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Michael Watts

Michael Watts

Michael Watts (snapped in Durango, Mexico, in 1973) wrote regularly for Melody Maker and was the magazine's US editor between October 1972 and August 1973. He's since been an editor at the Financial Times, the Independent, the Evening Standard and Esquire. He now writes for Wired, Conde Nast and anyone else who’ll have him...

Michael Watts on the RBP podcast

111 articles

List of articles in the library

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Pink Floyd: Birmingham Town Hall, Birmingham

Live Review by Michael Watts, Walsall Observer & South Staffordshire Chronicle, 27 June 1969

SOUND SPELL CAST BY THE FLOYD ...

Humble Pie, Matthews' Southern Comfort, May Blitz, MC5: MC5, Matthew's Southern Comfort, Humble Pie, May Blitz: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 8 August 1970

ON THE surface it seemed crazy — 1,500 kids packed into a hot stuffy old engine shed, while outside the temperature was in the seventies. ...

Chicago, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, The Doors, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Pentangle, Procol Harum, John Sebastian, Taste, Ten Years After, Tiny Tim, The Who: The Isle of Wight Festival: Five Days That Rocked Britain

Report by Mark Plummer, Michael Watts, Chris Welch, Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 5 September 1970

MM's Richard Williams, Chris Welch, Michael Watts and Mark Plummer present a five-page report on an amazing weekend of music and other scenes... ...

Joni Mitchell: Glimpses of Joni

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 19 September 1970

SCENE IN A television studio: a girl in a long pink shift, which catches at her ankles when she walks, picks hesitantly at a few ...

The Mothers Of Invention: Mother's Union

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 5 December 1970

TELL ME, Mr. Zappa, what do you think of the critical reaction to your work over the past five years?  ...

Amon Düül: Amon For All Seasons

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 12 December 1970

IN THE BEGINNING there was Amon Duul, and A.D. was a musical community of about a dozen people of varied musical backgrounds. Gradually, some of ...

Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt: Soft Machine: Inside the Mind of a Machine

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 2 January 1971

Michael Watts talks to Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt ...

Patto: Bitter Patto: Two Years Ahead

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

I FIRST met Mike Patto four months ago. With his agent he walked into the MM office, a gangling figure in high green leather boots ...

Grand Funk Railroad: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

Grand Flunk Railroad ...

Mountain is Moving

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 23 January 1971

"I'M FROM New York, but I don't like the scene. Why? Because there is none. At least, it's nothing to do with the music. It's ...

Caroline Coon: The Underground Angel Of Mercy...

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

Michael Watts talks to CAROLINE COON of Release ...

Nico, the cool enigma

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 January 1971

NICO USED to be a blonde; you can see it on the cover of the Velvet Underground's first album, on a photograph from which her ...

The Rolling Stones: This Could Be The Last Time

Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971

AS STONES BEGIN THEIR LONG-AWAITED — AND POSSIBLY FINAL — TOUR OF BRITAIN, MICHAEL WATTS REPORTS... ...

Velvet Underground: The Velvet Underground: Loaded (Atlantic Super)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 13 March 1971

The most important album since Tommy? ...

Syd Barrett

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 27 March 1971

STORIES ABOUT Syd Barrett are legion. That he became overbearingly egotistical, impossible to work with. That he was thrown out of The Pink Floyd. That ...

Jeff Beck, Nicky Hopkins, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Rolling Stones: Nicky Hopkins: Have Piano, Will Travel

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 3 April 1971

Michael Watts talks to sessionman supreme NICKY HOPKINS ...

John Peel: Unpeeled

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 24 April 1971

In the three years since he first won the Top DJ title in the MM Poll, John Peel has been mocked and worshipped. Today he wipes the ...

The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (Kinney)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 24 April 1971

Bands come and go – but the Stones keep rollin' on ...

The Champs, Seals and Crofts: Seals and Crofts alias The Champs

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 May 1971

HALFWAY UP the bill at the Roundhouse the other Sunday there was this band with a decidedly curious instrumentation. ...

Procol Harum: Band on a Knife-edge

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 17 July 1971

IT WAS RICHARD GOLDSTEIN, I think, in The Poetry Of Rock, who described Procol Harum as an intellectual, ever striving to contain the Steppenwolf within ...

Larry Coryell: Long Distance Larry

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971

SINCE HE left Gary Burton and after that four-month stint with Herbie Mann — no one has been in much doubt that Larry Coryell has ...

Randy Newman: Lonely at the Top

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971

PEOPLE STILL talk of the press reception for Randy Newman. ...

Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young: Joni and the Laurel Canyon Mob

Comment by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971

SO YOU wanna be a rock and roll star, right? Well, our advice is to head out Laurel Canyon way. Take a tip from one ...

Shirley Bassey: The Soul Of Showbiz

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 18 September 1971

EVEN BEFORE she stuck out her bottom and waggled it provocatively at the crucial moments on 'Big Spender', yes, even before she and Eartha Kitt ...

John Lennon, Yoko Ono: John and Yoko: A Press Conference at Apple

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 2 October 1971

THERE'S A GLINT of spectacles. Gathering recognition as the sandy hair, short and unfamiliar registers. Take in the smart grey trousers and the conventional shirt. ...

Gilbert O'Sullivan: Working Class Hero: Gilbert O'Sullivan

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 October 1971

WHOEVER WOULD have thought it? Gordon Mills, manager of Tom and Engel, those popular, polished professionals, taking a shine to an odd young Irishman whose ...

David Bowie: Oh, You Pretty Thing: David Bowie

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 22 January 1972

DAVID BOWIE, rock's swishiest outrage; a self-confessed lover of effeminate clothes, Bowie, who has hardly performed in public since his 'Space Oddity' hit of three ...

Can: Tago Mago (United Artists)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 January 1972

AS DUNCAN Fallowell says in his sleevenotes, Can could not be anything but German. ...

Dionne Warwicke: Dionne

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 January 1972

SHE USED to be Dionne Warwick, and before that Dionne Warrick. The extra letter is important. The rules of numerology dictate it. Just as it ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Night of the Iggy

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 12 February 1972

WHO IS IT who smashes a microphone in his teeth, tears flesh from his bare chest, leaps into the audience busting bones in all directions, ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

COMPOSER, MYSTIC, visionary, a prophet for the Age of Aquarius. There he sits in the portrait gallery on the front sleeve of the Sgt. Pepper ...

Tim Hardin, Steve Miller: The Steve Miller Band, Tim Hardin: Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 4 March 1972

Miller's grinding blues ...

Randy Newman: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 March 1972

WITH AN awkward shuffle and an embarrassed wave to the adulating audience, Randy Newman left the stage of the Festival Hall, London, on Monday night ...

Manassas, Stephen Stills: Stephen Stills: The Loner

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 March 1972

Step aside, open wide. It's the loner. ...

Iggy Pop, The Stooges: Lock Up Your Daughters, Iggy's Here

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 April 1972

AS MARC BOLAN swung his hips for the benefit of Ringo Starr's camerawork, did any of the 9,000 upturned faces notice the auburn-haired American fifth ...

The Rolling Stones: Stones Special

Interview by Michael Watts, Chris Welch, Melody Maker, 20 May 1972

MICK JAGGER talks to Michael Watts... and MICK TAYLOR talks to Chris Welch ...

Alice Cooper at Wembley

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 15 July 1972

MICHAEL WATTS REPORTS on Friday's sensational — and controversial concert. ...

Bill Evans: Living Time With Evans

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 December 1972

NONE OF THE other diners appeared to recognise the pianist, but to anyone with jazz inklings he was unmistakable. The long, thick hair, cut page-boy ...

David Bowie: Stranger in a Strange Land

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 24 February 1973

Aladdin Sane is the punning title of David Bowie's next album. It's more remote, more spacey, than anything he's done before says MICHAEL WATTS, who ...

Alice Cooper: Spectrum, Philadelphia

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 17 March 1973

THE ROCK WORLD today mourns the death of Alice Cooper, who was accidently killed last night when the safety screws failed on the guillotine he ...

Andy Pratt: Avenging Andy

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 July 1973

The name's unpromising, but Andy Pratt could be the next cult hero. He used to play with Edgar Winter, has cut a couple of solo ...

J. Geils Band: The Boston wranglers

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973

THEY HAD said the J. Geils Band was a democracy, and they were right. All six of them are ranged around three sides of this ...

Roberta Flack, Freddie Hubbard, War, Jimmy Witherspoon: War, Roberta Flack, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Witherspoon: Shea Stadium, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 July 1973

War declared at Shea Stadium. ...

Bob Marley & the Wailers, Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley & The Wailers: Max's Kansas City, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 August 1973

Wailers fail to catch afire ...

Waylon Jennings: You Gotta Be A Man First, 'Fore You Can Be Anything...

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 August 1973

Waylon Jennings, the cowboy who finally hit that golden trail. By MICHAEL WATTS in New York ...

Allman Brothers Band: The Allmans are to America now what the Grateful Dead were in '67

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 25 August 1973

NOBODY TALKS at all about the deaths. Gregg seems too spacey, anyway, detached and oblivious behind his shades; maybe a few brief nods of acknowledgement ...

Billy Preston, The Rolling Stones: Billy Preston: The Way Billy Planned It

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 September 1973

When The Stones hit the road this month BILLY PRESTON goes with them. Here, he talks to MM's MICHAEL WATTS in Los Angeles ...

War: Declaring War

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 8 September 1973

It's a long way from San Diego street corners to gold records. But War are still street people playing street music. MICHAEL WATTS reports... ...

Essra Mohawk: Just Baiting for Laura Nyro

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 8 September 1973

THIS IS a slightly strange situation to be in. Over there, in the corner of the room, Sherry Bo Berry, a member of the Cockettes-derived ...

Diana Ross: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 September 1973

DIANA ROSS may be a real superstar, as critics like Derek Jewell assert, but there's altogether too much of the "sooper" in her act for ...

Art Garfunkel: Garfunkel: Angel Clare (CBS)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 September 1973

No Art, no heart ...

Linda Ronstadt: Don't Cry Now (Asylum)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 10 November 1973

LOOKING AS she does, an impossibly cuddly chicklet, it's easy to forgive Linda Ronstadt any musical deficiencies. But this album, in fact her first on ...

Roxy Music: Stranded (Island)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 10 November 1973

Roxy: an air of lush decay ...

The Band: Moondog Matinee (Capitol)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 24 November 1973

Band of hope and glory ...

New York Dolls: Band They Love To Hate

Comment by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 8 December 1973

I'VE SEEN the New York Dolls five times in New York, and London's Biba's last week made it six. ...

Jackson Browne, Survivor

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 12 January 1974

AT NIGHT we sit on the verandah, Myrna and I, watching the bobbing lights of the yachts in the harbour below as the fireflies endlessly ...

Bette Midler: Bette Midler (Atlantic)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 19 January 1974

THE STATEMENT of Bette Midler's stardom has been pushed so far down our throats now that it's become a truism, yet Bette Midler, her second ...

The Band, Bob Dylan: Bob Dylan: Planet Waves (Island)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 26 January 1974

ANY NEW Bob Dylan album induces a somewhat unnerving emotional response in the reviewer, but the very latest record from Dylan, to be released here ...

Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark (Asylum)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 26 January 1974

OF ALL THE female writers and singers post-dating Joan Baez in pop music, Joni Mitchell seems to me to have arrived at the most complete ...

Harry Chapin: Short Stories (Elektra)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 February 1974

BY NOW IT should be deemed a case of criminal neglect that Harry Chapin's 'W.O.L.D.' is not in the top ten or even higher, because ...

Joni Mitchell, Tom Scott & the L.A. Express: New Victoria Theatre, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 27 April 1974

THE divine Miss M ...

Joni Mitchell, Tom Scott: Tom Scott: Great Scott!

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974

Michael Watts talks to the men who put jazz into Joni. ...

Waylon Jennings: Honky Tonk Heroes (RCA)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974

INTEREST IN country musicians is currently running high with Charlie Rich in the charts and a whole spate of country albums being released as a ...

David Bowie, Mott The Hoople, Lou Reed, Mick Ronson: Tony DeFries: Bowie's MainMan

Profile by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 18 May 1974

Tony DeFries is Mr Big of today's rock —the 70s' Col. Parker. He deals in STARS, the most glittering of whom is David Bowie. He ...

Maggie Bell, Led Zeppelin: Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 22 June 1974

With a background in wrestling, it's not surprising that Peter Grant is cast as a heavy. And as manager of Led Zep, the legend has ...

Johnnie Ray: The Nabob of Sob

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 3 August 1974

Long before Beatlemania hit Britain, JOHNNIE RAY was the idol of the screamers and fainters. His highly emotional stage act included breaking down in tears ...

Led Zeppelin: INSIDE PAGE — Exclusive! Zeppelin star opens up to Michael Watts

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 September 1974

Jimmy Page is working hard on a new Zeppelin album and a film of the band shot mostly in the States. But he takes time ...

Leonard Cohen: New Skin For The Old Ceremony (CBS)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 28 September 1974

LEONARD COHEN is an artist who worries a great many people. Dismissed on the one hand as pretentious, on the other as a plain old ...

Bruce Springsteen: Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 12 October 1974

Hail to the new genius! ...

Herbie Hancock, Minnie Riperton: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 12 October 1974

Coarse Hancock ...

Labelle: Dinner and cards with Reggie

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 November 1974

"I REMEMBER the time," says Sarah, "when we toured in England and Bluesology backed us. And Patti used to play cards with Reggie — Elton ...

Bruce Springsteen: Lone Star

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 November 1974

He laughed when critics called him "the new Dylan". But he stuck to his guns and he's now playing to ecstatic audiences. MICHAEL WATTS in ...

Billy Swan: Swan Song

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 December 1974

When Billy Swan cut a solo single, things started to happen — and they kept on happening until he reached the American No 1 spot... ...

Gregg Allman: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 14 December 1974

Greg — mining the blues ...

Harry Chapin: Avery Fisher Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 14 December 1974

NEW YORK: The trouble with Harry is that he's such a goddam regular guy. The way he handles himself onstage, for instance. Like a scoutmaster, ...

Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks (CBS)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 25 January 1975

DYLAN: Seeking gentler ground Special preview of Blood On The Tracks by MICHAEL WATTS ...

David Bowie: Cracked Actor (BBC 1)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 February 1975

I WOULDN'T care to examine the merits and de-merits of David Bowie on the strength of last Sunday's Omnibus programme on him. Titled Cracked Actor ...

Marlene Dietrich: Wimbledon Theatre, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 15 February 1975

MARLENE DIETRICH: what is there left to say about her, except that the Blue Angel is now bluing a little around the edges? But even ...

Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 November 1975

ON THE INSIDE sleeve of this album, Joni has a short, cryptic liner note stating that the record is "graphically, musically, lyrically and accidentally" a ...

The Band: Northern Lights — Southern Cross (Capitol St— 11440)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 20 December 1975

The Band is back — almost ...

Geoff Muldaur, Leon Redbone: Geoff Muldaur: Geoff Muldaur Is Having A Wonderful Time (Reprise); Leon Redbone: On The Track (Warner Bros)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 3 January 1976

THE LINK between these two artists is by no means absolute, but the somewhat eccentric tastes of each have produced intriguing and offbeat albums. ...

Bert Jansch: An Everyday Story of Funky Folk

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 17 January 1976

NOW THAT Bert has returned from the Continent, where he has been touring these months and more, he will have to find somewhere else to ...

Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, The Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa: Tom Wilson: The Man Who Put Electricity Into Dylan

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 31 January 1976

TOM WILSON is an elegant, very tall (6ft 4in) black American, a former Harvard man who talks a little like Bill Cosby but whose pencil-thin ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Warner Bros. Import BS 2862)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 February 1976

Sisters of mercy ...

Laura Nyro: In From The Cold

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 February 1976

MICHAEL WATTS reports from Connecticut on a long-awaited return... ...

Kate & Anna McGarrigle: Women in Love

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 17 April 1976

Like Dylan, the Band and Randy Newman, the songs of Kate and Anna McGarrigle recall America in its pioneer days. With a fine debut album ...

Willie Nelson, Billy Swan: New Victoria Theatre, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 May 1976

Good and bad ol' boys ...

Patti Smith, The Stranglers: Patti Smith: The Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 22 May 1976

Patti Smith: poet cornered ...

The Rolling Stones: Scandal of the Stones

Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 29 May 1976

THE ROLLING Stones flopped on the opening night of their six-concert series at London's Earls Court, despite the advantage of a sound system that cost ...

Steely Dan: Art For Art's Sake…

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 19 June 1976

In the space of five albums in four years, Steely Dan have created arguably the best rock music, and certainly the most erudite, of the ...

David Bowie, Iggy Pop: Iggy Pop: A new career in a new town

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 5 March 1977

Iggy Pop, touring Britain this week, speaks to MICHAEL WATTS from Berlin. David Bowie's saying nothing... ...

Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 9 April 1977

The Standard Jim Webb ...

Tom Waits: Sound Circus, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 May 1977

THE OBVIOUS question about Tom Waits — is he, or is he not, a phoney? — ought to be perfectly clear, yet was never quite ...

Essra Mohawk: Essra (Private Stock).

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 14 May 1977

THE LAST album (on Asylum) was simply called Essra Mohawk. Now, by way of Essra, a title whose warmer, more personal implication is complemented by ...

Sex Pistols: America Learns to Loathe the Pistols

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 21 January 1978

Michael Watts reports on the Memphis hotel set-up (was it the CIA?); the two suspicious cowboys (were they big-time dope dealers?); the sociologists' poll (where ...

David Bowie: From Brixton To Berlin

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, February 1978

Michael Watts reports from the German film set where David Bowie is making Just A Gigolo ...

Grateful Dead: Dead on the Nile

Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 23 September 1978

Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Keith & Donna Godchaux, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Hamza El-Din, Bill Graham, Ken Kesey & The Merry Pranksters, the Sphinx, the ...

Pete Townshend, The Who: Pete Townshend: Picking Up The Pieces

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 14 October 1978

"ROGER AND I have really got to get together and thrash out... not a compromise, but what is really gonna work.  And if we can't ...

Simon Frith: The Sociology Of Rock (Constable. £7.50; paperback, £3.50)

Book Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 28 October 1978

FUN OR PROFIT? ...

Bob Harris: The Bomber bales out

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 2 December 1978

Carved up by the critics since his tube debut in 1972, Bob Harris is blowing the whistle on his TV career. It wasn't just the ...

Amanda Lear: Who's Afraid of Amanda Lear?

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 10 February 1979

She lived with Brian Jones, and was Salvador Dali's protégé. She took David Bowie to see Metropolis, and watched him turn Fritz Lang into hit ...

John Lydon, Malcolm McLaren, Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols: Rotten v. McLaren: No Winner

Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 24 February 1979

AS JOHNNY Rotten savours his first victory in the Lydon-Glitterbest case, Public Image Ltd. prepare to record a second album with a new drummer, the ...

Ivor Biggun, Duffo, The Lurkers, Tubeway Army: Beggars Banquet: Where Taste is a Dirty Word

Report and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 31 March 1979

Nick Austin and Martin Mills are the perpetrators of Duffo, Ivor Biggun and the Lurkers. They may have traded in their Jags for Cortinas. but ...

Joni Mitchell: Mingus

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 16 June 1979

THE CONCEPT of Joni Mitchell singing Charles Mingus, the late and very great jazzman, is eccentric but not illogical. For her it is the culmination ...

Ronnie Biggs, Malcolm McLaren, New York Dolls, Sex Pistols: The Rise And Fall Of Malcolm McLaren Part One: Tin Pan Alley Meets An Idea Whose Time Has Come...

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 16 June 1979

The Man Who Sold The World ...

Malcolm McLaren, The Sex Pistols: The Rise And Fall of Malcolm McLaren Part Two: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Go Riding...

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 23 June 1979

EARLY IN July, 1978, the office of Glitterbest Ltd. at 90/98 Shaftesbury Avenue, which is the centre of London's Theatreland, received the following letter. ...

John Lydon, Malcolm McLaren, Public Image Ltd, The Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: The Rise And Fall Of Malcolm McLaren Part Three: Last Tango In Paris — 'Je Ne Regrette Rien...'

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 June 1979

WHEN HE WAS LYING, HE WAS MORE INTERESTING THAN MANY MEN TELLING A STORY TRULY. ...

Randy Newman: Born Again (Warner Bros K56663)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 25 August 1979

HOW IS IT that Born Again should be Randy Newman's worst album to date, and yet his most marketable? For a start, it is topically ...

Paul McCartney, Wings: Paul McCartney: The Yellow Perils Of Paulie

Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 26 January 1980

The Nips nabbed Big Macca last week as he allegedly lugged half-a-pound of marijuana through the Japanese customs. Is the naughty 'former Beatle' set for ...

Joni Mitchell: The Public Life of a Private Property

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, The Sunday Times, 17 April 1983

One of the few pop singers for whom the term "artist" isn't just gross exaggeration, Joni Mitchell ends a British tour at Wembley next weekend. ...

Malcolm McLaren: Proud Pirate of Punk

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, The Times, 27 May 1983

Malcolm McLaren was dismissed as a distasteful maverick when he managed the Sex Pistols, but there is more to him than an outrageous gift for ...

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