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Toby Manning

Toby Manning

Toby Manning is a London-based writer who has contributed to The Word, Q, MOJO, Mixmag, Select and NME and is the author of The Rough Guide to Pink Floyd (2006) and John Le Carré and the Cold War (2018).

47 articles

List of articles in the library

By date | By artist | Most recently added

Norman Jay, Kylie Minogue, Primal Scream, Danny Rampling: "This will not be a party weekend."

Report by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, October 1997

CAFE DEL MAR ALBUM ON ROTATION, TIM WESTWOOD SILENT, RECORD SHOPS SHUT AND CLUBS PLAYING 'WONDERWALL'. HOW DID DIANA'S DEATH AFFECT THE CLUB WORLD? ...

Is the dance shop dead?

Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, October 1997

WITH THE SHOCK CLOSURE OF LONDON'S FAMOUS FAT CAT RECORD SHOP, THE SHUTTERS OF PETE WATERMAN'S CHAIN OF SPECIALIST DANCE SHOPS FIRMLY SHUT AND THE ...

Kraftwerk play Tribal Gathering

Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, December 1997

HOW ON EARTH DID UNIVERSE ENTICE THE TECHNO INNOVATORS BACK ONTO A STAGE? LET'S FIND OUT. ...

Propellerheads: We've been expecting you...

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, December 1997

WITH THEIR DEBUT SINGLE SNAPPED UP BY ADIDAS TO SELL TRAINERS, A TOP TEN TUNE VIA A REWORKED BOND THEME, AND SHIRLEY BASSEY TAKING VOCAL ...

Lo Fidelity Allstars: Allstars In Their Eyes

Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, June 1998

LO FIDELITY ALL-STARS ARE TAKING OVER THE ROCK N' ROLL TOILETS OF BRITAIN. TOBY MANNING JOINS WREKKED TRAIN AND CO. ON THE ROAD. ...

Mogwai: You're experi-mentalists!

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, June 1998

MOGWAI HAVE APPROACHED A BUNCH OF "DANCE" ACTS TO REMIX THEIR GUITAR NOISE TERRORISM. LET'S SEE HOW THEY ALL GOT ON. ...

Cigarettes: 121,000 deaths a year; Alcohol: 33,000 deaths a year; Ecstasy: between twenty and one hundred deaths in the last ten years

Report by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, August 1998

CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL KILL 400 TIMES MORE PEOPLE EVERY YEAR THAN DEATHS FROM ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS PUT TOGETHER. SO WHY ARE THEY LEGAL WHILE OTHER ...

Bentley Rhythm Ace: Say it LOUD! We're Brum and we're proud

Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, October 1998

AFTER CAUSING CHAOS AT PRETTY MUCH EVERY FESTIVAL THIS SUMMER. THE BENTLEYS ARE FINALLY BACK IN THE MIDLANDS. TOBY MANNING GETS AN EXCLUSIVE TOUR OF ...

Andrea Parker: Underwater Love

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, December 1998

LONDON'S ANDREA PARKER WANTS TO RECORD IN A SUBMARINE AND MAKES MUSIC THAT REMINDS PEOPLE OF "LITTLE GREEN ALIENS". TOBY MANNING FOUND HER LURKING IN ...

Armand Van Helden: You Don't Know Him!

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, February 1999

ARMAND VAN HELDEN IS BACK ON FORM — AND BACK IN THE CHARTS. BUT WHAT'S THE MAN WHO SWAPS GENRES MORE OFTEN THAN SOCKS AND ...

The All Seeing I, Jarvis Cocker: The All Seeing I: i Say i Say i Say

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, August 1999

THEY'VE HAD TWO MAJOR HIT SINGLES, BUT YOU'D BE HARD-PRESSED TO NAME THEM BOTH. EACH SINGLE SOUNDS LIKE THE WORK OF A DIFFERENT BAND. THEIR ...

Todd Terry: Have you ever ridden a horse?

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, August 1999

NEW YORK HOUSE MUSIC LEGEND TODD TERRY HAS ENTERED THE JUNGLE FOR HIS RESOLUTIONS ALBUM AND REMIXED THE HUGE 'IBIZA IN MY SOUL'. BUT CAN ...

Chicks on Speed: Speed Queens!

Profile and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, October 1999

MUNICH'S CHICKS ON SPEED: THEY CAN PAINT FAST! ...

Basement Jaxx, The Chemical Brothers, Death In Vegas, Missy Elliott, Felix da Housecat, Layo & Bushwacka!, Leftfield, Moby, Underworld: Album of the Year: Never mind Talvin Singh, here's the bollocks...

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, December 1999

High above central London, Jockey Slut assembled an illustrious panel to debate, Mercury Prize-style, the album of the year in the plush environs of Home's ...

Felix Da Housecat: This Katt is House Trained

Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, December 1999

FELIX DA HOUSECAT HAS JUST MADE THE DANCEFLOOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR. TOBY MANNING FOLLOWS HIM FROM LIVERPOOL TO LONDON ANO TRIES TO MAKE HIM ...

Cat Power: The Covers Record (Matador) ***

Review by Toby Manning, Select, April 2000

The fifth album from Atlanta's Chan Marshall is a collection of songs by — amongst others — Smog, Dylan, Lou Reed and the Rolling Stones. ...

Super Furry Animals: Mwng

Review by Toby Manning, Select, June 2000

All-Welsh album, the title meaning "horse's mane". "It's an extension of a super furry animal," singer Gruff explains. ...

Yo La Tengo: The Belcourt Theater, Nashville

Live Review by Toby Manning, Select, June 2000

COMPLETELY DOMINATING the bare-brick basement that is Yo La Tengo's Nashville dressing room is one of the largest, most gourmet riders ever to grace a ...

Leftfield: X-tra Limmathaus. Zurich

Live Review by Toby Manning, Select, July 2000

"THE ENGINEER'S been and had a look," winces Leftfield's Neil Barnes, taking a pained sip of coffee. "It's still not working." It seems Leftfield are ...

The Dandy Warhols: Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia

Review by Toby Manning, Select, July 2000

The third album from the Portland, Oregon, quartet perhaps best known for keyboard player Zia's insistence on revealing her breasts onstage. ...

Roni Size and Reprazent: Reprazent: In The Mode (One Little Indian)

Review by Toby Manning, Select, November 2000

Mercury-winning Bristol drum'n'bass gang. Features guest spots from Zack De La Rocha and Method Man. ...

Sophie Ellis-Bextor: "I'm number one … so why try harder?"

Interview by Toby Manning, Select, November 2000

One day you're the ex-singer of a forgotten indie band. The next, you're Number One and embroiled in a tabloid bitch fight with Posh Spice. ...

Drugs: Out of Control?

Report by Toby Manning, The Face, August 2001

The pills are getting cheaper, the music's getting faster, the nights are getting longer. Now the club promoters have joined police and newspapers in telling ...

The Streets: Street Life

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, December 2001

Out of the garage and onto The Streets. Watch out, this boy makes bangers… ...

Bob Dylan: Time Out Of Mind

Review by Toby Manning, Q, February 2002

DYLAN'S 41st ALBUM announced his creative rebirth after nearly a decade in the doldrums. ...

The Streets: Quality Streets

Profile and Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, March 2002

GEEZERS NEED EXCITEMENT. WHICH IS WHERE THE STREETS, AKA MIKE SKINNER, COMES IN. THE PEOPLE'S POET IN TWO-STEP'S GARMS, HE IS THE WIMP MADE GOOD, ...

Wilco: Hi, My Name's Jeff, and I'm a Wilcoholic

Interview by Toby Manning, Q, May 2002

LIKE ALL LAS VEGAS hotels, the Mandalay Bay is a self-contained city, comprising restaurants, bars, even a "beach," complete with electric waves: anything and everything ...

The Hives: Could this cocksure Swedish pop-punk quintet be the new Strokes?

Report and Interview by Toby Manning, Blender, June 2002

DESPITE THEIR immaculate black-and-white shirt-tie-and-shoes ensemble, Swedish garage-rockers the Hives have a disconcerting habit of stripping in front of strangers. ...

Tommy Lee: Famous Last Words: Tommy Lee

Interview by Toby Manning, Q, July 2002

He has a bulletproof vest, a world-famous penis and has never ridden the bus. Nice life! ...

Justin Timberlake: Justified (Jive)

Review by Toby Manning, Q, January 2003

WHILE MICHAEL Jackson's creativity is on the wane, there are still some artists who find him inspirational. ...

Jay-Z: Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (Roc-A-Fella)

Review by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, February 2003

TWO THINGS THE world doesn't need: another hip hop double album, and another album from Jay Z, right? ...

Missy Elliott: Missy Elliot: Under Construction (Elektra)

Review by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, February 2003

PRE-EMPTING UNCHIVALROUS jokes, Missy Elliott describes herself in an intro as a project "under construction". ...

Linkin Park: Pirate Paranoia

Report by Toby Manning, The Guardian, 15 February 2003

Since the advent of the unholy trinity of internet, MP3 and CD burner, the music industry has gone into piracy tailspin. Toby Manning feels like ...

Justin Timberlake

Interview by Toby Manning, Q, March 2003

Dishpan hands not a problem. ...

The Go! Team: Working In Memphis

Interview by Toby Manning, Jockey Slut, March 2003

Brothers Ollie and Marc Jacob were once slackers in sneakers. Now they call Memphis Industries their empire… ...

AC/DC: High Voltage and other reissues

Review by Toby Manning, Record Collector, May 2003

"LET ME PUT my love into you babe", "given the dog a bone", "a full house", "sinking the pink", "she liked it done medium rare". ...

Goldfrapp: Down Boy!: Goldfrapp: Black Cherry (Mute) ***

Review by Toby Manning, Q, May 2003

Sultry ambient diva gets dark electro makeover ...

Interpol: Trees, Dallas

Review and Interview by Toby Manning, Q, May 2003

It's not all post-punk brooding. They like drugs and girls too. ...

Mogwai: Happy Songs For Happy People

Review by Toby Manning, The Word, July 2003

All hail the Glaswegian cochlea-botherers ...

Gillian Welch: The Girl With No Name

Profile and Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, August 2003

The fastest-rising folk singer of her generation is an urban college girl writing spare, soulful country tunes set in a bygone America. Her natural mother ...

Super Furry Animals: Phantom Power

Review by Toby Manning, The Word, August 2003

NORTH WALES' scenery is some of the most beautiful in the world, and yet this beauty belies its elemental dangers, barely a month going by ...

Lambchop: Aw C'mon/No You C'mon

Review by Toby Manning, The Word, March 2004

Twiglets! Beer! Community! The kings of country melancholia are having a party ...

Steve Earle Gives New Meaning To The Expression 'Lifetime Achievement'

Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, May 2004

MARRIED SIX TIMES TO FIVE DIFFERENT WOMEN, HE'S ENDURED THE JUNKIE'S LIFE, DONE TIME AND LIVED TO TELL. NOW A CHANGED CHARACTER, HIGH PROFILE CAMPAIGNER ...

Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green: Fleetwood Mac: The Making of Then Play On

Retrospective and Interview by Toby Manning, unpublished, 2005

IN 1969, FLEETWOOD Mac's prime mover had begun acting very strangely. First of all this East End Jew found Jesus, and began trying to convert ...

Magazine

Retrospective by Toby Manning, unpublished, 2005

IF EVER THERE was a soundtrack for the Cold War era, it was Magazine. Musically and lyrically, this definitive new wave band inhabited the wintry ...

Richard Thompson: RT

Review by Toby Manning, The Word, February 2006

A celebration of the life and music of Richard Thompson: folk rock legend so culty they boxed him twice: this time for fans only. ...

The Magic Numbers: Those The Brokes (Heavenly)

Review by Toby Manning, The Word, December 2006

The Soft Parade: Those The Brokes hits the ballad button — a touch too hard ...

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