Stuart Maconie

Aphex Twin: Armed and Fairly Dangerous

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, March 1994

AND BY their conspicuous celebrity consumption you shall know them. When Rick Wakeman entered rock's upper echelon, he armed himself with a fleet of Rolls-Royces. ...

Beautiful South, The: The Beautiful South: Scallifornia Dreamin'

Report by Stuart Maconie, NME, May 1990

THINK CALIFORNIA and you'll think Beach Boys, suntanned nymphets in cut-offs, surf, soda and the therapy industry. Oh and possibly raisins. You won't be thinking ...

Björk: Björk: All Together Now

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1995

ICELAND, OR Lydvelid Island to give it its native name, is the westernmost state of Europe. It is a land of magnificent geo-physical architecture; three ...

Blue Nile, The: The Blue Nile: Peace At Last (Warner)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1996

AS PROLIFIC AS the Easter Island statue makers and with almost as underworked a PR, The Blue Nile will feature heavily when Arthur C. Clarke's ...

Blur: Parklife

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, June 1994

TO USE the vernacular of our friends in the American therapy industry, today's music business is not "a nurturing environment". One might use the expression ...

Blur: The Death Of A Party

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Select, August 1999

WE JOIN the story in the autumn of 1995. 'Country House' has beaten 'Roll With It' to Number One and the critics are in short-lived ...

Blur: The Prehistory of Blur: 'We Were Very... Purple'

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1999

A mohican, Artaud, pyjama bottoms, The Cardiacs, sackings, Pernod, dressing up as the Ayatollah Khomeini: all of this and more in the story of Blur ...

Burt Bacharach: See You Later, Elevator!

Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1996

Imprisoned in music's metaphorical lift for years, Burt Bacharach has emerged on to a mezzanine packed with thousands of dewy-eyed disciples. "It's sensational news," he ...

George Clinton, Primal Scream: Primal Scream and George Clinton: You're My Best Mate You Are

Report by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1994

FORTY SECOND Street. Outside, Manhattan shivers and cowers beneath a coverlet of snow and prepares for the next much-forecasted blizzard. It's minus 10. Worse, there's ...

Elvis Costello: Brutal Youth

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

A PERFORMER as singular as Elvis Costello invites any number of critical perspectives and, needless to say, few gain his approval. Still, here's one. Through ...

Crowded House: The Fine Art of Surfacing

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, February 1994

SATURDAY NIGHT in Glasgow, traditionally the comic's most difficult audience, and it's time to give a big hand to two young fellows with a bright ...

Nick Drake: Way To Blue (Island)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1994

IN FEBRUARY 1972, upon the release of Pink Moon, Nick Drake's third and final album proper, the press information issued by Island Records ran, in ...

Bryan Ferry: Mamouna (Virgin)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1994

Farewell then, writer's block, hello topiary ...

Half Man Half Biscuit: Lads, I Feel Another Title Coming On…

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, January 1994

EMERGING FROM the dark of the Mersey tunnel into the almost dark of autumn in Birkenhead, the first thing the visitor sees are the giant ...

Heaven 17, Human League, The, Duran Duran, Culture Club: Top Of The Pops and The '80s Brit Pop Boom

Overview by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994

YOU CAN tell if they're boys or girls these days, that's the trouble. Just look at them, these so-called modern pop phenomena. ...

Human League, The: The Human League: Didn't We Used To Be The Human League?

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, February 1995

WITH SOME groups, it is records on the Stax and Okeh record labels; with others it is fine wines or the tailoring of Messrs Miyake ...

Jesus & Mary Chain, The: The Jesus & Mary Chain: Honey's Dead (blanco y negro)

Review by Stuart Maconie, NME, March 1992

WOULD WE have thought, seven long years ago, when news of The Jesus And Mary Chain swept the land like an ugly rumour, that we'd ...

Jethro Tull: Roots Before Branches (Chrysalis)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1995

Flutes in rock. Hmmm. Thijs Van Leer of Focus. Does James Galway's epochal rendition of Annie's Song count? It's really just Ian Anderson, isn't it ...

Kate Bush: Little Miss Can't Be Wrong

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1993

She might be a self-confessed power head, prone to control freakery and studio-hermitdom and a total stranger to the nightclub dancefloor... "bit I'm never grumpy, ...

La's, The: The La's: This Could Be The La's Time

Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, October 1990

It took three years to make, it cost an unfeasibly huge sum, it's stuffed with great songs – but THE LA's still hate their new ...

Level 42: The Most Famous Thumb in Rock

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

NOW WHO would live in a house like this? one thinks, as the taxi traverses the length of the drive and passes between the ornamental ...

Madonna: Ray Of Light (WEA) ****

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1998

She's dumped Warren Beatty, she's been Eva Peron and she's had Carlos The Tackle's child. Now it's time to go back to work... ...

Manic Street Preachers: Cardiff University

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, NME, February 1992

"All revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door"J K Galbraith ...

Manic Street Preachers: Smile, It Might Never Happen

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, December 1994

'THE INTENSE Humming Of Evil', 'Mausoleum', 'Archives Of Pain', 'Die In The Summertime'. Even a cursory glance at the titles will confirm that this is ...

MC Hammer: Trousers Of The Holy: All You Ever Wanted To Know About MC Hammer But Didn't Have The Time To Ask

Report and Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, May 1991

His voluminous trews tell only part of the story. MC HAMMER may well be as huge as the cut of his keks saleswise, but at ...

Morrissey: Do You F***king Want Some?

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1995

Morrissey's back in the ring with a violently good LP, Southpaw Grammar, and he's having a Cantona-styled pop at anyone in his path: Hugh Grant, ...

Morrissey: Hello, Cruel World

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1994

Goodbye, big-bloused flower-fondler; cheerio, depressed devotee of deathly doom; toodle-oo teetotal football-fearing perma-hermit; we'll sithee, bespectacled Billy NoMates. At 34, Morrissey is no longer the ...

My Bloody Valentine: The Artery Of Noise

Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, April 1990

After an 18-month gap MY BLOODY VALENTINE are back on vinyl making a right bleedin' racket with their new EP Glider. STUART MACONIE discovers Creation's ...

New Order: Smile

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1993

BARNEY SUMNER slips snugly into line between his three chums. As one, they turn to face the camera. But Barney's face bears the pained expression ...

Oasis: Nine Months That Shook The World

Overview by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994

IT'S A terrible name. Terrible. It immediately and unjustly tags them as one of those risibly mediocre makeweights of the so-called 'baggy" explosion. It is ...

Pet Shop Boys: Savoy Theatre, London

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, August 1997

Exuberant! Pet Shop Boys goosing the good folk of Evita-land ...

Pink Floyd: 25 Million Gloomy Punters Can't Be Wrong

Retrospective and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, April 1993

Right now, someone, somewhere on this planet is playing Dark Side Of The Moon. Released 20 years ago this month, its mixture of blues and ...

Primal Scream: Elysée Montmartre, Paris

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, NME, February 1992

"QU'AVEZ VOUS donc envie de falre? On veut ete libre, libre de falre ce qui nous plait, s'en mettre plein la lampe et falre la ...

Primal Scream: Primal Solution

Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, August 1989

Indie heroes of yore PRIMAL SCREAM are back, straining at the leash with a harder, greasier, rocking new single 'Ivy, Ivy, Ivy'. STUART MACONIE hears ...

R.E.M.: R.E.M: Monster (WEA)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, November 1994

When U2 swapped their Romany drifter look for the PVC strides and comedy shades, there was, after the initial confusion, a general hum of approbation. ...

Ride: Sex And The Singles Band

Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, February 1992

They are the model '90s pop group; sensitive young men with floppy hair and languid tunes, displaying cherubic belligerence laced with existential angst. But surely ...

Saint Etienne: Town Hall Crypt, Middlesbrough

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, July 1998

What's a nice, fey band doing in a place like this? ...

Scritti Politti: That Obscure Object of Desire

Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, August 1988

THE MEPHISTO of sophisto, GREEN GARTSIDE, and his slightly cool vehicle SCRITTI POLITTI have once more pulled into view with their new single 'First Boy ...

Sepultura: Who Wants To Be A Brazilian Air Guitarist

Interview by Stuart Maconie, NME, July 1991

Stuart Maconie goes autograph hunting with Latin America's biggest thrash band ...

Suede: Suede (Nude)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, May 1993

BEFORE ALL this took off, Brett Anderson, Suede's 25-year-old singer, would gloomily tick off each passing birthday as another year gone without his appearing on ...

Supergrass: Hey Hey We're The Cheeky Monkeys: Supergrass

Profile and Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, October 1995

IN SPINAL TAP, that penetrating cinema verité dissection of the music industry, various scenes are offered as examples of the rampant absurdity of the rock'n'roll ...

UNKLE: Psyence Fiction (Mo'Wax)

Review by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1998

Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, one of Metallica, a Beastie Boy: all on the same record. Whoo! ...

Verve, The: The Verve: Touched I'm Sure

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1993

"ER, A PINT of lager, did you say?" The barmaid is distracted. She has every right to be. Her current customer cuts rather a visual ...