Mark Williams
Since the laissez-faire underground press of the late '60s when web-offset printing and computer typesetting began displacing hot-metal and letterpress, Mark Williams has spent his entire career in publishing. A respected, if sometimes controversial journalist and columnist in the disparate fields of rock music, film and automotive media, he also conceived, launched and/or edited several successful magazines and newspapers which included Strange Days, Bike (still the UK's best selling motorcycle title), Which Bike?, New Music News, Bicycle Buyers Guide and Jalopy.
Thanks to unrivaled experience in virtually every aspect of print media, come the millennium Williams became sought after as a consultant working with publishers both large and small. (Confidentiality deters him from detailing these on this website). In recent years he's handled foreign licensing and M&A deals, supervised business plan development, launches and re-launches and advised on every element of the publishing process which now of course includes multi-platform projects. He is also retained as p.r. advisor for a number of companies and charities.
And throughout his career in publishing management, Williams has continued to write highly regarded columns and features for a broad range of titles including Rolling Stone, Melody Maker, Top Gear, Motorcycle Rider, Time Out, Conde Nast Traveller, Italia!, TrailBike Magazine, the Guardian, London Evening Standard, Daily Telegraph and Used Car Buyer. He has also produced a number of books on film, music and motorcycling topics, plus two anthologies of material from The Week.
Outside of publishing, Williams has curated a number of art and photographic exhibitions and been involved in running several musical events, most notably Sheep Music the annual world music festival in Mid-Wales.
Mark Williams' Rock's Backpages blog
List of articles in the library by artist
Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath (Vertigo)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, March 1970
A BLOW JOB. Just get the gear on stage and wind it up Marshall stacks nine feet high on big & harsh with an edge ...
Blossom Toes: If Only For A Moment (Marmalade)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
BLOSSOM TOES. Now there IS a band. Amazing people, a gas to be with, group looners of the old school but as music makers they've ...
Profile and Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
WHILST STARVING in Birmingham, trying to make ends meet, the dreary winter days were claeered up a little by an album called We Are Ever ...
Bonzo Dog Band: The Bonzo Dog Band: Tadpoles (Liberty)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, August 1969
LIBERTY RECORDS have gone to an almost unusual amount of trouble to supply record reviewers, deejays and other assorted irks with a copious, track-by-thrusting-track run ...
Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe: Fish Head
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, April 1969
INTERVIEWING COUNTRY Joe McDonald was an escapade I embarked on with fear in my heart, butterflies in my stomach and a copy of How to ...
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bayou Country (Liberty)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
HOORAY FOR this bopping, rhythm muslc! What more can a groover of a leaper ask for than to be socked endlessly by the compulsive unpretentious ...
Ray Davies, Kinks, The: The Kinks: Low Budget (Arista)
Review by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, September 1979
THE TROUBLE with Ray Davies is that since he forsook the stark, three-chord spleen of 'You Really Got Me' and 'All Day & All Of ...
Deep Purple with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Mark Williams, International Times, October 1969
THE ALBERT Hall Concert on Wednesday September 24th, featuring Deep Purple in concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, was possibly the most important musical event ...
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left (Island)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
I DON'T think I've been so impressed by an unknown singer/songwriter since I got the Duncan Browne album on Immediate, eighteen months ago, (why don't ...
Eagles, The: The Eagles: The Long Run (Asylum)
Review by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, September 1979
THE POLITICS of pop have always been anathema to me. I cannot, and will not, shift my allegiances from an underrated or up-and-coming band when ...
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
THE FAMILY used to scare me a bit. Onstage they seemed to perform with a mixture of super coolness, a nonchalance that sometimes gave me ...
Report and Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, September 1979
IAN GOMM is short, not quite stout, and has had his straw-coloured hair fashioned a la mod from the first time it was fashionable. His ...
Judy Henske, Jerry Yester: Judy Henske & Jerry Yester: Farewell Aldebaran (Straight)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, November 1969
JUDY HENSKE'S magnificent, almost butch voice makes this album memorable. Jerry Yester's vocals, arrangements and production (shared with ex-Lovln' Spoonful man Zal Yanovsky,) don't. ...
Report by Mark Williams, International Times, May 1969
JANIS WAS WANDERING round rapping and goofing with her band when I ventured onstage during her pre-concert rehearsal at the Albert Hall. She was obviously ...
King Crimson King Crimson King Crimson King Crimson
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, June 1969
TEN YEARS ago every American boy's idea of a teen idol was Charles Atlas totin' a Gibson Jumbo. Today everybody here in Albuquerque, New Mexico, ...
Wayne Kramer, MC5: Wayne Kramer Forgets The Motor City
Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, March 1979
"SOMETIMES we used to pass the Milan jail when the MC5 were driving to gigs outside of Detroit, and I used to look up at ...
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, May 1969
A VERY WELL respected record producer recently informed me that Led Zepplin were the ONLY band that we're going to elevate themselves to the ranks ...
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, April 1969
IT'S NOT hard to suss that Led Zeppelin are well on the way to becoming a 'Supergroup', in the best tradition. ...
Live Review by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, August 1979
IT'S IRONIC that Little Feat were never adjudged sufficiently commercial to have headlined a concert at Los Angeles' massive Forum, since the place was bursting ...
Madness: A Brief Case History Of Madness
Book Excerpt by Mark Williams, Proteus Books, 1982
Their condition as carriers of a fast reggae hybrid, ska, was first diagnosed in 1979. This nutty sound was then transmitted to an increasingly larger ...
Report and Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, March 1980
Today the UK. Tomorrow the USA? Next week, the world? Are Madness about to get everybody up and dancing again? MARK WILLIAMS sits down and ...
Madness: Dublin Castle, London
Live Review by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, June 1979
THE NAME says it all. ...
Mountain: Leslie West: Mountain (Bell)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, November 1969
LESLIE WEST is a large American who sings a bit like a white Buddy Miles (or a black Terry Reld) and plays guitar just like ...
Bill Nelson: The Sound Of Household Appliances
Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, March 1979
From frayed denim through guitar heroics to novorock, Bill Nelson's career has been plagued by accusations of plagiarism. MARK WILLIAMS listens to the disclaimers. ...
New Barbarians: The Forum, Los Angeles
Live Review by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, March 1979
IN THE foyer of LA's vast concrete amphitheatre, you could buy T-shirts promising "nothing less than ear-to-ear violence" in lettering supposed to resemble dripping blood. ...
Nice, The: The Nice: Nice (Immediate)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, August 1969
THE NICE just keep escalating from strength to strength, their reputation solidifying as their incorporation of classical phraseology (sometimes admittedly borrowed wholesale) becomes even more ...
Nice, The: The Nice: Nice Work If You Can Get It
Profile by Mark Williams, Rolling Stone, July 1969
THE NICE are the most successful British group to have achieved fame without a single in the top ten. The future is surer for them, ...
Pretenders, The: Say a Prayer for the Pretenders
Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, February 1979
The way tongues are wagging, though, they might not need them. Mark Williams profiles a Next Big Thing who actually look like delivering. ...
Rockpile: Rock Around With Philip Marlowe
Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, December 1978
THE TROPICANA MOTEL sits disconsolately on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, an area that looks uncomfortable sandwiched in between the clinical sky-scrapers of Century ...
Rolling Stones, The: The Rolling Stones: Let It Bleed (Decca)
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, January 1970
IT'S ONLY after deliberately listening to the complete Stone's recorded output (9 albums, umpteen singles, 1 promotional album, 2 EPs) that one really appreciates just ...
Rolling Stones, The: The Rolling Stones: Jagger Rap/Stoned Earful
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
FEELING RATHER like a tin can on a conveyor belt, moving along waiting to be filled with fruit salad or spaghetti, I went along to ...
Overview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, September 1979
If Los Angeles is the future, how come its bands all sound so backdated? MARK WILLIAMS puts the case for the defence ...
Tea & Symphony: Rock In The Sticks: Tea & Symphony
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, September 1969
THE MOST INTERESTING group in this article, from an historical point of view, is Tea & Symphony. They have had almost as many changes in ...
Who, The: The Who: The Mod Revival, Yes…
Live Review by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, May 1979
The Who: Rainbow, London ...
Report and Interview by Mark Williams, Melody Maker, June 1979
After a lengthy period on the ground, Paul McCartney's redesigned Wings are taking a few exploratory hops. MARK WILLIAMS' verdict: no metal fatigue. ...
Review by Mark Williams, International Times, July 1969
THE ONLY OTHER record I possess on English Monument, is Ray Steven's single, 'Mr Businessman', which is beautiful and so is this album by Mr ...
Review by Mark Williams, Rolling Stone, July 1969
THE BRITISH END of the Atlantic Recording Company's operations rarely signs up this country's groups and when it does, they have to be exceedingly good ...
Yes: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Live Review by Mark Williams, International Times, April 1970
IT HAS BEEN many months since I've seen YES and the consequent starvation of tight British progressive rock music par excellence left me eagerly awaiting ...
Neil Young: After The Gold Rush
Review by Mark Williams, Oz, 1970
To start with Nell Young ain't tryin' anything flashy – he does what he knows and he does it with the perfection of a trained ...
List of genre pieces
Parting Shot: Keith Morris 1938-2005
Obituary by Mark Williams, Guardian Unlimited, July 2005
IN THE EARLY 1970s, Keith Morris was asked to do a session for the first album with an unknown singer-songwriter, Nick Drake. Keith took a ...
Reggae: The Real Underground Music
Report and Interview by Mark Williams, Strange Days, October 1970
FORGET YOUR Edgar Broughtons and your Pink Floyds and your three million other 'underground' groups, ('underground' that is, until they start selling lottsa albums, when ...
The Sound of the Seventies and The Pop Proms: It's All a Put On
Report by Mark Williams, International Times, May 1970
Pop Proms, Rock machine & the penis of promoting. ...
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