if the basic impetus for punk rock was just traditional teen needs like pissing off parents and claiming a cultural identity, some of the ...
Clash, The: The Clash: Give 'Em Enough Rope
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1979
THE CLASH HAVE been through a lot since they last released an album, almost 19 months ago, and so has the scene that they emerged ...
Clash, The: The Clash: Sandinista!
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1981
THE FIRST TIME the Clash ventured into a recording studio they emerged with a concise blockbuster 45 ('White Riot') that deliv-ered the goods in under ...
Clash, The: The Clash: From Here to Eternity
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, October 1999
ON PAPER, the October 1982 pairing of the Clash and the Who at Shea Stadium in New York should have been historic. And maybe it ...
Clash, The: The Clash’s Greatest Hits: Clash City Rockers
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1983
"In 1977 I hope I go to heaven'Cos I been too long on the doleAnd I can't work at allDanger stranger — you better paint ...
Clash, The: The Clashmen Meet The Pearlman
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, February 1979
"It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever I done, that's for sure." I had Sandy Pearlman, Record Producer, on the phone from some unnamed restaurant ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Phonograph Record, February 1975
COCKNEY REBEL is a figment of Steve Harley's semi-sane mind. ...
Cockney Rebel: The Psychomodo (Capitol)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, November 1974
WITH A LOT more guts than sense, Steve Harley dissolved Cockney Rebel in late July, causing their second album, The Psychomodo, to fall like a ...
Cockney Rebel, Steve Harley: Steve Harley Interviewed
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1975
Ever since the first rumblings came across the Atlantic about Cockney Rebel, they've generated quite a bit of curiosity and debate among American Anglophiles who ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Spin, May 1987
The gospel according to Saint Julian:People who are not horny make half-assed records. ...
Elvis Costello & The Attractions: Get Happy!!
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1980
The first draft of this review, written on the basis of an American pressing, had to be discarded when an English copy arrived. Sound quality ...
Live Review by Ira Robbins, Face, The, June 1984
ELVIS Costello’s 1983 American tour was so boring that even longtime fans found it difficult to remain alert for an entire set of pseudo-cabaret runthroughs. ...
Elvis Costello: Armed Forces (Columbia)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1979
When Bob Dylan broke up with his wife, Sara, a few years ago, the world was treated to the introspective and bitter Blood on the ...
Elvis Costello: This Year's Model
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, May 1978
I WAS SOMEWHAT HESITANT about falling in love with My Aim Is True. It didn't make my 1977 Top Ten LP list because the songs ...
Elvis Costello: When He Was Cruel
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, April 2002
MICK JAGGER HAD A POINT when he announced "it's the singer not the song" – the young Rolling Stones were perfectly content to beg, borrow ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Newsday, 1994
Like an old flame breezing back through the door with no more than an indolent shrug and a sly wink, Elvis Costello has returned from ...
Roger Daltrey: One of the Boys
Review by Ira Robbins, Crawdaddy!, August 1977
DALTREY'S FOUR-YEAR solo career, apart from his personal excess/success as a matinee film idol, has certainly left much to be desired by anyone with more ...
Darkness, The: The Darkness: Permission to Land (Atlantic)
Review by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2003
TRUE AWFULNESS, a state as difficult to achieve with a straight face as greatness without arrogance, is truly something to behold. Behold the Darkness. ...
dBs, The: Seasoned Native Sons Follow Their Own Muse: The dB's
Interview by Ira Robbins, Musician, 1984
"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG with honest American music," says Peter Holsapple, guitarist, keyboard player and main songwriter of the dB's. He goes on to cite Elvis ...
Denim: Back in a Dream/Denim on Ice
Review by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2002
ENDING A LOW-KEY decade of Felt that produced a sizable catalogue of atmospheric pop in stylistic tribute to Tom Verlaine, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, ...
Comment by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1979
AS BILLY MARTIN once put it, "I feel very strongly both ways." Although Devo's cosmic significance may truly compare with that of yesterday's toast, they ...
Dictators, The: The Dictators Look For The Perfect Wave
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
The Record Plant, one of New York's top pro recording studios, is located in a fairly anonymous office building just west of Eighth Avenue in ...
Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: Be Seeing You
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
FINALLY THE DEBUT of a Wilkoless Feelgoods is upon us. Even more than that, it's the Nick Lowe-produced debut of a Wilkoless Feelgoods. ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1979
AFTER 16 YEARS IN the public eye, growing and developing, quick-cutting and dodging, Bob Dylan carries his catalogue of songs behind him like a bevy ...
Echo & The Bunnymen, Ian McCulloch: Ian McCulloch
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, February 1990
AN HOUR BEFORE Echo and the Bunnymen went onstage in Osaka, Japan for the final date of a world tour in April 1988, singer Ian ...
Sleevenotes by Ira Robbins, Afterglow, 1994
The Electric Light Orchestra, for most people, exists as a memorable collection of hit singles, carefully crafted production numbers that defined an entire rock genre ...
Brian Eno, Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico: Kevin Ayers/John Cale/Eno/Nico: June 1, 1974 (Island)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, October 1974
LIVE ALBUMS have become an abundant nuisance which bands seem to feel an obligation to produce every few years, often with no redeeming content. The ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, December 1986
I CAN VAGUELY recall learning something in high, school biology, an explanation why molecular goosh flows out of, rather than into, an amoeba under certain ...
Rory Gallagher: TOTP meets Mr. Gallagher: The Story on Rory
Interview by Dave Schulps, Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1976
LET'S START AT the beginning. Your first band was the Fontana Showband. What exactly is a showband? ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
FROM THE VERY start of their recording career, it was obvious that Generation X had some rather unparochial ideas about their role as a punk ...
Grand Funk Railroad: The Band that Killed Rock 'n' Roll
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, April 2000
AMONG CULTURAL HISTORIANS, it has long been an article of faith that the '60s dream died in an ugly bar fight at Altamont Speedway in ...
Green On Red, Rain Parade: Green On Red: No Free Lunch; Rain Parade: Crashing Dream
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, July 1986
I HAVE ALWAYS attempted to give Los Angeles the benefit of the doubt as regards music. All right, so maybe I've never quite gotten over ...
George Harrison: And Life Flows On
Obituary by Ira Robbins, salon.com, December 2001
HE COULD HAVE BEEN Charles Dickens' idea of a rock star, a dry-witted gentleman whose faith, and fate, left him isolated but satisfied, living his ...
Hawkwind: Hall Of The Mountain Grill (United Artists)
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, December 1974
FOR THEIR first four albums, public approval of Hawkwind was in direct proportion to how seriously one considered the music. The question of quality or ...
Heavy Metal Kids, The: Heavy Metal Kids: Heavy Metal Kids
Review by Ira Robbins, Zoo World, October 1974
THERE ARE LOADS of ways for a rock band to make themselves interesting. All that is required is either a brilliant songwriter, a unique vocalist, ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1982
JOHN HIATT'S career has been hampered by unfortunate business liaisons ever since lift-off. ...
Horslips On (Almost Everyone But) Horslips
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1978
THE FOLLOWING HORSLIPS interview was done in New York in mid-October. It has very little to do with the group or its music, but consists ...
Human League, The: Human League: Crash
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, January 1987
I HAVE GRAVE trouble imagining what sort of people would describe themselves as real fans of certain swill that's on the market today. Casual or ...
Jam, The: Rickenbacker Rock: The Jam
Profile by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1978
Try calling Paul Weller of the Jam a punk rocker, and finds out how icy a cold stare can be. The intense young man who ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Circus, January 1976
"JETHRO RETIRE HURT!" blared the headline in a major British magazine just over two years ago, when a spokesman for the group announced an "indefinite" ...
Joan Jett: I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, March 1982
JOAN JETT'S first solo album, Bad Reputation, suffered from a number of flaws, I pointed out in my review of the time; listening to it ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Newsday, August 1993
John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful was all of 22 when he sang, "I think I've come to see myself at last." ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ira Robbins, Hall of Fame, November 1989
In a packed concert hall somewhere, a delighted audience sings "L!-O!-L!-A!, Lola!" at full power while the song's author watches silently from the stage. ...
Let's Active: Big Plans For Everybody
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1986
WHEN MITCH EASTER, Chris Stamey, Don Dixon and their fellow travelers in the North Carolina Sneakers-cum-dB's axis drifted north 10 years ago, one characteristic they ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
I'VE FELT A LOT of things about a lot of bands over the years, but pity isn't one of the most common. ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: The New York Dolls (Mercury)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
This seminal slab of early-70s punkitude, produced by unlikely Todd Rundgren, defines the sound and style of New York’s contribution to new wave: a raunchy ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, November 1991
DESPITE THE hand-wringing the fanzines do each time an indie-rock hero signs a major-label deal, righteous postpunk stars from Hüsker Dü to Soundgarden have joined ...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Two Guys And A Tape Deck Become A
Interview by Ira Robbins, Musician, 1985
Only one of the following two statements is true. Which? A) Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark is a synthesizer duo, a pair of chilly intellectual ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1978
GRAHAM PARKER'S a nice guy, writes great songs. He leads a tight, exciting band full of talented players, and his stage presence looms larger than ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, March 1997
IT'S DECONSTRUCTION time again. Right now, there's a sophomore somewhere hunkered down on the floor of his dorm room, a cigarette in one hand and ...
Pink Fairies, The: Pink Fairies: Kings Of Oblivion (Polydor)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
It must have taken a lot of guts to name a band "Pink Fairies". But considering the amount of mind alteration practised by its British ...
Pink Floyd’s Heart Of Darkness: A Crash Course in Pig Latin
Overview by Ira Robbins, Creem, October 1977
IT DIDN'T SEEM like a bad idea at the time I accepted this assignment. Just because Pink Floyd hate the press and won't be interviewed ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Request, April 1990
IN THE 1960s, youthful poets, inspired by radical politics and Woody Guthrie, took up acoustic guitars to deliver topical commentary in a folk music setting. ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1980
OVER THE course of eight albums Queen has scaled all the heights and plumbed all the depths. ...
Ramones, The: Joey Ramone: Hail, Hail To The King
Obituary by Ira Robbins, MOJO, June 2001
JOEY RAMONE WASN'T WHAT YOU'D CALL A PUNK. According to the movies, punks are snarling juvenile delinquents well versed in sucker-punches, concealed weapons and grievous ...
Ramones, The: The Ramones: Bowery Boys
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, July 1999
NOBODY DOESN'T LIKE the Ramones. They're as immortal as America's other band, the Beach Boys. Whatever punk became – ruined canvases of Mohawked body art, ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, October 1992
Ten years down the road, Athens, Georgia’s little-band-that-could takes stock of fame, fortune and folk music.* ...
Replacements, The: Replacements: Pleased To Meet Me
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, August 1987
LIKE SOME STRAY dog you find in an alley, Minneapolis's Replacements are a scruffy mongrel of a band: uncontrollable and ugly, but somehow irresistable. You ...
Replacements, The, Paul Westerberg: Paul Westerberg Comes In From The Ledge
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, August 1993
Independence Day, 1991. Lincoln Park, Chicago. One by one, the Replacements — what's left of 'em, anyway — hand their instruments off to their roadies, ...
Keith Richards: Stone Wino rhythm guitar god Keith Richards can still rip it up
Interview by Ira Robbins, Pulse!, November 1992
Midnight at the oasis...Actually, it’s 2 a.m. at the Hit Factory, but the mood is still calm as a desert breeze. ...
Keith Richards, Rolling Stones, The: Out Of The Cage: An interview with Keith Richards
Interview by Ira Robbins, unpublished, September 1988
IR: You’ve done a lot of interviews lately. It’s hard to pick questions you haven’t been asked... ...
Jonathan Richman: Back In Your Life
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1979
THE OSCAR BRAND of the now generation returns with his first studio LP in quite a while. Amid the ceaseless confusion that is Beserkley Records, ...
Jonathan Richman: Modern Lovers: Modern Lovers Live
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
AS A RESULT of a fairly ridiculous chain of events, the ‘Home of the Hits’ has relocated (at least for the time being) from Berkeley, ...
Guide by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2007
INSPIRED BY THE Manchester rave scene, Oxford-to-London art-school quartet Ride – Mark Gardener (vocals/rhythm guitar), Andy Bell (vocals/lead guitar), Steve Queralt (bass) and Laurence 'Loz' ...
Live Review by Ira Robbins, NME, June 1978
THE HEAVY rain outside did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the audience inside. With a majority of those in attendance being press and record ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1978
I AM sitting here this rainy Saturday afternoon, pretending to review this, presumably the last, Roxy Music album; an obligatory collection of those tracks which ...
Roxy Music: Manifesto Destiny: The Return Of Roxy Music
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, 1979
"We Never Really Broke Up" I distinctly remember being more than a bit skeptical the first time I heard Roxy Music. ...
Roxy Music: Anarch-o-rock In Motion
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Music Gig, September 1976
Following Roxy Music can be as mystifying a pursuit as a required college course that makes not one iota of sense. It is imperative that ...
Roxy Music, Phil Manzanera: Phil Manzanera
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1982
PICTURED ON THE first Roxy Music album with bizarre fly-glasses, long hair and unkempt beard, Phil Manzanera looked like left-field weirdness incarnate. That image was ...
Sex Pistols, The: The Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1978
HO HUM, ANOTHER album from the Pistols. No, seriously, this is it. After all the controversy, bannings, bullshit and speculation, the Pistols finally have something ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1978
THERE HAVE BEEN quite a few new wave bands who have a strong relationship with their audience, but not a one can compete with Sham ...
Small Faces, The: Small Faces: Rock Roots: The Singles Album
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
NOW THAT STEVE Marriot has put a version of the Small Faces back together, there's been a bit of resurgence (perhaps as a result of ...
Soul Asylum: Plaider Than You’ll Ever Be
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, Creem, May 1988
It might be said that Soul Asylum is just a wonderful rock 'n' roll band from Minneapolis, a rough and ready quartet embodying explosive energy, ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, November 1982
After 11 albums over a decade of stylistic evolution, Sparks — that is, Ron and Russell Mael with collaborators — have achieved legendary status despite ...
Sparks: A Woofer In Tweeter’s Clothing (Bearsville)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
The all-time weird American art-rock LP, Spark’s second album was, at first encounter, impenetrably arcane and smug. After cranking up the volume, adjusting to the ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1982
SPARKS' HIT STREAK in the mid-'70s produced America's best Anglophiliac rock ever – so good, in fact, that English teenyboppers made them tops of the ...
Dusty Springfield: The Dusty Trail
Interview by Ira Robbins, New York Post, May 1989
As the closing credits roll on Scandal, the new film about Britain's infamous 1963 Profumo affair, a familiar woman's voice – airy and sensuous – ...
Bruce Springsteen: The River (Columbia)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1981
A SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketch of a few seasons back poked fun at Roy Orbison by reducing him to a caricature: motionless stance and ever-present ...
Vivian Stanshall, Bonzo Dog Band: Viv Stanshall: Bonzo Bounces Back
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1979
Perhaps, as the curse of King Tut suggested, some legends are best left uninvestigated. Rock heroes tend to have warts, just like everybody else, and ...
Stranglers, The: The Stranglers: La Folie
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, March 1982
WANT TO FEEL prematurely old? This, if you can believe it, is the Stranglers' seventh British album. While most alumni of the '77 punk explosion ...
Stranglers, The: The Stranglers: No More Heroes
Comment by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, December 1977
IT'S SO HARD to decode the Stranglers. After you've gone through the easy observations about Dave Greenfield's keyboard sound and its relationship to Ray Manzarek, ...
Strokes, The: The Strokes: Is This It (RCA)
Review by Ira Robbins, trouserpress.com, 2001
IS IT VU? IS IT TV? Is it Superband? Nope, it’s just the Strokes, for whom outsized – and musically misinformed – hype made media ...
Tears For Fears: Tears for Fears: Fear of Finishing
Report and Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, November 1989
Songs From The Big Delay: How Tears For Fears Took Four Years To Sprout The Seeds of Love ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ira Robbins, MOJO, February 2001
TELEVISION ENDED PRETTY much as they'd begun, with a show at a small Manhattan club. It was July 29, 1978, on a night Television myth ...
Johnny Thunders: Go, Johnny, Go: Thunders' So Alone
Sleevenotes by Ira Robbins, Sire Records, February 1992
AMONG THE LIFETIME residents of abyssville are those rock'n'rollers whose faith in the liberating rebellion of mangy guitar music gets crossed up into a personal ...
Pete Townshend: What Came Next: Pete Townshend Goes It Alone
Sleevenotes by Ira Robbins, Who Came First, August 1992
As spiritual epiphanies go, Pete Townshend's public acknowledgment of his personal rebirth was made with remarkable understatement for a major celebrity. ...
Pete Townshend, Who, The: Pete Townshend
Interview by Ira Robbins, Cleveland Live, November 1996
SHORTLY BEFORE THE reunited Who began its month-plus Quadrophenia tour of North America in Portland, Oregon on October 13th, guitarist, singer and composer Pete Townshend ...
Pete Townshend, Who, The: Pete Townshend
Interview by Ira Robbins, San Francisco Chronicle, 1997
"Roger [Daltrey] speaks a lot about the magic that happens when the three of us get together to play," says Pete Townshend, who spent two ...
Undertones, The: A Better Mousetrap: The Undertones Beat A Path To America’s Door
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1980
Back in the primordial '70s, a rash of groups moved into the British 45 charts to occupy the places formerly inhabited by the Beatles and ...
Undertones, The: The Undertones: Hypnotised (Sire)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1980
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING special about the Undertones. They're a motley gang of Irish kids with typical imperfect faces and no visible charismatic presence as ...
Uriah Heep: After A Bum Reality, The Return To Fantasy With Wetton On Bass
Interview by Ira Robbins, Circus Raves, September 1975
"IT'S A WINE and roses situation," quoth Ken Hensley, speaking of the hand-in-glove way that Uriah Heep's new bass player, John Wetton, has fit into ...
Vibrators, The: The Vibrators: V2
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, July 1978
THE VIBRATORS' first album, over a year ago, was a great disposable album of lasting significance. The short songs contained all the elements of great ...
Sid Vicious: Max's Kansas City, NYC
Live Review by Ira Robbins, NME, October 1978
ON AN unusually busy New York rock night, the attraction of an ex-Pistol was apparently sufficient to pack Max's out for a couple of sets ...
Violent Femmes: The Blind Leading The Naked
Review by Ira Robbins, Creem, June 1986
TWO LINES ON Violent Femmes' wrenchingly raw, largely acoustic debut album stand unequalled in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame for forthright candor in ...
Interview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1979
Kids Are Allright Director Jeff Stein Tells TP All About It ...
Who, The: The Who: Face Dances (Warner Bros.)
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1981
ONCE UPON A TIME, the Who was a guiding force in the life of many people (myself included). The wisdom of Chairman Pete Townshend, as ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1982
From a fan's point of view, there is nothing worse than a compilation album put together by either a group, whose nearness to the material ...
Who, The: The Who: Who Are You
Review by Ira Robbins, Crawdaddy!, October 1978
Ever since Pete Townshend immortalized teenage rebellion with the phrase "Hope I die before I get old," he has been haunted by the obvious ramifications ...
Essay by Ira Robbins, salon.com, April 2001
AT THE BRIAN WILSON tribute concert in New York in March, a short film explained that Wilson had lived his whole life in fear and ...
Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
As the fallout from new wave continues to turn up on plastic, a few gangs of rockers have chosen (wisely I suppose) to see how ...
List of genre pieces
The Best of Broadside 1962–1988
Review by Ira Robbins, salon.com, September 2000
BROADSIDE PUBLISHED SONGS by writers who wanted to change the world – including a young Bob Dylan. A five-CD set marches through the great folk ...
Trouser Press: The Story Behind The Legendary Zine
Retrospective by Ira Robbins, Perfect Sound Forever, June 1997
EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the reasons that our zine started up was because there were other music nuts before us who wanted to tell the ...
Guide by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, April 1978
If one may hazard an absurd guess based on no real information, it will probably be around November of this year when some smart punk ...
Birth of the Blues: Touring the Mississippi Delta
Guide by Ira Robbins, unpublished, 1991
"YOU MAY BURY MY BODY DOWN BY the highway side...so my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride." ...
Remember Those Fabulous Seventies? A Musical Stroll From Woodstock To Punk-rock
Overview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, January 1980
The best characterization of rock'n'roll's third decade is that of 10 years spent revising, refining and recalling the music of the '60s. While '50s bands ...
Strolling Down Punk-Rock Lane: Legs McNeil
Profile and Interview by Ira Robbins, New York Times, July 1996
THE CLASS OF 1976 held a reunion in the lobby of the Gershwin Hotel late last month. While inspecting a photography exhibition documenting their youth, ...
Overview by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, October 1977
After A Glorious Year, British Punks Are Now Absorbed Into The Music Biz Money-go-round ...
Essay by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, October 1977
IT MAY COME as a bit of a shock, especially if you were just getting used to the idea, but Britain's new wave movement is ...
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