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Mick Houghton

Mick Houghton

Mick Houghton wrote for a variety of music publications during the '70s, including Circus, Zigzag, Let It Rock, Sounds and Time Out before stumbling into a job in the Warner Bros. press office in 1978. He never saw this as a permanent career move but within two years he had set up the independent Brassneck Publicity, where he's looked after an extraordinary array of people ever since.

Over the years he’s been closely associated with Echo & the Bunnymen, Julian Cope, the Teardrop Explodes, the Undertones, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Sonic Youth, the KLF, Spiritualized, XTC, Bert Jansch and Richard Thompson and plenty more besides.

He began writing again in 2001, first for MOJO and later for Uncut. As one of the Grammy-nominated compilers/producers (he has the chunky gold medallion to prove it!) of the boxed set Forever Changing: The Golden Age of Elektra, 1963 to 1973, he went on to write Becoming Elektra: The True Story of Jac Holzman’s Visionary Record Label, published in 2010, now reformatted and substantially expanded in 2016.

In 2015, Mick's biography of Sandy Denny, I've Always Kept a Unicorn was published by Faber & Faber. His latest book, the memoir Fried and Justified, was published by Faber in 2019.

Mick Houghton on the RBP podcast

60 articles

List of articles in the library

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RockFile: Where The Writing Ends, The Memory Game Begins

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, February 1973

ROCK FILE is one of the current crop of books on music which has moved away from the more historical analysis, and deals with the ...

Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, February 1973

TIM BUCKLEY had moved from the East Coast to Southern California and became involved, playing and touring, with various country bands like Princess Ramona and ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: The Flying Burrito Brothers: Live In Amsterdam

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, June 1973

THE FIRST double album in rock that I remember was Blonde On Blonde, and to this day it is one of the few which really ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Charlatans, The (US), Commander Cody, Country Gazette, Dillard and Clark, The Dillards, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, New Riders of the Purple Sage: A Guide To Contemporary Country Groups

Report by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

THIS AUTUMN, England is due for an invasion by some of America's top contemporary country groups. The new wave will be well represented by Commander ...

Terry Reid: River

Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

AFTER A YEAR of voluntary exile from England, Terry Reid was back over here this June for a short tour to promote his first album ...

Terry Reid: Terry’s Travels

Report and Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

AFTER A YEAR of voluntary exile from England, Terry Reid was back over here this June for a short tour to promote his first album ...

Ian Matthews: Countryside Comfort

Profile and Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1973

IT SEEMED almost inevitable that Ian Matthews would find himself living and recording on the West coast of America, and he admitted that before he ...

Little Feat Albums

Overview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, March 1975

Sailin' Shoes (Warner Bros K46156)Dixie Chicken (Warner Bros K46200)Feats Don't Fail Me Now (Warner Bros K56030) ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneaky Pete Kleinow

Interview by Mick Houghton, ZigZag, March 1975

ZZ: HOW DID you come to be part of the whole related family of Los Angeles musicians? You actually come from Michigan? ...

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, May 1975

When you step up to a Juke box and you slip a nickel in,You can bet your bottom dollar when the record starts to spin,You'll ...

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Tomorrow Belongs To Me (Vertigo)

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, June 1975

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE to listen to Alex Harvey without feeling distinctly unsettled. On stage he's an obsessive – a malevolent dictator figure – in full control ...

Emmylou Harris: Pieces Of The Sky

Review by Mick Houghton, ZigZag, August 1975

BUD SCOPPA once described Gram Parsons as the most convincing singer of sad songs he'd heard. Nothing he recorded was more heartrending than 'Love Hurts' ...

The Eagles: One Of These NIghts

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1975

I CAN'T THINK of anything good to say about One Of These Nights. What's so distressing is that it's not a bad album by any ...

Tim Buckley: A Fleeting House: The Music of Tim Buckley

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1975

...

Black Sabbath: Sabbath's Sabotage: An interview with Tony Iommi

Interview by Mick Houghton, Circus Raves, October 1975

THREE TIERS OF GOLD, silver and platinum discs span one wall of the snooker room. They provide irrefutable evidence of the worldwide success of Black ...

Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1975

WILLIE NELSON has never written easy songs or recorded easy albums. He has penned his share of country standards over the past fifteen years, all ...

Emmylou Harris: The Prairie and the Sky

Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, November 1975

EMMYLOU HARRIS is a country singer. Not simply because she has a single high in the country charts – it's her voice and the feeling ...

White Punks on Coke

Overview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, December 1975

THE TERM PUNK is bandied about an awful lot these days. It seems to describe almost any rock performer who camps it up to any ...

Tom Waits: A Seventies Storyteller With Fifties Beat Style

Profile and Interview by Mick Houghton, Time Out, 1976

"I WAS BORN at a very young age in the back seat of a yellow cab in Murphy Hospital parking lot. I had to pay ...

John Denver: What's The Poor Guy Ever Done?

Comment by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 3 April 1976

IT SEEMS as if you can't be complimentary about John Denver without adding some kickback remark to cover yourself. Take Grace Slick's reported comment a ...

Tom Waits: Ronnie Scott's, London

Live Review by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 12 June 1976

IT'S NOT easy to discover the real Tom Waits. He's continually performing. Off stage, in conversation, he frequently draws from his onstage material in his ...

Led Zeppelin: Interview with Jimmy Page

Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 10 July 1976

IT'S OFTEN strange to recall the outstanding moments at all day music events. At Cardiff, it was a tribute to Duke Ellington being shown on ...

Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds: Zeus Of Zeppelin: An Interview with Jimmy Page

Interview by Mick Houghton, Circus, 12 October 1976

You're your own record company bosses now with Swan Song, which is a far cry from the days when you were doing sessions for Decca ...

The Cate Brothers: Cate Brothers: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 6 November 1976

EVERY SO OFTEN a group's live performance is so good that their albums from that moment on lose something of the impact they once had. ...

Dr. Feelgood: Dr Feelgood: The Grandfathers of Punk

Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 1 January 1977

WILKO JOHNSON likes to talk about the truth – in his music, in his writing, and in his, or rather, the Dr. Feelgood attitude towards ...

Queen: The Guitarist

Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 22 January 1977

QUEEN ARE a much maligned group. There can't be any criticism that hasn't been hurled at them during their lifespan. Certainly it's to be expected ...

Queen: The Queen Tapes Part 1: Brian May

Interview by Mick Houghton, Circus, 28 February 1977

Stargazing Guitarist Brian May Turns the Telescope on Himself and Talks About What He Sees ...

Michael Nesmith: Ex-Beat Group Crazy In Weirdo Film Project

Interview by Mick Houghton, Sounds, 16 April 1977

MIKE NESMITH's career has taken a surprising number of twists and turns over the years, from writing songs for Linda Rondstadt in the early Sixties, ...

The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (Dindisc)

Review by Mick Houghton, The Face, July 1980

I STILL recall being hauled in front of the class at school where, doing my world famous impersonation of a jug-eared tomato, Mr Godber, MA ...

Johnny Cash: The Man in Blackpool

Report by Mick Houghton, Q, April 1993

JOHN R. CASH is somewhat bemused by questions about Butlin's – or Bognor come to that. He's between sets at Southcoast World (Butlin's, Bognor to ...

The Factory, Lowell George: Lowell George & The Factory: Lightning Rod Man

Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, November 1993

I WAS FORTUNATE enough to meet Lowell George close on 20 years ago. He was a charming great bear-like man rumpled and a little worse ...

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Live Seeds

Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, November 1993

THE LIVE ALBUM is a tricky beast to handle. More often than not it's a contract filler, a pause for thought when the ideas have ...

Jackson Browne: I'm Alive

Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, December 1993

HAS TIME STOOD STILL? Fifteen years on and Jackson Browne's running on empty again. He's out of love yet surviving, holding himself together but now ...

Billy Fury: Halfway to Paradise

Book Excerpt by Mick Houghton, 'Love is the Drug' (Penguin Books), 1994

BILLY FURY, Britain's only authentic rock'n'roll singer, wrote most of his own material but had his most outstanding commercial success with big ballads like 'Halfway ...

Jeff Buckley: Grace

Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, September 1994

OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS Jeff Buckley has become a contender. A minor critical furore greeted his first live mini-LP, while a handful of mesmeric ...

Wings: Wingspan

Review by Mick Houghton, MOJO, June 2001

IT STRETCHES from his first solo recordings to 'No More Lonely Nights', off the ill-advised Give My Regards To Broad Street. An odd place to ...

Denim, Felt: Felt/Denim: There Can Be Only One Lawrence — Meticulous Genius, Confounded.

Profile and Interview by Mick Houghton, MOJO, February 2003

IN 1986, WHEN Felt signed to Creation Records, stories quickly circulated about the oddness of the band's leader. ...

Tom Russell: Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs

Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, May 2004

Nineteenth album from a great American storyteller ...

Judee Sill: Spirited Away

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, April 2005

UNTIL RECENTLY, Judee Sill and her two Asylum albums were all but forgotten. Her story is so tragic as to be nearly unbelievable, the antithesis ...

John Phillips: John Phillips (John, The Wolfking of L.A.)

Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2006

HIPPY DREAMS DEFILED, HOLLYWOOD AFFAIRS, HERCULEAN DRUG USE: THE LONG-LOST SOLO ALBUM FROM MAMAS & PAPAS LYNCHPIN. ...

Dennis Linde

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, MOJO, April 2007

The sound of the wildly original country cat who penned Elvis' 'Burning Love'. ...

Trees

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, May 2007

How a sample reunited west London's wyrd electric-folk troubadours... ...

Bob Lind

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, September 2007

The 'Elusive Butterfly' collector, immortalised by Jarvis Cocker. ...

Love: The Blue Thumb Recordings

Review by Mick Houghton, Uncut, September 2007

Love's Post-Elektra Albums Plus Intriguing Rediscovered Live Recordings. ...

The Doors: Album by Album

Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, October 2007

"We were delving into the realms of the psychedelic... We created a new American music that was universal." So says keyboard player Ray Manzarek, deftly ...

The Turtles

Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, August 2008

The L.A. pop maestros whose subversive career involved Frank Zappa, T.Rex — and the Care Bears! ...

The Undertones: Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat

Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2008

For the Undertones, living the rock'n'roll dream meant visits to church and McDonald's, and adopting pigeons when they could've been partying with the Clash. But ...

13th Floor Elevators: Sign Of The 3 Eyed Men

Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, March 2009

EVEN IF THEIR music had not been great, the bizarre history of the 13th Floor Elevators would have earned the band a place in rock ...

Bob Gibson: Unsung Heroes: Bob Gibson

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, March 2010

From the dawn of the folk revival – a clean-cut junkie troubadour... ...

Grateful Dead, Robert Hunter: Unsung Heroes: Robert Hunter

Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, October 2010

The man who put the words into Bob Dylan and Jerry Garcia's mouths... ...

Mickey Newbury: Unsung Heroes: Mickey Newbury

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2010

Glory Glory Hallelujah! It's the original Nashville rebel... ...

Terry Reid: What Is And What Should Never Be

Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, January 2011

He could have been the frontman of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and the Spencer Davis Group. Instead, Terry Reid embarked on a remarkable musical adventure ...

The Fugs: Tenderness Junction and It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest

Retrospective and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, February 2011

Underground, overground: two subversive major label salvos from New York's folk-punk-poets. Of their time, sure, but still worth yours. For an underground band, in their ...

Bob Lind: Finding You Again

Review by Mick Houghton, Uncut, December 2012

Solid return from American singer-songwriter who penned 'Elusive Butterfly'". Bob Lind's last studio album, Since There Were Circles, was released back in 1971. It flopped and ...

Stephen Stills: Carry On

Review by Mick Houghton, Record Collector, April 2013

CAN SOMEBODY be just too talented? If so, Stephen Stills is a perfect case study, and this new four-disc set offers up a myriad examples ...

Barefoot Jerry: Watchin' TV/You Can't Get Off With Your Shoes On and Barefootin'/Keys To The Country (Lemon)

Review by Mick Houghton, Uncut, February 2014

TAKING THEIR NAME from a grocery store, Barefoot Jerry evolved out of Area Code 615, a group of top-notch young sessioneers who saw the light ...

Harry Belafonte, Lord Kitchener: Various Artists: Calypso Craze – 1956-57 and Beyond (Bear Family)

Review by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2014

173 cuts from calypso's thrilling, if brief, mainstream heyday. ...

Sandy Denny, Jackson C. Frank: Learning the Game: Sandy Denny and Jackson C. Frank

Book Excerpt by Mick Houghton, 'I've Always Kept a Unicorn' (Faber), March 2015

"I think my first songwriting influences came from somebody called Jackson Frank. He's an American bloke who made one album over here just called Jackson ...

Blue Oyster Cult: From Soft White Underbelly to the Stalk-Forrest Group

Book Excerpt by Mick Houghton, 'Becoming Elektra' (Jawbone), November 2016

NOTE: In an excerpt from the new edition of Becoming Elektra: The Incredible True Story of the pioneering Elektra Records label and its Far-sighted Founder, ...

The Teardrop Explodes: Wilder Times: How the Teardrops Exploded

Book Excerpt by Mick Houghton, 'Fried and Justified' (Faber & Faber), Summer 2019

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The back story here is the release of the Teardrop Explodes' second album Wilder on 20 November 1981. Rather than do the usual ...

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