Phil Symes

Bloodstone: Diggin' Bloodstone

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972

IF THE reaction to Bloodstone's first London appearance – at the Rainbow Theatre on a recent Soul concert – is anything to go by, then ...

Chi-Lites, The: The Chi-Lites Are Deep But Not Too Deep

Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, August 1971

WE'RE ALL familiar with the Detroit "sound." Well it seems the next big American industrial city to become famous for its music will be Chicago. ...

Chi-Lites, The: The Chi-Lites Step Out Of The Shadows

Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972

THANK heaven for the Chi-Lites. This four-man Chicago-based outfit has brought back to soul music two elements missing from it for too long – good ...

Dennis Coffey: The White Soul Guitar

Profile by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, November 1972

DENNIS COFFEY is a white man who plays soul music. Ask any soul fan. Regular pop fans might not be acquainted with his name but ...

Dave and Ansell Collins: Ansell Plays It Cool While Dave Searches For His Mum...!

Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971

DAVE BARKER is a well-built Jamaican who talks fast and enthusiastically and punctuates his sentences with finger-clicking and hearty slaps of his right thigh. Ansell ...

Neil Diamond: A Boy Who Outgrew His Hits

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, March 1971

IT TOOK a long while but the U.K. public woke up one day and discovered Neil Diamond. And with 'Sweet Caroline' providing a quick follow-up ...

Neil Diamond: The Jekyll and Hyde of Pop

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1971

NEIL DIAMOND is a latter day Jekyll and Hyde. The quiet, hesitant, sensitive man you meet in a plush London hotel suite is nothing like ...

Elgins, The: The Elgins: Down Tools, Folks, It's A Lucky Strike

Report and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971

The dispirited Elgins quit in 1967 and took up humdrum jobs in industrial Detroit. And then it all happened... ...

Funkadelic: When The Circus Hit Town

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1971

FUNKADELIC man George Clinton casually made the understatement of the year. There they were, the five front men of the year's most outrageous band, dressed ...

Marvin Gaye: A Study of Marvin Gaye's Liberation

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1971

MARVIN GAYE is a mystery man. Most people know him as the singer who made the biggest-selling Motown record ever – 'I Heard It Through ...

Michael Jackson: The One Who Got Away

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972

THE MOST amazing thing about little Michael Jackson's solo success is how calmly he's taking it all. "I think it's great," is all he says ...

Eddie Kendricks: When Temptation Got The Best Of Eddie Kendricks

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, March 1973

IT'S A big decision quitting a world-famous group, especially when they're on top, and look like sitting pretty for a long while. So it was ...

Gladys Knight: Gladys and Her British Problem

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1972

"UNDERRATED" is a fond word of Press agents and record companies to explain away lack of success for their artists. So when someone uses the ...

Tami Lynn: Tami Worked Hard For Overnight Success!

Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1971

"IT'S LIKE a Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland story. Just when you think it's all over it starts to happen." ...

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas: Martha Reeves Goes Solo

Report and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, July 1972

MARTHA REEVES is going solo. After 10 years fronting one of Motown's most successful groups, Martha and the Vandellas, Miss Reeves is stepping out alone. ...

Curtis Mayfield, Impressions, The: Curtis Mayfield: Soul Music's Elusive Dynamo

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, December 1971

CURTIS MAYFIELD is a hard man to catch these days. If he's not locked away in a studio all night recording himself, the Impressions, or ...

Freda Payne: Freda Speak

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971

IT'S NOT been all peaches and cream for Freda Payne since she had a worldwide hit with 'Band Of Gold'. As she says: "Until recently ...

Carly Simon: Carly

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972

CARLY SIMON has been compared to a lot of people. She admits: "I'm told I sound like Judy Collins and my style of writing is ...

Sly & The Family Stone: There's A Riot Goin' On (Epic)

Review by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972

SYLVESTER STEWART and Sly Stone (OK so you know they're one and the same but the sleeve credits insist this album was written, arranged and ...

Ronnie Spector: Ronnie Tries It Solo

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971

THE SUCCESS of Motown's Supremes somewhat overshadowed most of the other girlie-groups in America back in the mid-sixties. But one trio who managed to hold ...

R. Dean Taylor: The Great White Hope

Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1971

In our March 13th issue we called R. Dean Taylor the great white hope. He didn't have a hit then but he has now and ...

Bill Withers: Leanin' On Bill Withers

Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, August 1972

THAT OLD saying "never too late" is certainly true in the case of Bill Withers. Withers is just about the hottest male singer in America ...

Bill Withers: Lots of Sunshine for Bill Withers

Profile and Interview by Phil Symes, Disc and Music Echo, November 1972

MOST SONGWRITERS dream of one day writing a standard. Singers dream of establishing one. Bill Withers does both – frequently. You only have to look ...