Bob Dylan: Dynamic Dylan!
Report by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, June 1965
IT IS A QUARTER to eight at the BBC studios in London. There is an audience of 300 but the place is very quiet as everyone ...

Cat: What A Drag It Is Being Young
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, January 1967
THE LYRICS IN Cat Stevens’ songs would imply that he was a simple person involved with the simple things in life. Working for a rotten boss, ...

The Champagne World of Tom Jones
Profile and Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, August 1967
'The doctor says champagne is good for the throat' ...

Dusty Springfield: Five Great Years of Dusty
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, November 1968
ON NOVEMBER 5, 1968, Dusty Springfield celebrates five years as a solo star. ...

Crosby Stills and Nash: It's A Revolution
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, December 1968
IN A SMALL TOP-FLOOR flat off Bayswater, London, a music revolution is taking ...

A Perfect Marriage: Christine Of Chicken Shack And John Of Fleetwood Fame
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, January 1969
BLONDE, GRITTY Christine Perfect not only bears the distinction of being lead singer of the famed Chicken Shack blues band, but is also married to John ...

David Bowie: 'Space Oddity'
Review by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, July 1969
DAVID BOWIE – AMAZING SOUND! ...

David Bowie Says Most Things The Long Way Round!
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, October 1969
ON HEARING a new LP called David Bowie, someone remarked: 'Well it's very nice, but do you think he's a lasting talent?' ...

Christine Perfect part 1: Who's Perfect? Christine's Rise From Shopgirl To Stardom
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, November 1969
WHEN CHRISTINE Perfect was 19 and studying to be a sculptress in Birmingham, she was roped into playing bass for a local group that didn't have ...

Christine Perfect part 2: Perfection In Married Life, By Christine And John...
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, November 1969
HER VOICE IS dry with a tinge of North Country humour in it; she's not conventionally pretty – but she is pleasant and warm and that's ...

Desmond Dekker
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, November 1969
DESMOND DEKKER had a pretty nasty experience the other day when fans got hold of his scarf and nearly strangled him. He was unconscious for 15 ...

Stephen Stills keeps fighting — against violence in pop music
Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, February 1970
STEPHEN STILLS is possibly the most underrated musician and musical force of our time. But he’s no demi-god. It is one of those strange ironies of ...

Ginger Baker
Profile and Interview by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, April 1970
GINGER BAKER is 31 years old and you DON’T ignore him. You can’t. He has accumulated a monstrous reputation over the past 10 years that makes ...

MC5 Problem
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, August 1970
THE MC5 are a very good, very determined rock band. In the old days when people weren't too bothered about listening to them, they used to ...

Clarence Carter: Am I A Bit Of A Fraud?
Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, October 1970
CLARENCE CARTER is beginning to think perhaps he's a bit of a fraud! So many people are rushing out to buy his first British hit 'Patches' ...

Elton John: The Record Rise Of A Superstar Called Reg
Essay by Penny Valentine, Disc and Music Echo, 1971
IN APRIL 1970 an album was released that was to whisk Reg Dwight of Pinner into Elton John. It was, quite simply, titled Elton John, and ...

Marmalade: Marmalade May Become Even Tastier
Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, March 1971
HUGHIE NICHOLSON is fairly small, very handsome, likeable, unassuming, smart and – so they tell me – a more-than-adequate guitarist, singer and writer. ...

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 to ...

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 I ...

King Crimson Take To The Road!
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971
IT'S HARDLY surprising that King Crimson are scared stiff at the prospect of their first British gig, for it will be the first time they've set ...

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 their ...

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... ...

Mountain
Profile and Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971
AT A SESSION last week for Bobby Keyes' album, Jim Gordon, Dave Mason, pianist Nicky Hopkins, Felix Pappalardi on bass and Leslie West on guitar are ...

The Band – Or When The Booing Ended
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971
NOBODY SEEMS to know much about the Band. That they're a living legend is a fact, a household name, true, but few people could enlighten you ...

Osibisa Swing From the Jungle
Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, May 1971
OSIBISA – the name is now on the lips of everyone just as we prophesied. The criss-cross rhythms are exploding with happiness right across the country, ...

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 in ...

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 our ...

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." ...

Rick Wakeman: The Down To Earth Star
Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, June 1971
RICK WAKEMAN has been described as the saviour of the Strawbs, a musical genius, the great white wonder of progressive music and numerous other pretentious exaggerations. ...

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 the ...

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 The ...

Andy Fraser: The Tea-Boy And The Van Driver Join Andy's Group!
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, August 1971
ANDY FRASER is, as they say, getting things together in the country. He's got a 400 year old cottage and a three week old hand and ...

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. From ...

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 some ...

Nicky Hopkins
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, December 1971
DURING THE NEXT 12 months Nicky Hopkins, the world's best-known anonymous pianist, will be the fourth German on the right no more. After years of backing ...

Man: Violence? Man You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet!
Profile and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
MAN HAD JUST finished a gig in Hamburg's notorious Top Ten Club and were ambling around town looking for action when someone stuck a two-bore shotgun ...

King Crimson: Reshuffle At The Court Of The King
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
"WE'VE ALL gone through our various changes and Peter and I came out at different places." ...

The New Filling In Humble Pie
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
EVERY NOW and again, America latches onto an English band in a big way. Last year it was Elton John, the Faces, and Long John Baldry. ...

Badfinger: Straight Up
Review and Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
THIS IS THE story of how Badfinger won the West. They didn't really have to do much in fact. They just went to America, did a ...

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 old ...

Yes: Chris Squire
Interview by David Hughes, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
THE YES you should be seeing this Friday and Saturday at London's Rainbow Theatre promises to be a very different Yes from any you have seen ...

Tom Fogerty
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
IT'S ALWAYS sad when a group splits up amidst much bad feeling. It's even worse when one member leaves amidst equal bad feelings, and then the ...

Black Sabbath
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, January 1972
"THE TROUBLE with English and European crowds," said Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, "is that they listen to you as if you were a jukebox. They ...

MC5 Turn Onto Love
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972
IT COMES AS something of a shock when the MC5 – long since branded as a revolutionary and rather spine-jarring band – looks deep into your ...

Rick Nelson: How Ricky Became Rick
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972
A YEAR and a half ago and full of enthusiasm for his new band, Rick Nelson set off for Europe and a tour of American service ...

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 like ...

Mungo Jerry: Ray Loses that Happy Habit
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972
RAY DORSET, it transpires, is a seasonal songwriter. He writes at the end of the summer and just before the spring, but at other times the ...

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 talking ...

Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Knees Up
Report by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972
THE PINNER contingent were no match for the notorious East Enders from Stepney, London, even though they did outnumber them 42 to 12. ...

Alvin Lee On The Hassles Of Being A Success
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972
ALVIN LEE is currently suffering from a surfeit of everything. He's had too much touring, too much hype, too much idolatry. Nowadays the band can't play ...

Ben E. King Why Ben Stopped Drifting
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, March 1972
KEEPING abreast of the times, says Ben E. King, is one of the most important and difficult jobs for a singer. He's been singing and writing ...

Rollicking Rory - Live at Leeds
Profile and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, April 1972
YOU SEE THEM EVERYWHERE. Those uniformed peak capped gendarmes with sergeant stripes and an air of placid ...

The Faces Under The Big Top
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
AFTER A while you get the feeling you're part of the scenario for one of those colossally far-fetched paperbacks with titles like Rock God (make sure ...

Emerson Lake and Palmer: Why Keith Wants To Become Immortal
Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
KEITH EMERSON would like to be remembered as a twentieth century composer – he thinks about it quite a lot and finds it curious that a ...

Joe Cocker: I Almost Forgot What Rock 'N' Roll Was All About
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
THE CURRY looked sort of ropey. It had probably been frozen for a lifetime between cardboard. Joe Cocker examined it incredulously, sifting it through his fork, ...

Chicago: Chicago Is…
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
"IT'S RIDICULOUS really," said Chicago's composer and keyboard man, Bob Lamm, "Here I am in Hollywood, living in grand style and my parents are still in ...

The Everly Brothers: Back In Favour
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
JUST WHEN we were getting used to thinking of the Everly Brothers as a monument to a distant era they come up with Stories We Could ...

Yes: Yes are Well and Grooving
Profile and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
IN THE basement of Una Billings School of Dancing, Shepherd's Bush, London, Yes are bouncing ideas off each other for a new album. Jon Anderson, their ...

Stackridge: Stackridge
Review and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
NOW JIM Walters has passed his bricklaying exams he's rejoined his old band Stackridge. If things don't work out, you see, he'll have something to fall ...

The Spirit of Jo Jo Gunne
Profile and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, May 1972
SOME say the stench given off by their first album is just too rank to bear. Others are moved to disagree. Strong stuff, it is said, ...

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 word ...

Little Richard: The Georgia Peach
Report and Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, August 1972
OOOWEE, Lawd knows it was a bad night's work. According to the divine plan, the Wembley crowd should have been blowing kisses at the Georgia Peach ...

Bobby Vee: Bye Bye Bobby – Meet Mr Villene
Profile and Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, August 1972
A CLAIM to fame you don't often associate with Bobby Vee is that he once sacked Bob Dylan from his band. Over here having just finished ...

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 right ...

Lindisfarne: On and Off the Wagon
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, November 1972
THERE HAVE BEEN more dazzling, more debauched rock'n'roll roadshows. Some of the more spectacular have been known to cushion the strain of touring with sultry Burgundies, ...

Ringo Starr on Born to Boogie
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, December 1972
"BOLAN STRUTS, man, and I like that about him a lot. A lot of people, when they first meet him, can be put off because his ...

The Government and Alice Cooper’s Panties
Report by John Mendelsohn, Disc and Music Echo, Summer 1972
WOTTA week it’s been here in Hollywood, guys and gals, what with each and every day virtually splitting its trousers with grand and glamorous events, occurrences, ...

Procol Harum: Six Years In The Harum
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, March 1973
'GARY'S GOT GOUT,' Keith Reid explains without so much as a trace of nonsense in his eyes, 'so he couldn't make it today.' ...

Roxy Music: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, April 1973
SIX OR SEVEN months ago, a Roxy performance was such a cool business you got the impression the band would be just as satisfied if the ...

Jethro Tull: Wembley Arena
Live Review by Andrew Tyler, Disc and Music Echo, June 1973
I REMEMBER THE TIME when you could hum along to a Jethro Tull tune. I even remember the time you could hum along to a Yessong. ...

The Glitter Band
Interview by Harry Doherty, Disc and Music Echo, November 1974
"GARY IS great. His operation was a success and there are no aftereffects at all. If anything, it has improved his voice." ...