Mick Middles

A Certain Ratio: The Graveyard And The Ballroom (Factory) ****

Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, February 1980

A CERTAIN Ratio (currently the hippest combo in Manchester) typify the approach, style, feel, and idealism of Factory Records. They are distant, difficult to touch ...

Funkadelic, Brides of Funkenstein, The, Parliament: Parliament/Funkadelic/Parlet/Brides Of Funkenstein: Bellevue Kings Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, December 1978

THE WORLD funk extravaganza circus comes to Manchester. ...

Vic Godard, Subway Sect, The: Vic Godard: Young Existentialist

Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, July 1980

VIC GODARD makes Feargal Sharkey look like Gene Simmons. His normality is outrageous. When Vic Godard sits in his bedroom listening to Peter Skellern on ...

Gordon the Moron, Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds: The Rabid Show — Gordon The Moron/Ed Banger/Gyro: Eric's, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, September 1978

Rabid roster on the rampage ...

Joy Division: Ian Curtis

Book Excerpt by Linsday Reade, Mick Middles, Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis (Omnibus Press), 2006

The authors of this new biography are uniquely qualified to reveal the extraordinary events surrounding the life and death of Ian Curtis. ...

Joy Division

Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, November 1978

THROB,THROB, THROB, THROB. "Hey Miss, a bottle of Newcastle please, what? Oh, a bottle of Pils then." THROB, THROB, THROB, THROB. ...

Joy Division: Band on the Wall, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, September 1978

IT WAS during the unforgettable summer of '77 that I had my first encounter with Joy Division (then named Warsaw). Through a steamy Electric Circus ...

Joy Division: Osbourne Club, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, March 1980

TO THE centre of the city in the night waiting for Joy Division. ...

Joy Division, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Teardrop Explodes, The, Echo & The Bunnymen, Distractions, The, A Certain Ratio: Joy Division, Teardrop Explodes, OMD, Echo & The Bunnymen et al: Leigh Rock Festival, Lancashire

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, September 1979

A movement with no name... and a festival with no people (But a 'staggering event' all the same, says our man Middles) ...

Mekons, The: The Mekons: Manchester Polytechnic, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, February 1980

I COULDN'T believe my eyes. ...

New Order: Confusion Reigns as New Order Corrupt the USA

Report and Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, July 1983

THE WEEK THE image cracked. It's two days before New Order arrive in New York - and you can feel it. ...

New Order: Out Of Order

Report by Mick Middles, Sounds, July 1983

"How I wish you were here with me now." – New Order, 'In A Lonely Place' ...

Seasick Steve: I Started Out With Nothing And I Still Got Most Of It Left


Review by Mick Middles, Quietus, The, October 2008

ORGANIC TO the foot of every blue soaked note. Here we meet the real deal. 40 years in a hobo hell (well, mostly) this 60-something ...

Seeds, The: 22420 Pacific Coast Highway: Tales of Tim Hudson, Sky Saxon… and Ian Botham

Memoir by Mick Middles, Rock's Backpages, July 2012

STICK-THIN, clad in purple and black. Leather trousers, knee-length boots. Boney, bug-eyed, skank hair, dead face, white cheeks. This strange man was telling me to ...

Stiff Little Fingers: The Voice Squad

Interview by Mick Middles, Sounds, March 1980

'WE'RE GONNA BLOW UP IN THEIR FACE' ...

Throbbing Gristle: The Factory, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, June 1979

WHEN I WAS watching Throbbing Gristle where were you? ...

UB40: The Russell Club, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, April 1980

HOPEFULLY, UB40 will help English reggae slip sneakily back into its true direction. The effects of the past 12 months of 2 Toned overkill are ...

XTC: Apollo Theatre, Manchester

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, September 1979

STUDYING THE development and, um, progression of XTC is one of my favourite past-times. ...